Dna 20 battery level issues

[unclerj]

Thanks in advance all!

I recently received a custom dna 20 mod as an Xmas gift from a dear friend.

This one uses two each 18650 batteries.

From my research, I am led to believe that the battery level indicator should reach rock bottom and the check battery warning should show up about 3.1 volts.

I am currently rotating a dedicated pair of Efest 18650 2,000 mAh batts and a pair of Samsung 2,600 mAh batts.

The battery charge indicator shows empty and the check battery warning is displayed and with each pair, when I remove them for charge they read right at 3.55v and not at the 3.1v I am expecting.

My friend is not the modder but I want to see if I can get some answers before I contact the dude that built it so I can at least pretend I know what I am talking about.

I love the sucker to death.

Even more so that a friend went out of their way (and pocketbook) to surprise me with it so I want the sucker to work correctly for more than one reason.

And yes, I have sent a message to Evolv and I have not heard a response back yet. I realize he has a great rep and just has not had a chance to respond to my message yet. One of Ten Thousand no doubt but I want to get this taken care of before the warranty is up!

Thanks so much in advance for your help my vaping brothers and sisters!

 

[retird]

Is it possible to post a picture of the mod and a picture of the inside of the mod? There can be multiple reasons for what you are experiencing.....the pictures may help us figure out what's going on.....rather than just guessing...

 

[turbocad6]

yes the dna20 is pretty robust but it requires wiring and contacts that are really adequate and this is more up to the modder than the dna itself. wiring should be 20 gauge for all the in/out power leads the dna can only "see" and measure what it actually receives at the board and it's up to the mods electrical circuits integrity to deliver this... not all dna20 mods are created equal even though all the dna20 chips themselves may be... most faults are with the mods circuitry or the battery and not the dna itself

 

[bapgood]

What type of watts are you running and what is your coil ohm?

It's most likely your batteries. All batteries will have vdrop under load and some are worse than others. Honestly 3.55v unloaded sounds pretty good for efest's.

The 3.1 voltage cutoff is under load so even with top performing batteries and low wattage setting your going to be up around 3.3v or greater.

So it all kind of depends on your wattage setting and your batteries, but I would say in general 3.55v unloaded isn't to bad.

 

[WarHawk-AVG]

Could be dirty contacts and voltage loss across those contacts

 

[bapgood]

Turbocad.....your bit about the single ground is a little misleading, since the DNA won't fire unless the output circuit is complete with either the ground going back to the board or using the housing/etc and going directly back to the battery.

 

[retird]

Oh well since we are just guessing here..... my guess will be that it is not a bad DNA20d board......

In any event, you might just contact the modder who built it about the issue.....surely he can resolve the issue....

 

[turbocad6]

Yeah I edited that bit out, no need to confuse the situation even more

 

[mamu]

You can't realistically expect the unloaded voltage of a batt to be the same as loaded voltage - all batts no matter the quality will have some kind of voltage drop under load.

What I'm saying is that it doesn't matter what the batts are unloaded, but what they are dropping to under load (in your case they are dropping from 3.55v unloaded to 3.1v under load - the reason why the DNA won't fire).

0.45 voltage drop under load is not a horrible voltage drop under load, but it's not that great either as quality batts normally give around 0.2v drop under load. Also, you have to consider at what watts you vape at - the higher the watts the higher the drain on the batts - the higher the voltage drop.

Efest batts with their high internal resistance will cut out at higher unloaded voltage - so what you're experiencing is normal.

ETA: this is assuming the modder used 20ga wiring for input/output and that the batt contacts are low contact resistance. If this is the case, then it's fully a batt issue.

ETA2 FYI - dual 18650 Efest batts cut out on me at 3.8v unloaded with the DNA20D - I vape at 15W with a 1.5 ohm dual coil RBA.

 

[bapgood]

You can't realistically expect the unloaded voltage of a batt to be the same as loaded voltage - all batts no matter the quality will have some kind of voltage drop under load.

What I'm saying is that it doesn't matter what the batts are unloaded (in your case they are dropping from 3.55v unloaded to 3.1v under load - the reason why the DNA won't fire).

0.45 voltage drop under load not a horrible voltage drop under load, but it's not that great either as quality batts normally give around 0.2v drop under load. Also, you have to consider at what watts you vape at - the higher the watts the higher the drain on the batts - the higher the voltage drop.

Efest batts with their high internal resistance will cut out at higher unloaded voltage - so what you're experiencing is normal.

That is what I meant to say if my post was unclear

 

[mamu]

That is what I meant to say if my post was unclear

Yes I know and your post was clear in that - but sometimes it never hurts to say it again... and again... and again til people understand about unloaded and loaded voltages.

 

[bapgood]

lol.....I never know if my ramblings make sense....and I agree with repetition

 

[unclerj]

Thanks again for all of your help!

Once again just to explain in simple manner just how simple I am myself!

I have attached a photo of my mod.

Which I really do love!

To answer your questions, I have mostly been using and IClear 30 that reads at 2.1 ohms at 10.5 watts.

In a few days, I will be able to provide some less than informative pictures. For the moment the Mrs. is away and took the camera with her.

As for the internal wiring, not much to show. The thing opens just enough to replace the batteries with none of the good stuff (like the Dna board or wiring showing).

As I am a complete Klutz I am not going to force the issue as I really don't want to break it. Which I will if I try to oursmart it. I am just no good with tools. Trust me!

However, there are some pretty long and forgiving springs at the negative/bottom end so IMHO it can take any 18650 on the market. I am also told it will run on just one battery.

Is this "info" of any use to you?

Thanks again!!!

Unc

 

[bapgood]

Unc, I think your fairly good to go to just enjoy it. You might try a pair of the Sony 30a 2100mah.

I know there are other good batteries out there, but I can vouch for these as I have been using them everyday for about a month now and they are performing great.

 

[retird]

So, with the setup you are using how much vape time are you getting between charges or how many ml. of juice you going thru?

 

[mamu]

If the modder used the batt spring contacts that come with that case, then part of the problem is right there - those batt spring contacts are high contact resistance and will cause the batt to sag under load with the DNA. Not as much of an issue with the OKR, but huge issue with the DNA.

I tested those contacts when working with that case and the DNA and they are horrible for contact resistance.

I would replace those contacts with Keystone C size contacts for both positive and negative and you'll notice a way improved unloaded voltage cut off.

but still - those Efest batts are pos with their high internal resistance. So with the batt contacts having a high contact resistance and the batt has high internal resistance - you got double duty resistance going on.

 

[retird]

Great catch mamu...... sometimes "a picture is worth a thousand words".......

 

[Jawden]

alright, youve had some ECF "legends" (if i may) already post here but i recently purchased a dna20 mod off the classys here and was running into a similar situation. my experience was receiving alternating error messages. i.e. sometimes it would say "check atomizer" and others it would say "check/weak battery" but i knew it wasnt the battery because i had brand new sony vtc4's in there and i just charged them. i knew it wasnt the atomizer because i did get lucky once every few fires to be able to take a pull and the atty fired fine. i was lost and had no clue what was wrong. i was quickly questioning my purchase of my first regulated mod...

i contacted the member i bought it from and he was unaware of the problem. apologized and refunded me for the price of my batteries, even though i told him that it was unnecessary.

anyway, i contacted the original modder through facebook and he informed me that the battery holders he used had fuses that were unsuitable and were known for giving problems. he figured this after he had produced and sold his creation, of course.

so he asked to send it back to him and he'd replace the holders with a li-po pack.

im not saying any of the previous posters are wrong. and i didnt read all of their posts thoroughly either.

just wanted to chime in on my experience on a possible problem/solution.

hope you figure it out!

 

[williebb123]

i think mamu hit the nail on the head about the springs i just wanted to add about taking readings on the batts with a multi meter there is a big difference when splitting hairs on voltage .3 .4 .5 a multi meter takes an average between the low and high an rms voltage is spot on so what im saying you may read 3.5v on a multi meter but on an rms it may read 3.2v so if you were expecting to see 3.1v your really not that far off .1v