DNA Warning light

[Skyway]

I scrapped my old board since I had to take apart the solders a couple times and I think it got the unit to hot. Regardless, I have started over. It is a very simple design to make sure it is going to work for me. I have everything wired up but as soon as I press the switch to activate the atomizer (many different ones at different ohms) it fires for a split second, then the dna gives the red warning light. Essentially shutting it down.
Not sure what would be causing it. I have shown the POT to Dimension and they say that the POT should work fine so I am curious would else would be causing this. Curious if the wires going to the battery are too thin. I am just using a 3 AA battery box. One AW IMR 14500 with the other two channels in the box utilizing the circuit, switch and pot.
I am using the wires it came with for the battery leads. Could these be too thin or could it be the battery is not enough? I know the dna can work with an 18650 AW battery as I have seen the inside of a woodville at vapercon using one so I was not sure if it would work with a 14500.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

I'd be willing to bet the wires are too thin or you (no offense) jacked up some solder and have a short at the board.

Check out evolv's site they have a datasheet for the dna board with wire size recommendations. I'd start with a multimeter and making sure you don't have any pins bridged on your solder points on the DNA board itself, if everything there is clear I'd pull the battery wires and put some known good gauge wires in.

The board 'should' work with any IMR battery, hell, it'll probably work with a non IMR battery at certain levels. For safety I'd make sure you have a standard resistance atomizer to test with initially, something in the 2-2.5ohm range and start with the pot turned all the way down.

 

[retird]

This may help ya out....battery must be minimum of 5 amp continuous discharge current.....see data sheet I've linked....also gives wire sizes....

http://evolvapor.com/wp-content/uploads/dna12.pdf

Example.... an AW IMR 14500 high drain li-on has a C rating of 8c (8amp cdc).....will probaby work with low run time....in other words.....short vape time between charges....

 

[Skyway]

I have gone through the data multiple times and the only thing I can think of is the battery wire gauges or the battery itself. I will try and rewire the box for a larger battery and see if that works. Solder points are fine.

 

[jimbalny]

Have you tried a new potentiometer? If you have a meter, check the resistance between the left pin and the center as well as the right pin and the center. Both resistances should roughly add up to the total resistance of the pot. I've had the same thing happen a few times when testing on a breadboard which was remedied after putting the wires in different holes (from constant use I've noticed the clips that hold the wires in start to spread and become loose). Would try a bigger battery as well to rule that out. Process of elimination kinda dillie. Also know that most of these battery holders are crap and have really thin wires. Check out some of the holders from keystone electronics, they're pretty good, like the ones in my thread http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...47-awesome-2x-18650-battery-holder-clips.html Also, DC isn't as good as AC when it comes to voltage drop, a lot more susceptible to wire gauge and distance. Voltage Drop Calculator

 

[retird]

Sometimes when soldering the wires on the atty connector the insulator melts and causes a short....

 

[Skyway]

Well, It looks like I found my issue I was having. I decided to try it with an 18490 instead of the 14500. It is now working. So an AW IMR 14500 is not capable of powering the DNA12. This will help my decision process and it looks like I am going to have to find a new box, lol.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

hrm, what was the mAH on the battery? if it was a 600mAh 14500 then yeah you 'just' missed the 5amp rating. 14500 AW IMRs have an 8C rating, if it's a 600mAh battery you've got .6amp x 8c = 4.8amp rating. That would possibly cause the issue. If you can get a higher mAh or higher C rate 14500 your existing case should still work.

Quick tip: If you know the mAH and the C rating you can get the amp rating for the battery with that little bit of math. Just multiple the amp number from the mAh (600mAh = .6amp) times the C rating of the battery (in this case 8c) and you get your the rating for your particular battery.

you might look at efest, they're not 'as' awesome as AW (panasonic is even better imo) but they're not generic crap batteries and i think they make a higher C or higher mAh battery than AW in the 14500 size.

 

[Skyway]

Well, to be honest, the only reason I was trying to set something up with the 14500 was because I had ready access to many battery boxes that fit the 14500 natively. It was going to be for a box for a friend that has wanted a Darwin for years but could never get his hands on one. He wants to try out the whole VW thing to see if it was worth it for him. I figured a cheap box he can throw anything on would be the easiest way for him to start out. It is definitely not my ideal box.
The 14500 is 600mAh
The 18350 is 700mAh and
The 18490 is 1100mAh.
I had plenty of 14500's laying around doing nothing so I figured I would start there. I guess I could setup something with two of them in one of the boxes I have laying around. I wish I had a 3D printer, I would be making all kinds of stuff.
How do you find out the C rating? Look the battery up on some website somewhere? I take it AW has a site that shows the specs somewhere so I will do some googling.
Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

AW doesn't have a proper site that I've seen but you can find the info with a google search usually. If the 18350 is an AW IMR or other LiMn battery it should be fine unless it's a super cheap knockoff I've never heard of. I'm pretty sure the lowest C I've seen on any LiMN was 8c. Which puts the 700mAh right in range comfortably.

That said, you 'can' technically parallel two smaller batteries but it will put a bit of strain on them. LiMn batteries can handle it but it will shorten the charge cycle life (i.e. you'll get less total charges across the life of the battery before it starts to degrade) I've used parallel 18350s quite a bit in testing and it performs like a champ, a single 18350 would be fine until you crank the board all the way up at which point it's going to be at the higher end of the batteries operational capacity. Still perfectly fine, but it's good to know you're limitations.

 

[WillyB]

Right from Andy Wan's main 'office'.

IMR16340 Specifications :

Nominal Voltage : 3.7V
Capacity : 550mAH
Lowest Discharge Voltage : 2.50V
Standard Charge : CC/CV ( max. charging rate 1.5A )
Cycle Life : > 500 cycles
Max. continuous discharge rate : 4A
Operating Discharge Temperature : -10 - 60 Degree Celsius


IMR14500 Specifications :

Nominal Voltage : 3.7V
Capacity : 600mAH
Lowest Discharge Voltage : 2.50V
Standard Charge : CC/CV ( max. charging rate 1.5A )
Cycle Life : > 500 cycles
Max. continuous discharge rate : 4A
Operating Discharge Temperature : -10 - 60 Degree Celsius
Size : 14.07mm ( diameter ) x 49.25mm ( height ) +/- .1mm


IMR18350 Specifications :

Nominal Voltage : 3.7V
Capacity : 700mAH
Lowest Discharge Voltage : 2.50V
Standard Charge : CC/CV ( max. charging rate 2A )
Cycle Life : > 500 cycles
Max. continuous discharge rate : 6A
Operating Discharge Temperature : -10 - 60 Degree Celsius
Dimensions : 18.15 x 34.82 ( +/-0.05)mm


IMR18490 Specifications :

Nominal Voltage : 3.7V
Capacity : 1100mAH
Lowest Discharge Voltage : 2.50V
Standard Charge : CC/CV ( max. charging rate 3A )
Cycle Life : > 500 cycles
Max. continuous discharge rate : 15C
Operating Discharge Temperature : -10 - 60 Degree Celsius


IMR18650-1600 Specifications :

Nominal Voltage : 3.7V
Capacity : 1600mAH
Lowest Discharge Voltage : 2.50V
Standard Charge : CC/CV ( max. charging rate 4.5A )
Cycle Life : > 500 cycles
Max. continuous discharge rate : 15C
Operating Discharge Temperature : -10 - 60 Degree Celsius


IMR18650 -2000 Specifications :


Nominal Voltage : 3.7V
Capacity : 2000mAH
Lowest Discharge Voltage : 2.50V
Standard Charge : CC/CV ( max. charging rate 2A )
Cycle Life : > 500 cycles
Max. continuous discharge rate : 10A
Operating Discharge Temperature : -10 - 60 Degree Celsius

 

[Skyway]

Thanks for the info WillyB. I caught this info in another forum from you and found it very useful.