Maybe this will help some, it's things I recall off the top of my head:
1. Plug it in and charge it. You can use it while charging without damaging your battery or the charging source.
2. Screw on an atty/carto of your choice.
3. When the arm is open approximately 15 degrees or more, the unit powers on but does not fire the atty unless the button is pushed. You can vape it with the arm in approximately 165 degrees of choices, so consider it something of a free goose-neck allowing more ways to situate your cartos/atties/tanks and hold your Darwin more comfortably. As an example, with the arm at 90 degrees, it is nice to be able to lay the Darwin flat on its back with a full tank or atomizer held upright. It won't tip over, and rides great on a car seat that way! When standing up and walking around, you can extend it fully so you don't have to raise your hand as high to get a good hit. This thing is VERY flexible. Flip it and turn it various ways to enjoy using it left or right handed, with thumb or index finger button pushing.
4. When the arm is closed the unit powers down and the screen goes blank.
5. Turn the wheel up to make the coils burn hotter. Turn it down to make it cooler.
6. The display will show the Power/Watts that it will produce when the arm is shifted to the on position. The logo and battery meter will also show. The Ohms, Amps, and Voltage meters will display all zeros. It does not matter the resistance of the atomizer, that is the power it will calculate voltage for and deliver. Yes, you can tune the power wheel while you are vaping. Even mid draw if you like.
7. When you press the button with a working atomizer on the Darwin the display will also show you the resistance of the atomizer in the top right hand corner, the amps the atomizer is drawing in the top center, and the Voltage being applied in the top left. An internal circuit is used to alter the voltage in real time so that the unit delivers the total amount of watts/power you have dialed in. This technology ensures the power remains consistent throughout your draw. Even if the resistance varies during usage, the Darwin will instantly calculate and supply the required voltage to arrive at your set power level as long as the total current of your setting draws 3 or less amps (There is a 3 amp safety limit on current).
If you have a bad atomizer one of two things will happen. The more common scenario is that it just doesn't work anymore. In this case the Darwin will most likely show 12.8 volts with 0 amps and 0 ohms when pushing the button. Try checking the contacts of the atomizer, and any extensions you might have in place where it all screws together. If it keeps reading like this...you probably have a dead atty.
Another thing that can happen: Sometimes atomizers fail in a way that causes a short. In this case the Darwin will most likely just shut itself down. Hard reset it by closing the arm. Wait a moment, and open it again. Check your connections. Is your battery charged? Still not working? Try another atty...does it work? Yep, you had a bad atty.
8. The Darwin also has a battery meter in the top right hand corner. This meter is not very accurate in that it will show a full charge for many hours, and when the voltage of the battery begins to drop it goes pretty fast. It seems that to many of us it's a good idea to find a charge when the meter hits the half way point. Also note that this meter can respond differently to different atomizer resistances. Every single atty will do different things to the battery chemistry. I.E. With a dual coil at 2 Ohms cranked up as high as it will go (around 11 Watts, 5volts, 3 amps), a Darwin at half battery on the meter might only last a few draws, where with a big fat 4 Ohm 801 atty set to a cool 7 watts, around 6ish volts, and well under 2 amps might go on for several more hours. There are just too many variables out there to get a great battery meter without adding alot of extra size/weight/expense to the unit at this time.
9. On some models of the Darwin the screen's back-light will blink periodically. This is normal, and is of the software's design and function.
10. Some Darwins are shipped with a 510 to 510 extension thread locked into place, while others are not locked in. This is to protect the softer brass threads and to give the arm more room to attach more carto types.
11. The Darwin will shut itself down to protect the battery and electronics from shorts or over discharging of the battery. If this happens try closing the arm, charging it for a while, and opening the arm again. If repeated resets don't get it going again, contact
Evolv, LLC.
12. The Darwin can deliver up to 12.7 watts, or down to 4.2 watts according to its wheel. The Maximum Voltage with a fresh battery charge is somewhere around 12 volts. The minimum is around 3.2 volts depending on the atomizer that is attached (Some LR stuff just can't go down as low as 4.2 watts as they call for too much current by nature to achieve this, but for things that can, the voltage can drop to as low as 3.2 volts according to the meter on mine). The top amperage the Darwin allows is somewhere around 3 amps. Once the amperes hit this maximum, the true power delivered to the atomizer will not go any higher (even if your wheel says you can still go higher).
In short, when dialing up, if you hit 3 amps before you reach 12.7, you can keep turning the wheel up, but that is as hot as it is going to get. Three amps is the actual ceiling for safety reasons.
Similarly in reverse, once you get down to 3.2 volts, even if your wheel can still turn lower, that is as low as it will get. Not all atomizers can get that low, so do not be surprised if you run across some LR stuff that never drops below 3.7 volts or so. I am not sure if this minimum power issue on LR atties is due to amps or volts in the circuit design, but hopefully this is a good enough explanation of what is going on. For the most part, you can figure somewhere between 4 and 5 watts will be your minimum for most any carto that doesn't register as an out and out 'short' and cause the thing to shut down for safety.
Obviously, many atomizers can not be turned up too high or they will pop so ease into it. Keep them GOOD AND WET with e-liquid at all times if you like your stuff on the HOT side.
Dual and Triple Coils change the math considerably! These coils are actually high resistance coils that are wired in parallel to give a lower total resistance. What this means to Darwin users, is that they are asking for far more amperes than a normal atomizer to 'attempt' to produce the same total wattage across 'all of the coils'. In short, this throws all of your meters off somewhat since at this time the gals and such inside Darwin are not programed to do the math for parallel multiple coil circuits (it would also call for unfounded assumptions about the resistance of individual coils, there is no way to know this without cracking open the carto, isolating, and measuring each individual coil). Still, you can treat it as you would any other carto. Screw it on, and dial it up or down until you like it. Remember that number as a reference point for future use. Remember that when the current reaches 3 amps, this is when it actually stops delivering more power to the cartomizer.
As for the multiple coil math, within the 3 amp limit, the total watts delivered by the Darwin should be fairly close to what the power setting shows. Where things change is that this 'total power' may be distributed across multiple coils (similar to running 2 40 watt light bulbs instead of one 80 watt bulb). How the heat is distributed across the coils depends upon the design and quality of the cartomizer in question. As a general estimate, if you have two coils with a power setting of 8 on the Darwin, you are probably getting somewhere around 4 watts 'per coil'. This is not precision by any means, but a guess, as we have no way of knowing for sure the exact resistance of each individual coil, and the makers are experimenting with using different resistances for the various coils, and placing them at different positions within the carto for optimal performance.
It is also possible that at some point in the future catomizers might include some sort of pulsing technology to alternate or strobe the current between the various coils very rapidly. In this case, the Darwin will simply deliver the total power asked for by the carto up to the 3 amp limit. Again, just dial to suit taste and enjoy
13. As a general rule of thumb, it is a good idea to get in a habit of turning your power level fairly low when first attaching an atty. You don't want to accidentally pop your favorite LR 306 with it dialed up to 11, or worse, singe off your taste buds or burn your lips on the thing! Ease up to it...
14. The Darwin currently comes with a USA type wall charger (Not sure if the Euro Type is available 'with' the Darwin on order, but any Euro USB charger should work fine). Model and type might vary slightly from batch to batch. Replacements can be ordered from Nhaler (USA type), or found at just about any store that sells USB type chargers. The Darwin can also be plugged into and charged safely via computer USB ports using a USB to mini USB cable. You can also connect it to portable USB power blocks/batteries, or D/C car adapters that are designed to charge laptops, iPods, phones, eReaders, and so on.
15. The Darwin uses li-poly safe chemistry batteries that are soldered into the unit. Battery venting is considered and provided in various points about the chassis that can release pressure/heat away from the user in the rare but possible event of catastrophic battery failure. While you can replace Darwin batteries yourself, it will void any remaining warranty unless otherwise instructed by Evolv. (Somewhere on this thread the exact make and model is mentioned).
Anyone have the exact size and weight of the unit?
I can't guarantee any of this stuff below is correct. It is my understanding...please correct me if it is not accurate!
The Unit is warranted for 2 years provided you do not tamper with it or open it without permission/instructions from Evolv.
The batteries are warranted for 1 year. Currently there aren't many if any batteries out there yet that are not still under warranty, but talk on replacement costs including the installation at Evolv for a fresh set of batteries are rumored to be around $25. Perhaps someone can confirm who pays the shipping and estimated turn around times. Don't quote me on this, it was just my understanding at the time I purchased mine.
Remaining warranty will transfer if you sell your Darwin before it lapses. Make sure you pass on the paper work/receipts so the original start date of the warranty can be confirmed, and so they can fix their their records of who has units.
12. Questions? Need service? Contact:
Evolv, LLC
