Opened up the battery on a 3/14 unit from awesome dealer. Whats the little green strip doing i cant get any difference in measurement? I put a watt meter on it both ways and have awesome data. Charges at 0.86a just like OF posted.
Under power it bounces around 2.8a first spike then mellows down slowly 2.5....2.1....1.5....0.35. back up to 1.5a. Seems to jump around as the heater turns on and off. My watt meter is a low quality tool so these are just fun hobby style measurements. I love playing with stuff. A vaporizer is just another toy/tool. Not trying to be a jerk or bog the thread down with useless info to the average dude looking to buy a vape. The Solo kicks butt i would recommend it to anyone.
Awesome report, thanks very much. It confirms the suspicion that the new version is basically the same beast with different software. No magic or major changes. That's basically what I found on the 3 or 4 'original style' units I hacked into.
The little green strip is the protection circuit PCB (it's just upside down, the fun stuff is under it). You can see it in the photo below. Under normal conditions you should not measure anything by way of drops. In the event of a problem (battery failure, over or under charge) the circuit springs into action and disconnects stuff from each other, that's when you see differences. Good observation. BTW, having built a couple of packs with new PCB I can warn you you need to 'prime' or turn the board on (it starts out in protect mode since the 'batteries' start at zero Volts as seen by the board (before you connect the batteries). It's in fault mode before installation, you need to charge the battery first after installation (even if it's fully charged) before you can discharge. It took me a few tries (and two different PCB types) to figure that out.......
Folks should know that the current strings above also reverse directions. That is while that 2.5 Amps (only when cold, decreases as the metal in the heater changes resistance with heat) comes out of the battery to heat, the .8 Amps from the charger 'goes the other way' (recharging the battery) when the heater is coasting. The net gain, over the session, is about zero. You put it in but within a minute you've taken it back out.
The old PA scheme provides the full power from outside, the battery isn't involved. In fact you can take it out and still run PA mode, unlike the new one. In the new design when the battery dies, the unit is useless until it's replaced.
Thanks for the great post.
Edit: Just read OF's comment about this. Kinda similar to what Im saying
Similar, perhaps, but IMO a different 'take' on the theme. And very well expressed. Very useful.
Even if it was more nearly identical I still think it's a great contribution to the topic. People are all different, sometimes a 'slightly different way of putting it' easily gets the point across to the reader where prior attempts have failed outright. And that, communication of the idea to the next guy, is the whole reason for communication. The only measure of success is the passing on of the idea.
Thanks very much. Such efforts help our fellows even if most of them don't notice it..........
Do you guys ever wonder whether or not its safe to use the solo upside down for like 3 hours when using a bubbler and on level 7? .
Under a critical battery failure scenario I'm pretty sure the batteries would just start to vent. Not sure what kind of stress they would have to be under to actually explode and make the Solo a frag grenade or something.
As usual, the Q man has his finger right on it. Normally any heat generated in the battery area is routinely removed by cold air around the outside of the oven (in the vent holes on the cap), up the inside and out the vents on the bottom (now top while inverted). This also cools the walls of the outer tube (aluminum) so heat conduction down it is under control. Inside is about as warm as the outside since the metal is thin at that point, so 'warmer, but not hot' is the deal?
These types definitely vent, you can see the openings around the positive end. Basically none ever do, there are too many levels of protection. There's also a thermal switch (60C) that shuts the show down long before anything inside can boil, it's the white thing:
The only way to make a bomb out if it is to seal up the vents, defeat the safety switch and really abuse them. Or maybe throw it in the campfire? But unless you seal it up first, even that won't make it a bomb.
Not to worry, as Q man suggests, it just gets in the way of your enjoying it.
OF