It's a mod mod mod mod mod world...and I am losing what little mind I have..

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Mark Linehan

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Not for any specific reason, but just because I have always had a screw loose to begin with. I recently built my first mod, the Ugly Bug, which is a 5v 510 pass-thru that ended up in a big bulky harmonica case 4.5" x 1.5" x 1" because I melted my little flashlight original mod target. It works awesome though. I truly LOVE 5v modding and no battery to worry about now when sitting at the PC. So I have 4 tornado batteries sitting there fully charged all the time now. Nice..

AnyWho.. I ordered some parts to make my first 5v box mod. I am going to use dual 14500's for a 7.4v 1800mAh baby that I will regulate down to 5v of course. Unfortunately, I think I ordered the wrong regulator on MadVapes. I ordered the 5V 5A model, and it looks like it has a LDO of 6v!??! Yikes. Also, I am not sure but does this one require cap's and or resistors in order to specify the Vout ??? Hmmm..

I went ahead and jumped on TI and sent for some samples. I actually have a couple of regulators, some battery protection circuitry and a booster so that maybe I can make a 5v PV out of a single 14500 box? Well I have a question about the regulator I ordered as a sample.

It is the LP2950-50 Single Output LDO, 100mA, Fixed 5v. It is a 3 pin package and I am wondering if anyone else has used the 2950-50 in a mod before, if so, any advice for this regulator?

I hopefully will be able to make heads or tails out of the spec sheet and get it installed properly. It seems like a really nice regulator. A decent drop out of like 4v or so. Regulators are a fairly new thing to me, so I am still learning as far as they go. I actually don't remember working with them at all when I was in basic electronics assembly.

I am going to be using a 3AA battery box with a built in switch that will work for the master/kill switch, just going to add a second LED for the master indicator. If I get this regulator working, or if I end up ordering a 7805 or something else from MadVapes that will make better use of the extended mAh of the dual 14500's, well then I am going to work on developing a juice feed system. I will NOT use a bottom feed though. I use sealed battery connectors for a reason. I will not build a mod that will allow any juice to get inside. If I put on vents, they will be on the very bottom of the mod. So if I make a feeder system, it will have to be something different, and most likely external to the box. I have seen that one that involves putting a tube connected bottle in between the cart and atty, and I will look into something along those lines, except I think I will have the tube going straight into a cartridge and not having a third piece to add into the atty and cart. I already started drilling out old cartridges and turning them into cheap drip tips with my dremel. I can just punch a hole into the side bottom of one of those and use a thin tube and mister vial or something like that to spray a fine mist down into the atty, if that will work well.

I have now had my original atty still functioning after 2 months (knocks on wood) and the key is, just like I read several times, keep your atty wet and it will live. I do a very basic and quick cleaning of it every few days or so. I just drop it in very hot water for a minut, then I literally blow into both ends and dunk again, and I keep repeating this until nothing comes out but clear liquid, then I stop the dunking and just keep blowing air through the atty until the water stops coming out, and then I use it. I have had no issues with this so far, and this also seems to eliminate any funky smells and tastes that have started happening on my 2 month old atty a few times. So I have no issues with using a drip tip and if I can turn my drip tip into a juice misting drip tip on my 5v box, I think I will be a pretty happy camper.

The only thing standing in my way right now will be seeing what works out with the regulators. So anyone have any information or advice on any of these regulators for me? Would be appreciated. :)

Mark Linehan :vapor:
 

asdaq

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Mark, 2 14500's in series will give you 900 mAh at 7.4v. Two in parallel will give you 1800 mAh at 3.7v, but you don't get double everything in series. As for the MV 5A regulator, it doesn't need resistors or caps, just v-in, v-out and gnd. The dropout at 6v isn't that big of a deal as the batts will go from 8.4 down to 5.4v by themselves (counting the 2 batts added together) without a regulator of any kind, and wouldn't really be noticed. A bigger concern is that in giving you 5v, it consumes the excess voltage and puts it out as heat which is a waste.

As for the LP2950-50, that 100mAh is much too low for e-cig use it would be something like trying to trickle charge an atty.

The TI PTR08100W as BigBlue used here: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-mods/114901-evercool-variable-voltage-mod.htmlwould be a more efficient longer lasting choice.
 

Mark Linehan

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Mark, 2 14500's in series will give you 900 mAh at 7.4v. Two in parallel will give you 1800 mAh at 3.7v, but you don't get double everything in series. As for the MV 5A regulator, it doesn't need resistors or caps, just v-in, v-out and gnd. The dropout at 6v isn't that big of a deal as the batts will go from 8.4 down to 5.4v by themselves (counting the 2 batts added together) without a regulator of any kind, and wouldn't really be noticed. A bigger concern is that in giving you 5v, it consumes the excess voltage and puts it out as heat which is a waste.

As for the LP2950-50, that 100mAh is much too low for e-cig use it would be something like trying to trickle charge an atty.

The TI PTR08100W as BigBlue used here: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-mods/114901-evercool-variable-voltage-mod.htmlwould be a more efficient longer lasting choice.

LOL. Yeah I actually did know that the mAh would stay the same, I don't know why I typed 1800 other than a brain fart. I'm not following about the batts going from 8.4(you mean 7.4 right?) to 5.4v without a regulator though. Are you saying the batteries, maybe with their built in protection???, would drop to 5.4v on their own without a regulator? How much charge time could I get out of the 900mAh if I ran them without a regulator? ..or do you mean they would start at 7.4v and over usage would run down to 5.4v and then need to be charged? In that case wouldn't 7.4v be a mighty harsh vape or even burn out the atty??
 

eHuman

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A freshly charged battery is actually 4.1-4.2v. It takes a little vaping for it to fall to the "nominal 3.7v". If you use 2 batteries in series for a high volt vape without a regulator then yes it could be harsh. If you use a regulator to knock down the volts then you won't be conserving run time as it still processes full voltage but converts everything over 5v to (unwanted) heat.

Unless you use a switching regulator. Then the unwanted heat generation is resolved AND the batteries will last longer.

The battery's built in cut off of 5.5v would guarantee that you got 5v vape from start to end of battery cycle.
 

roadrash

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The ucc383-5 has been nick named the hot box for a reason. The lower the regulated voltage the hotter it becomes, burning off the excess voltage and the larger heat sink will be needed. Makes a good handwarmer.
The efficiency rating of this regulator is a lot lower than the BBs Ever Cool, which is a TI PTR08100W or TI PTR08060w.
O ya, no heat sink. your choice
 

Mark Linehan

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The ucc383-5 has been nick named the hot box for a reason. The lower the regulated voltage the hotter it becomes, burning off the excess voltage and the larger heat sink will be needed. Makes a good handwarmer.
The efficiency rating of this regulator is a lot lower than the BBs Ever Cool, which is a TI PTR08100W or TI PTR08060w.
O ya, no heat sink. your choice

Wel, it is a good thing I ordered a 08100W a few days ago then, guess I'll have to try them all out, but I don't want something that is going to be a combo e-cig and blast furnace either :)
 

WillyB

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The ucc383-5 has been nick named the hot box for a reason. The lower the regulated voltage the hotter it becomes, burning off the excess voltage and the larger heat sink will be needed. Makes a good handwarmer.
The efficiency rating of this regulator is a lot lower than the BBs Ever Cool, which is a TI PTR08100W or TI PTR08060w.
O ya, no heat sink. your choice
All linear regulators need to dissipate heat, it's the nature of the beast. Your making it sound like there is a problem with the TI's, there isn't. As far as linear regs Texas Instruments is the way to go. They are rock solid and nearly bulletproof for our uses. The UCC383 and 283-5's work very well without any heatsinks (unlike the 4 pin regulators that many have chosen to use) and won't go into thermal shut down with Joye 510 atties.

The lower the regulated voltage the hotter it becomes
Actually the reg listed is a 5V model, as you vape there is less heat generated as the batteries' voltage drops.
 

roadrash

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All linear regulators need to dissipate heat, it's the nature of the beast. Your making it sound like there is a problem with the TI's, there isn't. As far as linear regs Texas Instruments is the way to go. They are rock solid and nearly bulletproof for our uses. The UCC383 and 283-5's work very well without any heatsinks (unlike the 4 pin regulators that many have chosen to use) and won't go into thermal shut down with Joye 510 atties.


Actually the reg listed is a 5V model, as you vape there is less heat generated as the batteries' voltage drops.

How many modders think I was saying something BAD about the TI-UCC383-5. Raise your hand.
 

Mark Linehan

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I got some advice from TI support, and they sent me this e-mail..

"Mark,
Thank you for contacting TI applications support. The TPS62112 step-down converter can supply up to 1.5 A and meets all your voltage specs. As an alternative, you might also want to consider using the cells in parallel. In that case, the TPS61026 would be a great option."


I looked these two up and they are:

*


TPS62112
Iout(Max)(A) 1.5
Vin(Min)(V) 3.1
Vin(Max)(V) 17
Vout(Min)(V) 5
Vout(Max)(V) 5
Iq(Typ)(mA) 0.02
Switching Frequency(Max)(kHz) 1000
Topology Buck
Operating Temperature Range(°C) -40 to 85
Pin/Package 16QFN

TPS61026
Iout(Max)(A) 1.5
Iq(Typ)(mA) 0.025
Vin(Min)(V) 0.9
Vin(Max)(V) 5.5
Vout(Min)(V) ?
Vout(Max)(V) ?
Preset Vout(V) 5
Switching Frequency(Max)(kHz) 720
Regulated Outputs(#) 1
Duty Cycle(Max)(%) 100
Switch Current Limit(Typ)(A) 1.5
Operating Temperature Range(°C) -40 to 85
Pin/Package 10SON
Topology Boost

({({ I copy/pasted this info from a spreadsheet and I may have mixed up a column here and there, so if the numbers seem strange, look up these parts on TI.COM with these links to know for sure what the specs are})})

TPS62112
TPS61026

Either one of these has the numbers I am looking for, but now we are getting into some serious pin outs, and although I am sure I could figure this out, I would think most entry level modders would not want to touch this and I am looking for a design that I can make a newbie tutorial for to go along with my electronics basics thread and my blog. My mission is to teach everyone to make their own e-cigs cheap and easy so we can not live in fear of the FDA ban.

I guess I could just let them do the old nicostick, but I wanted to put up a mod with a bit more power and some safety features (vents, regulators, capacitors for stress reduction as well as v filtering) and that sort of thing. It should be possible to design a very simple e-cig circuit that has plenty of safety. I see too many schematics being thrown around with no resistors in line with LED's, no mentioning of vents for batteries in series or not, no regulators which I guess in a single 14500 mod is no big deal, but if you are going to make a usb passthru, you really should have something more than just two wires going straight through to the connector with a below-tolerance switch.

So... I need the best, cheapest and most stable regulator for the job. A 3 pin would be best for newbie building, but a 4 pin would be best because with a 4 pin people can put on these tiny little switches and not have to worry about them melting and setting fire to their mod, as I have seen happen in two other mod posts.:rules:

Mark Linehan :p
 

WillyB

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Either one of these has the numbers I am looking for...
They do?

The TPS62112 step-down converter can supply up to 1.5 A
TPS61026
Iout(Max)(A) 1.5
A standard Joye 510 at 5V wants 2.4A, a LR 510 at 4V wants 2.7A. Neither of those regs is up to the task.


these tiny little switches and not have to worry about them melting and setting fire to their mod, as I have seen happen in two other mod posts.
Haven't seen that, how bout a link?
 

IOU

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A standard Joye 510 at 5V wants 2.4A, a LR 510 at 4V wants 2.7A. Neither of those regs is up to the task.
Wow, that seems like an awful lot to me. At 5v to pull 2.4A you would need a resistance of 2.08ohms. That would mean you would be vaping at 12 watts! Wow, I don't have any juice that would hold up to that kind of heat. I don't think I would trust the atty either. :laugh:
 

TonsO>apoR

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OK so I am gonna need some info here. I have purchased Variable Volt Mod "THE DON" and I have the 901 connection being put on it. When using it at 3.7v which Atty do I use the (901 Standard, HV or LR)? Same Question for Using at 5v, 6v. and 7.4v? This will be my 1st HV mod, so any help is appreciated.

3.7v = Which Atty?
5v = Which Atty?
6v = Which Attyy?
7.4v = Which Atty?
 

Lightgeoduck

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OK so I am gonna need some info here. I have purchased Variable Volt Mod "THE DON" and I have the 901 connection being put on it. When using it at 3.7v which Atty do I use the (901 Standard, HV or LR)? Same Question for Using at 5v, 6v. and 7.4v? This will be my 1st HV mod, so any help is appreciated.

3.7v = Which Atty?
5v = Which Atty?
6v = Which Attyy?
7.4v = Which Atty?

Well first and this is just a technicality. The Don isn't a variable voltage mod.. meaning you can't adjust the voltage of the PV.. What gives you the different voltage is depending on the battery combination you are using.

Now to answer your question

3.7v you may use LR and Standard with no problems.. HV is just to much resistance
5v standard and HV would be extremely weak I would suggest NO LR
6v NO NO LR, standard (2.8 - 3 ohms ) and you may get a pass with HV
7.4v ONLY HV
 

TonsO>apoR

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3.7v you may use LR and Standard with no problems.. HV is just to much resistance
5v standard and HV would be extremely weak I would suggest NO LR
6v NO NO LR, standard (2.8 - 3 ohms ) and you may get a pass with HV
7.4v ONLY HV
__________________________
OK at 3.7 = Stnd and LR. I Understand this answer
5v standard and HV would be extremely weak I would suggest NO LR. Not sure which Atty you are saying to use here.
6v NO NO LR, standard (2.8 - 3 ohms ) and you may get a pass with HV Also not sure which atty you are saying to use here.
7.4v ONLY HV . Understood.

And again thanks for the help, as I am new to the HV mod.
 
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