Voltage multiplier mod ideas aka "what am i going to do with all these 18650's?"

[justbrewit]

Let's face it, we modders are a crafty bunch who like toys, gadgets, figuring out things work and messing with stuff. Any one of you that has found the joys of old laptop batteries has figured out that a lot o laptop batteries have like 6 18650 batteries in them. Sweet find if you have old laptop batteries laying around or has a friend who does. So now that we have all these dang batteries, what are we gonna do with them? I vape 2 rcr123's for my high voltage vape and don't really ever use the 18650's.

So here's the idea I had, I have a voltage multiplyer chip that will allow me to input 3.7 volts and turn that into anywhere from 5 volts to 15 volts. At 5 volts this chip will run @ 2 amps. The higher the voltage, the lower the amps. I got this idea while ordering my sample chips from TI so that I could build the evercool mod. I got 8 samples and started just browsing to find 7 other samples. Found this little chip and want to give it a try.

I'll be testing this out on my bread board tomorrow to see if this works like I think its going to. 18650's take a long timen to charge, but if your like me and have about a dozen of these batteries, its not a big deal. If this works like I think it will, the battery will drain faster but is large enough to handle the high drain strain that I'm going to put on it. Just wanted to gather the thoughts of other modders on here while I test this out tomorrow.

Thanks for having a look and all comments, advice, brainstorming and tom foolery are welcome here on these pages!

 

[Java_Az]

Yeah that is a good chip. Forget the thread it was in but someone used one in a mod awhile back. They reported it to work really well. I got a couple sitting here myself i plan to use shortly. I calculated it and they are good down to a 2.2 ohm atomizer @ 5 volts. Lower then that you will be stressing it passed the rated 12 watts. It is for sure not a LR atomizer chip but should be great for regulars and High resistance atties.

 

[BradSmith]

No 18650's but I have 100 14500's A good deal on high resistance atties

http://www............com/product-g...tomizer-4-2ohm-Free-shipping-wholesalers.html

They take a month to get but the company is reliable. Plus with alibaba express the money is kept in an escrow so they don't get it until after you take delivery.

 

[justbrewit]

the only thing i'd be worried about when using 14500's is the battery life. i haven't gotten this on the bread board yet today, have a couple things to do first, but i would think that the smaller batteries wouldn't perform as well as the larger 18650's. if this works as well as i hope it does, i'm actually going to build the next version with a 26650 3200mah battery. the 19650's are just being used right now cause i have a bunch of them. once i play with this and get it the way i like it, i'm putting a bigger battery in it.

 

[SurvivorMcGyver]

Scuz my ignornace here ... What "chip" is it that you are refering to?

 

[justbrewit]

The chip I'm using is the PTN04050Cad. You can find the data sheet by using this link: http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ptn04050c.pdf

 

[AttyPops]

Heh, heh. OK, I'll chime in. Interesting component. With a varistor, even more interesting. Question is WHY? You lose 10% in the equation. And you trade amps for volts. As far as watts, what do you gain for an atty? Good for power regulation....of say USB/wall wort. But IDK if I would want to use it even for a single 18650... Isn't it a net loss?

Remember Volts X Amps = Watts.

It's a trade off of existing volts/amps with a 10% reduction/loss. Confused. Still an interesting part. Just Confused.

Thought: Is it any better to use this with 2 batteries rather than the traditional voltage regulator?

Please explain.

 

[Java_Az]

If i remember right you lose 14% of your mah using this at 5 volts. I believe your trading mah for higher volts and amps. But it has a 12 watt limit. So you shouldnt be using it with a LR Atomizer. I believe it would be safe to use down to a 2.2 ohm atomizer @ 5 volts. traditional Voltage Regs are around the same as this chip being somewhere around 86% efficient. To me what you gain with this chip after installed space. This chip after installed with two caps one 18650 battery is about half the size of a 18650 little bit less really. Voltage regs you would need 2 batteries run in series this chip you can run off one battery. What you lose is the ability to vape LR atomizers @ 5 volts without going passed the specs of the chip. So it is kind of a trade off and might have a place for a small 5 volt mod that uses regular ohm atomizers

 

[justbrewit]

i am looking to run reg cartos on here, i'll be using the yeti's from altsmoke. i have a dozen 18650 batteries laying around from laptop batteries. i only have 2 sets of crc123's. my wife is going to be using this mod so that she'll stop stealing my bsb lol

mostly i just want to tinker around with some stuff and these chips were free so i'm gonna play with them. i'll be running the chip around 5-5.5 volts. i'm going to put it in a small flashlight tube that i have, should be fun squeezing every thing in there.

 

[AttyPops]

If i remember right you lose 14% of your mah using this at 5 volts. I believe your trading mah for higher volts and amps. But it has a 12 watt limit. So you shouldnt be using it with a LR Atomizer. I believe it would be safe to use down to a 2.2 ohm atomizer @ 5 volts. traditional Voltage Regs are around the same as this chip being somewhere around 86% efficient. To me what you gain with this chip after installed space. This chip after installed with two caps one 18650 battery is about half the size of a 18650 little bit less really. Voltage regs you would need 2 batteries run in series this chip you can run off one battery. What you lose is the ability to vape LR atomizers @ 5 volts without going passed the specs of the chip. So it is kind of a trade off and might have a place for a small 5 volt mod that uses regular ohm atomizers

Yeah, but ..... Oh great Java_Az of the adjustable voltage LED readout mod gods..........

He traded the amps to get to that voltage, plus lost 14% for a loss. You would do better just putting a resistor in. In fact, that chip just ends up being a big current limiting resistor. If you do the wattage calc, you would find the whole thing a waste. Getting 5 volts at less the 1/2 the amps is gaining what? Nothing really. Unless with an 18650 you need to limit current anyway. Or you put a varistor on it, then you get an adjustable voltage mod.

It's the whole voltage vs watts think again. In most cases, I'd rather have 3.7 volts at full amps than 5.0 volts at less than 1/2 the amps and have extra bulk and costs. This is robbing Peter to pay Paul, while keeping 14%. I don't get it. Just to say its "five volts on one battery?". If you need a resistor, it is probably less expensive to use a regular resistor.

 

[Java_Az]

Sometimes i will type out a big old long post. Then at the end when i am done i realize that i am really drunk and shouldn't be drinking and posting so i just delete the post.

 

[AttyPops]

NP. Questions answered in another post/thread. Thx. again. Has to do with how much draw the atty has at different voltages. Now I get it.