bilboda

Sparks or flare and bright light from the coils, within a week of each other, boards had seen extensive use, several months to a year. Both atties ended up with broken legs. 2 different boards, 2 different atties. 1 in TC mode and a clapton coil in wattage mode. Both have been replaced and are waiting to be placed into service. The thing that is the same with the 3 mods, extreme heat. 2 boards died, the recent board had an apparently corrupted rom. I did not notice any flare up, just the heat.

Maybe but...I think it may be related to the hot firing, no settings in a file to control the vape?

I replaced the battery in my Hotcig DX200 with a Turnigy Nanotech 950 mah (great fit, btw). I have charged it and used it several times, no issues. While vaping yesterday, it ramped up really fast and hot. I noticed the battery needed charging so I charged it. Battery full, vape, fast ramp up, super hot, 2 attempts. I had recently RMA'd 2 boards from DIY's that had failed in a similar fashion, fast ramp up and sparks and then died. I wanted none of that. I will replace the batteries too. They are puffy and I'm not sure if that is a natural puffy or an extreme use puffy. They test fine with a multimeter. This is all after usage of several months to a year. So I hook up to Escribe and while downloading settings I got he message that (paraphrasing) the file was incomplete and the offer to set to defaults. I did so and then uploaded a saved config. So far so good. Vaping just fine What happened to the settings file? Never got the chance to find out if this was the culprit on my 2 RMA'd boards. Symptoms similar, but this board did not die, .......

I remember reading the the spec for using the mounting points as the ground included using a special coating on the bare metal to reduce oxidation, and I don't even see bare metal on the mod. Maybe strip the paint/anodizing or whatever off at the contact points, and applying noalox, no-ox-id a, or nyogel will make a better ground. But I doubt that's what broke the mod....then again....maybe....

Interesting read that leads me to a question from James' comment about wire size and power. How would one determine that there wire is undersized for the set power? I have 26, 28 and 30 gauge. Outside of there own native resistance, should I expect any different behavior from each wire? And a comment. We take a device designed to measure temperature through resistance changes in a single wire with known, reliable coefficients and decide to use complex builds of home wrapped wire in single, dual, quad, etc. coils whose coefficient can only be measured in theory for a perfectly built wire, and you aren't making those. There have to be imperfections in the build, there always are and when you take that straight clapton wire and shape it into a coil, you are introducing new imperfections. And you are not considering the heat sinking that has to occur with the different wires/resistances. No matter what curve you use, it would be blind luck that you will get one that matches your custom wire. Not to mention the changes it goes thru during use and over time. A Temp Lock cannot be done if your temp cannot be determined. Stick with what is known and you will be fine, for the most part. Experiment at your own risk, but it will be no one's fault but your own if that does not work well

Use a CD case and cut out a screen cover. I used kapton tape. Had an orange BRD and liked the yellow orange lettering on the display. Someone around here gave me that idea

Surely, The VTBox200 has enormous fugly graphics on it. You'd have to be desperate to buy it instead of the Hcigar or any other. The VT200 lists at 9999.99 now on the gearbest site as Hcigar also wants to fix the price. The low early price was a preorder. Difficult to get a preorder going on these without Hcigar finding out you are selling them cheap... The price protection is meant to ensure profit for all of it's vendors. You could almost call that a noble effort, especially since it is those vendors who will handle the warranty with the customers. Don't expect Gearbest or whomever is doing the prebuy, to provide any warranty service at all. That being said, I'd go the cheaper route cause I am a cheap bast..er.. consumer. And I have a soldering iron and know how to use it a little....

Considering how everybody and his bruddah are making mods with the screen bent over to appear between the buttons how about a DNA 200A with the screen permanently embedded in a frame on the board in that location? Eliminate the long cable and fiddly placement altogether.

My only issue with that came when I lifted the iron. The pressure holding the wire was gone and the wire wanted to lift off. Eventually, I managed to position my elbow on the table and my arm and hand into a stable position holding the wire so it did not move after removing the iron. I will agree that it is a short operation. Too long and the pad will lift off. Mine partially lifted and I will secure it with hot glue

All signs point to hot glue. The wire is soldered to the pad. the pad is still connected. Limited hot glue to secure it during assembly should be the ticket.

The B+ solder pad is lifting on one end. but still connected. Can I secure it with superglue?