Discussing the NicoStick

[Ron43]

Thanks so much Nicowolf for all your work in putting the Nicostick together and helping others with problems. I just finished assembling a few of them and they work like a dream! Nice, consistent vapor without any of that burnt taste. It takes a bit of time to make sure everything is done nice and neat (soldering, hot glueing, etc.) but it is well worth it, esp. considering how much it costs for the various battery mods out there.

Thanks again!

 

[seminolewind]

Well, the connection from the atomizer thing to the button broke from moving around too much. So I put a new button in and soldered it all back together and it doesn't work. I got solder on the top of the button switch, did I ruin it?

 

[crazyhorse]

Maybe but dripping some solder on the body of the switch shouldn't bother anything. Did this solder drip bridge the incoming and outgoing terminals? Do you have a multimeter to test it out and see what's going on?

 

[seminolewind]

Thanks, as far as I can tell, it seems like the problem may be with the atomizer/DC thing. If I screw it on tighter and looser, I sometimes hit a "sweetspot". But most of the time I lose it again when I pull the cart off to refill.

 

[pepruth]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading everything that I can about building my own battery. There are so many great ideas out there, but as I've never soldered a thing in my life I decided the Nicostick would be a good place to start.

It took me 2 tries. The 1st time I melted my switch. So I watched a few youtube videos on soldering. Then I realized that I needed to learn how to use a volt meter. Checked every connection for continuity, and the 2nd time went a lot smoother. I have a DSE901, so after destroying 2 batteries trying to get a connector, I used the N coaxial connector from Radio Shack, made a bridge like shown, and so far it works great. I'm beyond happy.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the input on the Nicostick.

Nicowolf, your pics and descriptions were very easy to follow and encouraged me to try my very 1st mod.

 

[rejoice]

I am still waiting for my helping hands thing to come in the mail. They are very slow on shipping. I got all the other stuff long ago. I am afraid to solder without it. I practiced without it and almost burnt myself. Trying to hold three things at one time. I will wait for that thing to get here!

 

[ApOsTle51]

Thanks, as far as I can tell, it seems like the problem may be with the atomizer/DC thing. If I screw it on tighter and looser, I sometimes hit a "sweetspot". But most of the time I lose it again when I pull the cart off to refill.

I had that issue with one of my atomizers. Screw it in too much and it doesnt work , don't screw it in enough , it doesnt work.

All to do with the Centre pole connection.

Because the atomizer centre contact is floating within a silicon insulator , if you screw it in too far it squashes that insulator to the point the centre contact shorts out on the surrounding outer contact.

What i did to fix this was to add a washer or 2 ( the ones that come with the dc jack ) over the threads of the dc connection once i found the the right height that worked, so i could screw the atomizer in reasonably well and the washers preventing it from being screwed in too far as not to work.

ApO.

 

[seminolewind]

Thanks, Apostle, that may be the problem here, well I thought it was, but with 3 different atomizers-the same problem? I need a voltage meter. But not the one in Radioshack for 29 bucks.
I also didn't solder the right way, I was drip soldering, LOL. I will do it the right way from now on. I'm also not sure I wired right I mean it did work on ocassion, does that mean the wires were wired into the right places?

 

[nicowolf]

Seminolewind, have you tried opening the center pin on the DC Jack? I put an update in the DC Jack thread about it. I think what's happening is that with some atomizers, the center pin from the DC Jack is going into the center part of the atomizer without touching at all. Splitting the center pin along the seam spreads it out a little and it seems to work reliably afterwards.

 

[seminolewind]

Hi Nico, thanks. I'm going to spread the split.
I had copied a better pic of the wiring, and my wiring was different, but it did work (?) for a bit.
I'm going to try cleaning up that jack with the split and spread it. I'm also going to solder correctly, LOL. With new wire, and a wire stripper, LOL. And skinnier solder, the other solder was real fat.
Radio Shack really su*ks. They didn't have the right button switch, and my jack says "coaxial power jack" but looks exactly like the ones being used, and their voltage meter was 29 bucks! Harbor side's is alot cheaper. And the lady in there was totally clueless.
So I guess I'll give it a try in the morning.
But I'm thinking that to get the other one to work, I would screw the atomizer in and out real slow and hit a "sweet spot". Of course when I pulled the cart off, the sweet spot was gone, LOL

I meant Harbor Freight. Oops

 

[crazyhorse]

Go to Harbor Freight seminolewind. They generally have one model of multimeter or another on sale for around $3 or less. The red one or the yellow one work pretty well and you can't beat the price. Buy a few and you can at least ensure consistency if not the ultimate in accuracy.

 

[nicowolf]

Go to Harbor Freight seminolewind. They generally have one model of multimeter or another on sale for around $3 or less. The red one or the yellow one work pretty well and you can't beat the price. Buy a few and you can at least ensure consistency if not the ultimate in accuracy.

I have the red one. I don't know if is accurate or not, but it's close enough that I can tell if I am getting power from point A to point B. As some oldtimers used to say, "It's close enough for government work."

 

[seminolewind]

Thanks, Crazyhorse and Nico. I will be putting an order in with HF. I don't need accuracy, just need to see if there's power from a to b.

 

[Stormynights]

I have a multimeter but I don't know how to use it. I know how to test the batteries with it but that is all I know how to do with it. Can someone tell me how to use it?

 

[seminolewind]

I think you touch one end of a wire (connection) to the next, and see if you have current. Or maybe I need a lesson too. LOL

Or maybe it's positive to negative.

Don't listen to me. I don't know either

 

[seminolewind]

Here's my ordeal. I soldered all the parts together, pressed the button, no hiss. I mentally tortured myself. I undid everything, got new parts and before I did anything, I read how to solder, then practiced. Then I went back and soldered all the parts. Nothing. Now I'm really upset. I decide to widen the slit in the pole that goes into the atomizer. Forgot to turn off the box. Spark!!!, okay, so I can't get the slit wider, so I bend the pole slightly to one side. I press the button . No hiss. I'm ready to cry. Wait, I see a glow. my ATOMIZER IS GLOWING RED!!!!!! I guess it's not supposed to. I tell hubby. He says what kind of wire you using. I did the positive wire that came with the battery holder. But ran out of the black, so I used 20 gauge 300 volt copper wire. Hubby says I can't do that. I know there's some of you laughing out there. So I will be re-wiring my negative wire with the wimpy one that came with the battery holder.

Hopefully my next one won't take 3 days to make.

 

[tdstrike]

for using a meter and checking that all your connections are complete, find the continuity setting on your meter. Sometimes it looks like a horseshoe, sometimes it looks like a volume setting, regardless, hold your probes together and go through your meters settings until you get an audible beep, that is continuity. Now, take one probe and place it against your negative plate(the one where the neg. end of the batt sits) and place the other probe on each connection along the negative path all the way up to your atty connection making sure you get continuity. Do the same thing along your positive path(make sure you push the switch on whatever side + or -) if you get continuity on every connection you should be good to go. Hope this helps anybody.

 

[Stormynights]

for using a meter and checking that all your connections are complete, find the continuity setting on your meter. Sometimes it looks like a horseshoe, sometimes it looks like a volume setting, regardless, hold your probes together and go through your meters settings until you get an audible beep, that is continuity. Now, take one probe and place it against your negative plate(the one where the neg. end of the batt sits) and place the other probe on each connection along the negative path all the way up to your atty connection making sure you get continuity. Do the same thing along your positive path(make sure you push the switch on whatever side + or -) if you get continuity on every connection you should be good to go. Hope this helps anybody.

Are they supposed to have batteries in them? I don't see a place to put batteries. It doesn't beep. It is a rectangular box with a dial on the front and has a red and black wires coming out the front that can be removed. It has settings for DCV ACV DCmA and OHM. Is this what I need?

 

[kinabaloo]

I had that issue with one of my atomizers. Screw it in too much and it doesnt work , don't screw it in enough , it doesnt work.

All to do with the Centre pole connection.

Because the atomizer centre contact is floating within a silicon insulator , if you screw it in too far it squashes that insulator to the point the centre contact shorts out on the surrounding outer contact.

What i did to fix this was to add a washer or 2 ( the ones that come with the dc jack ) over the threads of the dc connection once i found the the right height that worked, so i could screw the atomizer in reasonably well and the washers preventing it from being screwed in too far as not to work.

ApO.

This is a good tip

By looking at the relative thread lengths and depth of centre contacts one can work out the space needed to fill up with washers (if necessary). Or be aware when center contact is made when attaching the atty and notice how much extra thread (if any) there is.

A 0.5mm press-in is ok (good even); but too much and the atty's center pin might pop-out /short-out.

 

[abudman]

Are they supposed to have batteries in them? I don't see a place to put batteries. It doesn't beep. It is a rectangular box with a dial on the front and has a red and black wires coming out the front that can be removed. It has settings for DCV ACV DCmA and OHM. Is this what I need?

Yes, this is what you want, set it to Ohm and touch the two leads together, if the needle moves then the batteries are good. Not all meters beep. If the needle doesn't move you have to take the front or the back off to get to the batteries.