..Just agreeing with you here, none of the tech used in a variable output mod is new, it's just a new application of stuff that's been around for a long time.
Oh yeah I know I have a pretty good understanding of electronics..not as much as you but I've been taking electronics apart since I was a little kid in the 70's. I even repaired game consoles for almost 4 years and did a good job of it. Most of the work involved disassembling it and the laser cleaning good..but some soldering.
I just seem to have the touch when it comes to fixing things. Of course it helps I tested to a college level of math in 7th grade and my aptitude tests said I could be any kind of engineer I choose..plus strong mechanical ability. They told me I could do what I wanted in life..so I did what I wanted and partied it up until I was about 30 lol. Anyways on most of these devices it's not worth the time really repairing the circuit board anymore because everything is so small and it's just cheaper to either buy a new one or replace the board.
I even built my own "tobacco" vaporizer in the late 90's out of a car cigarette lighter, a transformer and a dimmer switch wired in before the the transformer. It works pretty good it will go from warming the "tobacco" to incinerating it..it screws directly onto a "tobacco" metal pipe..well I think the wire to the cig lighter might be broken because of use but I don't use it anymore anyways.
Here I dug it out of a drawer full of electronics I have..I probably went a bit overboard with the design but the version I made before the one in the pic below the transformer got hot and didn't last long..I used the one below for years. Nice simple design though set the dimmer to about halfway and flip the switch..it got a good amount of use..I think it cost me like $20 to build if that. It's a old school PV
