My poorvari mod

[asnider123]

ooooooh, look at this link Dalton .. light comes on when preset low voltage is reached. I am thinking of second circuit (the one using a single transistor to bypass the red led)

4QD-TEC: Battery monitoring circuits

 

[Dalton63841]

ooooooh, look at this link Dalton .. light comes on when preset low voltage is reached. I am thinking of second circuit (the one using a single transistor to bypass the red led)

4QD-TEC: Battery monitoring circuits

Very good read! I may put something like that to use in mine if I can find space. I think I might be able to fit something like that first link...Since I am using a single battery with boost, this could be very handy...

 

[asnider123]

Very good read! I may put something like that to use in mine if I can find space. I think I might be able to fit something like that first link...Since I am using a single battery with boost, this could be very handy...

Yup, a single cell is in the range of 4.2 - 3.2 .. if you could calibrate an alert at about 3.4, you could change out batts before you reaced lower limit. I think that's neat!

 

[bstedh]

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-mods/193434-low-voltage-cut-out.html

We were discussing just using a zener diod and an LED to create a monitor led that will turn off at a pre set voltage.

 

[donptal]

@ Dalton and asnider

Thank you very much for appreciating my design and for thinking of add on to poorvari. Please feel free to post your improvement and you can even edit my schematic for its improvement. Lets just make the add on as cheap as possible to not spoil the advantage of this mod to the others. And that is its affordability, that's why I called it by its name. Thanks again!

 

[asnider123]

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-mods/193434-low-voltage-cut-out.html

We were discussing just using a zener diod and an LED to create a monitor led that will turn off at a pre set voltage.

Hi! That's funny .. two parallel threads on the same topic Your thread is really where this subject belongs, sorry Donptal for hijacking this thread. I will switch over to this other one for this subject. Your thread should be about your most excellent mod.

 

[battousai501]

I actually tried it and as some people say, it vapes like a champ! after I make my 5V box mod, i'll be working on this!

 

[asnider123]

I love this simple design, have used it more than once. Thanks again, Donptal, for your most excellent design! My fav vape is about 4.7v, my 5v mod is a bit hot, with the Poorvari circuit, I can set it to any voltage I like.

Incidently, I have had no excessive heat problems, but I only push the button for about 5 seconds at a time. I can imagine someone that holds the button down for extended periods may have a problem with the 350 over-heating.

 

[asnider123]

@ Dalton and asnider

Thank you very much for appreciating my design and for thinking of add on to poorvari. Please feel free to post your improvement and you can even edit my schematic for its improvement. Lets just make the add on as cheap as possible to not spoil the advantage of this mod to the others. And that is its affordability, that's why I called it by its name. Thanks again!

Hi Donptal .. somehow I completely missed your post, please forgive me, my friend. PM me and tell me of your plans for improvements to the great Poorvari. I am indebted to you for your fine design, have used it several times already in my mods.

 

[donptal]

I am greatly flattered by that asnider, because I consider you as one of the best thinker modder here in ecf. I think the best way we can improve this is to change the chip, so its time to hunt some other chip that is much efficient but as close to the price of lm350 not to ruin the primary objective of poorvari. And that is to make the cheapest variable pv. But up to now, I'm still enjoying my poorvari with added dig. display.

 

[asnider123]

I am greatly flattered by that asnider, because I consider you as one of the best thinker modder here in ecf. I think the best way we can improve this is to change the chip, so its time to hunt some other chip that is much efficient but as close to the price of lm350 not to ruin the primary objective of poorvari. And that is to make the cheapest variable pv. But up to now, I'm still enjoying my poorvari with added dig. display.

For now I am satisfied with the great LM350t chip .. I have had no probs with it and, as a matter of fact, have 10 more on order Your circuit is my main VV basis right now. Of course, there's always room for improvement, but I have found the 350 very good.

I watched your youtube poorvari videos, are you a shop owner in PI?

 

[asnider123]

I bought a handful of these from Hobbyking. They arrived amazingly fast, considering they came from HK or somewhere???

About 2 bucks. measures 2-6 cell battery packs. I tried it out with a 2-14500 mod, it scans: shows first batt, then shows second, then show total voltage. Kinda neat! Trying to figure out how it could also show output voltage of VV reg. Perhaps not, but maybe????? Anyway, for 2 bucks it is a neat toy.

 

[CraigHB]

For now I am satisfied with the great LM350t chip .. I have had no probs with it and, as a matter of fact, have 10 more on order Your circuit is my main VV basis right now. Of course, there's always room for improvement, but I have found the 350 very good.

When looking at efficiency, the linear regulators aren't all that horrible compared to the switched regulators. With a 3 ohm load at 5V, a linear regulator is ~70% efficient compared to a good switching regulator which is 90-95% efficient. It boils down to a ~20% reduction in run time with a linear regulator, a tolerable difference. For something cheap and easy, you can't beat them.

 

[donptal]

Hi Craig, thanks for the input! I have a few questions for you though. Does increasing the amperage of my reg. using this chip,National Semiconductor | Semiconductors | Power Management | Linear Regulator | Adjustable Positive & Negative Voltage Regulators |LM338T/NOPB make any improvement from poorvari's performance?
Or this National Semiconductor | Semiconductors | Power Management | Linear Regulator | Adjustable Positive & Negative Voltage Regulators |LM1084IT-ADJ/NOPB is a better alternative

 

[donptal]

And another thing, how can we deal with too low voltage input requirements of chip ..say 2.6 volts? Does it have any bad effects to your series battery to drain too much considering its very low input requirement.

 

[CraigHB]

You're not going to see much difference in efficiency from one linear regulator to the next. For a linear regulator under the loads we see, efficiency is mainly a function of input current and input/output voltage differential. The LM350 is going to do the job for you just as efficiently as any other linear regulator.

There are other features such as low drop out, enable pins, and higher current capacities that you may prefer over the LM350. That stuff would be your call. Low drop out regulators allow output voltages closer to input voltage. Enable pins facilitate a mechanism to shut down the regulator when battery voltage drops below a certain level.

 

[donptal]

Thanks Craig, I appreciate your quick response!

 

[skullfreak]

is that pig putty (hardening clay) around the atty??

 

[donptal]

It's like that I suppose but its not all that. Underneath is a plastic juice catch that surrounds the atty. The hardening clay that I used is not good because its not that hard when fully cured.

 

[asnider123]

I am greatly flattered by that asnider, because I consider you as one of the best thinker modder here in ecf. I think the best way we can improve this is to change the chip, so its time to hunt some other chip that is much efficient but as close to the price of lm350 not to ruin the primary objective of poorvari. And that is to make the cheapest variable pv. But up to now, I'm still enjoying my poorvari with added dig. display.

Donptal .. hello.

In my search for a possible replacement for the LM350T, I came across the LM1084IT-ADJ .. very cheap (about .55 US in 10-lots) .. sounds like a 5A version of the LM317 / LM350T .. pin for pin compatible ..

http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM1084.pdf .. datasheet
10 LM1084 LM1084IT-ADJ Adjustable 5A Voltage Regulator | eBay

I will order ten of them for experimenting, they're cheap enough and, with 5A rating, they should run cool and efficient at only 2A ..

Thanks, Alan