Homemade Resistor Disc - Or How to Make Any 6v/7.2v Mod into ~5v Modularly

[lunaras]

This thread explains how to make any mod capable of running at 6v or 7.2v into 5v to hit the sweet spot, without making any modifications to the unit itself.

This started as out when I got my Chuck a couple weeks ago. The 3.7v using an 18650 @3000 mah was great and so much more consistent than using my Blu. I decided to try HV vaping using 2x LiFePo4 16350 bats and when I did I found, the flavor was incredibly burnt and tasted awful. I tinkered around a bit and found that the bats were running 3.95v off the charger and so I was getting almost 8v through my atty. After letting them sit for a while, they dropped to 3.3v like they should be at full charge and I tried again. The experience was much better, but still a bit harsh, so I set out to find an easy way to drop the voltage a bit without having to modify my Chuck directly.

I found it.

Parts list:

• A well ventilated area to work in
• Liquid Electrical Tape (I found mine at Wal-Mart, in the automotive wiring area)
• Graphite Lock Lubricant (again at Wal-Mart, at the key making counter)
• A washer with the same or smaller inside diameter as the battery tube of you mod of choice
• Wax paper to work on
• A disposable container for mixing
• A disposable mixing stick, such as a toothpick
• Measuring spoons (optional)

Construction steps:

1. Spread out enough wax paper that you can comfortably work.
2. Place your washer on wax paper.
3. Place about 1/2 tsp. of liquid electrical tape into your disposable container.
4. Add an equal amount of graphite to the container. This will take some experimentation to achieve the desired results; more graphite gives less resistance, but also makes the mixture more brittle when dry.
5. Mix thoroughly using toothpick. This gives you a homemade version of the commercial product "wire glue". This product may work for this purpose as well, but you would still have to add graphite to change its resistance.
6. Take your mixture and fill in the hole of the washer. Make sure it is completely filled with no air bubbles and is as smooth as possible. You can use another piece of wax paper and press on it some to help smooth and even it out (don't use your fingers, liquid tape is pretty hard to get off).
7. Wait until it is some what dried, usually less than an hour, but depends on the graphite content.
8. Prop the washer up on something like a couple toothpicks to allow air flow on both sides. This significantly speeds up the drying time.
9. Allow to fully dry.
10. Remove your resistor disc from the center of the washer.
11. Done!

Now, this ratio of liquid tape to graphite is going to vary depending on your resistance needs, if you need more resistance, lower the graphite content, if you need less resistance, add more graphite. I have successfully used up to about 1 part liquid tape to 3 parts graphite, but the end product is very brittle.

The disc I made using the above recipe reads about 10 ohms on my multimeter from one flat surface to the other, exactly opposite each other. Now this sounds like a lot, but the disc is still somewhat flexible and when this disc is compressed by the batteries and spring, the carbon particles are pressed closer together and the resistance drops. This gives me a vape right around 5.5v (unloaded) when my batteries are at 6.6v.

Drop your batteries and the disc in the tube. Order doesn't really matter since the resistance from the edge of the disc to the center, where the battery contacts is hundreds, if not thousands of ohms. If you're worried about leaking current in this manner, take some of your liquid electrical tape and coat the edges of the disc, leaving the center on both sides clear for the contacts and let dry according to the directions.

I'll post some pics tomorrow of the process and end result.

Enjoy!

[lunaras]

Reserved for pics.

[doots]

lol. how did you ever come up with this? Does it really lower to about 5v output?? pretty cool.

How big of hole in the center does it have to be? does it matter?

[Wireguy]

Sounds good. I'll be interested in how it stands up over time. Not like you couldn't make them a dozen at a time.

I'll definitely play with this after I finish the 3 mods I'm working on. I never liked the regulators etc.

Thanks.

[lunaras]

Yep, mine makes 6v down to 5.0-5.4v depending on the charge level. Depending on the thickness of the disc you make and the amount of graphite, you can make one that makes 7.2 (2x 3.6v bats) down to 5v. It just may take a little trial and error.

[Wireguy]

lol. how did you ever come up with this? Does it really lower to about 5v output??

It was discussed in another thread. Or he could have come up with it on his own.

I guess I'm posting for the heck of it.

[doots]

Very nice idea for us HV Users!

[lunaras]

Sounds good. I'll be interested in how it stands up over time. Not like you couldn't make them a dozen at a time.

I'll definitely play with this after I finish the 3 mods I'm working on. I never liked the regulators etc.

Thanks.

I agree, my experience with regulators and transistros didn't work well. This disc still wastes energy like a resistor, but so far it has no problems overheating or anything like that after 3 days of heavy vaping, so I'm hopeful that it'll last a while.

[lunaras]

It was discussed in another thread. Or he could have come up with it on his own.

I guess I'm posting for the heck of it.

I was discussing wire glue with another user on a thread and the high resistance of it gave me this idea and I finally got around to building it. If it came from another thread, then I haven't seen it and I apologize to the poster for stealing the idea.

[Some Guy]

I thinks this is a good idea. I toyed with the idea of mixing conductive epoxy with regular epoxy to get the desired resistance.
I like how your little disc could just be dropped under the spring or above it and not take up any space hardly at all. And no soldering on a metal housing type mod. Good way to save space.
Cheers