USB powered vapes

[PhishCactus]

Hello, this is my first post. I have been reading FC for over a year, and finally think I am ready to contribute my insight and knowledge to this community.

I had a list of different and interesting topics I wanted to start, but I can only remember one as of now, so I will go about doing that.

Somewhere along the line with my MFLB research I thought to myself, why not have them powered by USB and make the whole process way easier (and cooler) I mentioned it to one of my friends, who said someone already brought up the topic on the thread, and was quickly passed off, as the voltage required was not achievable by USB power. Not believing him, I set about to try to power my launch TUBE with USB power, measuring the voltage at 5 volts, I simply tried hooking it up, with no success. I knew that the batteries used had many more amps then what I was getting from usb power. I have a little electrical knowledge, and fair amount of construction knowledge, always building things. It has been great to combine my interest in cannabis, and entheogens with my interests in engineering etc. So anyway, then I took another usb chord and plugged it into the other port, I couldn't remember if linking them in parallel would increase amps, which is what I thought I needed to get the reaction I was looking for. At this point, i got the screen to a moderate heat, but no where near vaping temp. I gave up on powering commercial units with USB and went about making my own. I easily got a housing made at my schools wood shop, out of a nice piece of oak, and then with little trouble successfully got a stainless steel metal screen to heat up to vaping temp with just USB, some sort of break through I thought. Something is extremely appealing to me about plugging a vape into my computer and getting high off of it. Anyway, to wrap up, as I have rambled on long enough; I will continue this project, and re-post as I make steps along the way. I am sure I will hit speed bumps, but as i have successfully achieved vaporization via USB power, the next step is to safely and healthily enclose the heating element and harness the vapor. I look forward to hearing any feed back, and look forward as well to joining this diverse, intelligent, and innovative community.

Any claims or statements I made about voltage, amps, and electricity may, or may not be false, and only came from any knowledge I have somehow acquired throughout my life. Feel free to correct.

In all my time of posting I know pictures are one of the most pleasurable things to look at, so I will make sure to post plenty of pictures as soon as I have something to post, and i figure out how to post, which i know there are directions for, somewhere on this site.

Thanks!

 

[Hippie Dickie]

quick google on USB output power shows 1/2 amp. in my experience, that is not enough to power a vaporizer. for example, my Bud Toaster is pulling 12 amps to get to vape temp in 45 seconds, and continue to supply the heat during a toke. The log-style vapes need 1 amp and take 30 minutes to reach proper temp.

so, you may be able to power a vape from the USB, but it won't be easy.

 

[PhishCactus]

Well with some preliminary tests using usb, and a steel screen (ala MFLB form) I easily and instantaneously filled up a glass bowl with vapor, keep in mind this was from tea as I didn't want to waste weed yet.

Also, I have seen your vaporizer, and read some of your thread, and am VERY impressed. I am glad I finally get to exchange words with you!

My post was long, so you may have missed the method of heating i chose, which requires the least amount of energy, and shortest heat up time of any other method. It would most certainly be very hard to power a traditional heating element in this way, but to essentially "short circuit" a power source to generate heat is definitely possible.

 

[Nosferatu]

If you are by a computer, wont there be wall sockets?

 

[Egzoset]

You were lucky not to damage your computer but it's not safe. In fact, there's a reason why hungry USB devices use seperate power supplies...

 

[VWFringe]

i just learned through the e-cig forum that there;'s been changes to the USB specification, and if you put a 200 resistor between the data lines then the USB bus will ignore it and allow it to pull up to 1.8 amps

it's only .5 amps when you don't have the data lines shorted out...i hope that's true, there were a couple people who said it worked.

 

[SmokingElectricity]

i don't see a purpose... :/

 

[PhishCactus]

Well to me I felt like it opened up a whole new range of options for vaporizers as maybe some sort of temperature control programs could be made, to control, and graph the temp, etc. Seems like most of you are shooting it down. That is fine. The person above who said I could damage my computer is pretty wrong, as a) i used a usb power source that does plug into the wall for my first tests, and b) my computer, at least shuts down the ports instantly if they draw too much power.

It's possible that this topic has no where else to go, and if and when I have a final product I'll re-post it, and maybe some will see why it appeals to me, possibly.

thanks for all your guys' insight and comments!

 

[AGBeer]

Hells no dont give up hope! Thats our job here, to help give an idea of where your Idea may or may not fail.

I for one am very intrigued by your thinking! I like the portability factor of having a USB powered vape at my disposal. Oh the possibilities....

 

[PhishCactus]

Oh no, I won't be giving up.

Just wait in see. (creepy laugh)

 

[Egzoset]

Have you considered the possibility that an other computer with a different USB circuitry might be using a simple on-board fuse instead of a current limiter for the purpose of over-current protection? Everyone isn't compelled by the prospect of having to replace a blown fuse so my suggestion is that perhaps you should use the USB port the way it's intended to be: use rechargeable batteries in between the USB port and your vaporizer, this should be acceptable. Anyway, even if you could draw 5 Volts @ 1.5 amperes as you claim, i believe the comments from Hippie Dickie suggest the power of your heating element will have to fit that of the e-cig range or you'll be going nowhere! In your situation, the very 1st step should be to evaluate power transformation efficientcy, considering how severely limited your options are without a battery pack in the middle.

 

[PhishCactus]

i believe the comments from Hippie Dickie suggest the power of your heating element will have to fit that of the e-cig range or you'll be going nowhere!

Unless im missing something blatant here, and I have already reiterated this once, my heating element already DOES work with the available power, with preliminary tests I have easily and quickly achieved vaping temps with a launch box like heating element (ie. screen method)

Im not exactly intending to sell this, it's more of a small project I thought I would share with you guys, so im not too worried about other peoples computers.

 

[PhishCactus]

i believe the comments from Hippie Dickie suggest the power of your heating element will have to fit that of the e-cig range or you'll be going nowhere!

Unless im missing something blatant here, and I have already reiterated this once, my heating element already DOES work with the available power, with preliminary tests I have easily and quickly achieved vaping temps with a launch box like heating element (ie. screen method)

Im not exactly intending to sell this, it's more of a small project I thought I would share with you guys, so im not too worried about other peoples computers.

 

[Egzoset]

I'm curious to see where this will lead you, have fun.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

yeah, PhishCactus, i apologize. i am rather singularly focused on one specific vape design these days, and it definitely can't be powered by USB. i agree a USB port is very convenient these days, and not having a power supply or battery pack to mess with would make a vape session a bit easier to setup and tear down.

i don't know anything about e-cigs. i can't imagine packing enough power in that small a package to be able to vape thc. and i don't do chemistry.

 

[PhishCactus]

Im not talking about e-cigs though, it is seeming to be hard to fully convince people that i have ALREADY achieved vaporization with my specific tests! Or im just mis-judging their responses, totally possible...
I will put up a video soon, proving that usb vaporization with MY method, or rather magic flights method, is most definitely possible. So enough talk of conventional heating elements, ala vapor brothers etc. and enough talk of e-cig atomizers, this is just pure electrically generated heat via dispersion across a food grade and pre-heated (to remove any carcinogens) stainless steel screen.

 

[Egzoset]

Please be assured that i, personnally, don't need to be convinced any further. If you think that a connector rated for some 30 VAC (rms) @ 1 Amp is well suited for your application then so be it! I wish to point out though that at 5 Volts the maximum allowed power drops to 5 Watts only. In the end, i find this isn't an optimal choice if you need a safety margin...

 

[ErbsMan]

Dude if the man wants to make a USB powered vape, let him make a USB powered vape!!.
I think its a brilliant idea! id love to see a vid man!

 

[Egzoset]

Dude, i recommend that you read very carefully:

If you think that a connector rated for some 30 VAC (rms) @ 1 Amp is well suited for your application then so be it!

Lets suppose you didn't notice the "so be it" part!

 

[Gunky]

It's probably possible to make vapor like that. Probably difficult with the power rating of usb to do instant heating without frying an unacceptable number of laptops... Possibly you could go for slow buildup of heat like a log vape, but even those draw 8 watts or so, which is probably more than you can reasonably crank out of usb.

 

[Egzoset]

Rechargeable batteries as a buffer would help solve the power limitation problem specific to USB connectors but no, it's got to draw power directly it seems...

 

[SpiralArchitect]

USB powered, maybe not, but perhaps with sensors and controls streaming to your computer?
Now THAT'd be worth looking into....

 

[vape4health]

The ATX power supply out of a tower makes a real nice lab power supply , has 3 different volts 12 , 5 and 3ish . Most that I played with will cut out befor the rated amps so they are very hard to over heat . I'll post pics if you would like or just check youtube under ATX power supply . Mine is rated 25A for the 5v out so you could test a few device's at once if needed . And if you get something from an old pc and break it , who cares .

 

[Egzoset]

I'm totally enthousiastic about communicating with a vaporizer via USB. Relatively to similar low-voltage applications i became aware of the Ime O and Omicron devices recently and i recall that at least one of those units could operate with as little as 3 Volts @ 800 mA (although that didn't seem optimal). My guess is 5 Volts @ 800 mA is sufficient to produce serious clouds if the heater's characteristics are carefully chosen. It's possible to find USB connectors which have been designed with high power applications in mind but this tells nothing about the lowest power level garanteed by all commputers, most unfortunately - hence my preference for a solution based on rechargeable batteries, in order to eliminate the bottleneck due to USB related considerations.