5v regulator

[h8isgr8]

I just tried the converter out on a small 530mAh protected cell (flat style). It works OK, but the protection board gets too hot to touch after about 2-3 seconds of use. It does continue to work though.

I measured the current draw on the PTN04050C input and it starts out at ~4A and then starts dropping down to around ~3.5A after about 5 seconds. This is probably a little more current draw than you get with your 18650. The reason it is that high with this small cell is the PTN04050C is drawing more current to compensate for the higher voltage drop of this cell. I only measure ~3A current draw with my larger unprotected cell.

When I was testing the small protected cell I didn't have any capacitors connected to the board and the voltage output stayed rock stable at 4.99V under load.

I don't think I will add any capacitance at all in future mods with this since it seems to work fine without it. The capacitance is more for ripple reduction than anything else, but I could care less how much ripple there is.

 

[radwor]

I just tried the converter out on a small 530mAh protected cell (flat style). It works OK, but the protection board gets too hot to touch after about 2-3 seconds of use. It does continue to work though.

I measured the current draw on the PTN04050C input and it starts out at ~4A and then starts dropping down to around ~3.5A after about 5 seconds. This is probably a little more current draw than you get with your 18650. The reason it is that high with this small cell is the PTN04050C is drawing more current to compensate for the higher voltage drop of this cell. I only measure ~3A current draw with my larger unprotected cell.

When I was testing the small protected cell I didn't have any capacitors connected to the board and the voltage output stayed rock stable at 4.99V under load.

I don't think I will add any capacitance at all in future mods with this since it seems to work fine without it. The capacitance is more for ripple reduction than anything else, but I could care less how much ripple there is.

I just tried my 510 with the PTN04050CAD /w no caps, connected to 1 18500 and it worked fine. If the battery protection was tripped I didn't notice. I think I'll do this in the 9v box mod.

 

[Nuck]

I just tried my 510 with the PTN04050CAD /w no caps, connected to 1 18500 and it worked fine. If the battery protection was tripped I didn't notice. I think I'll do this in the 9v box mod.

All the 18500's Ive seen don't have a protection pcb. Are you sure you are using protected bats?

 

[Nuck]

I just tried the converter out on a small 530mAh protected cell (flat style). It works OK, but the protection board gets too hot to touch after about 2-3 seconds of use. It does continue to work though.

I measured the current draw on the PTN04050C input and it starts out at ~4A and then starts dropping down to around ~3.5A after about 5 seconds. This is probably a little more current draw than you get with your 18650. The reason it is that high with this small cell is the PTN04050C is drawing more current to compensate for the higher voltage drop of this cell. I only measure ~3A current draw with my larger unprotected cell.

When I was testing the small protected cell I didn't have any capacitors connected to the board and the voltage output stayed rock stable at 4.99V under load.

I don't think I will add any capacitance at all in future mods with this since it seems to work fine without it. The capacitance is more for ripple reduction than anything else, but I could care less how much ripple there is.

Hopefully it will be possible to reduce that draw using capacitors and larger bats. I remember reading that anything over 3 amps will shorten the life of a li-ion bat so I'm targeting that as the top end.

 

[radwor]

All the 18500's Ive seen don't have a protection pcb. Are you sure you are using protected bats?

Yes I think so.. UltraFire LC18500 rechargeable with re/discharge protection circut.

 

[Nuck]

Yes I think so.. UltraFire LC18500 rechargeable with re/discharge protection circut.

I'm going to have to get some for testing. I always wondered if they use a standard protection pcb or they are set based on the mah of the battery. If you find your bats are not cutting out (mine cut out over 30% of the time with no caps) then it seems the pcb's are tailored for the bat model (or they have changed the settings on newer bats).

Do you have a link to where I can get some? I couldn't find any on DX or batteryjunction where I usually go.

 

[radwor]

I'm going to have to get some for testing. I always wondered if they use a standard protection pcb or they are set based on the mah of the battery. If you find your bats are not cutting out (mine cut out over 30% of the time with no caps) then it seems the pcb's are tailored for the bat model (or they have changed the settings on newer bats).

Do you have a link to where I can get some? I couldn't find any on DX or batteryjunction where I usually go.

I got the combo from here COMBO: Ultrafire WF-139 Lithium Ion Charger / 2 Ultrafire 18500 1600mah 3.7v Batteries

 

[Nuck]

I got the combo from here COMBO: Ultrafire WF-139 Lithium Ion Charger / 2 Ultrafire 18500 1600mah 3.7v Batteries

Holy crap..I'm blind.

Thanks man.

I just went and looked and they have this:

http://www.batteryjunction.com/prcimopfor3l.html

The cutoff is supposed to be 2a which it definitely going to be popped without caps. I'm really not sure why yours is working reliably but its worth exploring. If you still have the circuit set up could you try other bat models?

 

[radwor]

Holy crap..I'm blind.

Thanks man.

I just went and looked and they have this:

Protection circuit Module (PCB) for 3.6V(3.7V) Li-ion (18650/18500) cell Battery

The cutoff is supposed to be 2a which it definitely going to be popped without caps. I'm really not sure why yours is working reliably but its worth exploring. If you still have the circuit set up could you try other bat models?

Nuck, My test was not what I would call indication of reliabilty I did it w/ jumpers.I had help holding the jumpers to the batt and I worked the atty, fortunately I didn't short anything when I toked the atty a few times and there were no problems. Was just the quickest way to test it thats all.

 

[h8isgr8]

The cutoff is supposed to be 2a which it definitely going to be popped without caps.

Nuck, don't be so sure caps are going to be a cure-all. They will help tame current ripple which some protection boards might be sensitive too, but they won't do anything when it comes to the average current draw of the converter.

A 3R atty will draw ~1.66A @ 5V.

5V x 1.66A = 8.3W

Assuming an input voltage of 4V and 90% efficiency (realistically much less), the current draw will be ~2.3A (even higher at lower input voltages).

Unfortunately, capacitors can't change ohms law.

 

[Nuck]

Nuck, don't be so sure caps are going to be a cure-all. They will help tame current ripple which some protection boards might be sensitive too, but they won't do anything when it comes to the average current draw of the converter.

A 3R atty will draw ~1.66A @ 5V.

5V x 1.66A = 8.3W

Assuming an input voltage of 4V and 90% efficiency (realistically much less), the current draw will be ~2.3A (even higher at lower input voltages).

Unfortunately, capacitors can't change ohms law.

Yeah..even with my 801 atties, the current will come in at about 2A. If a 2A limit is common to all PCB boards it may just be unrealistic. I'll have to look around at other protection PCB's to see what is available.

 

[Nuck]

It turns out that most boards seem to be tailored for the battery they are used with and are rated based on the battery capacity. 1C seems to be very common but I did find this:

Li-Ion 18650 3.7V 2600mAh rechargeable battery FULLY PROTECTED with PCB Lithium Ion

This battery at 1.5C discharge max can manage up to 3.9A before the protection kicks in which makes it perfect for an 18650 mod I'm working on. It may not be a universal solution, but it is A solution

Btw..the 18500 posted earlier can handle up to 2.4amp which makes it borderline. It might work fine depending on the atomizer model used.

 

[warp1900]

I didn't want to add one more thread just to ask a question...

Can I use the same TI 5v regulator for a wall wart?

Since I have a bunch of them that run on higher voltage (12v, 9v mainly), I have really no use for them, but if I could add the regulator to my passthrough, I would be able to use most any wall supply?

That would be just perfect!]



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[mnealtx]

Don't see why you couldn't - although your passthrough then wouldn't work on anything LESS than 5.5v or so.

 

[warp1900]

Don't see why you couldn't - although your passthrough then wouldn't work on anything LESS than 5.5v or so.

That is fine since I have made myself about 8 different passthroughs and I can modify one of them with the regulator.

The other option would be a little box that houses the regulator that has and input output jack so I can plug the wall wart in it and the passthrough on the output.

I'm gonna try later on today and I will post results.


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[h8isgr8]

I didn't want to add one more thread just to ask a question...

Can I use the same TI 5v regulator for a wall wart?

Since I have a bunch of them that run on higher voltage (12v, 9v mainly), I have really no use for them, but if I could add the regulator to my passthrough, I would be able to use most any wall supply?

That would be just perfect!]



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I think a traditional "wall-wart" transformer would be completely impractical with the current draw needed for an atomizer. They happen to be large at >1A current ratings, have very poor self regulation, and tend to heat up a lot when overworked.

Besides, 5V ~1A switching style adapters (common for cell phones) are abundant these days. These are efficient, small, and usually well regulated.

 

[warp1900]

I think a traditional "wall-wart" transformer would be completely impractical with the current draw needed for an atomizer. They happen to be large at >1A current ratings, have very poor self regulation, and tend to heat up a lot when overworked.

Besides, 5V ~1A switching style adapters (common for cell phones) are abundant these days. These are efficient, small, and usually well regulated.

I have been using this for about 2 months every day now and works great.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ore-worries-batt-connectors-7.html#post485575

No considerable heat coming off the casing, and it is very small, (1.5 inch square), and BTW it cost only $3.97.


I am not sure if I understood what you mean, but the ones I would try to use are all above 1300 mA.
I have 3 cellphone adapters and they are all below 500 mA, I can't use those anyway.


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[h8isgr8]

I have been using this for about 2 months every day now and works great.

Yes, that's a switching supply.

I thought you were talking about traditional linear transformer based supplies. If not, then that makes using a linear regulator attached to a switching supply even more impractical.

 

[warp1900]

Yes, that's a switching supply.

I thought you were talking about traditional linear transformer based supplies. If not, then that makes using a linear regulator attached to a switching supply even more impractical.

Thanks for the input h8, but with all the tech talk, I am more confused than when I got started.
I don't even know what a traditional linear transformer is, to me, they are all transformers, lol.
All I want, is to give a new life to the old wall transformers from different devices I've had sitting in a drawer for ages.

Impractical why?


Lets take this example:

A 9VAC @ 1300 mA wall wart, adding an inline UCC383TDKTTT-5G3 regulator.




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[mnealtx]

The only problem I see with that is the constant voltage to the regulator...heat *could* end up being a problem.