My First Mod ^^;

[Razloz]

So I'm about to start building my own battery mods and this is what I'm looking at;


Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3 Picture 4 Picture 5
and this kill switch
I think that's about all I need but I would love some feedback before I place the order if I happened to forget anything.
Planning on putting the voltage meter on top by the atty connector so I can see it while I vape. Again any feedback is greatly appreciated. Oh yea, planning on running two 14500 in sequence, still shopping around for those though. Looking at these they're a bit more expensive than the ones that MV carries, not really sure if there's a difference tbh. I dunno still gotta research that a bit.

 

[jmarkus]

looks like you got all you need, great little kit for your fist mod!

the only thing id say is you may wanna consider a slightly better button...possibly 3amp. that one will be just fine, but a 3 amp and better quality will last longer and might serve you better. i do think the one you have will do the job...so really not a must.

youll notice that the mv vv chip will get pretty hot while youre vaping. its one of the huge downfalls of a linear regulator. stick with it for your first mod tho, an excellent way to get your hands dirty. then you can start messing around with the switching regulators like the okr-t...much more efficient, no heat and much better battery life.

even tho they might be more expensive, i highly recommend AW brand (either IMR's or protected). i've found that nothing really compares.

can't wait to see your creation!! good luck raz!!

 

[Razloz]

Thanks! Been reading up a lot about the puck design that's been floating around here using 4 nimh batteries and pretty interested in that, but I love variable voltage since I make my own juices and will be getting into making my own atty coils pretty soon here. Probably gonna hit up TI for some free "samples" after I make a few easy mods, got a lot of ideas I wanna make a reality. If my calculations were right I never pass 2A with how I vape, it's usually around 1.48 at least on the coil. What I've been vaping on is a Ego Twist usually at around 4.4v with a 3ohm carto, so that would come out to about 1.46A (((4.4x4.4) / 3) / 4.4). Assuming I have the equations right anyways. Gonna hit up RadioShack before I place my order to see if they have anything neat I can pick up, maybe a higher amp switch (couldn't find any I liked at MV aside from that one). Thinking I might be able to use NiMH batteries with this setup as well would just need a much larger box, something like 5 or 6 batteries with enough room for the PCB and stuffs. I have a ton of gutted computers laying around with a buncha spares parts from em and been thinking about how I can use those parts to make some mods. LOL would a GPU or CPU heatsink work for the vv chip? Hmm...

 

[Jossh]

I recently built my first VV mod. It uses two 14500 batteries in a three AA box like yours, the same regulator board kit, but with a horn style switch and no voltage indicator. The indicator would be nice to have but I have no idea how I'd fit it in there. It's all good though. I usually have a volt meter laying around close by whether I'm at home or work. I'll be really curious to see how you fit it in yours. Hopefully, having a smaller button will help.
As far as the kill switch, my battery box (not from MV's) came with a switch. Unfortunately, after dropping my mod, I was reading a little bit of voltage coming through the switch with it in the off position so I ended up bypassing it. Not happy about that, but other than that, I love this mod. Been using it for a couple of weeks now. I usually have a Vivi Nova clearo tank on it with a 2.8 ohm coil, vaping at about 4.5 volts. Hits like a freight train.
Good luck and post some pics.
Oh yeah, I bought 6 TrustFire 14500's (off Amazon, I think) and two of them took a dump on me after one charge/use cycle. After trying to charge them again, they would only read two-point-something volts. Don't know if it's a common problem with TrustFires or if I just got unlucky. The other four have been fine.... for what it's worth.

 

[Gizmo362]

Add one of these to the other side of the switch and you have a unit you can hook to a 9 volt 2 amp wall wort. Saves battery usage.

 

[Razloz]

Add one of these to the other side of the switch and you have a unit you can hook to a 9 volt 2 amp wall wort. Saves battery usage. View attachment 124684

I'm a bit confused by this...hehe how would it save battery usage?
Edit: Nevermind I get it now lol my mind was elsewhere when I first read it.

Also something I've been thinking about is the application of a fuse to protect against battery failure, is there a reason why nobody does this?

 

[Mrgreen819]

jmarkus is right get good aw IMR rated batteries, especially since they are so small 14500 and not a lot of drain capacity. Its tempting to buy cheap batteries on ebay or amazon. But the C rating is what really makes them perform and the C rating is not always available. You would think a higher MAH rating is a better battery but the C rating is what really makes them light up a coil. From my limited understanding the C rating is what the battery can dump quickly in amperage and the MAH rating is how long it will last. There are basic calculations to determine all of this but the issue I have is finding the specs for a given battery. I have seen 5000 MAH 18650 batteries but they don't perform as well as my 2000 MAH, AW IMR 18650's due to there C rating being lower.

 

[Razloz]

So I hit up RadioShack and got some goodies, got kinda sidetracked and got an idea I'm gonna try out.
Picked up These switches, this for a kill switch, this project box, and this for the batteries. Figured it's only a lil it of money to get back into this sort of thing (been about 15 years since I did any soldering or work on circuit boards). It's gonna be a simple mod similar to The Puck using 4 NiMH batteries. I'll upload pictures once my last supplies get here then it'll be on to making the VV one I originally set out to make. Although I may go with the OKR-T or something like that. Pretty excited to be doing this kinda stuff again been so bored lately.

Oh yea and some pics of the stuffs from RadioShack:

 

[Razloz]

But the C rating is what really makes them perform and the C rating is not always available.

I'm having this same problem too. Sadly very few places actually list that info. =(

 

[Mrgreen819]

Razloz, Thats why I go with IMR batteries but really prefer AW IMR's. I too am familiar with electronics even etched a few boards. But it has been a long time and I have forgot a lot. I just wish we had better sources for economical battery boxes. I have been ordering them on ebay usually from China or Hong Kong and it takes weeks to get them. I know madvapes has some, just not the sizes I want. I was also in radio shack this week and talked to the store manager. He informed me they are bringing back the electronics slowly and its going to be a staple item again. Thats what made them and since they came out with the arduino sales have been picking up.

 

[Razloz]

First mod is just about done just gotta wait for the battery connector to get here from madvapes, and omg I seriously need a dremel lol hand carved out the holes with my detail wood carving set of exacto knives...lol it's coming along nicely though crazy how fast soldering came back to me ^^; I'll have some pics up pretty soon.

@Mrgreen819: Yea definitely need some better battery boxes, I think I might start casting molds actually to get exactly what I want.

 

[Razloz]

So all my stuff should be here in the next few days. Got a quick question about wire gauges though. The battery box I got has 26 AWG wires by default, should I switch these to something a little thicker? It's gonna be vaping at 4.8V on average (5.6V fresh off the charger) and planning on using a 3ohm carto. This should come out to 1.86A max and 1.6A average yea? Well this table I found says the max amps for chassis wiring is 2.2A for 26 AWG so in theory should be good? I salvaged a buncha 22 AWG and 18 AWG wire from some old computer power supplies I had laying around for the rest of my circuit.

 

[jmarkus]

i would swap the wire out for thicker gauge for sure. i always like to err on the side of caution and better performance.

 

[Razloz]

i would swap the wire out for thicker gauge for sure. i always like to err on the side of caution and better performance.

That's what I was thinking, and on a side note, I think I'm gonna install a switch in my mailbox so I know exactly when the mailman gets here! I thought it was bad waiting for new juice to arrive, having a mod that's nearly done and waiting on parts is even worse!

 

[WillyB]

Add one of these to the other side of the switch and you have a unit you can hook to a 9 volt 2 amp wall wort. Saves battery usage. View attachment 124684

You sure? Pump a constant 9V into a linear reg like the OP listed and the reg will generate more heat than the atty.

 

[Mrgreen819]

Im waiting on parts from China and Hong Kong, that takes forever. D.C. loves big wire. I use 18 gauge from the battery to board and from the board to switch and atty connector. I use 22 awg for display voltage, pot etc etc. It's been a while since a hobby had me stalking the mail lady. I have a new soldering iron on the way, overdue and excited to finally get a proper adjustable iron. In the meantime I just read and learn more and usually order more parts and wait some more. When everything finally gets here I have about 3 or 4 of the really popular mods planned to build.

 

[Razloz]

So got first one all done, not the prettiest but was mostly to brush up on my soldering skills.

Sorry my iPod has a horrible camera and the lightning isn't so good in here ^^;

 

[Razloz]

There we go these are a lil better.

 

[Razloz]

Batteries just got here (was stalking the mail man since I saw him down the road, LOL) and this thing is vaping like a dream. Fresh off the charger the 4 NiMH AAA batteries are putting out 5.58v and with my 3.0 boge carto it's heaven. ^^;