regulated vs unregulated power supplies for "log vapes"

Barely gets warm at all. You could lay it on any exposed skin, without any discomfort.

Makes me wonder why my Hilbrandt SS Spartan gets almost searing hot after being on for a few hours. What could it be doing differently

The Valsturd I bought is the same, though it won't hold the voltage like the Hildebrandt. Bottom, back right corner could sear flesh. Why I kept a fan blowing on it non-stop. New one doesn't need it at all.

That's exactly what I was thinking. My Hildbrandt is the same way. Seems like someone (Hazy?) said that the TPN-023 gets hot, but I don't recall which thread I saw that in. I would have guessed that the TPN-023 and the TPN-020 would both have very similar innards (except for the digital readout parts inthe TPN-023). Interesting.

If the TPN-023 remains cool and is reliable, it would be the best VPS currently out there, imho. If it's not, but the TPN-020 is reliable, then I would think that that's the best one. I think a digital readout is cool and fun and useful, but not really necessary once you figure out how to it set in the correct general range (same as the VB, DBV, SSV, etc).

I like my Hildbrandt, but I'd greatly prefer something smaller and *much* cooler.

Well, let's wait before everyone rushes out and buys. I would hate for a bunch of people to go buy them and then they start crapping out.

I'm on my 3rd day of testing. Still going smooth. I've noticed one minor, minor thing. If I turn it off, with the voltage set. When I turn it back on, its off. Again, though... its such a miniscule amount, I just drop it down to 0 and turn it back up. Voltage adjustment us very smooth, with a little bit of drag on it, to hold voltage steady.

I've tried it on extension cords, surge protectors and plugged straight into wall. I haven't noticed any excessive current draw/resistance. Both the unit and cord, stay pretty cool.

I ran the unit, for the better part of the day, yesterday while running around for the bday celebrations. Used it well into the night/morning. It gets a little warm. It might keep your hands warm, in a pocket. But not much else. Its all digital, whereas the larger units, employ some old school parts, that generate a lot of heat.

Durability, is my primary concern with this unit, though the build quality is better, than the $30 vvps, it replaced.

Also, remember... I have two of these units. One, the voltage dial and actual are off, by more than a volt. As previously mentioned... I would insist on a voltmeter, at the minimum, for any vvps unit.

Thanks for more testing and sharing info BDV! I agree--reliability is a key bit with these variable power supplies. Hopefully they're solid!

Still getting about 14 - 16 hours of on time a day. Still working like a champ.

I noticed after the first day, the unit is running a little warmer. However, again... I can lay it on any exposed skin and no discomfort. Nowhere near as warm as my HI gets and I enjoy that on my cold hands. It hadn't been a linear warming. It just ran a little hotter the next day and its been the same since. Chalk it up, to break-in.

I'm getting the most consistent browning of herb, that I desire, using the ranges I marked off. What I mean to say, is over any other power supply, I've used.

I still can't get over how tiny it is. My 8' log cord, is monstrous connected to it. Think I'm going to make a lighter duty for this. It pulls both the vvps and HI around.

Still no complaints. Still, rock steady performance. I'm almost tempted to just say... regardless, its worth the probably $10 gamble that this actual model goes for. The red is sweet, btw.

Quick question, I just ordered my UD and I was wondering, should I go ahead and get a variable power supply? Or should I just wait and see how the 12V does?

If you're like any of us, vapeheads around here... You'll use the 12v for a bit and its cool than you'll just need to upgrade. Try it out first and than accept your VVPS-as.

What's this? Like day 5 or 6? I dunno.

VVPS still working like a champ. I'm shutting it off for a few hours at night (however long I can sleep)... but its on most hours of the day. Voltage setting still stays rock-solid and is easily adjusted. The marks I made on the unit, are very easy to hit and the perfect range. I've seemed to settle down to about 11.8V on this one for now. Gives a good even roast and I'm still getting at the minimum 2 extra pulls off each tube.

Haven't heard back from the retailer yet, but I'm not in a rush. I'll hit him up later in the week and apply a little arm twist. I still want that digital display, however.

Finally had it with this topsaletony jackass. The final straw was after he gave me another tracking number for supposedly the correct PS, yet I haven't ever been able to track it. The site he gave me, is some lame crap-ass China half-ass shipper. After several mornings of looking for any update, I contacted him again, asking how/where/what my package was. He told me, "not to worry about it" and he was in touch with the shipper.

So first, he just sent the wrong damn thing and it got lost. So he ships another wrong damn thing and both make it to me, yet he blames his "shipping guy" (in other words... him).

This morning, I pretty much ripped into him. Gave him a deadline of tomorrow night, or it was going to get very ugly, between Amazon, myself and him. He's begging me to take a refund now and claims the shipping company he uses, is really bad (then quit @#$%ing using them!).

Yeah, I lit him up on the Amazon Refund page.

The only other one on Amazon, is one some jerk wants $30 for it. Sigh...

Who knows, maybe one day... the right one, will just arrive in my mailbox. Guess, I'll see if ebay still has any cheaper than the $22 I'm NOT going to pay.

UPDATE: He supposedly sent refund. I haven't seen it yet. Its only $14 and I have 2 of his wrong power supplies, but that's the point. SOB can't send the right stuff, while taking my money.

Used the search term from the ebay.au.com listing and found this one so went ahead and ordered it. Hopefully, it doesn't take the 22 days, this vendor says it can. Tired of having to use a multimeter, every time I want to change my voltage and I want it more precise than vague range I have with marks I made.

hazy, im gonna try what you did. i am a solder noob, what w is recommended, is a 40w solder iron overkill? also, the solder wire, should i get 0.4mm or 0.8mm?

after using the mini VVPS and you wish to disconnect power supply, can you just unplug the power supply behind the vvps or pull out the plug? i mean my main wall switch is loose and i don't wanna touch it. just pulling out the plug at the VVPS's behind, is it ok?

ok, i didn't get a reply but i was impatient so decide to mod it. the results - anyone wanting to try a DIY mod on the mini VVPS below should do so. i was on the fence about adding stuff since i like the simplicity/minimalism of a log vape, but i am glad i did it cause the VVPS really changes the dynamics of my log.


Instead of the normal jack cable, i got me one with silicon material clip cord

cut the ends and just screwed the wires unto this 5.5x2.1mm jack.

using 'normal' wires, the twisting and moving would make it easy for the screwed-in connection to come loose but with silicon, it fastens a lot more securely. i am no electronic person, so log vape vvps noobs who want an easy vvps fix should try this. for myself, the results are fantastic! hoping that the vvps would last though!

What mod to the VVPS? The cable?

To answer your question, yes you can just unplug the VVPS unit from the cord, instead of the wall outlet. Though, you might want to get some some sort of circuit protection, if you're not going to fix the outlet.

As to the soldering iron question, for wire work... not a big deal. 40w is fine.

thanks bdv. yeah, for "mod' i just meant connecting the jack without solder. And i ordered the small vvps from Hong Kong, sbirley88 (not the china one) and had no issues with delivery.

I've been testing one of those TPN-023 models for a couple of days. Here's my current take on it, compared to a Hildebrandt power supply.

Pros of the TPN-023:
- much smaller than Hildebrandt
- a little cooler to the touch than Hildebrandt
- does not have the SUPER-bright power LED that the Hildebrandt has
- roughly half the price of the Hildebrandt

A few issues I have with the TPN-023:
- no On/Off switch --have to plug unplug it or rig up some sort of external switch (Hildebrandt has an On/Off switch built-in on the back)
- Voltage adjustment knob very "fiddly". The numbers jump around *a lot* while trying to set it. Once set, it pretty much stays put (sometimes bounces up/down 0.1V). Not a huge deal, but could be annoying if you like to fine-tune a lot. With the Hildebrandt, it's pretty simple to bump it up or down a notch or two.
- makes a slight buzzing/hissing sort of noise. Not sure what causes this, but it varies a bit when touching any part of it (including the cord), and it varies at different voltages. Annoyingly, it seems loudest around 12V-13.5V. My Hildebrandt doesn't make any noise at all. Any engineers out there want to chime in? Maybe a grounding issue or something? Are the buzzing sounds something I should be concerned about, in terms of the safety of the power supply? Anyone have any reasonably simple solutions for this?
- If I'm wearing some headphones (admittedly very cheap ones) and the TPN-023 is near me, I can hear a buzz in the earbuds/speakers (goes away if I unplug the TPN-023). If it touch any part of the TPN-023 (including the cable), the buzzing gets louder. I assume this is related to the buzzing sound the power supply itself is making.
- I guess it might also be considered an "issue" that the TPN-023 goes up to 18V, which I believe is high enough that it could cause some serious problems if an inexperienced user decided to set it at 18V and leave it there for a while...

One of the things I liked about this power supply is that the control knob is quite stiff on my unit. However I've now realised that this is not by design

The voltage jumping around is not as bad as it seems. I've had a voltmeter hooked up to it and it only moved hundredths of a volt. If the voltage is set close to a .1V interval then it may seem to jump, although it is simply wavering around the threshold where the display needs to flick over to the next tenth of a volt.

The power supply does seem to cause electrical interference with appliances on the same circuit. I noticed this at a friends place where it caused static to come through the radio. I've had this happen with other cheap power supplies, so it is a common but annoying problem.

My unit does make the hissing noise you describe. I haven't investigated it, but it could be the coils. I've had computer PSUs do this as well. I don't know if it's a problem, but it sure is annoying. Fortunately (?) the ambient noise in this place is loud enough that I don't notice it most of the time...

The knob on mine is stiff--the numbers jump around a lot (+/- up to 2 volts or so) while I'm turning the knob, even if I'm only moving the knob a little. Then it pretty much stays put whenever I stop turning the knob. I don't find it too difficult to find the number I want, but it definitely takes more fiddling with the TPN-023 knob than it does with the Hildebrandt any time I want to change the voltage. Not a huge deal, for sure. For me, the buzzing sound is more of an issue than the voltage fluctuations while turning the knob.

One nice thing about the buzzing is that it made it easy for me to be sure that I was having an intermittent shorting problem with a cable (noise stopped when it shorted out).

damn, that's it! for the last 2 days i've been looking around for this 'fly' that was buzzing around in intervals somewhere on my desk, couldn't ever find it The vvps (with +- 0.1v bounce) is just so good with a log, decent small size quite convenient. i got no complains about the performance, just hope it can last awhile. After trying glass, i cannot go back to dry hits. after trying vvps, i cannot go back to standard.

p/s - i just plugged in the vvps, the buzzing for me seems to come on only after i have used it for awhile, and only intermittently. doesn't seem to be an issue presently.

They aren't grounded properly, is one thing. The buzzing is the frequency of the electricity, the reason it changes pitch, is because its directly connected/related to volts. Cheap circuitry.

Oh... How a cheap POS works so well? Thank goodness for digital electronics.

I've been running mine non-stop, still working flawlessly.

While I am patiently waiting for the TPN-023 to come from Hong Kong, I am thinking of also ordering this one (TPN-025)... It has an added switch to power on and off at the back and from what I am getting from you guys, it might prove friendlier for everyday use.

@BDV-- Does your TPN-020 (without LED) make any noise?

Anyone know of an easy-ish mod for a TPN-023 to get rid of the noise? For me, the noise plus the electrical interference are almost a deal-breaker for using it (though others obviously find it to be not too big of a deal).

And here's another one of those TPN-025 models, but maybe it wouldn't ship direct from China?
http://www.cherry-tattoo.com/goods.php?id=2343

I believe they do ship but I am not sure about the shipping costs... From ebay it's 29$ with free shipping.

Well, I had been thinking that it might ship from a warehouse in the US instead of coming direct from China (long shipping times), but now I notice that their contact number is a China number...

Yes, mine buzzes. Its the hum, from electricity. You're not going to clean it up, nor dampen it in something this small. I'm deaf to the 440Hz range, because it was humming in my ear, every day (at least 12 hours), for almost 6 years.

Get used to it. Won't make you deaf to 120Hz, but you should be ignoring it (your brain should tune it out), by now.

It causes electrical interference because its not grounded properly. Its not a big deal to me. Its on its own, separate/protected circuit.

EDIT: Well, either I got the correct one, from the idiot... or the new one got here in 3 days. Lol! Love the display unit. LOVE IT!