Discontinued The Grasshopper

virtualpurple

Well-Known Member
I’d be in too. My hopper is at the HQ getting worked on currently but this is something I’d love for the hopper.
 
virtualpurple,

fogbank

Well-Known Member
@maxvapor710 - I'm in too. Do you mind posting a link to your new thread in this thread?

On a different note, it has now been 6 months since my oldest Ti Hopper (purchased 11/2016) started showing "cop lights".

I was on a business trip last June, and I brought my old Ti Hopper with me as always. I nicknamed it "Golden Boy" in part because if the Ti finish, but mostly because it always performed so consistently and never showed any signs of problematic behavior.

The night before I left to return home, I clicked it on as usual and noticed that it turned from red to blue almost immediately. I clicked it off, rotated the temp dial a few times, and tried again. It worked fine the second time.

The next morning I tried it again and got instant "cop lights". They persisted when I tried several more times. I thought it was the end for my most reliable Hopper.

When I got home I cleaned it as I normally do, and blew through the air holes several times. After that it worked normally.

Now it has been 6 months since the "cop lights" episode, and Golden Boy is working as it always did prior to the episode.

It is not my hottest or best extracting Hopper, but it performs consistently. Considering that it is over 3 years old I am in awe that it still performs so well.

The moral of the story is that "cop lights" are not always the kiss of death for a Hopper. They can occur even when there is apparently no permanent damage to the Hopper.
 

Hopper Labs

Manufacturer
Manufacturer
@Vaporific
The original plan was for a complete backend replacement, but we feel this design with the body extension is more versatile for those wishing to use external batteries or their own power sources and will also be cheaper to manufacture.

I am interested in how you would have completely replaced the backend? Did you plan to use the circuit board that was inside the device?

Other News:

We returned from China yesterday after a long week spent at the various battery factories.

A new factory has already started work on the cell. We approved tooling to make the battery can and safety valve about four weeks ago, and that has finished. Those parts are currently in production and will finish in about two more weeks. It will take another few weeks to get the production line setup. From there, we run into Chinese New Year, which is a 3-4 week shut down of the factory. Production will start immediately following that.

With production and testing time factored in this will put us at around March or April for the new battery to complete. We will do what we can to accelerate this and will revisit the factory in January to ensure everything is ready to go. We are concurrently working with another manufacturer as a backup and will receive samples of those cells in January.

As a reminder, we have a small supply of the old cells (matte label), which are available to those with no working battery.
 

VegNVape

Increase the Peace
Company Rep
Hey there @maxvapor710 I absolutely LOVE what you are doing (reservation placed) but I gotta agree with @Hopper Labs there - after all, it seemed like they asked a reasonable question and I was hoping to see a bit a of a dialogue between you guys. Personally I think it's geat when vape makers take an interest in & even encourage 3rd party accessories. In my opinion that kind of thing only helps to soldify a products spot in the market which has gotta be a good thing for any business. Just look at DynaVap.

Really loving this thread just lately by the way.

:peace:
 

Baron23

Well-Known Member
My message was not intended to imply anything and I was certainly not trying to discourage your development. I simply was asking, but thanks for the reply. I see there is no interest in discussing it.
I don't know what Max thought when he saw your inquiry, but my first reaction also was "is this is fishing expedition for an IP conflict?"

Don't get me wrong, I completely believe you when you subsequently said that it was an innocent and honest question...just your curiosity.

But, its the internet...there is no context, no voice inflection, no body language or anything else and so very often that results in misunderstandings.

Cheers
 

maxvapor710

Manufacturer
Manufacturer
@VegNVape certainly no animosity here, but I can't sugar coat facts and make them taste good as I didn't say anything negative.

The reality is this project was born out of pure frustration with the manufacturer and one engineers inability to get his device repaired or purchase batteries.

We are always pretty calm around here, text on the internet can sometimes read as hostile when the intent is not.
 
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virtualpurple

Well-Known Member
Hey sorry, I didn't mean to imply you were being negative and I didn't think you were, it just seemed like you dodged their question. Which of course, is your prerogative completely. But from my pov I wanted to see the conversation develop as I thought it would be pretty damn interesting.

:peace:

I agree with you 100%
 
virtualpurple,
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pxl_jockey

Just a dude
my first reaction also was "is this is fishing expedition for an IP conflict?"

Me too, sir. The way it was phrased, without tone, seemed a rather leading question. But whatever... no drama. This whole thread was nothing but people losing their patience for ages, certainly can't blame @maxvapor710 for envisioning a workaround for the biggest issues. If only I was so fucking smart when I get frustrated!

I'm REALLY happy to know that @Hopper Labs team is home safe and sound, and with good news too! That's pretty fast turnaround for a specialty item, especially given the Chinese New Years holiday so I'm very happy if the targets are close.

Meanwhile, as you guys were globe-trotting with your power meetings, I had a really big emergency. :D It may be among the stupidest customer issues of ALL TIME, so I though I might as well make it a matter of public record. Somehow, the screen on my PFE was dislodged and I can't find it! I only realised this when I saw my material sitting in the bottom of the diffuser. :lol: I don't know if the screen is user-replaceable but since it's not a replacement part, I think I've managed to be dumb. Again. :disgust:
 

MoltenTiger

Well-Known Member
yeah for a 3rd party company to jump on board the bandwagon and start charging pre-orders for a vague and simple development, it's a little dismissive to ignore an interesting question made public by the OEM and to spout someone else's (?) frustration in reply. Sure, some assumption could be weighted from that question, but being that they already have avoided doing what was asked (by reusing the whole back-end assembly), it's just silly. No reply would have been better to read. There are two answers; 'Yes', and 'No - we were going to make our own', it's not difficult. I mean, the reasons for all the waiting is well documented, perhaps you could try to be somewhat transparent instead of petty, if you want money, for a lathed chunk of cheap metal and a 12V line out with a simple transformer, to power a device you have little respect of. And now I sound hostile, but that's how I see it straight cut. Not that professional, and now I'm a little disinterested I'm more tempted to just build it myself for less cost as a one off... Should it prove necessary, which I don't think that it is so much. I have more powerful mains apparatus, if I'm tethered to a wall I may as well be sublimating, which is seriously a whole different level.

My old GHB2s are still doing the job, and I'll have new ones in time. Mains power is not for portable Frankenstein creations. Mains power doesn't need to be stepped down so much, unless all you're trying to do is imitate a battery. How bloody creative lol

@Hopper Labs when you have 18 month RMA times and no access to batteries, people get creative.
A lot of people have given steam to HL for pre-orders, yet here you are following suit chasing the same audience.

Make sure you measure the resistance through that extra bracket. Have you seen @Joel W. notes after trying something very similar, whose attempts pre-date battery unavailability and the RMA backlog?
 
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MoltenTiger

Well-Known Member
I believe that it’s also going to have a battery sled so it can run off 18650’s
yes, this could be of some practical use despite how clunky the set up would be comparatively to a GHB2. And I don't know, I'm always too critical. Perhaps the last sentence is all I needed to add to the existing conversation.
 
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