Authentic Storm Box 150w box mod

[thekraut]

Still going strong?

Still going strong! No complaints at all. Works as intended. The firing switch has no tacticle feeling, it aint no clicky cklicky thingy! But you can change thte button with ease i guess...

 

[KennedyKills]

Seeing the picture it looks just fine to someone who doesn't know much about wiring. To someone who does the glaring issues are as plain as day.

The red wires (some versions use other colors) look to be #16 or #18 are coming directly from the battery sled going straight to the switch, off the switch it goes to the board, then power goes through the board, gets converted and leaves at other end of the board going to the 510, through the atty, back from the 510 (now black) to the board and from the board back to the sled completing the loop. As pictured the switch is carrying 100% of the load, there's no question.

The wiring is technically OK, but the circuit design is absolute garbage.

Knowing that I was still close to pulling the trigger on one of these things, because I could fix the switching and add low voltage cut off with ease, but then I thought about the DC-DC converter for a second. Considering the circuit is designed for premature failure, there's no chance at all that they'd put in an actual 150W converter, rather than a much lower rated board being pushed way over specification. All that leads to one conclusion, these are price point build devices intentionally built to fail, or more appropriately are built to a price point made to last just long enough to make it through the warranty period.

Out of the box, these things will deliver, they sure as hell aren't designed to last much longer than they absolutely have to though.

So would you be able to change out the switch on failure? Also is there any danger in the switch failing or will it just stop firing?

Had mine for 2 weeks now and it's great so far. Didn't realize these issues when I ordered it, but for 35 bucks... eh. lol

 

[Mike 586]

Yeah, you'd be able to change it if it failed, and its most likely the thing that would fail.

Look at it this way, you're getting you're money's worth. 35 bucks for a mod you can fix no matter what part fails on it isn't a bad purchase at all. The switch is easy, if the board ever fails it would take a little more to replace because you'd likely have to use a substitute. Other than the box itself, every last part on the thing could be replaced with commonly available, off the shelf parts.

Personally I'm thinking of buying one just to see what I could do with it. Its cheap, boating season is pretty much over (I need a winter hobby) up here, so why not? Even after upgrading it, it'll still cost less than the 3 I'm building from scratch.

 

[thekraut]

Yeah, you'd be able to change it if it failed, and its most likely the thing that would fail.

Look at it this way, you're getting you're money's worth. 35 bucks for a mod you can fix no matter what part fails on it isn't a bad purchase at all. The switch is easy, if the board ever fails it would take a little more to replace because you'd likely have to use a substitute. Other than the box itself, every last part on the thing could be replaced with commonly available, off the shelf parts.

Personally I'm thinking of buying one just to see what I could do with it. Its cheap, boating season is pretty much over (I need a winter hobby) up here, so why not? Even after upgrading it, it'll still cost less than the 3 I'm building from scratch.

That was the reason why i bought one... I will change the switch for sure but not sure to what. The board works fine but if it starts having issues I will change it as well.

 

[sd3614]

Still going strong! No complaints at all. Works as intended. The firing switch has no tacticle feeling, it aint no clicky cklicky thingy! But you can change thte button with ease i guess...

Got mine yesterday. So far so good.

Very comfortable little box and it seems to be made pretty well.

 

[thekraut]

Got mine yesterday. So far so good.

Very comfortable little box and it seems to be made pretty well.

Glad you like it. I run mine mostly with an Origen V3... perfect desk mod. I am thinking about getting a kill switch for it...