Author Topic: Latest Revision (Read 15833 times)

CraigHB · « **on:** July 11, 2014, 04:23:54 AM »

Here's a full set of photos for my latest controller board design and the complete mod built around it. I've posted photos of an earlier version of this mod here, but not the controller board so I thought I'd go ahead and show it now. No change to the enclosure, but the board is a revised design with higher output and slightly improved efficiency.

The board I designed for this mod is a booster with 40W output. It has a voltage range of 4.0 to 7.4 volts. This build uses a 1400mAh 10C flat cell. I do another one with a couple 18650s using the same board, but this one has the flat cell. The cell is hard-wired to the board and uses a 1A USB charger. The atomizer trigger is a capacitive touch sensor seen in front. That's a dual color LED adjacent to the touch sensor that provides various indications. The atomizer connector is stainless.

Dimensions are 81x38x19mm. Weight is 85g (3oz). The enclosure is 3D printed using the SLS process and then painted with a solvent resistant engine paint that cures to a glossy finish after baking. Took me a long time to find a paint that holds up well, finger grease and juice are hard on paint. The glass filled nylon base material used with the SLS process is exceedingly light and strong, but it's rather porous so it has to be painted.

Here's a beauty shot, isometric view;

How it looks in-hand for size reference;

Here's maximal power output at maximal current;

Here's maximal power output at maximal voltage;

Now on to the internals, here it is with the top off;

Here's the battery and PCB assembly;

The top of the controller board;

The bottom of the controller board;

longwhiteclouds · « **Reply #1 on:** July 11, 2014, 04:30:14 AM »

Wow. That things tiny. Nice work.

redwolfe · « **Reply #2 on:** July 11, 2014, 05:19:32 AM »

Well done again Craig, I bet you're very happy with this latest version.

jbs · « **Reply #3 on:** July 11, 2014, 06:20:02 AM »

Thats cool

I am pretty sure that if you were selling your boards (i know you will not) no one would even look at dna20/30, sx350 or other chips.

Great work.

Breaktru · « **Reply #4 on:** July 11, 2014, 07:05:59 AM »

Wow that's chock full of circuitry. Very impressive. Congrats on your latest work Craig

Another masterpiece by the great and powerful Craigmiester

icky · « **Reply #5 on:** July 11, 2014, 11:05:39 AM »

Quote from: jbs on July 11, 2014, 06:20:02 AM

Thats cool

I am pretty sure that if you were selling your boards (i know you will not) no one would even look at dna20/30, sx350 or other chips.

Great work.

Seriosly I tried too, I would love to support an American, but as soon as Craig came out with one, the sx350 would have competition, then yihi would lower the price below Craig's or copy it...

CraigHB · « **Reply #6 on:** July 11, 2014, 01:20:59 PM »

Thanks for the comments and compliments

Yeah there's a lot of stuff on the board. There's extra parts on there for the charger and also for battery protection. I use small signal FETs to handle power for other components where I could have handled it directly with the MCU. The extra transistors offload the MCU from the currents required to drive other components which is better for reliability considerations. The whole design keeps reliability a priority. Along those lines I also improved ESD protection. I added TVS diodes on the switches and trigger to bring HB ESD tolerance from 2kV up to 15kV.

I'm always looking to improve things so I'm working on a 40W buck-boost board right now to get a wider voltage range. The "boost only" design is actually sufficient for my normal vaping habits. I typically use a 1-1/4 Ohm atomizer at 5V. Though it's a matter of the challenge and to build something that can run an atomizer down to 1/5 Ohm. It's hard to do, but if it were easy there would not be any reward in it.

At this point I don't think I'm going to design for an output greater than 40W though this board can actually put out up to 60W if I take it to the edge of what it can handle. It's throttled at 40W, again for reliability considerations and also because the cell tops out at 14A. I could take it higher with an 18650 version since drain limits would be a lot higher, but I just don't see the need.

Neon711 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 12, 2014, 07:24:30 AM »

WOW!! What else can be said.

CraigHB · « **Reply #8 on:** July 12, 2014, 07:39:39 PM »

Did a 420 mOhm dual coil build on an iGo-W to try on the new Powerblok, below is a quick video of it. Works pretty good actually, a bit warm but not too bad.

The atomizer build is with 3 mm Ekowool and 28 gauge nichrome. The Ekowool is cored with a short section of SS mesh under the coils to keep them tight against the wick, tight coils help a lot for high power.

This high power setup is not something I'd use all the time, but it's cool just for trying out, been vaping with it on and off last night and today. The Powerblok does really well at that high load, handles it gracefully. Run time isn't all that bad, not near as good as my 1-1/4 ohm tanks, but not terrible either.

Breaktru · « **Reply #9 on:** July 14, 2014, 08:59:05 AM »

Great Craig. Thanks for posting

Visus · « **Reply #10 on:** July 14, 2014, 09:07:14 AM »

Perfect

size, look, touch app, and screenage

ya didnt add a disco ball and lazer light show so not as impressive as batmans but ya that's ice cold heat..

gimme

miskol · « **Reply #11 on:** July 16, 2014, 01:21:59 PM »

very very impressive sir!! it is gives out powerful output yet so small and very complicated

thank you very much for sharing.

methos · « **Reply #12 on:** July 16, 2014, 07:46:15 PM »

Awesome mod!!!!! I can only dream of building something that nice. Outstanding work Craig.

Littlefeather · « **Reply #13 on:** July 16, 2014, 09:00:06 PM »

Nicely done Craig! That's got to be satisfying to say the least. Don't you just love when a plan comes together? Ok, now back to the drawing board! Enjoy!

CraigHB · « **Reply #14 on:** July 16, 2014, 10:05:10 PM »

Thanks guys, yeah that's my latest booster. Serves me well. I am back to the drawing board as a matter of fact, pretty much always on the drawing board with something, working on a buck-boost design now, it's a lot harder to design.

Littlefeather · « **Reply #15 on:** July 16, 2014, 10:28:08 PM »

I'll be the first to admit that while I understand some of the electronics I sure as hell don't understand enough to put together what you've been doing but I've learned a bunch from you and others in this group. And that's worth a big "THANK YOU" all! It's great to have such a sharing group with such diverse knowledge and skill sets! Hopefully I'll have something to share in a short time if I can get it out of my head and into the material state I imagine. Should be fun!

Jasen · « **Reply #16 on:** July 16, 2014, 11:04:22 PM »

ro0bi · « **Reply #17 on:** July 17, 2014, 10:29:55 AM »

oleskool · « **Reply #18 on:** July 17, 2014, 10:49:52 PM »

Very nice. I was looking for one of those little smiley's scratching his head, but there isn't one. That's what I was doing reading through this post.
Man I should have stayed in school.

CraigHB · « **Reply #19 on:** July 18, 2014, 04:50:17 AM »

Hehe, don't feel too bad, I sometimes scratch my head on this stuff too. The difference is I did stay in school and I've been doing stuff with electronics since I was a kid. Learned all the advanced theory in college, but was building my own PCBs way before that.

A lot of this stuff I do with software tools readily available eliminating the need to do complex calculations on paper. There isn't much you can't figure out with a circuit simulator. There's a few good free ones. Assembling PCBs is a whole different skill acquired through years of practice. You can only learn that by doing it.