My first battery mod!

[bzlytbeer]

Hello all! New to the forum I am.

Here is my first mod. It is a basic magnum-style batt (thanks madog!). I have it attached to a 6V 500mA charger that was for my kids old power wheels car. I have a bloog, which, after I peeled off the stickers on the box, is a rebranded e-cig (wish I had known - would have saved about $50 ordering from e-cigs outright. Anyways, the cig works ok, but doesn't produce near the amount of vapor that it does using my 6V magnum. I have a set of rechargeables coming from DealExtreme, and then I will be able to make another one that is portable.

Using the 6V charger actually seems to help keep the atomizer clean. These have the atomizer and cart in one. It was fun to make, and these forums have given me the inspiration to fabricate and get back into electronics too, so thank all of you for your posts and ideas. These e-cigs have kept me from smoking traditional cigs for the past 2 weeks already!!

John

 

[breakfastchef]

Here is my first mod. It is a basic magnum-style batt (thanks madog!). I have it attached to a 6V 500mA charger that was for my kids old power wheels car.

I think your problem is the low current from the charger. You really need something that puts out at least 1A. 5v gives very good performance; 6v is killer good, but can easily burn out an atomizer that is too dry.

 

[2kool2]

Nice work but I would watch out with the 6V . Atomizer's burn out fast like that. I found out the hard way.Like breakfastchef said, keep it wet and welcome to the forum.

 

[bzlytbeer]

So, you guys are saying 5V at 1amp is what I should aim for? I have a car adapter that will output that via USB cable, and a charger for my HTC touch phone that has 5V at 1000mA, but when I spliced onto a USB cable and plugged it into the HTC charger, it would not work. I am pretty darn sure I was not shorting it out in any way. Plugged the same USB cable into the charger that came with my e-cig, and it did the same thing. The little LED would go off, and no power. This is the only real reason I went with the 6V charger. I did plug it into my PC, and through that, it did quite well. Can't figure out why the heck it wouldn't work with either of the USB chargers.

Any ideas?

Also, sorry for calling this a battery mod, it should have been labeled as a plug-in.

John

 

[bzlytbeer]

Sorry, I wasn't real clear on my first post. It rocks with the 6V charger I am using. It produces a lot of vapor, so no problem there. My only concern would be burning out my atty, but since I have the atty/cart in one, I bought 50 of them when I ordered my ecig, so, even if I blow one out every week, they will still last me about a year. My plan was to use this to stop smoking completely. The only issue I see, is that I am having a lot of fun messing with this, and may not want to give it up...

 

[kinabaloo]

Sorry, I wasn't real clear on my first post. It rocks with the 6V charger I am using. It produces a lot of vapor, so no problem there. My only concern would be burning out my atty, but since I have the atty/cart in one, I bought 50 of them when I ordered my ecig, so, even if I blow one out every week, they will still last me about a year. My plan was to use this to stop smoking completely. The only issue I see, is that I am having a lot of fun messing with this, and may not want to give it up...

If a power source is underrated, it might overheat/blow a fuse. But often with a rating of 500mA it works as it is used only intermittently. If buying, get a 1A supply. If the 500mA one is not getting hot and you keep an eye on it, don't worry too much, especially if it is fused and it is very unlikely to be left unnattended while connected with the possibility that the atomizer might activate by itself, whether by automatic switch or button getting pressed somehow.

As for the USB units, my guess is they are 'smart' and will not output anything until they have 'handshaked' with the connected device.

Hi to madog, if he is passing here one day ...

 

[bzlytbeer]

I think the 6V may be too high now. Definitely notice a taste difference when using the original batteries. I have changed this mod around a bit, so now it has a USB on the end of it. I have a USB extender I took apart and connected to my power supply, so I can still use it for now plugged in, but the best thing is that now, while sitting at my desk at work, I can hook straight into my USB port on my PC. This puts out a good deal of vapor, and if I am not mistaken, drops the voltage down to 5V.

With my 6V charger, I may use a power regulator or a couple of diodes to limit the voltage. I still want to get the amps higher, though. Need to find a good PS with 4-5 volts, and 1 Amp draw.

I just got my CR2 rechargeables from DealExtreme, and will be using these to make a cordless. Definitely going to use the diodes to drop the voltage down to about 4.4Volts, and it should end up 4.4V @ 800mA.

We'll see what happens!