Madvapes 5v regulators rock

[Ez Duzit]

Been wanting to put together a 5volt 3x AAA box using a micro-switch, but didn't want the hassle of trying to stuff a mosfet, along with the 5v regulator into that tiny space. I've tried about 7 or 8 different styles of switches, but it's a royal pain in the .... trying to find a small switch that actually looks good when mounted, and can handle the current from a 5 volt setup. They're either too tall and stick out about 10mm or more, or they're too wide, and can't fit in the narrow battery slot that a triple A size box has. So I always wind up doing major dremel work to a switch I like, but is actually too big, just to make it fit into a space that it wasn't meant to fit into in the first place. What a pain in the ...!

But I finally got a few madvapes 5v regulators with a control pin, and BAM. No more oversize switch problems. Put together a nice little 5v box using the tiny tactile switch he carries, and this thing is a joy to use. The schematic for the circuit is posted in the description of the regulator, and works perfectly. Can use any teeny tiny switch I want now, since I don't have to worry about current frying the switch. And I get about 5 hours, of 5 volt vaping using two 10440 batteries.

 

[stompasaurus]

Can you post some pics? I was going to do the same with the 3xAA box (because I already have 14500s on hand) but he's out of them, and I was thinking 3xAAA would be good for the smaller size, but wasn't sure how everything fit in there. I'm not the best at this so the 3xAA would have given me extra room but if everything is as small as I think it is it should fit just fine.

 

[Ez Duzit]

I'll take some pics and post em tonight.

 

[Ez Duzit]

Here's those pictures.
I have to say, I'm lovin this switch. One really nice thing I noticed about this regulator, is it runs very cool. I did a 7 second burn (with atty attached), and it was barely warm. Then I did the same thing with a TI 383 regulator, and at 7 seconds, it got real hot. I had to let go right after that because it was so hot, but it does cool down very quick once you let up on the button.

 

[hoogie76]

Very nice...

 

[stompasaurus]

Thanks!

Interesting that you put the batteries on either end, I hadn't considered that. I figured I would put the two next to each other and use one of the ends for all of the components.

 

[Ez Duzit]

Stomp - If you look at the top of the box where the atty goes, you'll see 2 slots that the back cover slide into. Because of the placement of those slots, it was more practical to put the atty and wiring in the center position.

 

[stompasaurus]

Of course, didn't even think of that.

Stupid question, but I can't see how the two batteries are wired together, little help?

I'm sure I could figure it out once it's in front of me, but I just can't make it out from the pictures.

Thanks

 

[Ez Duzit]

Of course, didn't even think of that.

Stupid question, but I can't see how the two batteries are wired together, little help?

I'm sure I could figure it out once it's in front of me, but I just can't make it out from the pictures.

Thanks

You're right, you can't really see it.
There's a short length of wire that runs under the connector, and is soldered to the back of each battery contact. If you enlarge the thumbnail, and then click it 2 more times to enlarge it all the way, (that's just the way imageshack does it). Anyway, you can barely see a little tiny bit of the red insulation from the jumper wire. Yellow arrow points to it.

 

[Led Hendriani]

Does the use of a 5V regulator disallow more than 5V to get through to target, but still use the 7.4V, or cap the batteries discharge at only 5V, thus making the batteries last longer?

Thanks!

 

[stompasaurus]

Pretty sure it's the first one, unfortunately.

 

[stompasaurus]

So I got my parts last night and started working on it. With the 3AA box it seems like it actually works to have both batteries next to each other instead of opposite ends, which I would prefer, as I want the button on the thin side of the box.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the tiny PCB provided with the regulator, and there's room for it in the AA box so I think I'm going to use it. It will definitely make the soldering work easier, and make it far easier to replace a switch or LED if something goes bad.

Taking as many pics as I can along the way..

 

[hoogie76]

So I got my parts last night and started working on it. With the 3AA box it seems like it actually works to have both batteries next to each other instead of opposite ends, which I would prefer, as I want the button on the thin side of the box.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the tiny PCB provided with the regulator, and there's room for it in the AA box so I think I'm going to use it. It will definitely make the soldering work easier, and make it far easier to replace a switch or LED if something goes bad.

Taking as many pics as I can along the way..

I got tired of trying to solder 3 or 4 wires to a pin.. The little board is something that I'm testing so let me know how it works out when you get a chance.... Thanks.. Hoog.

 

[stompasaurus]

I did a bunch of the soldering today at work (and got some strange looks), but I can't finish it until I finish drilling out the box and mount the connector, switch+LED.. but my drill is a piece of crap and not cutting it, so I'm temporarily on hold until I can use someone else's. So far it's looking nice with the board though, I'll see if I can take some pictures of what I have so far and put them up.

 

[stompasaurus]

I gotta say you're a genius for including that board. I finished my wiring today and everything works perfectly, now I just need the parts mounted and probably resolder a few things to trim some wire. But the board makes it simple. Unfortunately I probably can't get any pics up until tomorrow sometime.

 

[hoogie76]

I gotta say you're a genius for including that board. I finished my wiring today and everything works perfectly, now I just need the parts mounted and probably resolder a few things to trim some wire. But the board makes it simple. Unfortunately I probably can't get any pics up until tomorrow sometime.

thanks stomp, looking forward to pics if you get a chance then I'll know how to do one

hoog

 

[stompasaurus]

Will definitely post some tonight. I didn't take many pictures but it's still in a state right now where everything's wired but not mounted to the box, so with a few pictures and a couple of lines of instructions it's going to be really easy to explain how it was done.

You'll just have to excuse some really ugly soldering at the beginning.. like really embarrassing. It started coming back to me at the end though. But thankfully it's a box mod tutorial and not a soldering tutorial

 

[stompasaurus]

OK here's what I have so far. I'm about to get back to work on it but I wanted to post these before I forget.

First, here's what the back of the circuit board looks like (please ignore the crappy soldering job). The important thing to note here is that there are four pins in the regulator, and four vertical columns on the board, so connecting to any of the spots down that line is equivalent to connecting to that pin on the regulator.

So the first thing I did was put the pins of the regulator in to the holes at the top of each of those columns, then carefully bend the pins so the regulator lays flat with the board (I had to clip a few mm off of that end of the board so it could lay flat)

Now here's the schematic from madvapes, the only change I made was to add the resistor + LED in parallel between Vo and the ground. And as a minor point, the switch comes before the battery, but that doesn't really change how I did anything.

So since we have these columns to work with, everything becomes pretty simple and you can handle each piece individually instead of worrying about soldering a whole mess of wires together.

One last thing before I go in to the details, this is NOT the exact process you should follow. It should really be more like the 2AA box mod tutorial that Hoog has up on the site - first you drill your holes, then you mount your components (except the board), THEN you solder, and finally mount the board to the box. But since my drill wasn't working and I'm impatient, this is how I did it. But I'm going to have to redo a lot of the soldering to mount everything properly and trim wires. So this should really only be a general guide as to how the circuit comes together.

In this next picture, you can see what the regulator looks like from the front. From left to right, I refer to these pins, and their entire columns under them, as pin 1-4 (brilliant, right?) Pin 1 is Vin, pin 2 is Vout, pin 3 is ground, and pin 4 is control(disable)

So first, connect the negative lead (black wire) from the battery box to pin 3 (I am holding the wire between my fingers):

Next, the positive lead (red wire) from the battery box to pin 1 (I am holding the wire). Obviously the terminal is not mounted in the box right now. When you move the last terminal in to its proper position it doesn't fit very snugly, so that will have to be well secured at the end to handle the stress of constantly replacing batteries.

A 470 Ohm resistor goes between pins 3+4 (I'm pointing at it)

Make a connection from pin 1, to the switch, to pin 4:

Make a connection from pin 2 to a 470 Ohm resistor, to the LED, to pin 3 (the resistor and LED are not yet soldered in this pic)

Make a connection from pin 2 to the positive end of the atomizer connection, then negative of that goes to pin 3:

So at the end, we're left with this little mess here:

That's about all I have at this point. The circuit works great for me, even though I look like a fool holding wires together while trying to press the switch and take a puff from it, but it definitely feels like 5V to me!

Here's sort of what I want it to look like when I'm done:

Note that the area in the bottom left of that picture should probably be cleaned out with a dremel or equivalent so the regulator can get mounted down there. It kind of looks like a tight fit in that picture but it's really not, there's plenty of room to work in this box.

Hope that helps somebody. I'll be back with more when I finish.

 

[stompasaurus]

I forgot the parts list I used, all from madvapes of course:

1 3xAA box
1 510 Connector, Sealed
1 LED (your choice, 1 470 Ohm resistor included)
1 470 Ohm resistor
1 tactile switch with 4mm actuator
1 5V/3A regulator

 

[hoogie76]

That is awesome!! Thanks stomp.. Mind if I post it on my how to page, giving you full credit of course?

It's funny as hell when you're trying to hold this pile of stuff to test it and hope it doesn't blow up in your face.. Wires dangling, battery popping out.. lol..