The parallel nicostick

[mnealtx]

Ok... mentioned this to Stormy a while back, and she asked me to do a step-by-step, so here goes:

You start out with an ordinary 3 x AA box (stick1.jpg).

Then, you have to do some surgery - the good thing is, you have everything you need in your battery box.

First, pull out the male/female jumper (jumper.jpg) that is beside the on/off switch. Clip the jumper in half, and place the side with the spring in the slot beside the switch, then solder a jumper wire between the two. (stick2.jpg)

(Yeah, my soldering sucks today - I wasn't able to set up in my usual spot at work, so I didn't have enough room to work and it shows.)

Pull out the single jumper with the red wire and cut the wire off.

Now, pull out the jumper at the bottom of the box and clip off the spring as short as possible. Solder the red wire onto this jumper. (stick3.jpg)

Run your red and black wires over to the 3rd battery slot - this is where your switch and atomizer connections are going to be. I'm using Warp's PVMA system with a bare female jack, so I'm using an exposed connection instead of buried. I also had to trim away the plastic that would hold the terminals to make room for the connector.

Drill the holes for your momentary switch and the RCA jack, and install. (stick4.jpg, stick5.jpg). I install the momentary switch in the positive side - it doesn't matter which side you use, but since the on/off switch breaks the negative (black) connection, I use the momentary switch to break the positive (red) connection - belt and suspenders.

Now, you have an 1800 mah battery pack. Plug in the atomizer of choice that you've attached to the RCA plug, and vape away!!

 

[mnealtx]

Had to add stick5.jpg to the thread.


Enjoy!!

 

[warp1900]

Had to add stick5.jpg to the thread.


Enjoy!!

So that is when you suck at soldering?

LOL, I wish I could do mine like that when I'm at my best.
Thank you mnealtx, great pix and walk through.




___

 

[mnealtx]

So that is when you suck at soldering?

Well, yeah... But it works, so that's the important part!

NEXT time, I'm making them move so I have more than 3-4 inches of play in the cord for the soldering iron...waving around a hot iron should work for that, right?

Regardless, hopefully it will help for someone that's interested in building a long-duration Nicostick in one of these boxes.

 

[Nforcer]

where did you bought the box and the switch ? cant find them local so i might buy them online

 

[mnealtx]

The 3aa box is from batteryspace, and the momentary switch, RCA jacks and RCA plugs are from Radioshack.

Have fun!!

 

[Stormynights]

Great job Mnealtx. Thank you. Can you use two 3.7 batteries with something to lower the volts to 5 or 6?

 

[mnealtx]

Great job Mnealtx. Thank you. Can you use two 3.7 batteries with something to lower the volts to 5 or 6?

<teacher mode> There are 3 ways to connect batteries together:

Parallel: the voltage stays the same, but mah is increased. Like going from a 14500 batt to an 18650.
(2 x 3.7v 900 mah in parallel = 3.7v @ 1800 mah)

Series: the voltage increases, but mah stays the same.
(2 x 3.7v 900 mah in series = 7.4v @ 900 mah)

Series-parallel: both voltage and mah increase.
(2 paralleled sets of 2 x 3.7v 900 mah in series = 7.4v @ 1800 mah)

Obviously, you need a voltage regulator for the series and series-parallel setups.

</teacher mode>

Since this build is parallel, no resistors or regulators are needed to bring down the voltage, just load up the batteries (protected batteries ONLY, please!), attach your atomizer, and vape all day (and night) long!

Duration on a parallel nicostick is excellent - I can do two days with my original build (parallel nicostick with a 510 atomizer) before changing batteries.

But, to finally answer your question - yes, you can make a series build - that will be next, once my regulators show up in the mail.

 

[annah]

I was actually wondering about just that thing- a series.. Can you give a quick iddea on how that would work?

 

[mnealtx]

I was actually wondering about just that thing- a series.. Can you give a quick iddea on how that would work?

Sure thing, Annah. I'm actually waiting on a regulator that kardjunkie was kind enough to send me, and then I'll be making a series nicostick, as well.

Look at the very first picture - see the bridging jumpers between the battery slots? You would take out the one between the center battery slot and the last battery slot (furthest from the on/off switch - bottom left in that picture). Then, remove the single pad at the end of the last battery slot (the one with the red wire) and put it in the center battery slot where you removed the jumper. The battery pads will then be set up exactly like a 2 aa box.

Put in your momentary switch, regulator (you WILL need a regulator of some kind) and atomizer attachment of your choice and vape away!