Brand new hotcig-Warranty error screen-battery on first day.

[Conanthewarrior]

Hello everyone. First of all I would like to say HI. I am slightly brain damaged, so am a bit slower than others, but still can repair PC's to make money and such, I am just a little slower than I was before my 'incident'.

Yesterday, after the amazing shipping time of FOUR days from China to the UK, I got a hotcig DNA200.

Now, it had the issue that the hotcigs tend to have-the battery was under 4 volts.

I used  combination of escribe recovery to get it going, and the included charger to finish the charge.

It is reading in escribe at 9.99 W/H in the diagnostics screen, and each cell is balanced to full charge.


The issue occurs when I get to around half battery- the W/h of the battery are now around 5, both in ecribe and on my mod (I set it to show on my mod to check).

When I try to fire, it comes up with something like "DNA 200-Battery-Warranty issue."

Now, I DO NOT want to have to send my new device all the way back to china, I am in the process of trying to get a new battery replacement from them, I have emailed both gear best and the actual runner of Hotcig.

If I have no luck doing this-I am fairly adept with technical repairs, and used to fly RC helicopters so am used to attaching different connectors to them, so that will be easy peasy, as I have seen in the battery bay, All it is is balance port through the bottom, and positive and negative attached to the banana pin type connections.

I could swap the pack out in literally ten minutes.

So, my question is mainly: Do you think I will get a new battery from either party, either hotcig or gearbest?

If not, can you recommend me a LIPO that will fit inside the Hotcig DNA 200? I have found some higher MAH batteries that fit, but I am worried they are not rated high enough.

I am talking 30C for a 1200MAH Lipo. I have my preheat set to just 60-80W for 1 second, and I vape at a maximum of around 80 watts.

It is very rare for me to push a device past this, as I enjoy my vape mainly around 20-40 watts with rebuildable tanks due to ease of use, fill and off you go.

I do own a variety of drippers I tested yesterday on my 4 profiles I created (NI200, Ti, SS, and Kanthal).

Thing is, the battery originally worked for the first charge all the way down to zero.

I do not know if a setting I have changed has messed this up. I changed the W/h from 9 to 9.9 as it is rated to that.

Is it worth changing my settings back to original escribe factory settings, and doing a soft or hard reboot? Or is the battery the definite cause?

I believe it is the battery, and have no issue of replacing this with a higher quality, working lipo myself.

Thank you all, Conan.

[Conanthewarrior]

I should add, I realise this happened after I changed settings in escribe from maximize battery to maximum puffs-I have changed it back and see if that fixes it. I am using it now, and with a 900MAH battery, it should be there soon (I suspect the battery may not be 900MAH and is less, but I do not have a resistor to do the battery anylyzer.)

So I am pretty sure its a lipo issue- what can I get ordered to get in there while I am emailing them? As I can only use it to half batttery is a bit annoying, also the watt/hours falling during discharge use-this is normal yes? It was 9.9 fully charged, it is now at 7.16, it drops to around 5 when the error occurs.

But maybe, just maybe, that change of settings will sort it, as I could use it below half before that. I did so twice, as I was really gettting to know the device, so using it a lot yesterday, and today to try and sort this error.

[VapingBad]

I don't know, but would think that error could be the battery going out of balance when it drains, have a look at the different cell voltages in Escribe when it is empty, if it is I would fully charge it via USB until all the cells are balanced, discharge by vaping again and if you get the error get the battery changed.

If the size is the same the FullyMax battery Evolv sell would be a good one.

I don't thing you need to change your settings back, you can just change the battery Wh if you want.

It is normal for the watt hours to drop, this is like the fuel gauge.

[Conanthewarrior]

Well, changing the settings back actually worked. 

I think the Li-po was likely damaged, due to the voltage it was received at, I used escribe battery recovery when I first got the mod. 

I checked in escribe-the cells remained perfectly balanced through discharge. 

I recorded the graphs with the 'max recharge' settings in place, in case I needed them. 

But, my device works fine now. 

It can do 3 RSBT2 tanks of juice before recharging, which is far more than I expected from a 900MAH Li-po. 

I have some experience with li-po's, as I used to fly RC choppers. I only have one now, hence having one spare lipo, but thats only 850MAH so I won't install that one, plus the C rating is too low for safe operation (Even though with my average usage, 17 Amps is the peak for a split second for preheat (80w on Ni200, 70W on TI) and this is the smoothest device I own out of my 12 mods. 

I will check out the fullymax battery, and its dimensions. 

I will be ordering a spare battery pack on the weekend, so I can use my device when the other is charging. 

At the moment though, I am charging straight to device at 1A. 

Glad to hear it is normal for the watt hours to drop-now if my battery was damaged, it would not show as 9.9 watt hours in escribes device monitor would it? As that is exactly what it should be set at, it's awful hotcig are sending out units knowing they will be drained dangerously low due to the bug in the pre update firmware. 

That was the first thing I done when I received it, updated the firmware. 

But for now, issue solved . 

The only problem is, this is so smooth it makes my other mods seem rubbish compared to the DNA200. 

Like I said, TC is so smooth it does not even seem like TC, no heat then cold then heat for example, like some mods I own do. 

Definitely my new favourite mod. I have contacted hot cig to try and get a replacement Li-Po, as being discharged to 3.8V is sure to leave a scar, but it is all I have to use now.
Maybe i've been lucky, the majority of hotcig owners have had the low battery, and each time Escribe has saved the battery. 

It seems to have in my case, but only if I keep it on max recharges, but on max recharges I get more puffs anyway as I can use it all the way to near empty. 

[Conanthewarrior]

Thinking logically-I see no reason as to how exactly this has worked, as the setting only reduces the charge to 4.1 volts per cell instead of 4.2....

Very strange indeed-but it definitely sorted the issue. I can not remove the battery below 50% or I get the error-but I then connect to Escribe and it instantly works again.

I think a new Li-Po will be ordered next weekend when I am payed to fit into the current casing.

I may be able to squeeze a slightly higher MAH battery in there, but if I can not thats no issue, I just want to be able to use it fully.

I'm not sending the whole unit back to china now I have it, so will have to add a battery into the cost, but I got it at a massive discount, £80, so even if I got the official pack that brings it to just over £100 for the DNA200 hotcig.

The chip alone retails for £79.95, so I got a working unit, for the price of a chip.

That is one huge bargain. If I find the design of this to be limiting of batteries-I will simply transfer to a different case that can fit a bigger li-Po.

[Conanthewarrior]

VapingBad said:

I don't know, but would think that error could be the battery going out of balance when it drains, have a look at the different cell voltages in Escribe when it is empty, if it is I would fully charge it via USB until all the cells are balanced, discharge by vaping again and if you get the error get the battery changed.

If the size is the same the FullyMax battery Evolv sell would be a good one.

I don't thing you need to change your settings back, you can just change the battery Wh if you want.

It is normal for the watt hours to drop, this is like the fuel gauge.

I had dropped the W/H to 9, and set it to max recharges. 

Its now back on max puffs and 9.9 W/h's.

Lets see if the error still pops up, as it was two changes I made, I dropped the W/h to 9 and also changed the max recharges back to how it was originally.

It was probably the W/H drop that fixed it thinking about it, as I can't see how the .3 volt difference would affect its ability to perform under 500 W/h's.

I have set it back to max puffs, and 9.9 to try replicate the problem, and if I do, I will drop it to 9 W/h's and leave it on max puffs, and see if that works .


EDIT: Well, it seems that problem has gone. Max puffs, 9.9 watt hours, charged right to 9.9W/H's, and has vaped all the way down without the error message. Hoping it was teething problems with the first few charges-but if it does happen again, at least I know how to fix it by dropping the Watt hours.

[Conanthewarrior]

Jentz9517 said:

Fully max is exact same size and weight as the hotcig

Yeah, I noticed that, that is why I suspect that IS the same fullymax battery, just with the cells rewrapped. 

OK, the problem is NOT solved. 

I woke up this morning, it was around half battery last night but I didn't want to leave it on charge over night, for obvious safety reasons. 

I connected to Escribe- and boom straight into the profile it was set to before, unplug it straight away, and it still works. 

I have changed the watt hours down to 9, and have it set to max recharges, but it still is doing it. 

It is a minor niggle until I get a new Lipo- but it does mean I can not take the device out with me. If the error happened while I was out that equals no vape.

When I went back into escribe, I checked the cells, and the was all in perfect balance, ALTHOUGH last night I notice that at 1/4 full there was a .2 volt difference in cell 3 to cell 1. 

Is this enough to trigger that screen? I thought it would come up with the battery imbalanced screen if that was the case?

The error I am getting is not shown on the screen setup page, it says "warranty issue-battery" So must be programmed in by hotcig themselves.


It takes charge fine, it doesn't get hot, it can charge to its full capacity of 9.9W hours (It is a 10 watt hour battery, and happens to be exactly the same size as the fully max battery-so I suspect it to be that.) 

I get 3 1/2 RSBT2 tanks out of it, or about 9ML of juice, which is well on par, or even above my other devices.  

I have an 80W preheat with punch set around 8 with a 1 second limit, but it doesn't even need the full second. 

I have only tested with 1 dripper so far-the other set ups are a Lemo V2 with NI200 and a SMOK RSBT2 in TI dual coil.

Both are super smooth. 

I must add that the batteries were nowhere near dangerously unbalanced last night-they was all well above 3.1 volts. 



So, does anyone have any more ideas, or does it sound like a dodgy li-Po, like the DNA is actually telling me? 

[Conanthewarrior]

VapingBad said:

I don't know, but would think that error could be the battery going out of balance when it drains, have a look at the different cell voltages in Escribe when it is empty, if it is I would fully charge it via USB until all the cells are balanced, discharge by vaping again and if you get the error get the battery changed.

If the size is the same the FullyMax battery Evolv sell would be a good one.

I don't thing you need to change your settings back, you can just change the battery Wh if you want.

It is normal for the watt hours to drop, this is like the fuel gauge.

I only just noticed this. 

I did get the error again, and they was going out of balance at lower charge (.2 volts between cell 1 and cell 3). 

Not a massive change, and the batteries cells were still above 3.1V, this was with about 1/4th-1/3rd battery left. 

I thought I had the issue solved-but obviously the Hotcig coming at just THREE.SEVEN volts has left a permanent scar. 

I knew about the issue before order though-it is just the whole setup was on offer for the same price as the chip retails for alone. 

So even If I have to get a new Li-Po, I got a fully made DNA 200, with lipo, balanced external wall charger, for the price of just the board. 

I am in the UK-would there be any problems getting the fullymax shipped to the UK?

I also am in the process of emailing Hotcig to try to get a free replacement-as it should not come that drained. I knew about the evolv bug to start, but it is still wrong. 

I have not had an email back from hotcig yet-I think I may have to pressure them into releasing one for free. 

I am going to also order an extra from fasttech-this should not suffer from the discharge issue as it is not connected to a mod, it is just the battery in a housing. 


So, does everyone agree it is a new Li-Po that is needed? I was looking at various ones last night, I actually have a 850MAH sitting on my bed right now. I used it about 5 times for one of my RC helis, and that has never been damaged. 

I am wondering if it is worth opening the housing and installing that, and losing 50 A/h's for the device to function properly. 

If I don't use that, it will definitely be a 900 or 1000MAH li-Po that I can fit in there. Just have to make sure the rating is OK for the device-even though in escribe I noticed my amp draw never was above 20-it hit about 18 for preheat, then about 7-8 Amps for the rest of my 5 second pull, that was set at 220C 24W. 


I would like a battery that could handle full power though-I tried it with TC on a dripper, and well it was the same as using it at the 24 watts-it hit the temp ceiling immediately, and dropped below 20 watts. 

I guess the 200W is for non-TC wires. Even though escribe has max kanthal power set to 100W, it is safe with the correct battery to change that value to 200W isn't it? I don't want to damage the DNA, as I won't be able to afford another one for a while.

I had a seizure last year that left some lasting damage, so work is quite dry, although I am training with Cisco in the new year in IT and network system repair and diagnostics. 

[VapingBad]

I guess them replacing the battery depends on if they have an acceptable out of balance limit like computer screens have an acceptable dead pixel limit.  The device is not giving an out of balance limit so I doubt it is a problem, but I would not like either.

For max power you just need a battery that can comfortably supply 23 A continuous current and all the ones you mentioned are up to spec (for the sizes you are looking at <900 mAh 30C, >950 mAh 25C) .

[VapingBad]

I see that FT have listed the HotCig battery for £25 today.

[dwcraig1]

VapingBad said:

I see that FT have listed the HotCig battery for £25 today.

It was $23.87 USD yesterday when I bought one, today it's $45

[VapingBad]

dwcraig1 said:

[QUOTE=VapingBad]I see that FT have listed the HotCig battery for £25 today.

It was $23.87 USD yesterday when I bought one, today it's $45[/QUOTE]
I notice the MAP code still works on the Mod but not the battery, maybe they will release a code for the battery like the they did for the mod after the big price increase.  RMBBUST gets 5% off the battery.

[Conanthewarrior]

VapingBad said:

I guess them replacing the battery depends on if they have an acceptable out of balance limit like computer screens have an acceptable dead pixel limit.  The device is not giving an out of balance limit so I doubt it is a problem, but I would not like either.

For max power you just need a battery that can comfortably supply 23 A continuous current and all the ones you mentioned are up to spec (for the sizes you are looking at <900 mAh 30C, >950 mAh 25C) .

I just want to be sure it IS the battery-the device works perfectly-if you unplug the battery and plug it back in it comes up with "DNA 200-Battery-Warranty issue" And not "return to researcher" like I would expect if the board was faulty, and only happens under half capacity. 

As the battery was discharged to 3.6 volts, around 1.2 or so volts a cell, its 99% certain that with that error message, plus when connected to USB it powers on immediately,removing the error message and you can remove the USB and it works until you either remove the battery or leave it overnight, then get the same message? 

I gather as the device itself is telling me its a battery issue, and it was discharged to damaging levels, it is almost a 100% certainty that it IS the Li-Po, I just wanted to check with people more knowledgeable than me that it is, in fact, the Li-po. 

I am certain it is-but I like to double check, and due to my injury I tend to worry more than others as it affected my thinking.

[Legros]

100% the battery
One of the cell must be saging more and hit soft cell cut off voltage

[Conanthewarrior]

Ahh-I think you are right! I checked in escribe and a cell IS unbalanced from the rest- now, I am ordering a new battery on Saturday when I get payed, but for now, how do I fully run Escribes battery saver?

I go into diagnostics, and Click battery saver, and proceed with it, but it doesn't seem to do anything different-is the battery saver running-or do I need to trigger it a certain way?

As everyone else with the Hotcig had this issue, and have recovered batteries more damaged than mine OK, so I find it odd I am one of the only people to have the issue . 

So just checking I am running it correctly-and should I run the battery right down before using the battery saver- or use it at any time during the discharge cycle? 

I'm thinking I should ideally do it now, when it is at just under half charge.

EDIT: The 3 cells are at 3.82 volts at the moment-but if I remove and insert the battery I get the error? Can the DNA200 detect the battery is damaged even before reaching that voltage? 

[Conanthewarrior]

Ok You are not going to believe this-Gear best have agreed to send me a brand new Li-Po, in housing for my mod, for free, and I get to keep the partially working one, that I can install a fully working Li-po in!

So, they said they will be dispatching it immediately. I do not know what method it will be shipped by, so it could be a few weeks, but they have warranted the warranty!

Really happy is an understatement. Now I do not have to order the extra housing either for when the battery runs out to straight swap-I will already have it

[VapingBad]

Nice one Conan

[Conanthewarrior]

VapingBad said:

Nice one Conan

Thanks mate. Thing is, they told me 24 to 48 hours till it is sent out and I get my tracking number-well in 10 hours it has been 48 hours, so I have replied to them in the ticket stating please provide me with a tracking number as I am very worried as I have a mod that is near £100 that does not work, at all. 

It did work for 5 days with errors until the battery finally failed. 

I want to get a new Li-Po, but I am not sure what type of solder to use to install it-could someone recommend me as I have the money to buy a Li-PO right now, and can install it myself. 

[scoopy]

60/40 rosin core solder 0.032 diameter

[Conanthewarrior]

scoopy said:

60/40 rosin core solder 0.032 diameter

Ahh balls-I got multicore solder. As it is only a temporary fix until the hotcig battery arrives-do you think it will work OK? 

I can't afford anymore parts now-I have used up all of my vaping money on this mod to get it working (Plus I got 17 concentrates on the way and wires and a new tank, so its not all bad, should get them tomorrow).

Ok, gearbest are dancing in circles, So I went to fasttech, who had the batteries instock, and bought one. Because it was an external battery-there was only one shipping method via sweden that takes between 13-25 days, I have a turnigy Li-Po arriving this week, tommorow hopefully, that will be attached directly to the pins and held with electrical tape to the device. 

Not pretty-But it will get my device working until the real replacement comes. 

I have opened a paypal ticket and requested for gearbest to provide a 45 dollar refund, the cost of the battery. I could of been a git and aked for a full refund as it was a non working item-but I thought I would be fair and just make a claim for the battery cost. 

If gearbest had simply sent the battery, within 24-48 hours like they said a WEEK ago, I would have no issue. 

Even if they send another battery instead of a refund, thats OK with me, I just want my device working, safely, and looking nice, as I did like the look of the device. 

I tried my old Lipo this morning-but its had it, its severely imbalanced. Cell 2 and 3 are 4.17 volts, cell 1 is 3 volts, and it keeps saying battery issue-imbalanced battery or check atomiser. 

So, I should have it working again this week with a very good battery-Problem is it doesn't bloody fit in the casing! Its 45c-90C turniguy nanotech, only 850MAH but it was just a bridge to get my device working as quickly as possible. 

I wish I knew someone with a 3d printer, who could make me a larger enclosure-then I could fit the turniguy battery into the actual housing and it would look a bit neater. 

As long as it works though I will be happy, but obviously happier when the actual battery in housing arrives. 

So far its cost me about £120 or so-I could of bought a DNA200 in the UK for that, and next month I am actually likely to buy either the Efusion or the Hcigar vt200, the Hcigar is £120, the Efusion £125-but I want another DNA200 as I was so impressed when this one did work. 

If it works fully with a new batttery though, in housing-I have no issue and probably WONT get another device-I like the hotcigs design, and I am thining why spend more when I have one that will work fine? It is only if I get the replacement battery and it doesn't I will have an issue. 

But we have all agreed here it is 100% the batteries-so it should work perfectly with the new batteries. 

Got some solder as well to attach the battery straight to the pins for the turniguy, then I will elecrtical tape it in place all over, so there is nowhere I can get a shock from use. 

Hopefully it takes just 13 days though, as fast as possible, then I will have it working properly. Then I will be fully happy-but I guess £120 isn't a terrible deal for the hotcig after factoring in battery cost.