As a customer, I would want a "corrected" unit in sealed factory packaging, direct from hcigar... At the proper retail cost..
Hcigar HB DNA 40 anticipation thread
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As a customer, I would want a "corrected" unit in sealed factory packaging, direct from hcigar... At the proper retail cost..
Vape Triad said that two units were given to Evolv. One for Brandon at Evolv. The second unit was for the Evolv distributor in Canada, who is apparently the largest and oldest distributor for Evolv. This is why they worked together on it and looked at the wiring and circuitry.
As per that Evolv distributor, the existing production wiring setup direct from HCigar is a recipe for disaster. Users will have to be reliant on their vendors taking care of them if their boards traces burnout due to the full current load being applied to that one pin. It may not happen immediately.
Mine worked fine from Tuesday to Wednesday running a Taifun GT II on it (single coil), but then I built a 0.08 Ohm dual coil setup on a Derringer, and the Weak Battery issue showed up almost immediately on Wednesday evening. Once it started showing, it would not go away, even when I went back to the Taifun GT II.
Brought it back to Vape Triad on Thursday, where another unit was being sold to another customer at the time. They tested that unit on the spot, and the Weak Battery error popped instantly with his Orchid setup. Dual coil, at 0.12 Ohms.
That's when we started fiddling, and found that tightening the screws worked..... and then it didn't on one of the units. The other customer's unit seemed fine after tightening it, but mine became problematic, so that's when we sat down to look at it. We began jumping wires across the connections and found that connection was solid when we bridged between the lower enclosure screw (that went to the battery negative terminal) directly to the top enclosure grounding screw.
We figured that there was something wrong with the circuit between that battery terminal negative, and the other grounding screw at the top of the enclosure. Something was preventing a good circuit connection, so we jumped the two grounds by attaching a wire directly between those two screws. That actually worked perfectly, and it was a really quick and easy fix.
I was happy with it that night, but Vape Triad apparently met up with Evolv that night afterwards, and was told that it was not a good solution. While it worked temporarily, the issue of all that power going through a single grounding trace on the board was not a good idea, and is why they're on the next solution to ground directly to the pin at the bottom of the board.
I brought my unit in yesterday morning, and watched them disconnect the existing battery negative wire, and tag it to the pin.
They're not using cheap soldering irons either - They had a Weller digital soldering station. Those puppies aren't cheap up here, a couple hundred bucks.
As per that Evolv distributor, the existing production wiring setup direct from HCigar is a recipe for disaster. Users will have to be reliant on their vendors taking care of them if their boards traces burnout due to the full current load being applied to that one pin. It may not happen immediately.
Mine worked fine from Tuesday to Wednesday running a Taifun GT II on it (single coil), but then I built a 0.08 Ohm dual coil setup on a Derringer, and the Weak Battery issue showed up almost immediately on Wednesday evening. Once it started showing, it would not go away, even when I went back to the Taifun GT II.
Brought it back to Vape Triad on Thursday, where another unit was being sold to another customer at the time. They tested that unit on the spot, and the Weak Battery error popped instantly with his Orchid setup. Dual coil, at 0.12 Ohms.
That's when we started fiddling, and found that tightening the screws worked..... and then it didn't on one of the units. The other customer's unit seemed fine after tightening it, but mine became problematic, so that's when we sat down to look at it. We began jumping wires across the connections and found that connection was solid when we bridged between the lower enclosure screw (that went to the battery negative terminal) directly to the top enclosure grounding screw.
We figured that there was something wrong with the circuit between that battery terminal negative, and the other grounding screw at the top of the enclosure. Something was preventing a good circuit connection, so we jumped the two grounds by attaching a wire directly between those two screws. That actually worked perfectly, and it was a really quick and easy fix.
I was happy with it that night, but Vape Triad apparently met up with Evolv that night afterwards, and was told that it was not a good solution. While it worked temporarily, the issue of all that power going through a single grounding trace on the board was not a good idea, and is why they're on the next solution to ground directly to the pin at the bottom of the board.
I brought my unit in yesterday morning, and watched them disconnect the existing battery negative wire, and tag it to the pin.
They're not using cheap soldering irons either - They had a Weller digital soldering station. Those puppies aren't cheap up here, a couple hundred bucks.
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As a customer, I would want a "corrected" unit in sealed factory packaging, direct from Hcigar... At the proper retail cost..
Absolutely, that's ideal... assuming you're okay with waiting till they get back from Chinese New Year holidays, then start back up with production, and then finally ship it back out.
I'm personally not that patient when it comes to vape stuff. Like most vapers I know, we have to have it last week!
Vape Triad says these change requests will be submitted to HCigar, for future production changes, and by then, the price should have dropped, as initial shipment load dies down, so it will fulfill all three of your requests.
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Also, going by how many units in the vendor's shipment were said to be affected, I would expect to see the issue cropping up here in this thread later in the week, since I'm sure quite a few of us ordered from Sweet-Vapes.. I have a message off to Evolv regarding the device, and their stance on warranty issues with their board in it.. Hopefully, I'll get a reply tomorrow..
EDIT: I also supplied a link to this thread..
EDIT: I also supplied a link to this thread..
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Vape Triad says that Evolv's UK distributor claims that the board's 1 year warranty is active, and can be taken care of directly with Evolv, if the problem is truly with the chip itself, and not the fault of the mod design (HCigar). Would be nice to hear what Evolv's headquarter's stance on the matter is.
But as it stands, I don't know how Evolv will look at this if a problem arises due to the board being run out of spec with only one grounding pin being used. It will be nice if they cover it... they'd just better prepare for a big load, since it seemed like at least half of the units tested by Vape Triad had the problems so far.
Let's see how it plays out this week.
I think a problem such as the screen glitch would fall under Evolv's domain, but so far, there's been no reports of the screen glitch with this device, thankfully.
If you know you will never run a setup that will push more than 9A through the board's single trace, you could get by, with just bridging the two ground screws. Run a wire underneath the washer that traps the existing wires to connect those two points. That essentially shunts the enclosure out of the equation, and should instantly solve the Weak Battery problem. This solution is way more reliable than tightening the screws, as we found that tightening the screws ultimately did not always work, either. This discovery was made after their initial post on the subject, that was quoted earlier in this thread. That's the problem with not posting the source - readers can't see the updates.
And again, while running a bridge wire between the two grounding posts may work to solve the weak battery problem, be aware that it does NOT solve the issue of excessive load running through the trace paths. This is the warning that Evolv was giving to Vape Triad, and is a much more serious problem than the Weak Battery issue. The latter is just a temporary problem that is fixable. The former is a catastrophic failure problem. If the board burns out due to a poor wiring layout, then it's dead. There's no bringing it back alive, and seeing if Evolv will cover a manufacturer's poor wiring setup will need to be seen. I'm interested to hear what they have to say on that.
But again, if you know you'll never run a high load on this, then you could just get by with the connection bridge. it worked fine when we did it. I'd just rather have the proper Evolv-spec wiring applied so that the load is split in half across the board, because sometimes I do push my setup limits.
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Noted, and info appreciated... I'm more of a battery guy around here, and have no experience with wiring DNA 40 boards. I didn't care for the DNA 30's lack of step-down, and after going through a few, sold them off. As I said, I skipped the DNA 40 in favor of the SXminiJ M, but need a DNA 40 to compare temp-protection between devices. I'll more than likely use the HB in wattage mode afterwards, with an RTA @ 15 watts or below.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your intentions.. It's valuable info if confirmed. Many may just want to send their device right back immediately for a refund / exchange if this issue affects the shipment that Sweet-Vapes received.. I've just learned to be very skeptical over anything like this posted in my 4+ years here.
I've been using mine back to back with a shark and flask and it performs exactly as the other two.
Weak battery issue and all that jazz, no different to what I see on my other DNA40 devices.
Don't like the fact the screen is smoked and the 510 is off centre but for me it's hard to fault compared to the other devices out there.
Weak battery issue and all that jazz, no different to what I see on my other DNA40 devices.
Don't like the fact the screen is smoked and the 510 is off centre but for me it's hard to fault compared to the other devices out there.
Noted, and info appreciated... I'm more of a battery guy around here, and have no experience with wiring DNA 40 boards. I didn't care for the DNA 30's lack of step-down, and after going through a few, sold them off. As I said, I skipped the DNA 40 in favor of the SXminiJ M, but need a DNA 40 to compare temp-protection between devices. I'll more than likely use the HB in wattage mode afterwards, with an RTA @ 15 watts or below.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your intentions.. It's valuable info if confirmed. Many may just want to send their device right back immediately for a refund / exchange if this issue affects the shipment that Sweet-Vapes received.. I've just learned to be very skeptical over anything like this posted in my 4+ years here.
My point is to just spread this knowledge, since the issue was pointed out by Evolv. The issue that's being avoided, is users getting a burnt trace and they're dealing with an unscrupulous vendor who won't bother warrantying the product for the customer. It puts that customer in a tough and bitter spot, even if they'd only paid $100 for it on a preorder. $100 is still $100. It's a preventative fix. Unfortunately, it won't fix the board if a trace is already burned out. Once it's burned, then it's toast.
At least with the Weak Battery error, the fix is easy. Run a bridge wire between the screws and that's it, but this is just a symptom of the larger issue.
There's a reason why Evolv put three ground pins on the board, so they should be used. One for the 510/output, one for the battery negative, and one for the USB charger. The USB charger is connected directly to the board already.
Controversy, trying to avoid that just now
Respectable. Always a classy guy, you are.
Controversy, trying to avoid that just now
Yeah, there's a lot brewing out there... I'm glad you're not in it...
Nah, I make to much money from reviewing to care. My shed is actually located on the back of my luxury yacht
Based on the look inside the box that Mark Todd gave us (thank you!) - you can clearly see the unused larger negative connection point. Seems like a pretty easy fix to run a longer wire from the negative battery plate to that location with minimal effort. I'll be doing it myself; don't want to worry about sending it back for an unknown amount of time. If it were $300+USD, then yes, I'll send it back without question. For a $112 DNA40 box mod, I have no problem fixing little quirks like this
Just to confirm guys, only some have only one grounding pin being used or are all of them like this on the HB?
AFAIK.. The entire batch that the Canadian vendor received does.. More than likely the ones from Sweet-Vapes also. I don't know if one of the members who have one here has taken the cover off to look. Mine should be showing up tomorrow.
It sounds like they all went out the door that way, and won't be upgraded until after CNY..
Some of this is over my head and this is why I'm going to start building a DIY mod, need to learn a lot of this.
According to the evolv wiring diagram there is only one ground on the board and everything else is grounded internally?
According to the evolv wiring diagram there is only one ground on the board and everything else is grounded internally?
You and me both.. Now, I have to brush-up on my non-existent soldering skills to properly ground the device, or it will drive me bat----- crazy..
Wow, a lot of information to try and decipher and filter today. I think I'll hold off on any experimenting until things get hashed out. Too bad I'm not very good with a soldering iron. Hopefully someone will be able to give us detailed and easy diagram of a "proper" fix. Or video tutorial would even be better, for us "challenged" folks. I'd be willing to pop mine open and attempt it.
I'll probably have to go back and reread realbriguy's posts regarding what's going on over at Vapetriad and their discussions with Evolv. I sort of understood what was going on, but I'm having a hard time getting it to sink into my thick skull today (I'm a little slow, but I eventually get there). I'll also attempt to find the posts out on the web where vapetriad is communicating these issues with their customers. If someone else has found it, please PM me.
I'm still hopeful that this will work out fine in the end. And if not, oh well. It's not like my transmission in my car just went toes up (knock on wood). Remember, First World problems. Maybe I'll work on my taxes today so that when the M Class comes out, it'll help push me into taking the plunge.
I'll probably have to go back and reread realbriguy's posts regarding what's going on over at Vapetriad and their discussions with Evolv. I sort of understood what was going on, but I'm having a hard time getting it to sink into my thick skull today (I'm a little slow, but I eventually get there). I'll also attempt to find the posts out on the web where vapetriad is communicating these issues with their customers. If someone else has found it, please PM me.
I'm still hopeful that this will work out fine in the end. And if not, oh well. It's not like my transmission in my car just went toes up (knock on wood). Remember, First World problems. Maybe I'll work on my taxes today so that when the M Class comes out, it'll help push me into taking the plunge.
OK to heck with the warranty. Here's mine opened up. From Sweet-Vapes. Let me know if anyone wants to see a different angle or something. Although I think this is about as good as it gets without moving stuff around inside.
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