johndoe123

I was asking this questions because I was curious why 200W was chosen, it seemed arbitrary to me. But I just thought of something. I am no battery expert. Are there any negative effects of draining a battery very quickly? If there are then I could see the a potential reason to limit the wattage to lower than would the board is capable given the voltage and current limits. The higher the wattage, the faster the battery drain. So even though the board could handle it, you might not want to drain the battery that quickly. This was just a potential reason, like I said, not a battery expert.

I'm assuming this is a response to what I said, sorry if it's not. I was doing the calculations to get wattage from resistance given the specs of the board. I agree with everything you are saying. And that's the point. All this math is needed. I'm an engineer, I don't dislike math. I just find it odd that we call a device a 200W device because the manufacture says you can set the wattage up that high. Think about it, the range that the DNA 200 can hit the 200W is actually pretty good. Let's say I made a device that could only hit 200W at one resistance (I'm to lazy to do the math right now but if you picked the right voltage and current limits you could do it). I could call this a 200W device. I wouldn't really be lieing would I? But it's not anywhere near as capable as the DNA 200. That's why I think defining boards based on the maximum wattage makes little sense. I also don't see a reason to limit the maximum wattage you can set (other than marketing). If you set the device to a wattage it can't provide, it just does the highest it can. It already does that. So what's the point of a wattage limit? Do you see how the wattage is pretty arbitrary?

I have a question for Evolv or anyone else if they know. Why limit the device to 200W? For some resistances, it can do more than 200W and some it can't even get close. Was the 200W just because it was a nice even number for marketing? Why not use 250W? It can do 250W in some cases. Did 250W seem like false advertising because it could only do that for a very small range of resistances? 200W is somewhat misleading because it can't do that for it's entire range of resistances. You could also just let the user set the device to any wattage (maybe only 999 to limit it to 3 decimals) because no matter what, it will only do the maximum it can provide given its voltage and current limits. If you put a 3ohm atty on there now and set it to 200W, it isn't going to do 200W. I have no interest in using even close to that much power so I am not asking because I want it to change, just curious. Obviously there is a voltage and current limitation for the board. But the wattage limit is just what you can set the device to. Personally I think calling a device a 200W device or any other wattage is kind of weird. It would make more sense for this to be the DNA9V50A in my mind because it more accurately describes the board but that does sound as good lol. Again, I am not asking for this to change (I would never use it). Just curious why. Wattage limits seem kinda arbitrary to me.

So you are telling me to set the mod resistence really high so I can get more than 200W at the atomizer!!!! I'm kidding btw, I only ever vape in temp mode so that would probably be a bad idea.... Incorrect static resistance

It depends. Wattage isn't really a physical quantity. Voltage and current are. There is a minimum and maximum voltage the board can supply (.5-9V). There is also a maximum current the board can supply (50A continuous). The wattage max is really just the maximum you can set the device to. Remember, the board doesn't apply wattage to the coil, it applies voltage. Given the resistance, you can determine the current needed to apply that voltage using V=IR. So if you had a .1ohm load, the board couldn't apply its maximum voltage (9V) because it would draw 90A. So it is limited to 5V, which requires 50A. W = VI, so this is 250W. The board can't do that (see what James said, it actually can go over 200W to some extent). This limitation is just part of the firmware, not hardware. So there is no physical reason the board can't apply 250W in this case (it actually might if your mod has a high resistance). If you had a 1ohm load, the maximum voltage you can apply is 9V. This draws 9A. This is only 81W. This is due to the voltage limitation. If you had a .01ohm load, the maximum voltage you can apply is .5V. This draws 50A. This is only 25W. This is due to the current limitation. So, I probably said too much but in the first case a higher amp fuse isn't required to increase up to 250W (after that yes). In the second case, the fuse is nowhere near maxed out but more than 81W requires the board to be able to apply a higher voltage than it can. In the third case, getting more than 25W would require more current, thus a higher fuse. So sometimes a higher amp fuse isn't needed to increase wattage, sometimes it is, and sometimes it wouldn't make any difference. Btw, we are assuming increasing the maximum current the board handles means the fuse needs to increase.

It is input current not output, just leave it as is. You still got 55 amps peak like before

225W is a 12.5% increase in wattage. That is substantial enough to potentially require lower gauge wires. Imagine if a company (let's say VaporShark because that's what I have) made a DNA 200 with wire rated only for 205W. Then Evolv released an update to make the board support 225W. I update my board and cause a fire. I sue VaporShark for burning my house down. VaporShark sues Evolv to get the money they owe me. Moral of the story, it's not going to happen.

James, could you provide some documentation on the serial commands? I was thinking of writing a Chrome app that does the device monitor graph. Chrome apps can access the serial port and it would be a way to view my graphs on my Mac without opening a VM. I am a nerd, I like to see the numbers

I don't think this has been said here so just to clarify. There are two different things, software and firmware. The software runs on your PC, the firmware runs on your DNA 200. The latest of each can be found at: /topic/66731-topic/?do=findComment&comment=900118. The software comes with the latest firmware. As of today (2016-02-10): Latest software: EScribe 1.0.35.2 (released 2015-10-21) Latest firmware: 2015-09-30

The finish on my fire button is pretty worn and I have only had the device for 3 months. Just curious if anyone else is having the same issue. No mechanical or electrical issues, purely aesthetic. I'll post a pic when I'm home. EDIT: I posted this is software by accident, can't move it. Admin help please

Just thought I would give an idea here. Device Monitor and the rest of EScrive work completely differently (with regard to hardware). Evolv should make two separate apps. They install together (for Windows) and then you can open one of them or both of them at once. Why do this? Mac/Linux support!!! This would allow Device Monitor to be implemented on Mac/Linux very quickly as no drivers are needed. Just a thought...

We also want it to tell us the winning numbers for the powerball. Can you implement that feature within the next few hours??

Accurate with one slight caveat (of virtually no importance but useful for understanding). Generally increasing the temperature will make the device apply more power at the beginning. The DNA 200 attempts to get the coil to your set temperature but not over (at least not much over) as quickly as possible. If you have the temperature set to 500F it will take x time to get to 500F. If you increase the temperature to 550F, it will *generally* take less than x time to get to 500F. This is because it does not begin to ramp back the power until later. This is being nitpicky, I know, but I think it helps with understanding how the device is working. The reason stated above is why the "temperature limiting camp" or "wattage camp" can get to a given temperature faster that the "temperature control camp". The DNA 200 will back off in power as it reaches the temperature to prevent from going over. I completely aggree. I personally vape with a DNA 200 and TFV4 with prebuilt nickel coils. I have the coil airflow wide open, and the slipstream airflow completely closed. I set my DNA 200 to 200W. Depending on the juice I set the temperature between 440F and 480F. I have a profile for 440F, one for 460F, and one for 480F. All other setting are the same on the profiles. Depending on the juice, I switch profiles. For me this setup works well because it is easy and the vape is exactly the same every time I pick the device up and no matter how long my hit is. This is why I love my DNA 200, accuracy is vital for consistency. The main reason I want this feature is actually so I can have another metric on the display, I don't care about wattage but I want to see other stuff. This feature will allow me to remove wattage to add something else to the display.

I thought I would give some information on temperature control so that people understand the logic behind both "camps". There are two different ideas of how to use temperature control. They really are completely different. Before we talk about the "camps", I want to explain a couple things. Voltage and wattage are not directly related to vapor. Vapor is produced by heat which is measured using Celsius or Fahrenheit. You might think you like to vape at 50W or 5V but the truth is you don't, you like to vape at the temperature curve (curve because the temperature is not constant) that 50W or 5V produces with your setup. That might make some people mad, but please understand if I heated the juice up using some magical power and made the temperature curve exactly the same as your device does at your setting, you would not notice a difference, I promise. Now, here is a breakdown of each "camp". Temperature Control: The idea here is simple: I like to vape at x temperature. I want my coil to be at exactly that temperature my entire vape. I want it to get there as quickly as possible and I want it to stay there no matter how long my hit is. A 1 second hit will behave the same as a 10 second hit (excluding the very beginning where is takes a short period of time to reach temperature). With this attitude, wattage/voltage is irrelevant to the user. The wattage/voltage should be set to the highest possible for the device (DNA 200 is 200W). Your preheat setting is irrelevant because you have the device set to it's maximum wattage/voltage. This is how devices that only allow you to set temperature work (i.e. the iStick 40W). The device applies as much power as it needs to get the coil to your temperature as quickly as possible. With this "camp" of vaping, having the wattage on the screen at all is useless (unless you want to see the live wattage as you take a hit). If you want less vapor you lower the temperature; if you want more vapor you raise the temperature. Temperature Limiting: The idea here is not quite as simple: I like to vape with a temperature curve, not a constant temperature. This is more similar to kanthal or no temperature vaping. A 1 second hit will behave very differently than a 10 second hit. Here you are primarily adjusting in wattage/voltage. This allows you to define the temperature curve: lower wattage = smaller slope, higher wattage = greater slope, just like kanthal vaping. Temperature is used as a limit. Without it the coil would continue to heat up eventually resulting in burning. On short hits you might not ever hit your temperature setting. The temperature setting is for longer hits or empty tanks (longer is subjective, you might hit your temperature limit on every hit). If you want less vapor you lower the wattage/voltage; if you want more vapor you raise the wattage/voltage. This increases or decreases, respectively, the time it takes for the coil to heat which results in different amount of vapor. Remember, you are changing the wattage/voltage to change the temperature, not because wattage/voltage actually change the vape by themselves. Clearly for the people in the "temperature control camp", having temperature as the main control setting on the DNA 200 is quite important. Those in the "temperature limiting camp" might want wattage to be the main control setting. For this reason, I think it should be added as an option. Realistically, it only needs to be changed using Escribe as *most* users will have a preference and not need to change on the go. Obviously it is nice to be able to change settings directly on the device, but I think other features are more important. I did my best to be as factual as possible. Please don't get mad if you disagree. We all have different vaping styles and no one style is better than any other, but at the end of the day, the temperature of the juice is all that matters.

Right, but I am not following why that can't be setup on a Mac.

"The current hurdle is sourcing a USB driver that we can use as the Generic HID Driver we currently utilize is not a viable option on MAC." - I don't think that is actually accurate. James said "I should add that while the Windows serial driver is proprietary, the protocol it speaks is standard USB CDC serial. So Linux will recognize it without a driver. Because the device is composite, the CDC serial must have an Interface Association Descriptor, which makes the serial not work with Mac OS X (no IAD support). But, the HID-tunneled serial will work on every platform." I can send serial commands to the DNA 200 from my Mac without a problem (i.e. "P=100W"). That is super easy and doesn't require any setup as the Mac sees the device as a USB serial device. Plug in the device and run "screen /dev/tty.usbmodemFA132" then type the command you want. From my understanding, IAD support was added to Mac back in 10.7. I am running EScribe using Wine right now on my Mac. I am attempting to get the HID drivers setup in Wine so EScribe will see the device. I can give Wine access to the serial port using the following command, "ln -s /dev/tty.usbmodemFA132 ~/.wine/dosdevices/COM3", but without drivers setup it doesn't work. Is there something I am missing about why this won't work?

So, I got EScribe running on my Mac... It works fine other than a little distortion with the shading (shadows around buttons looks a little off). I am having some issues with the drivers so right now it doesn't recognize a device so it is pretty much useless. It is just a USB Serial device so I am hoping I can make it work but we will see. I'll update if I get it working. FYI setup is not simple, I will do a write up but for those without command line experience, you are better off using a VM or second partition. Evolv, could you provide any details about your driver?

I have seen a lot of people having trouble with EScribe on Mac so I figured I would explain my setup as a point of reference. I have a lot of experience with running various versions of Windows on a Mac. I have Windows 10 installed on a second hard drive (you could also do it on the same drive and it wouldn't make a difference). Boot Camp Assistant (under Utilities) makes it very easy to install Windows if you aren't familiar with partitioning drives. I also have Parallels Desktop. The VM uses the Windows installed on my second drive. This allows me to boot as a VM if I need to do something without a lot of graphics requirements (like EScribe) or boot natively when I need the power (for CAD software). Using either of these two methods (or both like I did) should work without any problems. I have used VirtualBox in the past and had problems with drivers (haven't tried with a DNA 200). If you install Windows natively, don't forget to install the drivers provided by Apple. If you are having problems with VirtualBox, go to Parallels website and download the free trial and see if that fixes it. If Parallels and/or Boot Camp don't work, I'm happy to help diagnose problems.

I apologize if this has nothing to do with the DNA 200 (and it probably doesn't) but I don't have another temperature control device to try it with. I am using the TFV4 and the prebuilt Ni coils with my Vapor Shark DNA 200. It is amazing, no burt hits, great flavor, insane vapor, only one issue. It is very cool, the coolest vape I have ever had. Here are my settings: Preheat: 150W Wattage: 100W Temperature: 460F If I raise the temperature it starts to get burnt. It is a great vape, just really cool. Has anyone else experienced this? It is probably just the way the TFV4 is but just wanted to make sure. And the drip tip airflow is closed. I have also tried other drip tips, same thing. If you like a cooler vape, I highly recommend this setup.

I'm getting some weird results from refinement. If I take a cool atomizer that has been sitting next to the mod for 15 min (so they should be the same temp) and screw it on, it reads .22 ohms for the resistance. If I wait about an hour without firing it reads .18 ohms as the cold resistance. I then take the atomizer off and immediately put it back on and it reads .24 ohms and asks if if it is a new coil. Similar numbers occur or repeat tests. I am using a Kanger Subtank with prebuilt Ni-200 coils that are marked as .15 ohms. My iStick reads them as .20 ohms so I think they are labeled incorrectly. I have tested multiple coils. I can tell a huge difference in vape when set to 420F between when I initially put the atomizer on and about an hour later. Is something wrong? I'm on the latest firmware and software.