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DNA 200/250 Battery Charger is the source of most problems! (probably yours too)


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My Vaporshark DNA 200 stopped charging and firing. I plugged it in EScribe and one cell was reading really low (sub 2volts) while the other two were fine. A couple of days later not using it, cell number 2 voltage was 0.
Bought a new battery, now the pack voltage correctly reads 11.5volts, but cell voltages are 5.75, 0 and 5.75 respectively.
Lots of people have been having problems with their mods not charging and they all think it is the battery. Both of my batteries read fine with a multimeter!

Save your money and don't go out buying new batteries, the problem is the hideously unreliable onboard battery balancing charger (part number BQ76925 from Texas Instruments).
Many thanks to this guy --> https://youtu.be/jHFHN7pHbVo
The video is in Russian but the English subtitles might be a bit of help. My mod displays the first problem shown at 0:22.

This part seems to have a very high failure rate. Looking through the forum, lots of people have been having the same problem as I. One guy sent his device for RMA, got it back repaired only to have the same fault after 3 days.


Most of you are lucky to still be in warranty and live in the USA. I have to spend a fortune in shipping to get my VS to Vaporshark and back to Europe while I am also out of warranty.
I was considering to buy a DNA 250 board to replace my broken one but the problem has not been fixed, thus I am not paying 80 dollars to have the new board fail again at some point.
Evolv needs to address this problem, rather than replacing the boards under warranty, only to fail again in the future.

I would like for this thread to become a sticky and not be buried since it answers most battery problem threads.
I expect an answer from Evolv. I am deeply dissatisfied and this is not what I expected from a responsible company like Evolv.
Luckily, I still have my DNA 40 to power me through.

Edited by sotiris.bos
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3 hours ago, cian.castillo said:

@sotiris.bos, can I post this to the vape team? Biggest reviewers are there so they will know about this.

 

Gents, not trying to rain on your parade here, but out of that group of the 3, which of them would you consider technical? If I wanted to take this approach, I'd approach one of the two trusted English technical reviewers.

Edited by Wayneo
Added "English"
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4 hours ago, cian.castillo said:

@sotiris.bos, can I post this to the vape team? Biggest reviewers are there so they will know about this.

Thanks!

Just a thought.....

The most knowledgeable about this technology may just be those who designed it so why not start a ticket with Evolv and ask them?  I think they have 6 engineers....

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Their answer:


 

Quote

Hi Sotirios,

We would be happy to take a look at, and diagnose your device if you can send it in to us. The only cost to you should be the cost to ship the device, we will cover the return shipping and cost of the repair.

We will also examine the issue you have detailed and notify engineering of a possible issue so they can diagnose the board and find the cause of failure.

Please send your device and the RMA form (link below) to:

Evolv RMA
5171 Hudson Dr.
Hudson, OH 44236

Please download the following RMA Form: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxnf8OwrMZ7OX3JhQy1GMVotRDQ/view?usp=sharing

Open the form, type your information into the available fields (in English) and print it out. Include this form in your RMA package. All RMA's will be returned to the address on the form.

If a package is received without an RMA form it will be returned as-is. Also, please note this Ticket Number (4-5 digit number) on your RMA form so that we may reference it!

Upon receipt, we'll repair it and send it back out as soon as we are able. You MUST send your return via a traceable carrier such as USPS, UPS, or FedEx and retain your tracking number. If for any reason we cannot locate your return and do not have a tracking number we will be unable to provide assistance.

Once your RMA request is processed and shipped back out you will receive an email with tracking information if you included your email address on the form.

Thanks,
Nick Coutris
Evolv, Inc

 

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My response:

 

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I am sorry but the round trip time takes too much time for me. I am going to replace the chip with the help of a local electronics repair man. Thank you for offering to help me out, but you have to go public and inform the rest of us who don't know about this problem and have no sense of what they should do. Replacing the chip is not going to fix the problem though and you should probably consider changing battery charger chip supplier in the future. Best Regards, Sotiris.

 

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Here is the Datasheet for the chip you referenced.... You might want to give it to your repair person. The datasheet identified in your video was out of date and incomplete...... Here is a newer and more complete version....

Also the author of the video you referenced stated this in his comments:

[English subtitles. 
In this video, I showed one cause and remedy the fault check battery DNA200 on board. The second reason for the appearance of such a fault - a wire falls off balance.]

There can be many causes for your issue....good luck...

 

 

bq76925.pdf

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