Questions on homemade box mods (unregulated and Nimh

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drunkjake

Full Member
Nov 7, 2014
14
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Florida
Hi, this is a little bit of an all around questions and whatnot. Please bear with me that this will be longish.

I've currently got an ego Ce5 900 mah battery stick, aspire bdc, and a Kangertech T3'D tanks for it. I'm enjoying it, but the battery life, even with the larger battery, is killing me.

I'm thinking of making a few puck e cigs. Basically, 4 nimh AA batteries, that will put out ~4.8 volts, and as long as I keep my cart resistance around 2.5-3.2 ohms, I should be fine, preferable around the 3 ohm mark. I *know* I can toss on a lower resistance cart, at the expense of losing battery life and it might be running a little to hot for my tastes.

I've also impulse purchased one of these cheap rebuildable drip atomizers so I could play around with it while looking for a better rebuildable tank atomizer setup. I also bought some NiChrome 60 34 gauge wire, so that should give me enough resistance in a shorter length of wire.

Any thoughts questions, comments, ideas I should keep an eye on? When parts come in, I'll update with if I've blown my hand off or what.

Thanks all.
 

BobC

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Hi, this is a little bit of an all around questions and whatnot. Please bear with me that this will be longish.

I've currently got an ego Ce5 900 mah battery stick, aspire bdc, and a Kangertech T3'D tanks for it. I'm enjoying it, but the battery life, even with the larger battery, is killing me.

I'm thinking of making a few puck e cigs. Basically, 4 nimh AA batteries, that will put out ~4.8 volts, and as long as I keep my cart resistance around 2.5-3.2 ohms, I should be fine, preferable around the 3 ohm mark. I *know* I can toss on a lower resistance cart, at the expense of losing battery life and it might be running a little to hot for my tastes.

I've also impulse purchased one of these cheap rebuildable drip atomizers so I could play around with it while looking for a better rebuildable tank atomizer setup. I also bought some NiChrome 60 34 gauge wire, so that should give me enough resistance in a shorter length of wire.

Any thoughts questions, comments, ideas I should keep an eye on? When parts come in, I'll update with if I've blown my hand off or what.

Thanks all.

If you're thinking 4 AA bats, you're better off with an 18650
 

drunkjake

Full Member
Nov 7, 2014
14
7
Florida
If you're thinking 4 AA bats, you're better off with an 18650

I *know* I'm better off with 18650's, but because I've run into issues with losing juice, I'm trading size for common batteries (AA NIMH Rechargeable batteries) that can be fast charged in 15 minutes, and in an emergency I could use standard akaline batteries. I'm working hard on quitting smoking, and having that ability is a big plus in my book. Doubly so for the battery life I'm expecting. And size isn't a huge issue because I'm planning on leaving one on my desk, and one in the vehicle. *
 

Zanderist

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Feb 5, 2014
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Just to comment on the standard alkaline batteries.

Alkaline batteries would immediately sag, I've tried it before they drain rapidly, even the non-rechargeable li-ion batteries are no good.

To have any success you would have to use C or D cells just to have maybe 10-15 minutes of good vaping.

Best thing to do is just stick with an extra set of NIMH.

Here's some technical information I found on AA batteries:
Discharge tests of Alkaline AA batteries
 

Stosh

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I've built and used a number of "Pucks" over the years, they will work very well, for me the 2.5Ω-2.8Ω were my sweet spot. I always carried an extra set of batteries and a compact charger, as long as I had an AC outlet, I was good to go all day.

It's nice to know that in a pinch you can build a mod for about $10 or less, and pick up batteries at the grocery store.
 

drunkjake

Full Member
Nov 7, 2014
14
7
Florida
Just to comment on the standard alkaline batteries.

Alkaline batteries would immediately sag, I've tried it before they drain rapidly, even the non-rechargeable li-ion batteries are no good.

To have any success you would have to use C or D cells just to have maybe 10-15 minutes of good vaping.

Best thing to do is just stick with an extra set of NIMH.

Here's some technical information I found on AA batteries:
Discharge tests of Alkaline AA batteries

Thank you! I do know that standard alkalines would be bad, especially since they'd have a higher voltage, but it's an *emergency* measure. I assume the standard 15 minute recharge time will be nice, as will battery life, as long as I stay around 2.4-3.2 ohm coils.

It's to prevent me waking up, wanting to vape, realizing my battery is dead, and then having to be oh ...., do I wait a while, or just get a pack of smokes. I have the ego for carrying around and whatnot. But, having this in the truck would be very good
 

drunkjake

Full Member
Nov 7, 2014
14
7
Florida
Looks to me that your aware of the limitations of your cells and your using them safely. The little dripper you have was my first and actually was what got of of cig's. Clearo's didnt cut for me. I think I used 32 or 30 guage to make my coils and it worked pretty well.

I have a few others, my aspire BDC I like, but I plan to drill out the air holes a touch. It's getting a little tough to draw from.
I've also got a Kangertech t3'd that I like a ton. It's my favorite aside from the drip tip being loose.

But, with the dripper, I can rebuild coils for the cheap pucks. They're stupid cheap to make, I can leave them around places, and have no qualms handing them and a rebuildable tank atomizer clone to a friend to use if they want an ecig.

Trading size for battery life, being dirt cheap, and needing to use specialer coils, but it appears I can find replacement 2.8-3.0 ohm coils for some tanked stuff for an easy just pick up and go.

I just wanted to make sure I'm on the right path and nothing I'm doing is glarringly stupid. Because, I'm still a complete novice. Lol.


But, in the future. I'd love to make something powered off rechargable cr123's and variable voltage, but that's a future me problem. :)
 

Stosh

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Trading size for battery life, being dirt cheap, and needing to use specialer coils, but it appears I can find replacement 2.8-3.0 ohm coils for some tanked stuff for an easy just pick up and go.

I just wanted to make sure I'm on the right path and nothing I'm doing is glarringly stupid. Because, I'm still a complete novice. Lol.

But, in the future. I'd love to make something powered off rechargable cr123's and variable voltage, but that's a future me problem. :)

You're on a fine path to more and more modding....:) Far from anything stupid.

You can easily re-build coils to whatever ohm level works well for you. If you have a 2.0Ω-2.2Ω coil that seems to run a bit hot on your Puck, there's an easy solution. If you pulse the fire button on and off....it's the Thumb-based PWM VV method. Not as slick as the electronic solutions but just as effective.
 

drunkjake

Full Member
Nov 7, 2014
14
7
Florida
You're on a fine path to more and more modding....:) Far from anything stupid.

You can easily re-build coils to whatever ohm level works well for you. If you have a 2.0Ω-2.2Ω coil that seems to run a bit hot on your Puck, there's an easy solution. If you pulse the fire button on and off....it's the Thumb-based PWM VV method. Not as slick as the electronic solutions but just as effective.

Awesome. Yeah, for the rebuildables it's easy to make a new coil, but my aspire, I have to find factory stuff. BUT, that said, the cost difference is all of three bucks, so I might as well only buy 2-3 good rebuildables, and keep the ego stuff for .... when I need something pocketable, or for a heavy nic juice to kill cravings. Shrug.

I figure what works for me and my situations won't work for most. Plus, I don't need to keep up with the newest and coolest things. So that's nice.

Quick question. Is there any issue pocket carrying something like my aspire NOT attached to a mod. I'm worried about dribbling, and tend to just leave it in my car cupholder.
 

Stosh

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Oct 2, 2010
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I figure what works for me and my situations won't work for most. Plus, I don't need to keep up with the newest and coolest things. So that's nice.

Quick question. Is there any issue pocket carrying something like my aspire NOT attached to a mod. I'm worried about dribbling, and tend to just leave it in my car cupholder.

Not sure about the Aspire....I haven't tried out the newest coolest things....:laugh:
Try wrapping it in a paper towel to test, see if there's any leakage....most of the new stuff is fairly leak-proof.
 

drunkjake

Full Member
Nov 7, 2014
14
7
Florida
So, it's alive. Ugly, and large, but fits my mitts, and cost under 15 bucks withoout the battery. That way I don't have to play unvented clone lottery game.
I went with 4 AA batteries, battery life, I expect, to end up being a little under a day or so. Hopefully around 24 hours. :)

Haven't soldered in ages, took a little while to practice.

Ugly internals - http://i.imgur.com/DeFP5yN.jpg
Yes, I cleaned up that glob of solder, I'm not sweating it toooo much, i need to build a nice wooden box and then do this again.

Ugly exterior, power switch, and status light -http://i.imgur.com/H9BAzbN.jpg
Showing how it fits in my hand - http://i.imgur.com/SDY6hh0.jpg
 
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drunkjake

Full Member
Nov 7, 2014
14
7
Florida
I kinda laughed when I saw you got the box from radio shack.

I think you could fit in the 4 AA in the radio shack box itself.

Yeah, I know, I laughed hard at that too. I was thinking about it, but after spending 20 minutes playing with it, this fits my hands fine. They didn't have the medium sized box I needed, and I wasn't about to drive 40 minutes to the next closest radio shack XD.

It's an ugly ......., but it works fine, which works for me, lol.

I'm sourcing a better box idea, and sourcing a better more polished way to slap the next box together. Lol. I've got parts for a few more of these things :)
 
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