VapCap Induction Heater for Desktop and in Car Use

J

jofu

Well-Known Member
Pipes BB couldn't be easier. Let him know what you want to get out of it and he'll guide you to what you'll need. Then pick up a battery, and something to put everything in, and you're good to go. I have a Pipes JH for home, as well as a BB that I just stuffed into a little camera case for easy portability. I can carry 3 or 4 vapcaps, a small DV plastic case for material, another one for ABV, and either have the whole thing on my belt, in my shorts pocket, maybe a little bulky, or just carry it in my hand.

Thanks Pipes
 
jofu,
  • Like
Reactions: Pipes
mpjtn

mpjtn

Member
ragnorak71 said:
well now

my portside mini arrived today and as interesting the techno babble above is, truth is I dont really get it. what I do get is how fast this package arrived (im in uk) how well built and easy to use it is and my whole dynavap experience has made me moist in ways only us adults understand.

i said to pipes in pm every single aspect of this deal has been spectacular and I recommend it so much

forgive the hyperbole but fuck me this thing is great, you may resume the babble i am off to touch myself
Click to expand...
Looking for mine to arrive!! Glad to read about your satisfaction!
 
FryMeALiver

FryMeALiver

New Member
Hey again Pipes.......hope all is well. I just wanted to get back and let you know how I got on, and perhaps to ask some advice if you had the time. So I did as you suggested here..... my replacement fet's arrived and I removed the old ones and replaced them with the ones you linked me to:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SMD...715.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.2e2a2e0e6J9WEg

I took my time and rechecked my work and made sure all my connections were sound. Upon plugging it back into the power however I had the same results. A flashing blue light on the IH unit and a red one on my mosfet switch. I have a known working, fully assembled heater here (my original build that I use daily), and so I swapped out my faulty(?) heater units, (I have 2 IH units that are/were not working, in which I changed the fets as you suggested, and, I also have my original build which still works perfect) So I swapped the IH units to double check, and I was able to confirm the heating units with the newly installed fets were still malfunctioning in the same way as they were before I swapped the switches.
So no probs or anything...... I am just curious and interested to find a solution that works and don't mind being patient and trying different things to find it. Perhaps if you could suggest an alternative solution that I might attempt. Again I will report my findings back here, hopefully they will also be of benefit to someone else. If there is none, then I intend to buy another 2 IH units from an alternative source, would you have any links to IH units that are more than likely going to have good switches already installed on them?

Anyway, thanks again and take care.......
 
FryMeALiver,
Pipes

Pipes

Addicted DIY Enthusiast
Accessory Maker
Are we having fun yet? :D
Since this was a working unit at one time, the FETs are the primary suspects. I've had shorted caps before but they show up right away but could have gone bad with time I guess, however, I've never had it happen with these caps.
Cold or cracked soldering on the coil legs or cap legs can also cause the FETs to blow. If you are certain the power supply is good, then something is causing the FETs to blow. They have zero forgiveness and any circuit flaw will cause them to go. Also, ALWAYS replace both, as if one is shorted the other has a very good chance of having problems as well. I tried many times to replace just the shorted one to end up going back and forth multiple times before just changing both out. Re-heating and adding an extra dap of solder on the surface mounted components is another good idea when can't figure out why they are blowing.
Here is an example of a cracked solder on a leg of one of the FETs which would be the reason for this unit to fail. The gate resistors and diodes can also cause the FETs to blow if not 100% connected.

Not sure what to say except, change again and check around for a different cause for them failing. Also, once you have them removed, lift one side of the coils out of circuit and measure across the caps to ensure neither of them has developed any resistance. They should measure "open" after a brief time with a multimeter. The meter will show some numbers briefly as the meter charges the cap but go to open in a couple seconds.
Good luck! :science:
 
FryMeALiver

FryMeALiver

New Member
Thanks for the detailed explanation...... and yeah I'm having fun! Something new everyday and all that!!

I get the gist of what you're saying, I'm still gonna need a little time to chew through it properly, then reinspect and probably redo my work based on my first reading of what you've said. I'm sure my power supply is good and I changed both fets out at the same time as you said, on both faulty units, but I will go over it again now and also take a look at some of the other connections on the unit, and who knows what I might learn........ blow myself up? lol

And you've said more than you might have Pipes.......I really appreciate it. I'll report back here and tell you how I get on. Cheers!
 
Pipes

Pipes

Addicted DIY Enthusiast
Accessory Maker
That's just residue from double-sided tape which was holding the FET board. That driver did initially work but the crack caused the failure.
 
stardustsailor

stardustsailor

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
It's always a good idea to check some of the rest of the components ,after a FET failure.
Usually the ultra fast rectifiers (VD 1 & VD2 ) are blown also along with the FETs .

https://www.diodes.com/assets/Datasheets/ds16008.pdf
https://www.vishay.com/docs/88768/us1.pdf
http://www.mccsemi.com/up_pdf/US1A-US1M(DO-214AC).pdf

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20181010093204&SearchText=us1m

https://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-US1...h=item43dd7da502:g:zRsAAOSwZd1VaU~s:rk:2:pf:0
 
SquidgyB

SquidgyB

Well-Known Member
Will placing the work coil too close to the toroids cause problems?

I've got a "space saving" design in mind with the smaller toroids (not sure if they've sent me the wrong size, but they're very small, supposedly 47uH 3A), but only the blue LED seems to light up, no heat:

https://imgur.com/2GQiRuy

Errr, scratch that, tested it again now and it seems to be working. Now I gotta figure out why the other one I've made doesn't work. Hrmmm.

e: It's temperamental as fuck. Testing with a 12v PSU and 3S 18650s neither work consistently.

Here's my current testbed:

https://imgur.com/p1664pA

That's a different work coil and circuit, modified the same, just replaced the toroids with the smaller ones and bunched up the coil next to them - does exactly the same thing, blue light is on when powered but no heat being generated.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
SquidgyB,
K

kent1146

Member
20181012-232446.jpg



DIH-005: The Russian Doll
This can be built entirely using off-the-shelf parts and common tools. I created some design notes, and shared them out in another thread (here)
 
Last edited:
Prophecy

Prophecy

Well-Known Member
Today my Portside mini is arrived :) thanks @Pipes it looks nice with the black enclosure i like it much. I charged it up with the switch in the on position as described after a while ca 40 min the red led on the charger went to green.

I unplugged all and want start to test it but it does nothing, i stick the vapcap in the coil push down until I hear the activation click from the switch no activation led in the tube seems complete dead, but i hope not. :hmm:

Following i have testet plug and unplug the charger on the charging port to reset the BMS board but no improvement. Any advice?

The only thing that i have noticed is when i have all plugged in and then stick a vapcap in the heater the green led on the charger went to red while the heater is activated but the vapcap is cold.
 
Last edited:
Prophecy,
  • Like
Reactions: Hogni
Grey hair

Grey hair

Flop shot guru
It's only fitting that my first trial with the Port Side Mini be today!
Pipes, you have a good thing going there. The entire process ( ordering and delivery )was quick and efficient.No issues with the unit . Impressive.
Very quick heat up time, no charring ( respecting the click).
I feel very fortunate to have found this forum. 'can't thank everyone enough.
Maybe I'm getting emotional on this historical day in Canada:cool: but I gotta tell it like it is. Stay cool people.
 
phattpiggie

phattpiggie

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
@Iainjmill it'll arrive when the postal gods decide it's right. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to shipping times. I look forward to seeing the end result of your build.

The coconut one I've been working on has come together and got it's test run today. The centre piece of acrylic has an LED fitted to show it's powered up and it also helps finding the glass tube in the dark.
 
S

samlant

New Member
Just wanted to post here, been a while, but I'm back:

I finally got around to fixing the two ZVS drivers and after 5 hours of learning how to solder, I can finally say that it is a success! It looks like a complete wire hot-mess, but I've got everything safe and running well.

Shoutout to all of you (That's you, Pipes:tup:) for the patience and grace you demonstrated to me while I machine-gunned questions at y'all:clap:
 
A

Andorinter

Active Member
Hey so my charger doesn't seem to be working on my portside mini. My unit is out of battery , so I'm going to charge it and there's not even the light coming from the charger .only had this thing a month.. is this a common issue? It seems like my charger is dead , and I'm not too interested in buying a charger every month..... Any help or input is appreciated
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom