Kataphrakyos the trick to soldering is paste with out it any soldering will be substandard
Arlo - dual 18650 DNA20/30 step-by-step how-to
- Thread starter mamu
- Start date
- th_trl_thread_readers 0
- Status
By paste, do you mean flux? I flux all contacts before soldering.
yesWell then thats not the problem
No, I think generally lead-free solder is considered more difficult to work with. I have to try out the regular lead solder to see for myself, but I can tell you that to solder properly, heating the contacts and letting the contacts melt the solder, the lead-free stuff just doesn't work. I suspect the leaded solder will melt more easily via heat transfer from the wires and contacts, and not force me to have to apply heat directly to the solder.
Lead free just needa a higher temp. That it. Crank the heat up you'll be fine.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Thank goodness you had the fuse in there else you might have lost the dna.
Check all input and output wiring from start to finish and check all input and output connections closely - best to do under a magnifying light. Look for stray solder blobs or stray wiring strands that may be touching positive with negative.
Thank You Mamu for providing this guide. I just completed my build of your wonderful design
The only parts I used that are different from those listed on page 2 of the Arlo How to pdf are:
510 to 510 connector, http://www.fasttech.com/products/1411/10003955/1563302
and the fire button, http://http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/E-Switch/PV2H640SS/?qs=%2fha2pyFadujylccInATnxWgtGR3INd9uN2YCU57eL%252bc%3d
For the Mouser fire button, I used nippers to cut away the blue plastic between the two posts to allow room for the + lead wire to go between. And I ground off a little of each terminal screw end so it could screw down flush on the post.
and cut away the middle part of the battery lid so there would be a little room between the lid and terminal screws.
For the Fasttech 510 connector w/nut, I soldered + led to center pin, but did not solder the - connector. Sorry no pics of this at that stage but this is hand drawing of how it is connected. The - wire is stripped enough to feed up through the hole, then the 510 connector and finishing washer is then pushed down through the hole. The ends of the wire were tucked under the finishing washer and I attached the nut. I did not use epoxy under the finishing washer. Then I used plastic weld to hold the nut and wires in place. The finishing washer did need a little persuading to fit. It had to be flattened a little for the nut to reach the threads. And I used a round file to enlarge the hole a tiny bit.
I kept the box covered with blue painters tape to protect the finish and buttons and screen while I was working on the mod. and the wiring. I scratched up a voltage counter project box I built and didn't want that to happen with this project. Good thing too, cause I dropped it, scratched it when it was set down on a screw and once I flipped hot solder on it ... and the tape did protected it
I've been using it for a week or so and it works great. I can't read the display in daylight so I removed the grey plastic and it looks better, to me, so I ordered a clear sample and it should arrive tomorrow. I want something there to protect the screen.
Many thanks to Mamu. i have learned so much reading this thred and your milo thread and some of your others. And to all the other contributors who provided many tips and tricks, thanks.
This has been a really fun project.
The only parts I used that are different from those listed on page 2 of the Arlo How to pdf are:
510 to 510 connector, http://www.fasttech.com/products/1411/10003955/1563302
and the fire button, http://http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/E-Switch/PV2H640SS/?qs=%2fha2pyFadujylccInATnxWgtGR3INd9uN2YCU57eL%252bc%3d
For the Mouser fire button, I used nippers to cut away the blue plastic between the two posts to allow room for the + lead wire to go between. And I ground off a little of each terminal screw end so it could screw down flush on the post.
and cut away the middle part of the battery lid so there would be a little room between the lid and terminal screws.
For the Fasttech 510 connector w/nut, I soldered + led to center pin, but did not solder the - connector. Sorry no pics of this at that stage but this is hand drawing of how it is connected. The - wire is stripped enough to feed up through the hole, then the 510 connector and finishing washer is then pushed down through the hole. The ends of the wire were tucked under the finishing washer and I attached the nut. I did not use epoxy under the finishing washer. Then I used plastic weld to hold the nut and wires in place. The finishing washer did need a little persuading to fit.
It had to be flattened a little for the nut to reach the threads. And I used a round file to enlarge the hole a tiny bit.I kept the box covered with blue painters tape to protect the finish and buttons and screen while I was working on the mod. and the wiring. I scratched up a voltage counter project box I built and didn't want that to happen with this project. Good thing too, cause I dropped it, scratched it when it was set down on a screw and once I flipped hot solder on it ... and the tape did protected it
I've been using it for a week or so and it works great. I can't read the display in daylight so I removed the grey plastic and it looks better, to me, so I ordered a clear sample and it should arrive tomorrow. I want something there to protect the screen.
Many thanks to Mamu. i have learned so much reading this thred and your milo thread and some of your others. And to all the other contributors who provided many tips and tricks, thanks.
This has been a really fun project.
Last edited:
This has been a great experience and the perfect project for my first DNA - but alas, I can't seem to remedy the problem with the dna automatically locking (5 clicks). Also, the left side battery no longer helps power the unit - it's basically a spot to hold a spare battery now. Poking around with a multimeter, I can't find where the problem is.
But that's ok, I think it's time to see if I can dig the chip out without damaging it and try again, but I'm not optimistic I'll save it - that's ok too though, I've learned so much.
I just received 2 new chips in the mail this week. what to do next?
But that's ok, I think it's time to see if I can dig the chip out without damaging it and try again, but I'm not optimistic I'll save it - that's ok too though, I've learned so much.
I just received 2 new chips in the mail this week. what to do next?
I did this yesterday. I had used very little epoxy when building in case I ever wanted to disassemble. Just take it veeeeeery slow and don't apply too much force at any time, and be very careful with the ribbon attaching the screen. I clipped all the wiring, and then used the wires sticking up as a barrier to hold the screen out of the way while prying the epoxy bits off and the DNA30 out.
The 5x locking is most likely either a failed fire switch or you may have a solder blob or stray wire strands touching each other at the DNA board switch pins.
For the left batt - check to make sure your fuse is still connected on both ends. If it got nudged or a connection on one end became loose, you'll need to re-solder the fuse's connections. Also check that your solder is still intact at the positive and negative batt contacts.
OMG!! what are the odds of getting 2 defective chips? My box arrived and I tried round 2 I finally get it all together and I try it every thing works fine I put it down and watch the screan fade to black every thing looks normal I try it again and no display
It works you can hear it fire!
again I think maybe it's it my connection look at them everything looks good! I strip my wiring down to just the power in and the wires to the addy using the onboard buttons same thing it works but no display
I bought both chips from Cloud9 in UK I payed a premium because of supply and demand and still no DNA 30
If I click fire button 5 time it goes in lock mode If I hold fire and down for 5 seconds nothing so it's not in stealth mode
any advice manu?
It works you can hear it fire!
again I think maybe it's it my connection look at them everything looks good! I strip my wiring down to just the power in and the wires to the addy using the onboard buttons same thing it works but no display
I bought both chips from Cloud9 in UK I payed a premium because of supply and demand and still no DNA 30
If I click fire button 5 time it goes in lock mode If I hold fire and down for 5 seconds nothing so it's not in stealth mode
any advice manu?
OMG!! what are the odds of getting 2 defective chips? My box arrived and I tried round 2 I finally get it all together and I try it every thing works fine I put it down and watch the screan fade to black every thing looks normal I try it again and no display
It works you can hear it fire!
again I think maybe it's it my connection look at them everything looks good! I strip my wiring down to just the power in and the wires to the addy using the onboard buttons same thing it works but no display
I bought both chips from Cloud9 in UK I payed a premium because of supply and demand and still no DNA 30
If I click fire button 5 time it goes in lock mode If I hold fire and down for 5 seconds nothing so it's not in stealth mode
any advice manu?
Ah, that's lovely.
I just took apart the DNA30 from my earlier post and resoldered everything. I also soldered up the second board.
Both boards are from Cloud9.
Hooked them up to a breadboard, and can't get either to work properly. One shows an empty battery and is stuck on "Weak Battery", the other reboots every time I try to fire it.
Would be funny if the Cloud9 DNA30s were a bad batch.
OMG!! what are the odds of getting 2 defective chips? My box arrived and I tried round 2 I finally get it all together and I try it every thing works fine I put it down and watch the screan fade to black every thing looks normal I try it again and no display
It works you can hear it fire!
again I think maybe it's it my connection look at them everything looks good! I strip my wiring down to just the power in and the wires to the addy using the onboard buttons same thing it works but no display
I bought both chips from Cloud9 in UK I payed a premium because of supply and demand and still no DNA 30
If I click fire button 5 time it goes in lock mode If I hold fire and down for 5 seconds nothing so it's not in stealth mode
any advice manu?
Sounds like either the screen itself or the cable is damaged, or the cable was loose initially but secure enough to display at first but now has no connection. With a damaged screen/cable or loose cable with no connection the board will still work.
Check with Evolv and explain the problem, they have a warranty.
Sounds like a battery issue or a battery holder contact issue, not a DNA issue.
What you're experiencing is DNA's safety monitoring telling you it will not fire if it senses an issue with either the battery or increased resistance (from a battery with high internal resistance, or low quality battery holder, or battery contacts).
Is your battery fully charged? Are you testing with 1 battery or 2? At what watts are you testing?
If you lower the watts or use 2 batteries in parallel, does the issue go away? If so, then you know it's a battery or battery contact issue or the watts setting is too high and the DNA is telling you that the battery cannot perform at that setting.
Thanks, mamu. Didn't mean to trouble you with this, I just mentioned it because I found it curious that Steamer861 was having issues with DNA30s sourced from the same vendor.
My thought was that the default contacts on the Keystone 1043 and 1048 holders are the issue.
I have tried both a dual battery setup using a Keystone 1048 and dual 3A fuses on each positive wire. I also rigged up a 1042 single battery Keystone 1042 with naked wires, and 2 5Amp fuses in the breadboard itself (to rule out any remaining resistance from 3A fuses that were soldered recently). My 30Amp VTC4s and VTC5s are fully charged, and test out fine with the multimeter.
Are the contacts on these Keystones adequate for the DNA30? My plan was to install the beefier Keystone contacts in the Arlo and wire those directly to the breadboard next.
Thank You manu will it still adjust up and down Watts?
Mine dosent sean to I tried holding the up and down buttons and nothing seams to change You would think there would be a big difference between 7 and 30 watts with mine now there is not
If I tried to remove the onboard up and down switches and it didn't help do you think Evolv would still warranty the board if I sent it back?
Is it possible that it is just stuck in stealth mode?
Mine dosent sean to I tried holding the up and down buttons and nothing seams to change You would think there would be a big difference between 7 and 30 watts with mine now there is not
If I tried to remove the onboard up and down switches and it didn't help do you think Evolv would still warranty the board if I sent it back?
Is it possible that it is just stuck in stealth mode?
This one is funny: I swapped out every piece to identify the culprit. Then I started suspecting something funny with the breadboard. So I soldered one of the DNA30s directly to the battery holder and 510, and it works perfectly.
At least you know you have a good chip
Not any more! I was just finishing it off, tidying up the wiring, and the epoxy accidentally came loose, and the DNA flew off, but he screen didn't - OUCH. I was trying to use as little epoxy as possible - big mistake. Lesson learned.
Look at it this way: I woulda spent more going out on a Saturday night.
In a couple of weeks, I have learned a tremendous amount about electronics, soldering, and myriad other topics.
Thank you, mamu, this tutorial made that possible, as it was the core of my learning experience thus far.
- Status
Similar threads
