madvapes box mod, first one! so easy :)

[dkonrai]

my first boxmod! been vaping for about four months. after going through cheapo 711 ecig, joy ego, greenlife (ego knockoff), sparkplug, now i have a boxmod.
pretty inexpensive, and it was easy as all heck to make. not bad for a first try, it works and does the job. now im going to sell off the rest of the pv's.

my 20yo son wanted a led in his

the insides. the left one is the one i built, the right is the kids one. i used marinetex for my assembly, then toppe it off with hot glue. the kid used all hot glue to assemble his. we shall see how the hot glue mod holds up

question, why is it the ultrafire batteries are shorter than the trustfire? i bought some of each and didnt realize they were different lengths
dino
dino

 

[AttyPops]

 

[zoiDman]

Very Nice Box Mod. The price is Right also.

I'm vaping on a MadVapes Variable Voltage Box Mod that I got yesterday and I love it.

 

[dkonrai]

Very Nice Box Mod. The price is Right also.

I'm vaping on a MadVapes Variable Voltage Box Mod that I got yesterday and I love it.

which vv? does it fit into a 2xaa box?
dino

 

[zoiDman]

Here is a link to what that MadVapes VVPV.

Variable Voltage Box Mod

 

[CraigHB]

Very nice.

Those Madvapes VV boxes are a good deal.

 

[dkonrai]

do they work good? i wondered about the vv, heard the adjustment screw is a little sensitive?
dino

 

[zoiDman]

Very nice.

Those Madvapes VV boxes are a good deal.

For the price, I could pass it by. I wasn't going to spend a furtune on something only to find it wasn't what I wanted or didn't work with my cartos. I can't believe how well it works.

I have some E2 cartos that were to high an ohm to get a decent hit with my eGo. They hit Great at 4.1 or so volts on this VVPV.

do they work good? i wondered about the vv, heard the adjustment screw is a little sensitive?
dino

That is my only complaint. The adjustment knob only needs to be turned a very small amount to increase or decrease the voltage. It's not a huge issue. And I'm getting used to it.

But if you the knob had more play in it it would be easier to fine tune the voltage. But for the money it is still a good unit.

I used a fine point Sharpie Marker and put a line on the knob at 3.7 volts. So when I change cartos I have some reference as to what the output voltage is.

 

[dkonrai]

For the price, I could pass it by. I wasn't going to spend a furtune on something only to find it wasn't what I wanted or didn't work with my cartos. I can't believe how well it works.

I have some E2 cartos that were to high an ohm to get a decent hit with my eGo. They hit Great at 4.1 or so volts on this VVPV.



That is my only complaint. The adjustment knob only needs to be turned a very small amount to increase or decrease the voltage. It's not a huge issue. And I'm getting used to it.

But if you the knob had more play in it it would be easier to fine tune the voltage. But for the money it is still a good unit.

I used a fine point Sharpie Marker and put a line on the knob at 3.7 volts. So when I change cartos I have some reference as to what the output voltage is.

i see. good idea. i am thinking about making a larger mod. wanted to use one of these, if for anything the geek factor
http://www.madvapes.com/thumbnail.asp?file=assets/images/voltageindicatorcopy.jpg&maxx=300&maxy=0
then use a vv board. i say a thread about making the puck, using two 4xaa boxes using aa recahrgables. getting tempting.
dino

 

[zoiDman]

A digital read-out would put the Geek Factor thru the roof.

I think MadVapes has a mod forum where people post all kinds of crazy, and not so crazy ideas. You might do a google search and see what you come up with. There is of course a Modder's section here on the ECF.

What would make sense on this VVPV would be to have is a knob that goes from 3-5 volts with the same amount of turn. This one goes from 0-7.6 volts. Your just not going to go much lower than 3 volts and your just not going to go much higher than 5 volts.

One thing I do like is it has an On/Off switch. Nice for when it's in your pocket and you lean up against something pushing in the power button.

 

[dkonrai]

amazing how this vaping thing really starts out rather innocent, then, it kind of explodes into madness

 

[zoiDman]

amazing how this vaping thing really starts out rather innocent, then, it kind of explodes into madness

I hear you. Wait until you get into making your own juice. I have and entire drawer of my desk dedicated to DIY. It's a Big drawer too.

If you build a VVPV, besure to post some pictures of it in this thread. I would like to see how it comes out.

 

[dkonrai]

im trying to sell off all of my old stuff. just sold the sparkplug, and hoping to sell off all the batteries (ego). then i can spend some scratch on more mod boxes

 

[WillyB]

For the price, I could pass it by. I wasn't going to spend a furtune on something only to find it wasn't what I wanted or didn't work with my cartos. I can't believe how well it works.

That is my only complaint. The adjustment knob only needs to be turned a very small amount to increase or decrease the voltage. It's not a huge issue. And I'm getting used to it.

But if you the knob had more play in it it would be easier to fine tune the voltage. But for the money it is still a good unit.

That's easy enough to remedy. Anytime you see a voltage range like 0- 7V you are in trouble using a single turn pot.

Looking at the datasheet with a 50k trimmer the range looks to actually be ~1.2V to whatever the batteries can support (maybe 7.5V for a minute).

Look at this pic.

Looking at the datasheet 40k for R2 looks like about 6V and 20k looks like about 3.5V (you'll have to double check my numbers and note realworld results may vary a bit, there is a formula in the datasheet).

So basically you need to get a 20k fixed resistor and attach it in series with a 20k pot/trimmer.

So now when you take the trimmer all the way down you'll be at ~3.5V (due to the resistor) and as you turn it you'll end up at about ~6V at the other end. In other words the whole range of the the trimmer is now usable for vaping.

And FWIW you need to use a kill switch any time you use a control/enable/inhibit pin like on this board as it is always using some current even when not vaping. And do throw a heatsink on it.

 

[zoiDman]

Thank you WillyB...

But a should have mentioned that I am a complete Rube when it comes to making all things electrical. That's what was holding me back from Box Mods.

Then I saw this pre-build mod for a reasonable price and jumped on it.

But I'm sure the info will not be wasted. I'm sure that another modder will we it and it will be used.

Thanks again though for your post.

 

[CraigHB]

amazing how this vaping thing really starts out rather innocent, then, it kind of explodes into madness

So true.

I'm surprised they didn't properly "range" the pot with a series resistor and optimal values on the MadVapes unit (as WillyB pointed out). As a designer, you pretty much always have to do that when using a mechanical pot for any kind of adjustment. Actually, you still need to do that with the digital ones to take advantage of the pot's full sweep and get maximum precision.

 

[zoiDman]

So true.

I'm surprised they didn't properly "range" the pot with a series resistor and optimal values on the MadVapes unit (as WillyB pointed out). As a designer, you pretty much always have to do that when using a mechanical pot for any kind of adjustment. Actually, you still need to do that with the digital ones to take advantage of the pot's full sweep and get maximum precision.

It did surprise me when I maxed out the voltage and it read 7.6 volts on my meter? What could you possible vape at that voltage? Frozen e-Juice?

I'm getting the hang of the knob though. I took a very fine jeweler's file and made a knotch on the side of the knob where 3.7v is. Then I filled the knotch with a fine point Sharpie Marker.

Now when I pick up a Carto I can put my thumb nail in the notch and back the voltage down, to about 3.0v to see how it hits. Then I can walk the voltage up until I hit the "Sweet Spot" for the carto.

What I am seeing is that the knotch stays withing an easy to reach range, for my finger nail to the side of the battery box. So in a way, the range of the pot isn't such a bad thing.

I'll probably get a better unit down the road. Because I Really like the concept of the VVPV. But for know I'm very happy with it's performance and most of all, It's price.

 

[Para]

do they work good? i wondered about the vv, heard the adjustment screw is a little sensitive?
dino

It works....but that's about all you can say. Better build a really good heatsink if you want it to last past a couple of months.

 

[WillyB]

It works....but that's about all you can say. Better build a really good heatsink if you want it to last past a couple of months.

+1.

And do give it some breathing room, and for sure DON'T cover it all with epoxy 'to protect' the connections.

 

[CraigHB]

I use a heatsink glue called Arctic Alumina I've been happy with. It's a real strong epoxy and has good thermal conductivity so if you wanted to glue your heatsink and sort of "pot" the regulator with it, might work well.