Good morning friends, it's a late start for me as I was up very late last night researching my new DaVinci. Lucky for me, there's more testing needed..... Who said science can't be fun too?
First off, after carefully looking at my inside photos, I'm thinking there's actually a third cell in the battery, and it's an 11.1 Volt battery. Note the fourth pad on the protection circuit board "B+" separate from the 7.4 Volt pad? I couldn't get the power available and charger current to make sense otherwise. The charger is 13.6 VDC at 2500mA, why the 'funny' voltage when 12 Volt units are so common? Then I noted the power plug is similar to the 'standard' one you find on some car cords, but none of my collection fits. I think it needs a bit more than 12 Volts to fully charge the pack. Now I have a second reason to go back into it. The additional battery capacity makes the power numbers seem more realistic. Got to think some more on that.
Now to the big issue to many, I believe it can be made to outgas the normal stuff from the Silicone rubber gasket at the top of the bowl. I saw the vapor first at 350 degrees. After a run it seemed to disappear for the most part, I could get it back if I was careful, but it had clearly tapered off. After more heat (higher temps and longer times) I couldn't. The same basic pattern happened at each step. Raising the temperature would increase the vapor for a while but make vapor at lower temperatures harder if not impossible to find. This continued right up (in steps) to maximum temperature, 430F. At the end it was hard to find at 410, basically impossible at 400. It was much reduced at 430 from the start (although it's near impossible to actually quantify such stuff accurately). The important part (to me) is it does taper off in a reasonable time meaning it's not something breaking down, but the normal curing of the rubber you'd expect.
Yes, it outgasses. You can smell it, that's how smell works. Depending on the type, such rubbers generate a percent to a few percent of such potential vapor by weight during curing as I understand it. This is why RTV stinks as it sets. This normally diminishes quickly over time, hastened by heat in many 'curing processes'. We're in an interesting position to observe this due to the construction. If left undisturbed heat rises up though the empty chamber to the rim of the gasket to bake the surface. Did anyone else notice you can only do this standing up? Laying it over disturbs this pattern. It's a very sensitive way to make the observation, the stuff boiling out is 'light' (meaning small relatively molecules) so there's not only 'more per pound' but it forms an aerosol dense enough to see in 'good light' easily. While it looks at times like there's a lot there, I was unable to condense anything out I could detect on cold polished stainless steel (also a very sensitive way to observe such stuff).
Along the way I also managed to overheat the LCD display so it got blotches on the edge closest the heater, nothing tragic, it recovered, but running it flat out for a long time got it too hot (something SC and I found happening with the prototype "8" we tested for THC a while back).
So figuring I had observed all I could think of at that point, I pressed on. My 'take' at this point being that nothing out of the ordinary was happening in practice, we were just able to perform this experiment in this configuration with success. Just the same as a new whip or the mouthpiece on an Omicron has 'taste' that rapidly goes away as soon as the surface gets coated with 'wand hash' (condensate). So I loaded up one of the 'oil cans'. I put a bit of the Volcano concentrate pad in the bottom (something I do with HA) and 50mg of mid grade (50%) bubble and christened the little guy. The taste was exactly as I expected, it tasted of 'raw silicone tube' for a few hits, then I could no longer taste it. By pulling the can out I was able to shift back to empty (except for the deposits in the vapor path) and couldn't detect the rubber anymore in the 'empty draw'.
Later last night, I did a load (125mg) of Cannatonic in two steps. The hits were definitely thicker (and easier to draw) than I'm used to with Iolite (which I like as a vape anyway). To answer the question 'can you shut down and come back?' is yes you can, at least I did. You can also leave it sit idle for a bit without penalty. I shut it down half way through and after a couple hours I came back and finished the job. It was up and running (green light) in less than two minutes, back in 'full production' within a third. Very impressive for a first test with bud.
In the process most of the 'tennis shoe' smell is now gone, it smells like an Iolite warming up now (for those who know that). Slight, but smells more like herb than rubber.
The AVB was uniformly done as you'd expect. First rate job there.
More playing is in order, and I intend to do so when I take care of some of life's more mundane tasks. For now I like this guy. My personal perspective is there's no real threat here, we're just able to see vapor under special conditions we never have normally. Others will, of course, disagree. It's no different I think than the Silicone rubber tube we use for whips or in other places. Once the surface is sealed up, what little that would have showed up on the surface migrates back into the material as it's known to do. While exposures to these vapors at these levels is not generally considered hazardous, let alone toxic, it basically ends when the surface is sealed (what would be passivaton if were an oxide). Since I'm not afraid of new whips (including the one inside this guy's mouthpiece) I'm not afraid of using mine. I know I'll be called all sorts of stupid for this, but there it is.
Gotta run now, more later when I have something at least partially intelligent to offer.
Thanks for listening.
OF