Turnin that Tmax into something nice! need input

[twostepjake]

Okay got a Tmax on here from the very sweet Ms Glassgal with the intentions of making it into my own special mod. This being my first custom made mod im a bit nervous and dont wanna screw things up so i just have a few questions. Refer to picture for these.

The Tmax had the 2 battery slots (but only one in use at a time) and i wanna cut that right out. will i need the second wire hooked to anything if i just change it to a single? or would it be possible to turn it into something to run off two 18650's simultaneously? Also not sure what i should ground it to as im wanting to put it into a nice wooden box. Last but not least the button. not a fan and wanted to use a horn style button. what would be the best way to do that? im assuming just un soldering the current button and soldering on another but i want the button in a different spot if possible. what kind of wire should be used for that?

thanks anyone and everyone for any and all help. greatly greatly appreciated.

 

[classwife]

Moved you down to the Modding Forum from Cosmetic mods

 

[twostepjake]

Thank you! Wasnt sure if that was the right sub forum.

 

[DeviantDigi]

off two 18650's simultaneously
I just made a box mod using 2 18650s wired in parallel. Negative to negative. Positive to positive. Your result will be 3.7v but the milliamp hours will be doubled. I did this using a Ego Twist chip, so I don't think it would affect your chip any differently.

Also not sure what i should ground it
You'll have the GND wire from the Tmax chip, the negative (outside) of your 510 connection, and negative from the batteries all wired together.

wanted to use a horn style button
You'll have to bypass that button. Before desoldering it, sometimes you can tear out the plastic button, leaving contacts to solder to. Or maybe you can get access from the other side of the chip. Usually with tactical switches, your complete circuit will be 2:2. Meaning there are four pins, 2 will be connected, and the other two will be connected. Just got to find which is which. You can use the sound option on a multimeter. I forget what the feature is called, but it generally has a red speaker logo.

The wire used for this can really be anything except air. All it does is complete a circuit, sending a signal for on/off. Go as thin as you want. Finding wires for tight electronics projects can be difficult in a pinch. What I do is grab a telephone wire. Inside of 1, there is about 5 thin color sorted wires.

 

[twostepjake]

The 510 was not grounded. There was only one wire attached to the bottom of the center pin. So would i be right to assume that i would just connect the ground that was on the metal board holder to the outside of the 510 connection and solder the other wire in the same spot on the bottom of the pin?

for the batteries how would i use the current setup of wires to do what you described?

there's a second board below so i wont be able to connect the button to the bottom. Not sure if i have a multimeter so may need to get one unless someone knows where i can find a diagram of the board used in the tmax/zmax devices. heres a picture of what im talking about with the second board. plus i think if i want the display to sit right ill need to remove the button anyways.



thanks a bunch for all the information.

 

[DeviantDigi]

The 510 was not grounded. There was only one wire attached to the bottom of the center pin. So would i be right to assume that i would just connect the ground that was on the metal board holder to the outside of the 510 connection and solder the other wire in the same spot on the bottom of the pin?

for the batteries how would i use the current setup of wires to do what you described?

there's a second board below so i wont be able to connect the button to the bottom. Not sure if i have a multimeter so may need to get one unless someone knows where i can find a diagram of the board used in the tmax/zmax devices. heres a picture of what im talking about with the second board. plus i think if i want the display to sit right ill need to remove the button anyways.



thanks a bunch for all the information.

Just about every 510 connection you buy aftermarket will just come with just a positive lead. As some mods use a metal body tube, in that case, you don't need to solder onto it as the body is ground. Else, you need to solder on a ground wire.

I'm not familiar with the "metal board holder" or the second board. However, all your doing is completing a circuit. If the 'metal board holder' is the common ground. It would work but you shouldn't need it.

Going off your first image your wiring should be:
"510 connection" - to the center pin of the 510 connector.
"Battery connections" White to + of battery & Black to - of battery.
"Ground" - to - of battery.

Untitled-1 - Untitled-1.png - Minus

 

[twostepjake]

heres what the board sat in originally.

 

[DeviantDigi]

heres what the board sat in originally.

Hook everything up out of the box, and see if it works. You shouldn't need the metal housing, but you can use it. Just solder all your negatives and grounds to it. Are you good on how the wiring goes?

If you want a back up battery to keep your chip's settings. You just need a barrier or rectifier diode rated for the batteries.

 

[twostepjake]

i dont wanna use that housing cus it is super heavy. i think i get the wiring set up. i would most definitely rather use 2 batteries for longer life than having a back up. ill give it a go and keep you posted. thanks again for all the info!

 

[DeviantDigi]

Well that specific back up battery, only maintains your chips settings, when you remove the batteries. It's like when you remove the connection of a car battery and reattach it. You'll have to redo the radio settings etc. No biggie, but I like the small details lol. You could do a coin cell.

One thing you may want to consider is a floating center pin. I wish I would have. I haven't found one for DIY, but you can buy a top cap from a mod. If you spend all that time and effort, last thing you want is to have your atty not make a connection. I've seen some Home Depot adjustable center pins on here.

 

[twostepjake]

Well I just got the mod and instantly took it apart after testing it to make sure it worked. So im not worried about any settings being saved. The board cant take too low loads so I may pass on the floating pin this time around. Thabks for the heads up though.

 

[DeviantDigi]

Well I just got the mod and instantly took it apart after testing it to make sure it worked. So im not worried about any settings being saved. The board cant take too low loads so I may pass on the floating pin this time around. Thabks for the heads up though.

My pleasure man.

Post back with updates on your mod. I'd enjoy seein' how it goes.

 

[twostepjake]

that is one beautiful lookin mod man!

 

[DeviantDigi]

that is one beautiful lookin mod man!

Thanks. That's my first wood box. With dual 18650's, it's been like 2 1/2 days and the batteries are still going strong. And I vape all day, every day, every second lol. SoooOOOOoo worth the trouble.

 

[twostepjake]

well i have been unable to find our multimeter. Would it screw up the board if i just soldered wire to all four spots and just looped it through the 2 button button posts?

 

[twostepjake]

and of course the second i post that i come across the multimeter. The two shown in the picture dont make a sound unless the button is pushed. im guessing thats how ill wanna hook up my button right?

 

[DeviantDigi]

and of course the second i post that i come across the multimeter. The two shown in the picture dont make a sound unless the button is pushed. im guessing thats how ill wanna hook up my button right?

Correct. Left arrow has 2 pins which are connected. The right arrow side pins are connected as well. Pushing the button bridges that gap completing the circuit. Thus firing all the variable voltage/wattage vaping goodness to the center pin wire.

I remember the first time I got my hands on tactile switch. I had no idea that 2 pins were connected, took me hours of tinkering to figure out lol.

 

[twostepjake]

I looked up a board diagram cus when you look at the board the out and grnd are switched to how they were originally hooked up. Could they have really made that mistake? Wouldnt it not work if those were switched?

 

[DeviantDigi]

I looked up a board diagram cus when you look at the board the out and grnd are switched to how they were originally hooked up. Could they have really made that mistake? Wouldnt it not work if those were switched?

In your first image, your '510 connection' is labelled GND on the board. (GND = ground = negative.)

On a hunch, I think you just have those two wires backwards. The wires are in the correct positions (vias') though. But I'm not looking at a diagram or the board so. . . But I'm more than fairly positive

Generally, Black is negative and red/white is positive.

 

[twostepjake]

I meant on the other end. I went back and set the board back on the metal body and the wires I cut wouldnt have worked any other way. The ground on the board was connected to the 510 and the out was used as a ground. Would it work properly that way?