Underdog Log Vapes

[fresham]

I don't know why, but I imagined you had a much more complex fixed station. My UD was just working really well last night...

In a case like yours I'd probably make a banana plug to dual 2.1mm cable (so split it right out of the PS) and then run standard extensions (like the ones we sell/use/include with Dogs) from the split to each Dog.

I was thinking something similar this morning since the banana plugs I have are large and very sturdy, so I threw this together shortly after seeing your response. Now both dogs are running happily side-by-side! (Get it? Dog analogies?) They should have plenty of headroom with the current at ~1.25A at 12V. Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[underdog]

I don't know why, but I imagined you had a much more complex fixed station. My UD was just working really well last night...



I was thinking something similar this morning since the banana plugs I have are large and very sturdy, so I threw this together shortly after seeing your response. Now both dogs are running happily side-by-side! (Get it? Dog analogies?) They should have plenty of headroom with the current at ~1.25A at 12V. Thanks again for the feedback!

Nicely done, just what I was envisioning.

I like talking about (and playing with) all the tech stuff and normally I'd take a pic of my test bench setup(s) but with all that's going on around here everything is all out of place and disorganized. Maybe once things settle down if you're still interested I'll share.

The above said we don't tend to have/use anything too terribly complex. A couple of bench power supplies, 10+ wall-warts in a testing setup, a bench multimeter plus a few handhelds, some temperature measuring and logging equipment and of course an assortment of soldering/hot air/etc tools.

My biggest bench power supply recently crapped out on me so I need to replace it and I suspect the multimeter isn't far behind. They've both been thru a lot of use and abuse though so I guess that's to be expected.

 

[fresham]

I like talking about (and playing with) all the tech stuff and normally I'd take a pic of my test bench setup(s) but with all that's going on around here everything is all out of place and disorganized. Maybe once things settle down if you're still interested I'll share.

No worries! The info has been super helpful. But I would definitely be glad to see any setup pics if you have any to share in the future!

The above said we don't tend to have/use anything too terribly complex.

Yeah, it doesn't typically have to be too complex to get the job done effectively. But with electronics not being my primary discipline (or even close), I tend to over-engineer some things.

My biggest bench power supply recently crapped out on me so I need to replace it and I suspect the multimeter isn't far behind. They've both been thru a lot of use and abuse though so I guess that's to be expected.

Yeah, I use my multimeter religiously. It has saved me an insane amount of time and guesswork, and it will be much cheaper to replace than a UD or a good power supply!

 

[Hitomi]

So I love my new UD so much! I got it in October and wrote a review here. I have noticed one thing though, tell me if you can relate.

I personally can't tolerate the direct draw stems. I have noticed that I cough like crazy and develop sore throat from it. I think it boils down to 1) the heat source being only a few inches from my throat and also 2) the screen allows tiny particles to pass through and to be inhaled with each hit. If there were multiple screens, maybe the tiny particles wouldn't be an issue. As it stands, one screen isn't enough to prevent inhalation of tiny debris and particles. For this reason, I can only use my NonG stem with my glass piece (which is perfectly smooth and lung-irritation free). I feel like water filtered vapor is the best method when it comes to getting the safest hit from an inhalation method (burning, burning+water filtration, vaping, or vaping+water filtration).

I am going to order several NonG and GonG stems today for this reason. I originally bought a ton of direcr draw stems with my purchase. I also notice that I need to boil my one NonG stem after about 6 or so bowls. It just gets too clogged to let air pass. Putting it in simmering water, salt, apple cider vinegar, and then cleaning with alcohol gets it like 99.8% clean. But I want to get several new onG stems so I don't have to clean constantly.

Is there a free shipping code for FC users?

 

[RUDE BOY]

@Hitomi You may get better results when using the direct draw stems if you add a little of the 'hemp fiber' into the stem between the load and mouthpiece, I've found it stops the little pieces passing through to your mouth and mellows out the heat from the vapor a little bit too.

 

[Vitolo]

I do not care for water filtration, and like direct draw in all circumstances.
I vaped a total of 3.5 grams on Valenties day.... all through 3 UD Twigs.
Not only did I enjoy the direct draw, but the only Nylon Stem made for the UD I had at the time was a NonG Shorty, which I also like for direct draw.
I enjoy hot vapor.

 

[Lookatmeglow]

@Vitolo I dont know how you can handle hot vapor, but I know I sure can't. Still will 100% be using the direct draw stems though. Definitely love the flavor glass and direct draw can give.

 

[Melting Pot]

+1 never water i use water pipes with no water and j hooks.
I love the flavor and can tell whats going on in the vape.
My dabb rig has water but have been known to put my e nail on a j hook.
Its all good different strokes & all.
Woof woof

 

[underdog]

So I love my new UD so much! I got it in October and wrote a review here. I have noticed one thing though, tell me if you can relate.

I personally can't tolerate the direct draw stems. I have noticed that I cough like crazy and develop sore throat from it. I think it boils down to 1) the heat source being only a few inches from my throat and also 2) the screen allows tiny particles to pass through and to be inhaled with each hit. If there were multiple screens, maybe the tiny particles wouldn't be an issue. As it stands, one screen isn't enough to prevent inhalation of tiny debris and particles. For this reason, I can only use my NonG stem with my glass piece (which is perfectly smooth and lung-irritation free). I feel like water filtered vapor is the best method when it comes to getting the safest hit from an inhalation method (burning, burning+water filtration, vaping, or vaping+water filtration).

I am going to order several NonG and GonG stems today for this reason. I originally bought a ton of direcr draw stems with my purchase. I also notice that I need to boil my one NonG stem after about 6 or so bowls. It just gets too clogged to let air pass. Putting it in simmering water, salt, apple cider vinegar, and then cleaning with alcohol gets it like 99.8% clean. But I want to get several new onG stems so I don't have to clean constantly.

Is there a free shipping code for FC users?

Not much you can do about the heat but as some other mentioned you can always use a bit of hemp fiber in the stem as a particulate filter. Might be worth a shot if you want to be able to use those stems regularly in the future.

Sorry there aren't any codes for free shipping on accessory orders only on orders with vapes in them.

 

[muunch]

Blow your herb out of the stem while it's still hot to reduce crap sticking to the screen.

I also prefer direct-draw-doggin but sometimes my throat needs water filtration. I dislike not being able to taste and feel the vapor as easily.

If you're going to try the hemp fibre in the DD stems as @underdog suggested, I'd put another screen between the fiber and your mouth. You're going to end up eating the fiber otherwise. This does increase draw resistance a bit, but I didn't experiment with it long enough to find a solution that was acceptable enough to continue using.

 

[Nuttmare]

I noticed early on that vaping equipment tends to gunk up faster than my combustion counterparts.

I'm a big fan of all the stems with a SS tip so what I have been doing is use a SS tip on all my glass and silicone (beerproof). The extra screen really helps keep the riff-raff out of my mouth. ....you know what i mean . Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of the glass too I just use it maybe 20% of the time then finish in a hotter SS.

Oh and J-hooks rock so get a few.

As for heat I've never noticed really any but then again just a few months ago my daily driver was a combustion steam roller. for you youngin's out there its basically a dry bong tube with no bottom and you hold your hand over the open end like a carb. Lotta heat for sure lol.

Next order I'm definitely getting some hemp fiber.

 

[BrotherJoseph]

I've learned over the years that if I can't blow the material cleanly out of a warm freshly vaped stem/nong/gong without leaving any gunk behind, my temp is too low. I like to ride the fine line between full extraction and combustion and when you find it, your abv will smoothly blow out in the form of a little nugget. If it doesn't, slowly turn the voltage up until you find the point that no sticky resin is left behind to hold it in. It's ok to combust now and again on accident. It's not going to kill your pup. I'd say I accidentally combust 1-2 times every time I switch to a new strain. Not the steepest learning curve, and worst case you're still consuming; even on the rare ocassion you reach combustion. When enough stuff finally builds up in the screen, I push it to the end of whatever stem I'm using, and torch whatever has accumulated off. Warm ISO works well, but I've decided it's not worth the effort. My .

 

[muunch]

Having this voltage-jumping issue again intermittently and can't seem to pin down a cause/solution.

Resident electric-minded friends mind pointing me in the right direction?

I have no issue buying a vvps ala @fresham (and would probably prefer that to the LED dimmer - my salt lamp that also sits on my PC desk has the same dimmer >_>) but don't wanna spend money on something that will give me the same (eventually inconsistent) results.

Random jumping from like 10.5 - 10.8~ is fine but when it's going from 9.3-11.2~ randomly and rapidly I can barely use it

edit:

Shortly after I posted it stabilized back at 10.7 lol of course.

Going to enjoy a few glass DD stems of Rude Boi OG and pass out

 

[Prolusio]

@muunch I had my UD voltage spike like that rapidly once but I think it was due to my actual house supply voltage changing. I could not find anything wrong with my UD, tried changing outlets, left the power supply unplugged to give the dimmer circuit time to discharge; didn't change anything. So I checked my house supply with my multimeter and it was bouncing up and down quite a bit, I think this was causing my dimmer jumps. Just like you report my house/UD voltage stabilized after 30 min or so and I haven't had the issue again since that day. Hopefully it was just some utility fluke!

 

[muunch]

It may be my house. I live in an old ass house... actually a historic distric... Need to look up exactly how old but it's well over 50yrs... (edit: over 100 apparently)

Anyway yeah I tried multiple plugs/outlets, but the thing is... I only have 1 dimmer lol, so all I did by testing the different plugs was...... nothing. I still don't know if it's the wire exactly.

I guess not being able to pinpoint it is my issue with it

either way I'm baked, which is good... and yes, it usually (edit: always) does stabilize, but it's crazy bc it seems like it's been happening fairly often the past few days when it had never occurred in the past 2 months, and nothing has changed?

 

[formicae]

@muunch, have you tried unplugging the dimmer and giving it a good number of 0-100 turns back and forth? You don't have to crank it, just sit down with some music or TV and turn it back and forth for a few minutes. I don't know what the dial contacts look like inside, so I don't know if it cleans up the contact areas like with potentiometers, but some gentle full-knob back-and-forth () once in a while seems to help keep my dimmer stable.

 

[Prolusio]

I didn't mean to imply there was any issue with your home! I apologize if it came across that way. I just meant perhaps your electrical service provider has been having some unexpected spikes or something. Maybe weather changes? That would make sense why the issue is reoccuring intermittently and seemingly without anything changing on your end. It'd be hard to notice a pattern if it was due to your service provider. Just an idea though!

When my UD voltage was jumping after checking it over and seeing nothing but gorgeous wood I took the plug it was connected to out of the wall so I could check the wires supplying it. When I saw the unusual voltage spiking on the circuit I checked my electrical panel to make sure the breaker was not faulty; that's when I metered the line feeding my house and saw the voltage into my house itself was changing. I did it more out of curiosity than anything; I happened to have my tools inside and the panel open already cuz I was changing some light fixtures. Since I didn't change anything with my UD, and it hasn't happened again since; I just concluded it must have been something on the utilities end! Much rather blame them than think my Dog is sick .

By testing on different plugs you at least ruled out the problem being a single faulty outlet! So that's something at least..

 

[woahbackup]

-_- can't believe I never thought about getting a desktop vape...ordering one of these in the morning. I know it will cure my VAS, anyone know any coupon codes, and quick tips on what I should get with it? Thanks.

 

[Commander Cody]

Some recent discussion about banana plugs and the wiring for the lab style vvps units prompted me to write. After over two years of use one of the wires on my TekPower vvps broke. When I went to repair this problem on the wiring that was supplied by Dave I found a couple things I had not realized. Dave went to the trouble of heat shrinking some tubing on to the areas of the individual wires as they came out of the terminals to add a little strength to an area that would get some strain during use. The area where the positive and negative came back together also had the heat shrink treatment to keep the positive and negative wires from splitting apart further down the cable. I also noticed the bare ends had ferules attached to the bare wires. Ferules are soft metal caps or sleeves that get crimped down on the bare wires to help make a more secure connection to the unit. I have come to expect the attention to detail that is apparent in the wood working end of things. I was very pleased to find that attention to detail in this accessary as well. Nicely done!

 

[fresham]

Anyway yeah I tried multiple plugs/outlets, but the thing is... I only have 1 dimmer lol, so all I did by testing the different plugs was...... nothing. I still don't know if it's the wire exactly.

I guess not being able to pinpoint it is my issue with it

I think the only way you'll easily and reliably pinpoint it would be a multimeter. I suspect it's likely just the cable or connection to the dimmer. You could probably just replace those and fix it, but that would just be guesswork and wouldn't prevent the problem in the future. I would recommend the multimeter if you already have experience with electronics, otherwise maybe try replacing cables.

Be sure to keep your dimmers, switches, sensors, and other important inline components toward the beginning of the chain near the power supply, and your plain, cheap cable extensions at the end. That will keep the wear off the more expensive or difficult to diagnose components.

I also noticed the bare ends had ferules attached to the bare wires. Ferules are soft metal caps or sleeves that get crimped down on the bare wires to help make a more secure connection to the unit.

I have actually been considering using ferrules with my terminal blocks to make my cable connections better, but wasn't sure how much it would actually help. Especially if I can put in just a bit more effort and make a soldered/heat shrink connection instead. I think I'll be trying both in the near future just to see which I prefer. Ferrules + terminal block barrel plug would be much more maintainable than a soldered barrel plug.

 

[fresham]

Having this voltage-jumping issue again intermittently and can't seem to pin down a cause/solution.

Follow-up questions @muunch:
What is your cable setup? (e.g. supply -> extension -> dimmer -> extension -> UD)
How soon did you start experiencing the issue?

 

[muunch]

Not home at the moment but I think I do:

supply > dimmer > extension >dog.

this just started within the past 2 weeks and it's probably only 10% of the time that it does the jumping around.

 

[underdog]

Having this voltage-jumping issue again intermittently and can't seem to pin down a cause/solution.

Resident electric-minded friends mind pointing me in the right direction?

I have no issue buying a vvps ala @fresham (and would probably prefer that to the LED dimmer - my salt lamp that also sits on my PC desk has the same dimmer >_>) but don't wanna spend money on something that will give me the same (eventually inconsistent) results.

Random jumping from like 10.5 - 10.8~ is fine but when it's going from 9.3-11.2~ randomly and rapidly I can barely use it

edit:

Shortly after I posted it stabilized back at 10.7 lol of course.

Going to enjoy a few glass DD stems of Rude Boi OG and pass out

I'm bored this morning so get ready for a doozy of an explanation.. lol

As I think I posted a week or two back (IIRC) it's probably one of those 'nature of the beast' things that you won't be able to resolve or figure out.. short of spending some time with it and an oscilloscope anyways. These kinds of phantom issues is typically why you rarely see PWM dimmers with voltmeters.. it's just a hard combo to cheaply and simply manage. This was about the best I could manage without pushing the price into VVPS territory (which kind of defeats the purpose) for you guys.

Really the problem comes down to the PWM switching frequency, vs sampling rates of the LED screen, compounded by any slightly noise or frequency change on the incoming power line and/or any significant RF noise. Basically they work unless one of the above is causing an issue but chances are one of those will always be there in some amount.

I have a good experience/example of how these things pick up noise in ways that are hard to predict. In my case I have obviously had a bunch of these since I'm building them but I had one that the display just wouldn't stay stable. I couldn't figure it out what was causing the problem until I eventually found by accident that it was HF noise coming from one of the welders, a welder not being used just sitting there turned on. Interestingly enough I have a HF (high frequency) welder sitting 3 feet away from the test bench and it doesn't cause interference.. the one that was causing it is like 50 feet away in a different building on a different circuit and doesn't have or use HF. That one took me a while to pin down lol.

The moral of my story is don't sweat it too much, if you set the voltage and it's where you like it and then it starts jumping around it's probably just noise on the display and not actual voltage changes. I'd say ignore it unless your heat level changes noticeably. If your like me and your OCD won't allow that you might need to move on to a slightly better power solution. If OCD isn't a factor I've found it can be helpful to make a mark on the dial that corresponds with your normal desired voltage level.. then you have a physical indicator of whether or not you have it set how you like it regardless of what the screen says.

@muunch I had my UD voltage spike like that rapidly once but I think it was due to my actual house supply voltage changing. I could not find anything wrong with my UD, tried changing outlets, left the power supply unplugged to give the dimmer circuit time to discharge; didn't change anything. So I checked my house supply with my multimeter and it was bouncing up and down quite a bit, I think this was causing my dimmer jumps. Just like you report my house/UD voltage stabilized after 30 min or so and I haven't had the issue again since that day. Hopefully it was just some utility fluke!

@muunch, have you tried unplugging the dimmer and giving it a good number of 0-100 turns back and forth? You don't have to crank it, just sit down with some music or TV and turn it back and forth for a few minutes. I don't know what the dial contacts look like inside, so I don't know if it cleans up the contact areas like with potentiometers, but some gentle full-knob back-and-forth () once in a while seems to help keep my dimmer stable.

Yeah that can sometimes work with these as they do have a rheostat (IIRC) in them that isn't sealed or anything so it could get 'dirty'. Probably not an issue on a new one but it wouldn't hurt to try.

-_- can't believe I never thought about getting a desktop vape...ordering one of these in the morning. I know it will cure my VAS, anyone know any coupon codes, and quick tips on what I should get with it? Thanks.

The only code going is: UDFS and provides free Priority Shipping on orders with vapes. That's about the only thing you need to know. As far as what you should get with it.. hard to say. Maybe a few different types of stems so you can try them out? If you want to use it with water then get an appropriate size (to match the glass joint on your water piece) GonG or NonG? We try and include a fully loaded kit with each vape (4 stems, etc) to make sure you guys are good to go right out of the box.

Some recent discussion about banana plugs and the wiring for the lab style vvps units prompted me to write. After over two years of use one of the wires on my TekPower vvps broke. When I went to repair this problem on the wiring that was supplied by Dave I found a couple things I had not realized. Dave went to the trouble of heat shrinking some tubing on to the areas of the individual wires as they came out of the terminals to add a little strength to an area that would get some strain during use. The area where the positive and negative came back together also had the heat shrink treatment to keep the positive and negative wires from splitting apart further down the cable. I also noticed the bare ends had ferules attached to the bare wires. Ferules are soft metal caps or sleeves that get crimped down on the bare wires to help make a more secure connection to the unit. I have come to expect the attention to detail that is apparent in the wood working end of things. I was very pleased to find that attention to detail in this accessary as well. Nicely done!

Thanks for the kind words Commander! It's funny I've actually had as many complaints about doing those things as I've had compliments lol.. I've just come to the conclusion that I can't win with everyone. How I do things changes a bit as things evolve.. like I think we've stopped using the extra heat shrink on the cables now that we're mostly building heavier duty ones.. we found those didn't need more strain protection but we still use the ferrules to make a better clamping surface, etc. Regardless I'm definitely always trying to look out for you guys and do a good job!

 

[muunch]

I'm not annoyed with the product I was sent or my doggie at all. I understand it's electric and part of the nature (and my ancient house likely doesn't help) of its existence.

with that being said, I believe it does affect the temp and is not just visual noise... I was unable to get a nice full hit last night when it was doing its crazy jumping around... This makes me thinks the houses power or the wire itself is to blame...

either way though, if the VVPS would negate/reduce this occurance, I don't mind getting one. I am kinda partial to how @fresham s setup looks. wouldn't be out of place on my computer desk... of course if i could fix it without spending money that's just as well...

ill exhibit some patience if and when this happens next

 

[underdog]

I'm not annoyed with the product I was sent or my doggie at all. I understand it's electric and part of the nature (and my ancient house likely doesn't help) of its existence.

with that being said, I believe it does affect the temp and is not just visual noise... I was unable to get a nice full hit last night when it was doing its crazy jumping around... This makes me thinks the houses power or the wire itself is to blame...

either way though, if the VVPS would negate/reduce this occurance, I don't mind getting one. I am kinda partial to how @fresham s setup looks. wouldn't be out of place on my computer desk... of course if i could fix it without spending money that's just as well...

ill exhibit some patience if and when this happens next

Oh I didn't think that at all (you being annoyed), hope I didn't come off that way?

If you think it's affecting the heat then it certainly could be. If that's the case it might be that one of the PWM components is a bit iffy which might be intermittently causing that issue. If you send Underdogette a message she can send you a different dimmer if it keeps it up.

I'm testing a couple more potential VVPS options for you guys right now, if they work out I'll post about them so you guys have all the options available.

I have one of the same units that fresham has (for testing, etc) and I like it EXCEPT I don't like that it has a fan that kicks on when it starts to get warm. It's not super loud but it's just the right frequency that it annoys me. If I was buying I'd be tempted to get the non-fan version (the one that we recommend that use to have the painted flame cover) even though it's a little less heavy duty.