Started my first battery mod

[Todd Mulske]

I jumped into my project tonight after a nap today. Kind of weary about getting into the soldering as the pins on the converter seem so close to me; but I am not ready for that quite yet anyway. I have drilled out te hole for the pot and atomizer and placed them in the box already. I am still waiting for a few switches so the only thing I am going to try to do yet until they get here is getting the voltage meter hole cut in the box. This is another thing that may be difficult for me because I do not have a dremel and do not want to purchase 1 just for thetwo mods I am going to be doing; this one and one with 2x18650 batteries.

Here are my parts minus two switches that have not arrived yet.

Capecad are you sure the capacitors will not cause a problem. I will take your advice if you tell me to install them, but I think I am still going to use a NC switch to activate the converter control pin unless of course you talk me out of it before Monday by some chance.

Any suggestions would be appreciated; I spent more money on this project than I should have; parts cost me about 85.00 with the batteries and charger.

Thanks everyone

Todd

 

[CapeCAD]

I am positive the capacitors will not cause a problem. The ceramic capacitors you chose with their inherently low ESR are perfect for this.

I have a NC switch in the mod I am using right now. It's about a year old and I must use the master switch to turn it off because the NC switch only works 25% of the time. Other NO switch mods I have that are over 2 years old are still working great.

We all learn from doing and trying new things and occasionally making mistakes. Hope you enjoy the process.

 

[Todd Mulske]

Cape

If I go with the pulldown are you sure a 10K will work with the okr 10 amp converter; I do not want to have to pull it off and resolder another one on; weary enough about soldering on the converter the first time around.

 

[Todd Mulske]

Got the rectangle cut out for the voltage meter. I used an exacto kmife. This is some hard plastic in this box at about a 1/16 inch thick. Took me two hours of going back and forth and then it was just a hair off and I scraped lightly for about 20 more minutes, but it fits and really nicely to. Will still have to get some black vinyl and cut out a square to meet my meticulous nature.

I jumped into my project tonight after a nap today. Kind of weary about getting into the soldering as the pins on the converter seem so close to me; but I am not ready for that quite yet anyway. I have drilled out te hole for the pot and atomizer and placed them in the box already. I am still waiting for a few switches so the only thing I am going to try to do yet until they get here is getting the voltage meter hole cut in the box. This is another thing that may be difficult for me because I do not have a dremel and do not want to purchase 1 just for thetwo mods I am going to be doing; this one and one with 2x18650 batteries.

Here are my parts minus two switches that have not arrived yet.

Capecad are you sure the capacitors will not cause a problem. I will take your advice if you tell me to install them, but I think I am still going to use a NC switch to activate the converter control pin unless of course you talk me out of it before Monday by some chance.

Any suggestions would be appreciated; I spent more money on this project than I should have; parts cost me about 85.00 with the batteries and charger.

Thanks everyone

Todd

 

[CapeCAD]

Cape

If I go with the pulldown are you sure a 10K will work with the okr 10 amp converter; I do not want to have to pull it off and resolder another one on; weary enough about soldering on the converter the first time around.

Yes, the 10k will work.

I have personally used up to 680k on a T3 version and 10k on T3, T6, and T10 versions.

You could bend the pins out and solder into a .1 center bread board if you are nervous about soldering to the pins.

 

[BJ43]

Used that same box and hard as hell to cut with an knife. I really enjoy my all in one VV Batt/PT mod. Good luck on yours. Post how you frame the hole. I have been looking for something to frame the meter

 

[Todd Mulske]

Well, I finally got all the holes drilled and all that is left to do are the battery Springs and the soldering. Here is a picture of what it looks like on the outside front view. There is nothing on the back or sides so this is cosmetically what it looks like. On/off buttons are a little bigger than I wish they were, but at least there mounted and everything centered real nicely. Really happy with the way the voltage meter fits; it is so a perfect fit that it actually stays in the box without glue, but of course I will hot glue it in around the edges as well as cut a piece of vinyl out to go around where it is cut in.

 

[WillyB]

What are those big red squares for?

 

[Todd Mulske]

They are push button on/off switches that click when you push them. When they are off they they pop out farther when they are on. One is for the Master on/off switch that will cut the power to entire circuit when I am not using the vaporizer. The other one is to cut the circuit to the voltage meter so I can turn it off if I want to. They are a little bigger than I expected, but that all right. I got everything in the box that I wanted to get into it and it all fits comfortably without being cramped up. All three switches are heavy duty switches that will probably outlast the converter, I hope not , but most probable. It is a bigger box mod with way more room than what I needed, but I wanted something that I could hold on to. I prefer a little bigger box over the smaller ones.

What are those big red squares for?

 

[Todd Mulske]

Here is how I mounted the circuit board to the Converter. Still have the trim resistor to solder on the trim leg of the board.

 

[Para]

The easiest way to cut the hole for the volt meter:

Put a piece of Scotch magic tape approx where you want it to go
Trace the outline of the meter face onto the tape
Drill a hole near the corners and use the drill as a router to rough out the shape

Square up the corners and then use needle files to open up the last 1mm

The last .5mm will take longer than rest of the process because you want to check and file and check and file until the meter fits in the hole and there's no "light" between the meter and the box

The procedure is the same regardless of what box you install it in

 

[Todd Mulske]

I used a piece of tape as well and drew the dimensions of the meter on the tape. Then I cut around the lines for two hours until it cut all the way through. It was about a mm small on both the width and the height. I then used the exacto knife to shave the meter to fit. I did nit try to cut around the inside of the cutout; I scratched at it until the meter fit through, nice and snug. I will have to give your method a try; save a lot of time. Thanks for the tip.

The easiest way to cut the hole for the volt meter:

Put a piece of Scotch magic tape approx where you want it to go
Trace the outline of the meter face onto the tape
Drill a hole near the corners and use the drill as a router to rough out the shape

Square up the corners and then use needle files to open up the last 1mm

The last .5mm will take longer than rest of the process because you want to check and file and check and file until the meter fits in the hole and there's no "light" between the meter and the box

The procedure is the same regardless of what box you install it in

 

[Todd Mulske]

I went to wire my mod tonight and the holes on Madvapes board are very small. About the biggest wire I would have been able to get through them would have been 26 or 28 gauge and I figured that just would not have been good enough, especially if I was vaping at low voltage with a low resistance atty so I had to do some more work to the board. Maybe 26 gauge would have cut it; was iffy to me though, but from now on I am either going to make my own boards or find something with larger holes, because this was a pain in the ..... I also strengthened the circuit through all five columns on the board to make sure I get good continuity and to male sure the board could handle high amperage. Took a chance doing this because now It will be very hard to work on the board if something goes wrong with it, Could end up regretting it; hope not. Like I said next time around I will use a different board, this one is just too small for a 10 amp converter.

Here's a picture of this thing, some ,ight laugh, some might like it, but I am never doing this againg.

 

[Todd Mulske]

What kind of batteries are in that little thing.

I used a piece of tape as well and drew the dimensions of the meter on the tape. Then I cut around the lines for two hours until it cut all the way through. It was about a mm small on both the width and the height. I then used the exacto knife to shave the meter to fit. I did nit try to cut around the inside of the cutout; I scratched at it until the meter fit through, nice and snug. I will have to give your method a try; save a lot of time. Thanks for the tip.

 

[BJ43]

Well, I finally got all the holes drilled and all that is left to do are the battery Springs and the soldering. Here is a picture of what it looks like on the outside front view. There is nothing on the back or sides so this is cosmetically what it looks like. On/off buttons are a little bigger than I wish they were, but at least there mounted and everything centered real nicely. Really happy with the way the voltage meter fits; it is so a perfect fit that it actually stays in the box without glue, but of course I will hot glue it in around the edges as well as cut a piece of vinyl out to go around where it is cut in.

View attachment 64528

With all that room you can put an in plug for a PT. I hardly ever use mine on batteries.

 

[Todd Mulske]

That's a good idea, I left enough room on the top for a plug for a built in charger; I think I like the PT idea better.

 

[Quigsworth]

Todd, nothing wrong with your soldering at all (don't look at the back of your motherboard of your computer, a multi million dollar machine float solders em...you'll never get that quality with an iron, well done!) ...good call on building up the conductivity on you main's (batt pwr. ground and atty lines) the rest is all control and very low current...btw, the pull down on the trigger at 10K can be spotty, you can add more R to be sure...if you still have your board out add a 5V zener to your trigger as a low volt protection (not critical, the PCB on your batts should take care of that)...btw, if this is your actual 1st mod I can't wait for your beta v2.0...I'm on beta v5.0 and still can't bring myself to photo and post...there is too much talent on this forum to go in light, lol

 

[CraigHB]

you'll never get that quality with an iron

Wanna bet? Here's a photo that shows a portion of the PCB for my current mod project. I soldered it by hand with a pencil iron. With a little skill, the right materials, and the right equipment, you can assemble electronics yourself that look factory. These are cool looking boards BTW, purple solder mask with gold ENIG plating. They were cheap too, ordered them through DorkbotPDX.

 

[breaktru]

Amazing soldering Craig , I would have stepped on it before the first IC was soldered. 8-o

 

[CraigHB]

Thanks. The key is good magnification. I use a 10x stereo microscope, but there are other magnifiers that work well too, like the ones jewelers and watchmakers use. The field of vision is more limited with a microscope, but it has the highest clarity plus I have a 30x setting that comes in handy for close inspection. Reflow soldering is probably superior as a home-brew method and more popular. Still haven't tried it. Been soldering with an iron so long, it's hard to get break out of the rut.