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VapCap Induction Heater for Desktop and in Car Use

Pipes

Addicted DIY Enthusiast
Accessory Maker
I found some good reading about it below. Pretty much saying to keep it above 20% whenever possible. As well well do not leave at 100% for long. In other words, keep the charge above 20% and below 90% as much as possible.

Charging and recharging
So how do you make your lithium-ion battery last as long as possible? You may have heard you need to do a full charge and discharge when your device is right out of the box—but this doesn't really matter on modern batteries. What matters most is how you charge your phone or laptop after you've started using it.
Shallow discharges and recharges are better than full ones, because they put less stress on the battery, so it lasts longer. When your battery is discharging, Battery University recommends that you only let it reach 50 percent before topping it up again. While you're charging it back up, you should also avoid pushing a lithium-ion battery all the way to 100 percent.
If you do fill your battery all the way up, don't leave the device plugged in. Instead, follow the shallow discharge and recharge cycle we just mentioned. This isn't a safety issue: Lithium-ion batteries have built-in safeguards designed to stop them from exploding if they're left charging while at maximum capacity. But in the long term, electronics will age faster if they're constantly plugged in while already charged to 100 percent.
Although shallow charges and discharges hit the longevity sweet spot, there are exceptions to this rule. Once a month, let the battery undergo a full discharge to about 5 percent, just to recalibrate its self-assessment. This mechanism allows your laptop or smartphone to give you an "estimated battery time remaining" reading that's somewhat accurate. (Not needed for the PSM) Regular full discharges aren't a good idea though. In general, you should be keeping your battery above 20 percent, according to Samsung.
These are all guidelines, by the way: There's nothing dangerous about keeping your phone charged overnight, and modern phones and laptops include mechanisms for minimizing the strain on the battery if your device is plugged in all the time. Fortunately for users, small tweaks and improvements are made to the technology each year, so every time you upgrade your smartphone, you're getting a lithium-ion battery that should go further between charges and last longer overall.

Storage and general care

Something else lithium-ion batteries don't like is extreme temperatures. Whenever possible, you should avoid leaving phones and laptops in hot cars or in chilly rooms, because these temperature extremes won't do their batteries' lifespans any favors. You should particularly watch out for overheating during charging—though if your phone or laptop manufacturer has done its job, this shouldn't be an issue.
As another precaution, you should also make sure you're using the official charger that came bundled with your phone or tablet, or you should invest in an exact replacement. This will guarantee that the charger is safe to use with your device's battery, and optimized to charge it as efficiently as possible. The official charger will apply the best practices for your battery's general health.
If you're going to be storing your laptop or smartphone for an extended period of time, you should leave the gadget with a charge somewhere around 50 percent, as recommended by Apple and other sources. Switch your device off while you store it, and as we mentioned earlier, make sure to keep it in a Goldilocks spot: not too hot and not too cold.

:science:
 

Iainjmill

Member


Pipe's Barebones happily disguised
 
Iainjmill,
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mephisto

Well-Known Member
I'll be jiverred! I managed to find every power source that I cannot use for recharging the Portside. Please take pity on a soul and enlighten me once again with the specs? I do appreciate it in advance. There are several suitable jacks on the psa's that I found, however I don't want to let the factory smoke out by use of the wrong converter.....
 
mephisto,

MasonJar

Well-Known Member
I found some good reading about it below. Pretty much saying to keep it above 20% whenever possible. As well well do not leave at 100% for long. In other words, keep the charge above 20% and below 90% as much as possible.

Charging and recharging
So how do you make your lithium-ion battery last as long as possible? You may have heard you need to do a full charge and discharge when your device is right out of the box—but this doesn't really matter on modern batteries. What matters most is how you charge your phone or laptop after you've started using it.
Shallow discharges and recharges are better than full ones, because they put less stress on the battery, so it lasts longer. When your battery is discharging, Battery University recommends that you only let it reach 50 percent before topping it up again. While you're charging it back up, you should also avoid pushing a lithium-ion battery all the way to 100 percent.
If you do fill your battery all the way up, don't leave the device plugged in. Instead, follow the shallow discharge and recharge cycle we just mentioned. This isn't a safety issue: Lithium-ion batteries have built-in safeguards designed to stop them from exploding if they're left charging while at maximum capacity. But in the long term, electronics will age faster if they're constantly plugged in while already charged to 100 percent.
Although shallow charges and discharges hit the longevity sweet spot, there are exceptions to this rule. Once a month, let the battery undergo a full discharge to about 5 percent, just to recalibrate its self-assessment. This mechanism allows your laptop or smartphone to give you an "estimated battery time remaining" reading that's somewhat accurate. (Not needed for the PSM) Regular full discharges aren't a good idea though. In general, you should be keeping your battery above 20 percent, according to Samsung.
These are all guidelines, by the way: There's nothing dangerous about keeping your phone charged overnight, and modern phones and laptops include mechanisms for minimizing the strain on the battery if your device is plugged in all the time. Fortunately for users, small tweaks and improvements are made to the technology each year, so every time you upgrade your smartphone, you're getting a lithium-ion battery that should go further between charges and last longer overall.

Storage and general care

Something else lithium-ion batteries don't like is extreme temperatures. Whenever possible, you should avoid leaving phones and laptops in hot cars or in chilly rooms, because these temperature extremes won't do their batteries' lifespans any favors. You should particularly watch out for overheating during charging—though if your phone or laptop manufacturer has done its job, this shouldn't be an issue.
As another precaution, you should also make sure you're using the official charger that came bundled with your phone or tablet, or you should invest in an exact replacement. This will guarantee that the charger is safe to use with your device's battery, and optimized to charge it as efficiently as possible. The official charger will apply the best practices for your battery's general health.
If you're going to be storing your laptop or smartphone for an extended period of time, you should leave the gadget with a charge somewhere around 50 percent, as recommended by Apple and other sources. Switch your device off while you store it, and as we mentioned earlier, make sure to keep it in a Goldilocks spot: not too hot and not too cold.

:science:

This is excellent info on Lithium batteries Pipes! I use programmable balance chargers to charge my lipos. For my helis, I charge them to a max of around 4.18 volts per cell (as opposed to 4.20 volts per cell). From research, not maxing out the charge adds to the life of the lipos. I also have timers so I typically land the helis with the charge at 20% (3.75 volts per cell) at the most.

For the lipo powering my IH, in order to maximize the life of the lipo, I only charge it to storage charge which is 50% or 3.85 volts per cell. This is more than enough to power the IH module and use it a couple of times, say 8-10x. However, if I am planning an extended use of the the IH, I will charge the lipo up to around 4.05 volts per cell or 80-90%.

The balance chargers I am using can parallel charge lipos at a charge rate of 1C... That means, for example, I can balance charge 8 x 5000 mah 6 cell lipos from storage voltage (50% / 3.85 volts per cell) to 4.18 volts per cell (97%) in around 30 to 40 minutes. It is important to balance charge the lipos so all the cells more or less have the same voltage when full (97% in my case).

I always balance charge the lipos whether I am charging them or putting them to storage (50%).

Here is a pic of my chargers parallel charging multiple lipos before I head out to the flying field...
01-Chargers.jpg


If for some reason, I am unable to use up a lipo at the field, I also built a load based on a hair dryer so I can use the chargers, regenerative discharge function. This allows for a much faster discharging of the lipo. This is in line with never storing lipos at close to full capacity... both for safety considerations and lipo longevity. A lipo (especially the bigger ones) stored at 90-100% has lots of potential energy and will cause more damage (both fire and smoke) if punctured compared to one at 50% charge.
 
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iChill

Member
I'm having some trouble with my cap becoming too tight after pushing down into the PSM. The draw resistance becomes too high and I can't get enough airflow from the bowl.

I usually end up tapping the cap loose with my nail or twisting it loose, then I can draw just fine. This happens maybe 50% of the time.

What I have tried:
  • Using as little pressure as possible to trigger the PSM
  • Bending the cap
  • Fresh cleaning
Does anyone have any solutions or tips? I'm using the "M" w/ stainless steel tip.
 
iChill,

Mono Loco

Well-Known Member
Reports of jammed caps, and my own (probably nonsense) idea of the difficulty to replace a switch that might wear out, are the reasons I have been putting off getting one of the IHs that uses those activation switches at the bottom of the heating coil. However, even some of the builders that used to use the remote momentary switches in their builds have made the change over to the more popular "gravity activated" pressure switches. I'm the kind of old-fashioned guy who misses crank windows in my cars.

As far as the jammed cap, I suppose you try to either relieve the cap a bit ... maybe stretch the inner diameter by inserting needle nose pliers and carefully pulling the handles apart ... nah, you'd end up with an oval! You'd need to used a flared cone of some sort. Or, maybe just some steel wool burnishing inside the cap to remove any minor irregularities that might be binding. OR, you could minimally reduce the diameter of the tip itself with some sandpaper ... just the slightest bit ... then again, this might adversely affect the behavior of the click disc (??)
 
Mono Loco,

cybrguy

Putin is a War Criminal
I use programmable balance chargers to charge my lipos. For my helis, I charge them to a max of around 4.18 volts per cell (as opposed to 4.20 volts per cell). From research, not maxing out the charge adds to the life of the lipos. I also have timers so I typically land the helis with the charge at 20% (3.75 volts per cell) at the most.
Other than a flashlight that uses just one 18650, all my 18650 use is in vapes and all of them are in pairs*. I always charge the pairs together and find that they remain very close to one another if not identical in charge and discharge behavior. But beyond that I really don't care to go to the extremes that some folks do to manage my batteries. They aren't THAT expensive, and if a pair stops staying in sync or charging and discharging as expected I just replace them. If only one of the pair misbehaves I save the other for the flashlight. Other than age I have had only one pair misbehave at this point. I respect 18650s and use them safely, but I won't put them in charge (ha).

*My RX 2/3 optionally can use 3 batteries, but I usually just use 2. I do have a 3rd one in one set that I rotate in and out to keep all 3 as a set.
Reports of jammed caps, and my own (probably nonsense) idea of the difficulty to replace a switch that might wear out, are the reasons I have been putting off getting one of the IHs that uses those activation switches at the bottom of the heating coil. However, even some of the builders that used to use the remote momentary switches in their builds have made the change over to the more popular "gravity activated" pressure switches.
I have had one cap become a problem with the tip slipping past the crimp and jamming the cap on the tip. I think this was from a cap down drop of a VC. Once the crimp is loosened that the tip can slip past it the cap become problematic and I stop using it. I keep a couple extra caps around for this reason. Nothing more frustrating than not being able to remove a hot cap. A softer engage switch on the bottom of my jarhead might allow some more use of a cap damaged in this way.
 
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cybrguy,

polykoma

Active Member
Hey Guys again,
sooo long time I got first in touch with this awesom thread.
Meanwhile all the parts arrived at my place and they already got a little dusty.

I have choosen the portside mini

Is there a final wiring diagramm out here @Pipes ?

I want to start to build the battery harness. But kinda got stuck at the beginning because I didnt found the right wiring according to your portside mini build.

2 simple pictures from front and back of the harness would do the job too. i can figure it out with it.

Please help me I got holiday right now and want to finish the build :)

What Iam missing is How to properly wire the Battery Harness.
And where to put the signal led correctly at to light up the glass holder. I ordered some 3mm and 5mm.

Help is very appreciated

KIND REGARDS from Berlin
 
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polykoma,

Pipes

Addicted DIY Enthusiast
Accessory Maker
You can browse through my VC album by clicking any of my VC pics. I believe once you go to that picture, you can view the rest. Here is one to get you started. Tons in there. :cool:


Also, about the caps getting stuck. My understanding this is "fairly" rare and only happens with a few caps. Not sure what the best fix would be. However, I thought about it, and instead of altering the bowl, I tried this it didn't seem to affect performance so might be a solution. May also have benefit for those who complain their herb sticks to the top of the cap. It's basically just a surgical stainless steel hoop. Sold as nose rings or ear piecing training hoop. Pennies if you get from China of course.



Only other way short of getting a new cap, would be to deform the lip of the bowl so it doesn't get wedged around the crimp in the cap. Again, not sure what would work best here as my caps do not have this problem. Others may chime in if they found a solution. Might even find that mixing caps and bowls may solve the wedging if it's a mating problem. In which case a new cap may equal 2 good non-sticking units... :shrug:

Good luck!
 

polykoma

Active Member
blasting fast response !!! Thanks so much @Pipes !

I digged trough the thread and found a wiring shematic of the battery harness in post #2363

But thanks so much for the picture and the explanations!

BTW I noticed i bought the wrong cable (3 wire instead of 4 wire) :doh:
I quickly fired out an aliexpress reorder with the right ones.

Ill keep you posted about my progress.
I bought parts for 3 heaters. :borg:
 

iChill

Member
I didn't quite have a nose ring, but I cut a stainless steel filter from my Arizer EQ and put it at the end of the cap. The filter is not 100% flat and could have been cut better, so the cap sits maybe 2mm away from being completely closed... and it seems like the cap heats quicker now. I can definitely combust easier.

Overall this is a huge improvement and I don't have to worry about whether or not the cap is stuck.

Thanks for the help.
The PSM is awesome.:tup:
 

sk8man121

Frozen_Vaporent
Hey guys, quick anxiety post: I believe I may have plugged the wrong charger into my portside mini earlier and started a cycle (I realized I had a 12V same shape charger plugged in next to my 12.6V PSM charger). I realized after maybe ten minutes and immediately unolugged; neither the unit nor the charger were hot.

Obviously not planning on letting this happen again, but have I at all damaged the unit by making this mistake? Is it safe to use/charge going forward?

Apologies for my complete and utter lack of knowledge re: this stuff.
 

Pipes

Addicted DIY Enthusiast
Accessory Maker
Season's Greetings!
In short, you're fine.
I take it the polarity was the same.
A 12 volt "supply" of the same physical size is likely only rated for an amp, maybe a little more, and will never reach overcharging of over 12.6 volts. And since you caught it after only 10 minutes, no damage would be caused by sustaining a constant 12 volts. :)
There more to it but keeping it brief. :tinfoil:
 

AD

Well-Known Member
Hello Pipes,
Please put me on the list for a portside mini for February.
Thanks
 
AD,
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