Quick 'n Dirty "Need battery NOW" mod

[jameth]

After dropping my 1000mah ego pass-through one to many times, it finally stopped working the other day...

With money a little tight at the moment, and ultimately wanting a bottom feeder or a VV mod of some sort, I decided to really quickly throw something together to get me by until I have some extra money to spend for something new.

I was originally going to make a "PUCK" mod, but decided to use AA's instead of AAA's, mostly because I have a stack of NIMH AA's already, and didn't feel like buying some AAA NIMH's.

At the same time, I didn't want a massive 4AA x 2AA box device either.



So with minimal spending in mind, went to radio shack, picked up a square 4 AA battery box, and went home to see what I could cobble together.

I already had some switches, lots of rechargeable AA's, and harvested the EGO connector from my dead battery, so it was pretty much just a $3 battery box from radio shack for me to get this going.

So after some soldering, some hot gluing, and a quick 15 min fast charge of the batteries, I had a working, higher voltage battery pack for my ego-t/510 gear.

Works fantastic, the higher voltage really makes a difference, much better vapor production. When they come fresh of the charger its a little over 5V, which is a bit much for the ego-t attys, but it pretty quickly settles in around 4.3-4.5V under load, which is perfect I think.

I charged these up on thursday night, and here I am monday afternoon, on the same charge, still going strong, 2600 MAH Duracells FTW!

Anyways, nothing new or innovative here, just a quick and dirty power source when times are tight, but man after using the higher voltage, I don't think I want to go back to the EGO's 3.2v PWM power source!

Of course now I'm thinking of ways to make it a little more pretty, and less industrial looking

 

[WillyB]

its a little over 5V, which is a bit much for the ego-t attys, but it pretty quickly settles in around 4.3-4.5V under load, which is perfect I think.

Interesting, did you check the voltage after the switch at the connector?

 

[TomCatt]

Awesome work! Keep us posted on the 'beautifications' I picked up some of the same type of batt boxes in the AAA size a while ago and never did anything with them; will have to do something with them soon

 

[TomCatt]

Interesting, did you check the voltage after the switch at the connector?

Willy,
After our previous posts about the Puck style mod, I had made another Puck. My first Puck was giving ~3.8V under a 3.2 ohm load; but my second starts out ~4.6/4.7V under same load and after a day of moderate vaping (3-4mL) measures ~4.2/4.3V under load. Voltage is measured btw + battery and atty connector.

Just sayin'

 

[jameth]

Interesting, did you check the voltage after the switch at the connector?

No I did not, I tapped it before the switch (tapped at terminals and then powered up and voltage goes from 5v+ no load, to around 4.5 loaded), I will test it after the switch here in a bit and see what I get.

Would you expect it to be less when checked after switch?

 

[brewsterfrank]

great job. without stuff breaking i do not believe we would have the variety of PV's that we do. keep up the good work.

 

[GIMike]

Lol now that looks like a fun mod Wish I had the electrical experience to make something even as simple as that lol.

 

[brokenbrains]

...
Anyways, nothing new or innovative here, just a quick and dirty power source when times are tight, but man after using the higher voltage, I don't think I want to go back to the EGO's 3.2v PWM power source!

Of course now I'm thinking of ways to make it a little more pretty, and less industrial looking

Actually, I was thinking of building something similar (exposed batt's) because it's industrial-looking.

 

[GIMike]

Actually, I was thinking of building something similar (exposed batt's) because it's industrial-looking.

I think something like that, maybe even with a lcd that showed the current voltage, in a clear case, would be awesome. Maybe it just goes back to when I saw those kits for car motors that were made of clear plastic so you could see how everything worked together.....

 

[jameth]

No I did not, I tapped it before the switch (tapped at terminals and then powered up and voltage goes from 5v+ no load, to around 4.5 loaded), I will test it after the switch here in a bit and see what I get.

Would you expect it to be less when checked after switch?

Tested again both before before and after switch and see no difference, and really can't see how, when testing voltage under load, throwing the switch in the circuit would reduce voltage, it may reduce the maximum amperage that it can output however.

I am by no means an expert electrical engineer or anything, but pretty sure the switch would not change voltage as measured.

Am I wrong?


ps. It is more around 4.18 - 4.3 volts today, same charge since thursday, probably vaped 6 to 8 or so tanks through it.

 

[GIMike]

I thought anything added to an electrical circuit runs a risk of changing the output....

 

[jameth]

I think something like that, maybe even with a lcd that showed the current voltage, in a clear case, would be awesome. Maybe it just goes back to when I saw those kits for car motors that were made of clear plastic so you could see how everything worked together.....

I was thinking about a voltage read out as well, maybe a variable voltage chip / potentiometer as well, hmm...

As it is now its all a little to exposed, mainly the terminals on the top, they are just waiting for me to drop my keys on top in my pocket heh.


I do also kind of like the exposed batteries though, I think if I just had some kind of top piece that would cover they atty connection point / terminals. As it is now its all industrial grade hot-glue, which certainly works, but isn't exactly pretty to look at

 

[jameth]

I thought anything added to an electrical circuit runs a risk of changing the output....

Yea I believe that to be true, but I don't think the voltage is what will nessicarily take the hit, the switch has a finite amount of amps that it can support before it basically melts itself down, but unless you are hitting that maximum amperage, I don't think the volts would change.

I think if I had a rinka-dink little tiny switch there, it would effect the voltage, because I would be pushing more amps through then it was designed to support, but this switch is large, and supports more amps then the atty will draw.

Again, I am certainly no expert, just my understanding of it!

 

[GIMike]

You know one thing I've never seen on any e-cig? I don't know how hard it would be to add it, and I know they're not very accurate, but I think would look cool as hell. An LCD battery life gauge. Just have like, 4 or 5 squares that would drop off as the charge dropped. Almost everything else with a battery has one these days, why can't our mods?

 

[jameth]

You know one thing I've never seen on any e-cig? I don't know how hard it would be to add it, and I know they're not very accurate, but I think would look cool as hell. An LCD battery life gauge. Just have like, 4 or 5 squares that would drop off as the charge dropped. Almost everything else with a battery has one these days, why can't our mods?

I have seen ones that have a different color LED shine at various voltage levels, which essentially indicates when its getting low.

I was thinking about studding the top of it with one of each major style atty connector, like a 510, an 808, a 901, all wired up and ready to go, with only one at a time obviously heh.

 

[GIMike]

That would be pretty awesome You could even go old school with a rotating selector switch to select which one you'd use That would add to the utilitarian/industrial look no?

 

[VWFringe]

if steampunk is us trying to "dress like the 70's" back to Victorian times, I wonder if this is what people will be trying for when, a hundred years from now, they're trying to make something look like it was made now. this is the new steampunk is what i'm trying to say.

when i've thought of a "skin" for this type of mod I always think of textured leather (worked with tools, and just snapped on), but that would completely change the look here.

 

[GIMike]

I could see the appeal in the leather cover on this. You could always go with diamond plate steel too 2 different looks that would both be industrial.

 

[WillyB]

I thought anything added to an electrical circuit runs a risk of changing the output....

Of course. Anything between the batteries/power source and the atty adds resistance and obviously affects final loaded volts. There is no free lunch. Atty connector tests are the most accurate.

In the Puck thread there were numerous posts of folks with low loaded volts with Joye atties (~3.6V).

Ran a couple tests.

Here's a freshly charged naked pack (5.5V unloaded) with a 2.5Ω load.

Again at 2Ω.

NiMH's just can't handle the discharge needed for lower ohms, hence the drastic voltage drop under load.

 

[asdaq]

But NiZn's can. Also that battery holder is available without the clip attachment on the top, but just wires. It would make a nice place for the switch too.