SX350 DIY Mod Parts List - Pulling the trigger today.

[twolostminds]

Pulling the trigger today and puchasing my parts and would like a second (third, fourth, etc.) set of eyes to review and advise.

Varitube
SX350 w/ +/- wires
510 Connector with 22mm ring

Mouser
2X Mouser #: 611-KSJ0M431LFT
Mfr. #: KSJ0M43180SHLFT
Manufacturer: C&K Components
Desc.: Tactile Switches Switch Tact Spst 300Gf Vert Flux

Mouser #: 534-1048
Mfr. #: 1048
Manufacturer: Keystone Electronics
Desc.: Cylindrical Battery Contacts, Clips, Holders & Springs NYL Stanyl BATT HLDR Dual SM


Mouser #: 546-1591BS-BK
Mfr. #: 1591BSBK
Manufacturer: Hammond
Desc.: Enclosures, Boxes, & Cases 4.4 X 2.4 X 1.1

Mfr. #: PV6F240SS-341
Manufacturer: E-Switch
Desc.: Illuminated Pushbutton Switches 2A 48VDC 16mm Off-(On)


Going to use the Hammond box until I am done designing an Alumide dual 18650 box on Shapeways.
I know I do not need fuses but I want to play on the safe side, what resettable fuses would you all suggest?
Should I wire my batteries in serial or parallel? What are the bennefits, pro's/con's?
Have I forgotten anything?

Thank you all for your input.

 

[twolostminds]

After reading a bit more it looks like 2 X 18650's in paralel is the way to go. For some reason I am having a hello of a time grasping the thread on choosing fuses here on ecf. Any help with which resettable fuse I should use would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jazzman]

After reading a bit more it looks like 2 X 18650's in paralel is the way to go. For some reason I am having a hello of a time grasping the thread on choosing fuses here on ecf. Any help with which resettable fuse I should use would be greatly appreciated.

Not sure why you even need the fuses. You can move the neg wire to the alternate batt- through hole on the SX-350 and have reverse battery protection already provided on the board itself. No need for the fuses for this.

2 batteries in parallel is a great idea if you are going to vape at high wattage a lot. While a single 18650 will do nicely, the duals will give you a lot longer run time. I built mine with 1 18650, but I very rarely vape at over 20watts. The reason I got this board is because it is one of the only boards with buck and boost so I can have a perfect vape with whatever tank or RDA I want to use. Even with an Aerotank at 8watts it regulates perfectly. That can't be said for the IPVs, Evolve DNA 20/30s, Cloupors, etc. Very few choices for regulating voltage both down and up. You will love this board. And if you want to be a mechmeister, just put it into bypass mode for direct battery to the atty (but still with safety features). IMO, this is the most versatile chip on the market.

 

[CMD-Ky]

What does "buck and boost" mean?

Not sure why you even need the fuses. You can move the neg wire to the alternate batt- through hole on the SX-350 and have reverse battery protection already provided on the board itself. No need for the fuses for this.

2 batteries in parallel is a great idea if you are going to vape at high wattage a lot. While a single 18650 will do nicely, the duals will give you a lot longer run time. I built mine with 1 18650, but I very rarely vape at over 20watts. The reason I got this board is because it is one of the only boards with buck and boost so I can have a perfect vape with whatever tank or RDA I want to use. Even with an Aerotank at 8watts it regulates perfectly. That can't be said for the IPVs, Evolve DNA 20/30s, Cloupors, etc. Very few choices for regulating voltage both down and up. You will love this board. And if you want to be a mechmeister, just put it into bypass mode for direct battery to the atty (but still with safety features). IMO, this is the most versatile chip on the market.

 

[Jazzman]

What does "buck and boost" mean?

Buck means the board can regulate battery voltage down. For example if your battery is at 4.2v it can regulate, very accurately, below 4.2v (all the way to 1.5v). Most boards like DNA20/30, Hana clones, IPV1/2 can't do this and can only boost voltage. Boost is regulating a voltage higher than the battery level, like firing an atty at 5v when the battery is 4.2. The SX-250 can boost to 9.5v, while the DNA30 can do 8.4v. So this is one of the few boards that can regulate the voltage over such a wide voltage range. It can accurately regulate between 1.5v and 9.5v regardless of the battery charge level unless the battery has reached low voltage cutoff and the board lets you know you need to charge. The board on the Provari can buck/boost, but only in a much narrower range and it's PWM so not a straight DC voltage like the SX-350. Very impressive board from a technical standpoint.

 

[lot17ss]

Can anyone confirm that after removing and replacing battery the presets erase?

 

[Jazzman]

I've been playing with this a bit after seeing your question Lot and I'm a bit unsure how to answer. What appears to be happening is all memory positions (M1~M5) change back to default EXCEPT the memory position I had it set to before I pulled the battery. That seems to be retained, but the other memory settings restore to default. I changed all 5 memory settings several times to check this and made sure I was on a different memory setting each time I pulled the battery and this behavior seemed consistent. A little odd, and I may not be seeing it correctly, but I think that's what's going on. Strange logic, maybe there is only a very small amount of non-volatile memory. Or maybe only the currently set memory position is kept in non-volatile memory. Not sure really. Let me know if you find something different. I don't find it to be a problem, just curious really. BTW, I'm using the 50watt with screen rotate update that I flashed yesterday. I'm just getting ready to pull the board and rewire with 16ga and re-flash to the 60watt file. I'll see if there is any different behavior after I complete the build. If you could test this with your board and let me know if you get the same results it would be interesting.

 

[twolostminds]

I can confirm that all the memory locations, except the one I am on, reset when the batteries are pulled.

 

[Jazzman]

Interesting. So if both our SX-350s do this the same way I guess it's a feature not a bug (as Microsoft used to say). I wonder if they just don't have the room to store all presets in non-volatile memory, or if someone actually made a decision not to do that. Not a big concern, but if I was given a choice I would say store all presets instead.

 

[lot17ss]

Thanks guys . That is exactly what seems to be happening. I just wanted to confirm it was normal. Not a big deal for me either.

 

[DrBeaker]

I have a few comments...
I recomend soldering directly to the batteries.
Replace the positive negitive and fire wire with 16ga high strand teflon or silicon coated wire. Use a groung lug between the case and the negative. Solder type not crimp.
Batteries in parallel yes...