Arlo - dual 18650 DNA20/30 step-by-step how-to

[moflicky]

After a week or so of using mine, suddenly my dna is locking on me, without the 5 fire button clicks. It started yesterday - I'd take a pull and get nothing - look at the screen and it says "locked". 5 clicks and it's back.

thinking about it, I see only a couple of things that could be causing it. a short in the fire button or a short in the fire wire connections to the board.

I'm betting on my terrible soldering skilz as the culprit, but has this happened to anyone else with a dna?

 

[Aal_]

I had the up button stuck because of juice going into the chip.

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[moflicky]

I'm going to build a box out of this stuff:

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2083042/37682/SpectraPly-Gem-Wood-3-x-3-x-11-12.aspx

 

[ccv1]

I have mine together. I'm thinking I must have been to rough with the ribbon wire or something. My screen doesn't light up. Everything seems to be working otherwise. Pressing the fire button 5 times makes it go into locked mode. It fires when I hit the fire button. I have no idea what watt setting I'm on. I guess I can just hit the watts down button like 30 times and I should be on 7 watts and then count my clicks up from there? What would the general consensus be, is this thing safe to use without a working screen?


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[moflicky]

I have mine together. I'm thinking I must have been to rough with the ribbon wire or something. My screen doesn't light up. Everything seems to be working otherwise. Pressing the fire button 5 times makes it go into locked mode. It fires when I hit the fire button. I have no idea what watt setting I'm on. I guess I can just hit the watts down button like 30 times and I should be on 7 watts and then count my clicks up from there? What would the general consensus be, is this thing safe to use without a working screen?

ouch, sorry about your luck.

I can't speak to "safe", but the clicks are in 0.1 watt increments, so 10 clicks = 1 watt. Hold the down button down and it will start scrolling quickly - hold it down about 10-15 seconds and it should reach bottom.

 

[ccv1]

ouch, sorry about your luck.

I can't speak to "safe", but the clicks are in 0.1 watt increments, so 10 clicks = 1 watt. Hold the down button down and it will start scrolling quickly - hold it down about 10-15 seconds and it should reach bottom.

Great information to have. Thank you.


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[JohnnyDill]

-I finally completed my Vamo powered Arlo box. The screen cradle was scratch built from stainless steel, as was the 510 top cap I mentioned earlier. The batteries orientation was reversed, which greatly reduces wiring distances. {with the Vamo PCB.} The fire switch LED operates via a PN2222A transistor & a 100K resistor triggered by current from the atomizer. The carbon fiber vinyl is a nice touch.

This project was very tedious. Many problems came up as it was being built up, but in the end, I just LOVE this mod. Thank you to all who gave advice to me and a big thanks to Mamu.

 

[JohnnyDill]

Here it is with a Russian clone atty.

 

[moflicky]

Here it is with a Russian clone atty.
View attachment 330532

very nice JohnnyD. sticking with it!

 

[ccv1]

Here it is with a Russian clone atty.
View attachment 330532

That looks awesome! I love the carbon fiber look.


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[mamu]

Congratz and well done Johnny!!

Love the ss cradle you made! That must have been time consuming, but well worth it for sure. Love the carbon fiber too.

Now the best part... vaping with a mod you made yourself!!

 

[Steamer861]

I have to start by saying a Big Thank You to mamu with out Her excellent step by step tutorial My Arlo would have not bin posable
An Arlo with a Twist or should I say a Squonk! I really love my Reo's so I wanted a Bottom Feeder DNA 30 Mod
I used a top cap from a broken nemesis I had and drilled out the the 510 connection so I could soldered in a 510 that could be Bottom Feed
I also had to grind the lower base of the top cap were the original threads were so it would be small enough to make a hole thru the plastic box with out loosing the whole top
I used a rebuild kit from my Reo to make the bottom Feeder setup Thanks Rob
I still have to make a squonk hole in the removable front plastic piece not looking forward to that But it works
Thank You mamu

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[Kataphraktos]

That is superb! I think the cut out for squonking may have sharp edges. I suggest using some sort of rubber beveling on the resulting edge to make it soft. It will also cover any imperfections, which is important with plastic cut by hand.

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[mamu]

Well done Steamer and congratz on getting er done!!

 

[moflicky]

sweet steamer! I like it.

 

[Steamer861]

What a Sad day for Me My BF Arlo started to act up after a few hours of Vaping Bliss at 21 watts All of a sudden the watts would go up to 30 watts all by it's self! and be stuck there
I naturally thought the up switch had stuck or malfunctioned so I unsoldered it completely I was able to bring the watts down to 21 again and I thought all was good again but the next morning it was at 30 watts again!
With no up switch connected I could not get it to come down I spent at least 20 hours fooling around with it double and triple checking all my connections and wiring NO GO
It's a good thing I did not use too much epoxy and was able to remove the DNA 30 with out totally destroying it
next build I will use Mamu's Chip Cradle to hold the chip just in case and plumbers putty to adhere the bezel
I contacted Evolv and they said I could return the chip for a new one
So after all that waiting and work I had to destroy my Awesome New Toy I was able to save all my parts for reuse except the plastic box and the shape ways bezel
Lucky for me I ordered 2 of every thing cause I wanted to build 2 Arlos
The only thing I don't have yet is the plastic box (white one)it is expected to show up before May 15th and then i can start over again
I will all so need another Plastic box and shape ways bezel to complete a second Arlo
like I said a truly Sad Day

 

[mamu]

That's a bummer for sure.

Did you try to remove the onboard up watts button to see if that would solve the issue? I've had a few where the onboard watts button itself was the issue so removed it. I simply slip the edge of my craft knife barely under the onboard watts button and pop it off being careful that I don't affect the traces.

 

[Steamer861]

No I did not I really didn't want to play with the DNA chip too much I was worried I would damage it I have played with electronic mods before and I know how easy it is to screw up traces and boards in general
It was an intermittent problem it worked fine for a bit and then all of a sudden it happened again so this kind of problem I really want to steer clear of if it's a black and white problem it's ok but some thing that comes and goes is like a ghost in the DNA
Evolv will replace it and it is the most expensive part of the Arlo
on a positive note I ordered an other Black box and a bezel and 2 chip holder cradles didn't cost me too much and I now have a bit of experience cutting up the plastic box so next time it will be easier
for the short time I used it it was Impressive!! I had a custom drilled BF Helios dual coil .7 ohms @ 21 watts It was making clouds like Rip Trippers LOL
Thanks Again mamu

That's a bummer for sure.

Did you try to remove the onboard up watts button to see if that would solve the issue? I've had a few where the onboard watts button itself was the issue so removed it. I simply slip the edge of my craft knife barely under the onboard watts button and pop it off being careful that I don't affect the traces.

 

[Kataphraktos]

I finished up my first-ever mod, a slightly modified Arlo in a white case last night. The DNA30 works, power up/down work, charger works, even the LED lights up. I put batteries in both slots, but it fried the battery in the right slot. Damage seemed to be isolated to the area right next to the positive battery contact. It looks like a problem in the positive battery contact, possibly a bad fuse. The mod works perfectly with a single battery in the left slot alone.

I will be cutting out and rebuilding the right-hand positive battery contact including wiring and fuses. Could this be a result of errant epoxy on the battery contact? Or does this sound more like the fuses are the culprit?

Edit: Thank you, mamu, for a great tutorial. I could write a full page listing all the lessons I learned in doing this first build.

Edit: ignore my comment on epoxy on the battery contact causing this, I just saw the Jax uses glue on the contacts, so that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Kataphraktos]

OK, so I ripped out the positive contacts and wiring, and installed brand new wiring and fuses. When I placed batteries in the mod, the right-hand fuse started heating up immediately, got too hot to touch. So it wasn't the positive wiring or the fuses causing this. This means there is a short somewhere, likely in the negative contacts or wiring. This kind of sucks, since I'll have to completely disassemble to de-solder and re-solder everything. Ah, well.

I suspect my soldering was sub-optimal. This is my first time soldering anything, and I tied to go straight to lead-free solder, which I've read is much more difficult to work with than regular solder.