Induction vaping! - elegant PV & handy base kit...

[slopes]

No one seems to have attempted a mod using induction charging yet. Here's an effort I've built - with a 650mAh battery in an adapted lighter for the PV and a base made from a CD jewel case front. In the video, the PV is using a 510 dual-coil carto.

Just tossing the PV down on its base station - rather then fussing around with cables, plugs, sockets, screw-in adapters etc, makes a BIG difference. And, of course, without all the mechanics, it saves a lot of precious real estate inside the PV.

 

[kardus]

Nice work and very compact! Did you make the charger yourself or buy it somewhere?

 

[asdaq]

Slopes, you put a smile on my face just at the sight of that lighter. Convenience and looks, both top notch! Does this require plastic surfaces to work? Could I do it with brass? More detailed info would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and the line where the pack of smokes opens on the charger did not go missed.

 

[slopes]

Hi kardus. I used a Nintendo DSi kit like this one...

They are very cheap. I pulled the charging circuit and coil out of the base station and squeezed it into my own smaller box design. I also crammed a 1800mAh Kensington power pack (like this one) in there too - making the system very flexible... it can be used wired at a desktop, or wirelessly out and about (the kit would not look out-of-place next to a double espresso in any reputable cafe )

asdaq - It wouldn't work with brass - you would have to have a small area of plastic on a metal mod which aligned with the small coil inside the induction battery. I guess a 12mm diameter circle would do it.

 

[slimest]

Just great idea!

 

[SteveDaMann]

Love it. Great work!

 

[Malduk]

This is just... lol. Amazing!

 

[Killjoy1]

Cool, I had never even thought of induction charging. In all honesty, it's not something I would personally attempt simply because it's outside my scope of experience, but it's very cool to see somebody did

 

[kardus]

What are the dimensions on the battery? Can't find anything that small!

Something like this might be a nice implementation too: http://www.ebay.com/itm/5V-1A-Outpu...401?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f10c54cf9 although I don't reckon they would feel like a 'quality' product -- however the price is right.

This way one might be able to fit 1-2 18650 batteries plus the charger circuit/wiring with minimal effort.

 

[slopes]

kardus - the battery I used in the base station is exactly the same width and length as the 100's cig packet. The battery inside the PV is supplied with the DSi base station - which makes it a very good deal. The base station doesn't need a battery at all - it can be a fixed (ie wired) desktop unit - in which case it could be a lot more 'slimline' than the version I have made.

Killjoy1 - it was beyond the scope of my experience too - which is why I wanted to try it In fact it's not that difficult as all the necessary components are supplied 'ready-to-go' with the induction charger kit. The most time consuming element is planning it out and finding what works and what doesn't. In fact, the lighter PV took far longer to make than the base unit.

My original design had all the components fit inside a box identical in size to a 10-pack of regular cigs! This made it super-portable. It worked the first couple of times, inductively charging the PV... and then it started playing up. The charger LED would rapidly flash or not come on at all. I'm guessing the smaller charger battery was not big or powerful enough to sustain its role in charging the PV battery and that feedback was happening (??? expert views on this much appreciated). The pics below show this small unit in testing - you can see the induction coil taped flat against the lid. The circuit next to the battery is for its charging only and has nothing to do with the induction function.

When complete, the righthand part was positioned above the induction components in the lid and sealed as a unit.

 

[asdaq]

I find this intriguing and might want to try it too. Did you use the battery that came with the charger? I guessed that 650 mAh meant a 10440. I could fit 12mm of plastic on bottom end easily and it would stand up on the charger. Or set recessed in a charging wooden stand.

 

[slimest]

slopes, as far as I understand, the battery in charger is positioned exactly under the coil. If the battery walls are made from metall (say, aluminium), the battery could work as an additional secondary coil. To check - try if it's warm just after charging of your cigarette. Another way to test - try to charge your cigarette with battery dismounted from the charger body.

 

[slimest]

P.S. As a matter of fact just starting eGo WIFI, which is charged through inductor, wirelessly Google helps to find out the info. Soon we all will enjoy the great wireless chargers, but slopes already does

 

[slopes]

asdaq - For the PV, I used the battery that came with the charger kit. It is a flat battery (not cylindrical) which consists of a plastic housing wrapped with a paper cover. If the paper cover is peeled back, it reveals the battery's own small induction coil which interacts with the large one in the base unit upon the charging phase. There is a brief shot of the battery I used in the video. I think the small battery coil can be removed and used in a much larger (ie cylindrical) battery - or the circuit feeding it - inside in a PV... ie, the smaller coil does not have to be physically PART of the actual PV battery - the small coil only has to be present inside a conductive PV (near the surface wall). This opens up a whole area of exciting possibilities

I think positioning the smaller coil in a plastic endcap would work - but you would lose some of the ease-of-use of just 'willy-nilly' throwing the PV down on a wide base station 'zone' for charging to start... this makes using the kit so attractive.

The DSi charger base unit itself can be used as supplied - with no modification at all. The supplied base unit does not contain any battery (ie powerpack) and is designed only to be plugged into a 5v power source. Its size is determined by the footprint of the DSi gaming device it is designed for - as such, inside the base unit box is mostly empty space.

slimest - the induction charge requires the interaction between two copper coils. I don't think a metal battery cover would work in the process.

 

[slopes]

asdaq - BTW. The PV battery coil might be slightly larger than 12mm... I've had this DSi kit for about a year, always intending to get around to this mod... it was quite a while ago I last checked.

It's also worth noting that the induction charging initiates even with the PV elevated about 6mm above the base unit - meaning that the smaller PV coil could be positioned internally next to the curved side wall of a device (eg cylindical) and still function.

 

[slimest]

slopes, I don't insist. You asked advice - I shared my professional knolege

 

[slopes]

slimest - your professional advice is very much appreciated ... I expect I am already getting out of my depth in understanding it. The conduction charging phase does warm up the PV and the base unit as it nears completion. Apparently, this is a common occurrence with this type of charging. I really should have inserted some insulating material between the large coil and the powerpack in my base unit - just to be on the safe side (it warmed even when charging with the unit opened - as in my last pics).

I suspect the problem I had with the mini charge base was its small battery only giving a 3.7v output. Maybe the process requires the full 5v - as the Kensington powerpack (in my larger base unit) provides. I'm looking for a small cell-phone 5v battery which I could use instead.

 

[asdaq]

Exciting possibilities indeed. The spec sheet notes that charge times increase from 4 to 4.5 hours if the console is in a polycarb or silicon case and to 18 hours for using a leather wallet thing, so proximity looks to be key, and less material between the two coils. The auto shutoff, that must be the batt's own protection circuit. Does it interrupt the charging if you fire it while on the base?