Failed the Milo build

[rizzo777]

I don't think I have been this P'D off in a long time...I was nervous that my soldering would be bad but that ended up pretty good... Spent the past 2 nights working on this and was at the final wiring stage, saw the dna chip glow and that was a wonderful sight... Then, as I was putting the batteries with the chip into the case, the epoxy from the buttons was a little heavy which made me put some force into it because of the lack of space, got some sparking and found that the battery wires right near the battery was frayed. DNA went dark and knew this was a failure. Ended up cutting off the batteries and will need to order some more but I have no idea if my DNA is bad now. Can anyone help me some ideas on how to check the chip? Also recommendations to get rid of some of this epoxy. Any help would be appreciated, drinkin heavily tonight

Thanks

 

[rizzo777]

Can anyone help with testing the chip with a breadboard to see if its still good? I have a multimeter too if anyone can advise how to test.

 

[ecat]

The only chip test I can think of: connect a good battery through a fuse of some sort and see if the display lights up, test the up/down and fire buttons. That's it I'm afraid.

Sparks from the battery end should not have damaged the DNA, though something else may have shorted too. The fuse in the above test is just a precaution in case something on the DNA board has shorted, I would just use a multimeter if it has a fuse: Meter set on DC amps, red to battery +, black to DNA +, battery - to DNA minus, the current draw when driving the display will probably be less than 25mA, much higer and you have a fault. Don't try a full burn test like this unless your meter has a 7A or higher range.

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this but for the sake of others: Insulate! These batteries hold a lot of charge, all exposed joints need heat shrink or some other insulating layer, this is not optional.

Replacing the battery after a short is the safe and wise course of action

 

[rizzo777]

Yes I know didn't realize the battery wire insulator was ripping. Very frustrating no more DNA chips and I'd hate to wire everything up again if its bad. Multimeter is junk I'm not winning today

 

[mamu]

I don't want to be a downer, but the first step in modding is... watch for it... safety. You should never ever not ever force any batt into place, especially lipo batts. This is simply common sense stuff.

If you created a hard short, and it seems you did if you got sparks from the batt, the DNA is most likely toast as it has no protection from that kind of short. You can do a simple test by wiring a new battery to see.

For excess epoxy, simply dremel it down to the point where you can easily and safely fit all parts where they need to go making sure you don't dremel the part itself and possibly damaging it.

 

[rizzo777]

Thx Mamu, I didn't jam it in but yet I pressed a tad which I shouldn't have had to do. I think the problem was that I put in the batteries with the wires coming from the left as I probably should of turned them around. Now there's nothing in stock so it may be a while til I get this going.

 

[rizzo777]

Ok I got this bad boy working but I have another issue! The chip for some reason is a tad too high to put the case over it. Any suggestions?? Please and thanks

 

[retird]

How about some pictures.....kinda hard to know what your issue is without being able to see it......

Just guessing at this point.....assuming you are using the milo case......

According to the Milo Tutorial:

III. Working with the DNA20D
A. Desolder and remove the onboard tactile fire button – or – carefully remove
the membrane and its holder and then carefully dremel the tact button to the
same height as the components on that side of the board.

 

[rizzo777]

I'll take a pic later. I did remove the button on the dna20. So how thin is the mounting tapes supposed to be? Used 1x1 scotch squares will need to look at thickness on the package. I guess I can have the screen poke out some but knowing my luck I will drop it and shatter the screen.

 

[retird]

Scotch clear mounting tape (restickable mini tabs or the thin squares or sheets –
not the thick mounting tape).



You could also make a spacer (gasket) to allow the cover to be elevated a bit from the case, thus giving you a bit more depth....

 

[rizzo777]

Maybe this should be my first and last mod I can't win. Made a gasket and when tightening the case this morning the screen cracked and can only see watts now. As I read the screen will only work for a day or so now. So frustrating!!!

 

[retird]

Not all is lost....while the wattage still reads just set it to your preferred setting....after the screen dies you can use an in-line volt meter and ohm's law to set the wattage.....heck, most of us modders have cracked a screen (or 2)..... I'm betting that your next mod will turn out better as you have learned what not to do......putting pressure on the display is never a good thing....sounds like the gasket was not thick enough.....

I'm vaping with a stealthy with a dead screen as I type this.....just as good...just no screen...

 

[rizzo777]

Yeah you're right. This thing will still vape like a champ. I don't feel as bad losing my provari now as this is more powerful. Thanks for the help everyone

 

[ecat]

Ouch.
Bad luck rizzo but as retrid says all is not lost. You could do away with the up/down buttons and add a potentiometer to change the Wattage as per the dna documentation. Let's see, no display means no flickering lights to attract attention: Milo Supper Stealth.

 

[rizzo777]

So when the screen dies can I still change the wattage with the buttons? I can't see the settings but the wattage should change right?

 

[vewdew]

So when the screen dies can I still change the wattage with the buttons? I can't see the settings but the wattage should change right?

That is correct Rizzo. You can change but cant see it.

 

[retird]

You can use an in-line voltage meter and as you raise/lower the wattage the voltage meter will show you what the voltage is....use ohm's law to calculate the wattage for the voltage reading you are seeing.....

 

[dr g]

warranty it

 

[rizzo777]

Already warrantied my last one and I really don't feel like pulling it apart again gonna run it