Why microfarads in a box mod? And what does it do?

[Aalsen]

In this "how to make a VV box mod" tutorial link YouTube - How to Make a Variable Voltage Mod E-Cig Personal Vaporizer for about 14 min into the film, she draws a scematic of the box mod.

On the plus cable into the regulator and out from it she say we should use 220 16V micro farad (she puts a higher amount of farads) Why?

Isnt this a little capasitor, and farad being how much volt it puts out? Doesnt a capasitor store power and shoots it out in 220 farads in this case when needed, kind of the opposite to ohm?

Please correct me if im wrong, i really didnt know anything about capasitors and farads until today when i saw this tutorial, and did som research about this.

It looked kind of weard to me using farads on one side of the regulator, and ohm on the other side Its two different output posts i guess

 

[Java_Az]

She said the data sheet says a minimum of 100uF and she had some 220uf and used those. Both the input and output are capped. The resistor or Ohm is for the voltage adjust it is not on the input or output of the regulator. Check out the Evercool thread it uses the same chip and there is all kinds of great info in it.

 

[Aalsen]

What happens if i build one of these mods without the farads, or capasitors?

 

[Java_Az]

What happens if i build one of these mods without the farads, or capasitors?

Well it will more then likely work ok without the Capacitors. But They do say they are required in the data sheet. If you look at what they do , one you pointed out is they store a electrical charge. This helps out the regulator in start up time. Two they filter noise out of the current. If powering other things in a circuit noise can be a problem and cause things to work poorly or not at all. There are quite a few that have the opinion that if your just powering a atomizer there is no need for caps. They also consume space in mods that people are trying to make as small as possible. They also have put a circuit together without the caps and it it fire up a atty and they call it good because it works.

My opinion is that for the longest life out of the regulator you want to run the caps. I look at it this way , i can go out to my car and take off the fuel filter or air filter. Will my car run? yes for sure it will run might even run better for awhile. But over time of putting dirty fuel and dirty air in my engine it is not going to last as long. Those filters are on there for a good reason. Personally if i am using a regulator it will get capped as per the required spec of the data sheet of the regulator. If i have space i might even slap a extra one or two in. They really dont cost all that much. I think i paid 68 cent a piece for some really good ones on my last order. If you got the room slap them in , If you dont have the room at least try to get one on the input to the regulator.

 

[Aalsen]

Well it will more then likely work ok without the Capacitors. But They do say they are required in the data sheet. If you look at what they do , one you pointed out is they store a electrical charge. This helps out the regulator in start up time. Two they filter noise out of the current. If powering other things in a circuit noise can be a problem and cause things to work poorly or not at all. There are quite a few that have the opinion that if your just powering a atomizer there is no need for caps. They also consume space in mods that people are trying to make as small as possible. They also have put a circuit together without the caps and it it fire up a atty and they call it good because it works.

My opinion is that for the longest life out of the regulator you want to run the caps. I look at it this way , i can go out to my car and take off the fuel filter or air filter. Will my car run? yes for sure it will run might even run better for awhile. But over time of putting dirty fuel and dirty air in my engine it is not going to last as long. Those filters are on there for a good reason. Personally if i am using a regulator it will get capped as per the required spec of the data sheet of the regulator. If i have space i might even slap a extra one or two in. They really dont cost all that much. I think i paid 68 cent a piece for some really good ones on my last order. If you got the room slap them in , If you dont have the room at least try to get one on the input to the regulator.

Ok. Now i have a little more understanding about the Capacitor and its farads. And i too can understand i little more about it being needed for the regulator. Because the regulator (the one that regulates the voltage, which i regulate, to the atty?) to work properly, it may need a boost of volts when i hit the button to vape so the atty would get a "clean delivery of power"..?

So the red wire (power from the plus pole) goes through a microfarad befor reaching the regulator, that the micro farad should be connected not far from the regulator before the regulator gets its power.

But why would there be a micro farad on the wire going out from the regulator? To boost the power back to the battery?

Sorry to sound stupid with all this questions Java_Az, but im learning here Thank you

 

[Java_Az]

The output is more for filtering noise out of the power. Switching regulators do exactly that. They switch on and off hundreds of times a second. Lets say you vaped some super juice and went to your light switch and was able to turn it on and off 600 times in a second. Thats so fast the light would appear to be on the whole time when it is really not. This is why Switching regulators dont heat up as much and are more efficient then linear regulators. But all that switching has a side effect, noise. These regulators are usually used to power various IC chips. Alot of those chips are sensitive to noise. So having the capacitor on the output Filters the noise the Regulator is making in turn giving chips down the line a cleaner power so they work right and last longer. So dont get stuck on they hold or store a bit of current because the filtering part is really more important i should have made it #1 in my first example.

 

[puppythor]

in the circuts we are building the capacitor acts more as a filter than a power boost. On the input when the regulator turns on, the voltage will drop slightly until the battery catches up. The regulator tries to maintain the set voltage and has to adjust the power it lets out very rapidly and can actually start to resonate (like the high pitched squeel from a guitar amp) causing it to overheat or burn out. The capacitor absorbs the variations in voltage and keeps this from happening eliminating stress on the circut. A microfarad is a term they use to measure how much electricity the capacitor can hold,we are talking a very short time(microseconds, nanoseconds) (Sorry Java, you posted while I was typing a response)

 

[Aalsen]

Thank you Java and puppythor! The asnwers are very much appreciated! I think i more or less can understand the consept now. I like to know what and why i do when i build, especially electrical devices.

So basically, it does not matter how much farad and volt the capasitor is, as long as it is "big enough"?

Like on this scematic the instruction for the regulator recommend a minimum of 100 uF, and she uses 220 16V? I could theoreticaly use like 600 uF 20V? Or will this be to big for the battery? In theory..

 

[puppythor]

for this application the size is not so important, however you want to make sure the listed volts on the cap. are higher than your circut will be using or it could destroy the capacitor. ( don't use a 5 volt capacitor on a 15 volt battery).

 

[Aalsen]

I see. Im awaiting a 3,7 box mod kit from madvapes to "make me some skills". Then i will be trying to make a VV box mod.

It does not look soo difficult to mak a VV box mod now as when i ordered my 3,7V kit Now that i know more about the components and reason for usage.

Final question, the 3,7V and 5V mod kits from madvapes does not contain a regulator. Is this because regulators are only used on VV box mods where you regulates the voltage yourself? A regulator regulates the voltage, and box mods where you cant regulate the voltage does not have a regulator, just a resistor (ohm) to brake the power down to a spesific voltage ?

And my awaiting 3,7V mod kit does not have a resistor on the powersource to the atty because the battery has an output on 3,7V in the first place ?

 

[Java_Az]

The 5 volt kit comes with a linear regulator. 3.7 volt kit does not have a reg it powers the atty straight off the battery. It really is not at 3.7 volts very long. A fully charged battery is around 4.2 volts as it gets used the voltage goes down Protection kicks in around 2.75 volts. Then you have to slap it back in the charger. Resistors can be used to drop voltage but they are not very efficient. They also wont provide a stable output put like a regulator. As the battery voltage drops it will also change the voltage after a resistor. Here is a pic of the 5 volt kit from madvapes top left is the regulator

 

[Aalsen]

Aha, because the resistor has the same ohm and does not change. It will brake the power down just as much regardless of the input voltage.
As the voltage from the battery is high and then drops, the regulator regulates the voltage output to the atty simultaneously to maintain the given volts at all time (with some help from capasitors when needed) as far as it is possible.

So the 5V kit has a regulator that is "locked to 5V" so it will always work to keep the output voltage to the atty at 5V..?

Think i finally got it