VV wood'n'box mod

[pwyll]

This is my first non-madvapes kit/Ratshack batbox mod (that I've finished ) I got tired of listening to the hype about vv while I tried to figure out what to do to salvage the vv double-barreled wooden box I've got 3/4 finished, so I decided to throw this together today. It takes 2 18650s


Ugly guts: board epoxied in place, wiring set in place with Aquarium silicone:





Everything locked in place. I the top panel is from an old WWII-era desk drawer divider:





Loaded with an Ikenvape Cannon (801/510 hybrid). At 5v this setup is a juice hog--three drops gives me two decent draws before I have to re-drip. This will definitely be a tank driver:




Yea! With five or six mods sitting at various stages of compleation, I finally get to post in the modders' forum--and it's an unplanned throw-together

 

[P0P]

Wow!! 2 18650s vv nice I want one nice job pwyll

 

[Scottinboca]

Wow!!!! That is awesome.

 

[pwyll]

Wow!! 2 18650s vv nice I want one nice job pwyll

I figured if I was going to try vv it was to get the higher voltages--and I didn't want to have to keep changing out 14500s.

Wow!!!! That is awesome.

Thanks

 

[drewk302]

wow nice job, love the look

 

[pwyll]

Thanks

 

[TomCatt]

Lookin' nice, pwyll!

What regulator did you use?

 

[pwyll]

Thanks

It's just the board kit from MadVapes...as I said, I just grabbed the stuff I had laying around. In their description it's listed as "NCP 630A"--but all that's above my head.

When I get ready to do one "for realz" I'll go through the threads here and find out what's the consensus on the best chip (within my budget) and go from there. It's been a while since I've been through these threads, so I can only assume the ORK-T is still the preferred chip--I can solder decently (as long as it's not surface-mount) and I can follow a diagram or simple schematic, but any sort of "original research" in this stuff is way beyond me

 

[Huffelpuff]

Nice Mod!!

 

[pwyll]

Thanks

I'm just happy to have finished one--I've got bits of brass tubing, disassembled flashlights and a 7/8 finished wooden box laying all over the place...

 

[pwyll]

Ah well, it's dead now. Heard a hissing noise and looked over to see vapour pouring out the atty. Pulled the batteries, checked the wiring, and from what I can see through the silicone there are no shorts anywhere. Since it worked fine for about 24 hours my first thought is switch failure--but that means digging everything out to get to it to test it, and the way it's finagled in I don't think I'll be able to re-place it in the box.

Ah well, I'll give it a try--and if it doesn't work I'll plan the next one out a little more/better


EDIT: Yep, it's switch failure. Put it to the Multimeter and tried out the pot and everything is working as expected if the button were being pushed, regardless of the position of the switch. Have to dig around and see if I have a more robust switch that will fit.

 

[TomCatt]

Be sure to use a switch rated for about 3A (or greater). RS has some which are fairly good.

Yeah the OKR chip(s) seem to be popular. I have a couple of the TI 4050 boosters and an 8100; which I sat looking at for weeks. Then went on eBay and looked up LM2596 (first saw this from Mamu). eBay has a lot of these boards; regulator, capacitors, resistors, pot all on a board with input and output connections. VERY simple to hook up. I've been using a mod I made with one for a week, no problems. Haven't done a lot of rigorous testing, but has worked fine for me so far.

 

[pwyll]

I just got finished fixing it. Managed to dig out the switch, and as is my wont, double-checked it. Switch was fine. Double-checked all the wiring, mod internals were fine. Amended my diagnosis to movement inside the silicone resulting in a system short due to inadequate isolation.

So I put the switch back in slide heat-shrink over the wires, resoldered, and heat-shrank. Tested with multimeter--fine. Bent wires out of the way of the cover, double-checked wire isolation, tested with multimeter--fine. Filled with twice as much silicone as before, tested with both multimeter and atomizer--fine.

Just waiting for the silicone to cure

 

[pwyll]

Be sure to use a switch rated for about 3A (or greater). RS has some which are fairly good.

Yeah the OKR chip(s) seem to be popular. I have a couple of the TI 4050 boosters and an 8100; which I sat looking at for weeks. Then went on eBay and looked up LM2596 (first saw this from Mamu). eBay has a lot of these boards; regulator, capacitors, resistors, pot all on a board with input and output connections. VERY simple to hook up. I've been using a mod I made with one for a week, no problems. Haven't done a lot of rigorous testing, but has worked fine for me so far.

That sounds fantastic--I will have to look those up.

Thanks!


Nevermind--I have two on the way

 

[P0P]

I just got finished fixing it. Managed to dig out the switch, and as is my wont, double-checked it. Switch was fine. Double-checked all the wiring, mod internals were fine. Amended my diagnosis to movement inside the silicone resulting in a system short due to inadequate isolation.

So I put the switch back in slide heat-shrink over the wires, resoldered, and heat-shrank. Tested with multimeter--fine. Bent wires out of the way of the cover, double-checked wire isolation, tested with multimeter--fine. Filled with twice as much silicone as before, tested with both multimeter and atomizer--fine.

Just waiting for the silicone to cure

Thats how its done. Never give up buddy. Good job!!

 

[pseudus]

Nice job man. Where's the pot located on that thing? Looks like a sweet tank driver and 2 18650's may last as long as the tank... lol

 

[pwyll]

It's the white circle under the red firing pin. And I just loaded a tank on it--a mini-tank that holds 3.5 ml pushing one of the new shorty dual coils--so the batteries should outlast the tank


Unfortunately, while I was typing this post it started the hissing. Pulled the tank, pulled out the multimeter--constant firing. Ah well. There's no exposed wiring and it's all encased in silicone, so there's nothing else for me to do. May just jerk everything out and see about converting it to a regulated 5v sometime...

Gotta go do a bit of hiking before the weather turns...

 

[ruff]

if its the MV VV rev 2 board (some assembly required) i found that my problem turned out to be bad connections from the regulator to the surface mount on the board... just throwing that out there, works like a dream now but has only been fully functional for a lil over 24hrs, have yet to encase in hot glue/epoxy/silicone just in case something goes wrong, figure a couple days testing before sealing up.

 

[pwyll]

if its the MV VV rev 2 board (some assembly required) i found that my problem turned out to be bad connections from the regulator to the surface mount on the board... just throwing that out there, works like a dream now but has only been fully functional for a lil over 24hrs, have yet to encase in hot glue/epoxy/silicone just in case something goes wrong, figure a couple days testing before sealing up.

That's exactly what it was, though I've no way to test the connections now. They were good when I attached it, but it was the first thing I soldered and I ended up having to de-re-de-re-solder a couple things and I could have easily messed them up (they still looked good ). Whether the problem was caused by over-heating or not, I'm sure that would have become an issue as I also did not add a heatsink and ended up inadvertantly encasing the regulator chip in silicone as well.

There were quite a few issues due to my haste that will not be repeated when I rebuild it with the buck regulator

 

[ruff]

lol yeah i hear ya there, i was in a hurry when i put mine together as well, a few shoddy looking solder joints, a + wire soldered to the back of the board so i didnt have to fiddle with trying to fight the mess of wires to put it back in place after it broke. but all in all its still going and pushing my 2.8ohm ce2 acorn tank quite nicely at 4.2v, have had the 2x 14500's last me bout 6hrs while at work vaping fairly heavily which surprised me didnt figure that they'd last that long but no matter my 18650s are due to arrive today... if only the fedex delivery person would show up now lol. now i just have to find an enclosure for 2x 18650's and the lm2596 board i got off ebay to fit in.