Super Surfer Vaporizer

Vapologist said:

Excellent that 7th Floor is listening to its customers and fanpeoples. Portables...that's the thing.

Do you still work for 7th Floor, and if so, what is your role? Its great that the company is finally making its presence felt on FC again, I was just curious as to what position you held with the company. Are you based permanently in Scotland? What is the herbal environment like there? Do people prefer portables to desktops in Scotland?

On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you say are the chances of marijuana legalization in Scotland/England/Ireland within 5 years?

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I still work with 7th floor as an engineer/designer though i am not the only engineer working with the company.

I wanted to help out on these forums as it seemed silly to let time pass by without addressing any issues raised online (of which there is many).

I am based in scotland for the foreseeable future due to my partners educational obligations but i plan to move around.

The herbal environment in the UK isn't too bad to be fair. It could be A-LOT worse.
You can grow and get caught pretty often without any legal issues other than a record. Thankfully our legal system doesn't rob people of 100% of their soul. I am a testament to that.

We smoke just as much in the UK as people do in the USA - i found with my subjective experience. However the cultures do differ slightly.

Vapes aren't massive over here but more people have portables than desktops. My friends are all good examples of portable fans while i am a devout desktop user. I like portables, but my tolerance hinders their efficacy in out-and-about situations.
I have a-lot of respect for the MFLB, it is a perfect example of my idea of a brilliant - minimalist design.
Portables are the big money winners, but desktops are where loyalty is built and patrons are satisfied in the long term in my personal opinion.

As for legalization? i couldn't tell you..... ireland might me on the brink at the moment while scotland's best hopes will be with independance.
One thing i always keep in mind, is that it is better to be a cannabis criminal - than to live your life in pain or suffering.

Joel W. said:

It takes more than 4 with a 12v inverter. I will report back when I know more

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Update/correction: I was doing it wrong, 3 works sweet!

@Joel Any images of what your building?

@ Herb-Nerd Thanks for being part of the threads!

Vapologist said:

@Joel Any images of what your building?

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It's still being developed but this is the general idea as for parts minus the battery holders. I still might try and pack it all in a small aluminum tube but for now.

Joel W. said:

It's still being developed but this is the general idea as for parts minus the battery holders. I still might try and pack it all in a small aluminum tube but for now.

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I'd be interested into what you are trying to build here, i am currently making and testing some prototypes of my own.
If you would be willing to share i would be very intrigued, but i am not planning to steel your ideas haha, i just love projects!

I am trying to power a 110vac 60w ceramic rod (ssv, bdv, lsv type) from a 12v battery pack through a dc-ac 75 watt inverter. So far it seems to work well. I have no plan on making kits or trying to make profit from this or I would not be posting it online. Nothing really new here, just off the shelf stuff used in a manner it was not meant to be used in.

Joel W. said:

I am trying to power a 110vac 60w ceramic rod (ssv, bdv, lsv type) from a 12v battery pack through a dc-ac 75 watt inverter. So far it seems to work well. I have no plan on making kits or trying to make profit from this or I would not be posting it online. Nothing really new here, just off the shelf stuff used in a manner it was not meant to be used in.

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i see! portable desktops - that's the future

Wouldn't an off the shelf inverter suffice ?

I would also imagine a 12v lead acid to offer better run-time?


One other thing i can suggest, but be of no help with yet.... is a super-capacitor.

I have myself a few super capacitors i believe would work pretty damn well with DC-AC inverter.

Another thing i would be interested in seeing, is the output waveform of the inverter - as this is what is chopped by the heater control circuit to vary power delivery. I imagine a distorted sine-wave of pseudo-sinewave would produce differing results when used with the 7th floor heater circuits.

Yes, I think they are the future also,

The inverter is off the shelf. It's an ebay 12v inverter purchased for $9.99 delivered. . I found a good deal on a lot of AW 18650's so thats what I have to work with. 3) 18650 gave me about 10-15 minutes runtime on high so I will probably be using 9-12 of them for a longer run times.

I was about to add a startup capacitor as it draws about 7 amps on high when cold, but if you start up on low setting, the amps drops fast and you can slowly crank it up to full once it's hot. More cells should fix this but it's just a guess as of now.

I have no first hand experience with 7th floor products other than looking at pictures online. I am not even sure if your rods are 60w?

As far as the sine-wave question, I am a welder and I could not tell you that.

Joel W. said:

Yes, I think they are the future also,

The inverter is off the shelf. It's an ebay 12v inverter purchased for $9.99 delivered. . I found a good deal on a lot of AW 18650's so thats what I have to work with. 3) 18650 gave me about 10-15 minutes runtime on high so I will probably be using 9-12 of them for a longer run times.

I was about to add a startup capacitor as it draws about 7 amps on high when cold, but if you start up on low setting, the amps drops fast and you can slowly crank it up to full once it's hot. More cells should fix this but it's just a guess as of now.

I have no first hand experience with 7th floor products other than looking at pictures online. I am not even sure if your rods are 60w?

As far as the sine-wave question, I am a welder and I could not tell you that.

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if you pass on the specs of your inverter and maybe drawn a schematic of hookup in paint i can help you improve it - certainly!

These are the only specs listed.

75-WATT Power Inverter, converts vehicle power to household power.
DC Input: 10-15 Volts DC
AC OUTPUT: 110 Volts AC
75-Watts Continuous
1 AC Outlet
Overload protected

As for the schematic, Not much to it. The battery pack(16.2v) plugs into a dc-dc converter which drops my full battery voltage down to a usable 12.5v. From there it goes to the inverter and then the soldering iron plugs into the inverter.

Joel W. said:

These are the only specs listed.

75-WATT Power Inverter, converts vehicle power to household power.
DC Input: 10-15 Volts DC
AC OUTPUT: 110 Volts AC
75-Watts Continuous
1 AC Outlet
Overload protected

As for the schematic, Not much to it. The battery pack(16.2v) plugs into a dc-dc converter which drops my full battery voltage down to a usable 12.5v. From there it goes to the inverter and then the soldering iron plugs into the inverter.

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Im just curious as to how close to sinusoid you get from the inverter.
Have you got a manufacturer spec?
I couldnt find anything on specs. I assume you dont have an oscilloscope which would allow you to view the output of the inverter to see exactly how messy it may be.

Herb-nerd said:

Im just curious as to how close to sinusoid you get from the inverter.
Have you got a manufacturer spec?
I couldnt find anything on specs. I assume you dont have an oscilloscope which would allow you to view the output of the inverter to see exactly how messy it may be.

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Sorry, I do not have access to an oscilloscope.

The reason i asked is because the SSV uses this method of power variation.


The input sinusoid is triggered into conduction at a point depending on the position of the temp control knob, changing the knob position changes the amount of the wave passed as seen in the animation above.

This timing is achieved with complex zero-crossing circuitry to synchronise the conduction with particular points on the wave.

The output of the inverter wont be such a nice wave - more like a jagged square wave output.

I am just interested to see how the control method works with a non ideal waveform

This is the best thread-jacking I've ever seen!

I have a small lead-acid battery kit and a 150w inverter I was wondering what to do with, now I'm going to make a transportable lsv setup for no reason at all. When I find the battery...

Joel W. said:

Sorry, I do not have access to an oscilloscope.

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Some rocket scientist you are !

grokit said:

This is the best thread-jacking I've ever seen!

I have a small lead-acid battery kit and a 150w inverter I was wondering what to do with, now I'm going to make a transportable lsv setup for no reason at all. When I find the battery...


Some rocket scientist you are !

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If it brings a portable lsv or whatever to market soon, it's worth it imo. Sorry for the derail though!.

Yes, I am a lousy rocket scientist/entrepreneur

The future is now!! 2/3 of my desktop arsenal is portable with my battery powered Voltage Keeper! I would certainly pick up a portable LSSV though!!!

steama said:

It seems a cordless LSV is just a step off this design. Could be easily done I believe. Hehe. This thing uses AA batteries but an portable LSV powered by a 3000mah 18650 lithium ion battery could be a BEAST! Would like more than the Super Surfer I think.

Hakko FX-901

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Is anyone familiar with the Embur? http://www.emburlite.com/ It uses the same type of ceramic heating element as the Herb Iron or the LSV, but it has a recharable battery. I don't understand why that can't be modified into a portable LSV type of device. I remember when I saw the Herb Iron; I thought to myself its a great idea, but it needs to be cordless. I contacted the manufacturer to ask why they don't sell a cordless model too, and was told that it would be IMPOSSIBLE with today's technology to have a battery that would have the ability to power it. Then I stumbled upon the Embur. Impossible?!?!?...Really?

Vital said:

IMPOSSIBLE

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I am pretty sure that Embur rod is (24w) smaller than the 60w rod but I could be wrong. But I love it when someone tells me "it's impossible". Talk about motivation!! Two lead engineers told me This too was impossible so I went home and built it! It's been working day in/day out for 8 years now.

Vital said:

Is anyone familiar with the Embur? http://www.emburlite.com/

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Wow, . That is exactly what I'm looking for. Looks like it might even fit a 7th floor Heater cover.

I am intrigued for someone to supply more info on the embur.

I highly doubt it performs well as a portable LSV style vaporizer as the heater would need to be of a much lower power to last any longer than 4 minutes - half of that would be heat up time due to the moderate thermal capacity of the ceramic.

I just don't see a portable using a ceramic rod for pure convection being the best solution for portability, it just isn't efficient as far as the power consumption to vapor production ratio is concerned.

Nothing is impossible, but it can be impossibly impractical.

24W at 12V requires pulling 2A from the battery. If the battery is lower than 12V and uses a boost converter then this current requirement increases.

A 2000mah battery would therefore last an hour though the usable time will likely be around 40 mins. This is assuming the battery is indeed 12V+ and not 3.7 or 7.4v which would elevate the current draw on the batteries.
Then the heater has to have the power to actually work effectively as a vaporizer and not cool down drastically when air is pulled past it at speed.

But to be fair, this is conjecture.

Yes, many of my hair brain ideas fail, flop or fold. Lol. I can think of 3 in the last week but I don't let that stop me from trying something else new.

Every now and then I get lucky.

@Joel W.
You could try and get a cheap low voltage heating element from ebay and hook it up to an 18350, put oil on the heater and hook up the cell - inhale the vapour produced through a straw. DIY vape in 3 seconds
It works - i tried

Also make sure your inverters max output current is surpassed by the inrush current of the capacitor you mentioned adding for cold-starting. if it is you will need to limit the current with an appropriately rated high power resistor.

Here's a video of what I am talking about.

stickstones said:

Here's a video of what I am talking about.

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That didn't look too impressive, but was around what i expected.

I wouldn't consider that better than an MFLB thats for sure and thats a single cell at 1.5V

Times have been hard... and if you know me, you already know that all of my vapes were taken from me.
I start over now a bit at a time.
I have a portable sent to me by a member that makes travel easy...
and what about a Silver Surfer?
That is an early matter of business around here!
While I did acquire an SSV (standard hand held etc)....
I have something else to show for a new vape after a traumatic takedown!
Welcome the SUPER SURFER
Please be aware, that this is a prototype unit, and is not readily available on the market yet.

Those are bags you see rolled up in the SSV bag.... which has new custom pockets to house all of the accessories that accompany this bad boy.
Here it sits next to the SSV regular model.

So far I have used the fan only with the wand/whip setup, and have not worked with the bags.
I am certainly impressed so far with what I have seen.
The fan when on high level does surely move some air through the whip.
The lights are fun after all....
I was skeptical, but have come to terms with how cool they are.
The can be set to blink from color to color in fast succession or slowly timed changes.
They can also gently dissolve from one color to the next almost imperceptibly.
They can also be left to sit on any individual color also.
I do not have the quality of video I prefer and could only transfer the moments to photbucket video, but I did take 2 short videos... one to demonstrate the quietness of the fan (all the way up to "high"), and one to show a couple of the light show modes... (I forgot the slow fade)
http://vid1132.photobucket.com/albums/m580/VitoloVaporizes/M4H03610.mp4
and
http://vid1132.photobucket.com/albums/m580/VitoloVaporizes/M4H03609.mp4
Better videos, as life evolves!