I HATE the DNA20

[P3ST1L3NC3]

so i got my second DNA20 board today. Got everything assembled, popped the battery into the battery holder, and the screen lit up. tried the up / down buttons, didn't work. tried the fire button, and it fired my DID. then looked back at the screen, and watched it go dimmer then brighter, then dimmer, that back to normal brightness. then the screen went out. board dead. checked the board with a meter, its still getting power..... still not working, batteries are new and fully charged. the dna charger is working even though the board is not.

this is the 2nd DNA20 board i have gotten, and the second one that has died within seconds of assembly. i give up.

oh, and a bit about me, so you know its the board, and not me.... I am a Certified IPC Specialist. (certified in soldering) im IPC certified in modules 1-5. (didn't get a nasa cert, (module 6) because the instruction wasn't available.) I am a systems engineer that works on electronics on specialized aircraft.

I am away from the states and it takes me about 10 days to get these boards in the mail. a lot of waiting, and a lot of work, and a terrible result each time...

 

[rebar]

Sorry to hear that but thanks for the heads up.. As much as they charge for those, shouldnt be issues like that

 

[P3ST1L3NC3]

yeah, im out over 100$ for nothing.....

 

[jmlott]

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. You should definitely contact Evolv and let them know what happening. I feel certain Brandon will be more than happy to help you figure out what's going wrong.

 

[retird]

how about a picture of your build......I like seeing others builds...

 

[P3ST1L3NC3]

email sent to evolv. im so fed up with the DNA20, that i dont care if they send me 100 free boards. i just dont care to mess with them anymore.

after all the anticipation and waiting for 7-10 days for the board to get here, then building everything, just to be disappointed....twice... im done with it.

 

[bapgood]

I understand your frustration, that just plain sucks!

I haven't tried a lot of different devises as I pretty much skipped the VV and went with the kick when they first came out. I have a ZMAX and hate the PWM....for whatever reason the vape tastes different....IDK just not for me. I also picked up an iTaste MVP as backup a while back, it vapes ok but not like VW IMO. I will never get rid of my trusty kick it has served me well.

Like others have said Evolv cares about their customers, and as such goes the extra mile in customer service that most companies don't.

I hate to see someone give up on a great devise. There are a lot more people with positive results than negative (heck I started one of mine on fire and it still works). Frankly you are the first I have came across that a has had such a bad experience, and twice none the less.

I know your frustrated right now and say your done messing with it, but if you change your mind it wouldn't hurt posting up some pics of your mod and get some extra eyes on it. Even the best have an occasional brain fart.

I don't think any of the items below are related to your issues, just things I have observed and learned.

-Use a fuse of some type. Most are using PTC fuses, I'm using a low profile mini blade fuse 7.5 amp after my mishap. It possibly saved my bacon last night. I had put together a mock up and had it standing up on my work bench while I was trying to see if my shrink wrap would fit, I bumped the mod and it fell over on top of my GD-SOB'n metal tweezers (the same ones that caused my fire). I heard a little zap and sure enough the dna wouldn't work and the fuse was blown, swapped out the fuse and everything was happy again.

- I have noticed that the onboard up and down buttons are a little sticky for the first few times, after a few cycles they become fairly consistent IMO.

- Sometimes a good old power cycle clears up an issue (the main reason why I went with the removable blade fuse)

Best of luck to you on your future mods

 

[Riverboat]

so i got my second DNA20 board today. Got everything assembled, popped the battery into the battery holder, and the screen lit up. tried the up / down buttons, didn't work. tried the fire button, and it fired my DID. then looked back at the screen, and watched it go dimmer then brighter, then dimmer, that back to normal brightness. then the screen went out. board dead. checked the board with a meter, its still getting power..... still not working, batteries are new and fully charged. the DNA charger is working even though the board is not.

this is the 2nd DNA20 board i have gotten, and the second one that has died within seconds of assembly. i give up

I know what you mean...just like the Kicks...problems.... Why cant Evolv build a boost chip thats as trouble free as the Provari chip board!

 

[bapgood]

I know what you mean...just like the Kicks...problems.... Why cant Evolv build a boost chip thats as trouble free as the Provari chip board!

The provari comparison isn't quite fair IMO. The Provari is....One VV not VW, and Two (the biggest difference) a complete unit and not a mod board. The Provari is completely assembled somewhere and I'm sure its tested before it leaves the manufacturer, thus any PCB issue is found before its shipped out. Kinda hard to do the same with a mod board.

It doesn't matter if your Apple, Intel, etc....you are going to have faulty PCB assemblies come off even the most automated lines.

I love my Kick and versatility that Evolv's products give you, your not stuck to one tube or one mod.

 

[P3ST1L3NC3]

evolv emailed me back. they said they would send me two replacement DNA20 boards for free!!

hopefully these boards are from a different lot or something. fantastic customer service. i honestly thought that i was just out 100+$ i may give these guys another chance after all.

also, to help others, the two boards i received had an odd conformal coating / residue on them that made the solder not want to flow thru the plated thru holes / lands. take a bit of flux remover on a qtip and clean the holes up before soldering to the board.

 

[Riverboat]

The provari comparison isn't quite fair IMO. The Provari is....One VV not VW, and Two (the biggest difference) a complete unit and not a mod board. The Provari is completely assembled somewhere and I'm sure its tested before it leaves the manufacturer, thus any PCB issue is found before its shipped out. Kinda hard to do the same with a mod board.

It doesn't matter if your Apple, Intel, etc....you are going to have faulty PCB assemblies come off even the most automated lines.

I love my Kick and versatility that Evolv's products give you, your not stuck to one tube or one mod.

Dont get me wrong, I do love my Kicks too....Evolv does make a good product, I would of loved a Darwin... Now there is the other problem, availabilty-- why so hard to get? Provape was able to build as many Provaris as they could sell.... ?

 

[bapgood]

Dont get me wrong, I do love my Kicks too....Evolv does make a good product, I would of loved a Darwin... Now there is the other problem, availabilty-- why so hard to get? Provape was able to build as many Provaris as they could sell....

My guess would be possibly Provape had more start up capital??? Plus I think a VV mod is a simpler and cheaper circuit to build???

i may give these guys another chance after all.

Good to hear P3

 

[Riverboat]

My guess would be possibly Provape had more start up capital??? Plus I think a VV mod is a simpler and cheaper circuit to build???

I dont know about VV being that much cheaper than a VW circuit board...Look at all the China mods that are both VV/VW....

 

[bapgood]

I dont know about VV being that much cheaper than a VW circuit board...Look at all the China mods that are both VV/VW....

I don't really know, but I do own a ZMAX that is a china VV/VW and I hate it. It uses a different method to obtain the VW (PWM I believe), its a fluttery power and to me my vape tastes different. I'm just not a fan, but a lot of people like them.

 

[Riverboat]

I don't really know, but I do own a ZMAX that is a china VV/VW and I hate it. It uses a different method to obtain the VW (PWM I believe), its a fluttery power and to me my vape tastes different. I'm just not a fan, but a lot of people like them.

Good to hear...I knew they where China junk! Kicks and Provaris.... Thats where its at for me.

 

[retird]

Glad to see ya giving it another go......I have been dealing with Evolv for nearly 2 years now and they are top notch......can't speak to the Provari's as I am strictly VW.....and PWM is definitely not in my inventory.....

let us know how your next one's turn out....

 

[retird]

Just a note.....one of my DNA20D mods......the buttons I used for the up/down wouldn't do anything but click....wouldn't raise or lower the wattage....turns out that the buttons plastic on the inside melted while soldering the connections and could not make contact....just a matter of replacing the button switches....they can't take much heat....just passing along my experience....

 

[DVDV]

It's pretty sweet that are sending you two boards for free. They seem to have awesome customer service. Hopefully the new boards work out for you, I have a dna here taunting me to build it a mod.

 

[SammyT]

Evolv takes care of it's customers that's for sure. I had two bad DNA 12s and they were replaced no questions asked. I personally have incurred a high fail rate on the boards I have gotten from them, just my experience. As long as they take care of things and throw in freebies for the inconvenience I will stay loyal, brandon's a really nice guy.

 

[mamu]

It could indeed be that you got 2 bad boards, or it could be your build or the parts you are using. Will be curious as to how the replacement boards work out for you.

You really should share close-up pics of your build. Whether you're certified in soldering is moot as there is so much more to a build than just soldering skills. You haven't said what batt you're using or what switches you're using for the up/down watts control. We haven't seen your wiring to and from connections and we haven't seen how you grounded. All those things would help to determine if indeed you did get 2 bad boards or you're doing something wrong in your build or your batt/switches are funky.

If you did the exact same build as your first board with this second board, and the first board went funky on you the same way this second board did, then maybe something is going on with the way your build is or the parts you are using - or indeed you're the most unlucky guy to get 2 boards from 2 separate shipping dates that are bad.

I've made 3 separate purchases at various times of these DNA20D boards - 4 in the first order, 4 in the next order, and 8 in this last order. All of the 8 boards from the first two orders of DNA20D boards are now in mods, and 1 in this last order. Not a glitch or bad board among them. Now watch me jinx myself and fry the next board I put in a mod.