Fried 250? "check battery" ...

[vapesmooth234]

I just got this MOD I dunno like 2 weeks ago. Hcigar vt250s from Fasttech. Set it up as a DNA167 in escribe (2-cell batteries in MOD tab instead of 3-cell [actually I think it auto detected 2-cell or it came stock like that]).

I set WH to 22 also on that page. Forgot what it was at stock level and don't know why I put 22 Wh but I think someone told me to do that for a previous 3-cell DNA 200. 

Everything was perfectly fine. I only ever USB charge it except I charged the brand new cells in an external for first charge. Brand new genuine VTC6 cells. 

 

Now I get 'check battery' and an empty battery bar and all 0s on the screen. I put cells on an external and they were like %85, now %100 from the external.  I CAN'T change the MOD tab to 2-cell which is usually the fix for this! I think it was already on 2-cell when I was getting the problem and then I changed it to 3-cell and tried the mod in 3-cell configuration with 3 known-good cells, but can't change it back to 2-cell. It gave same error in 3-cell. I forgot exactly what happened but I can't change it back to 2-cell or I might have not been able to change it to 3-cell.

 First thing I did actually was Restore Defaults on the General TAB.  Fixed nothing though.  Didn't abuse this MOD or anything, just a .45 ohm dual coil build at like 75W. I think I was getting 'short' error message towards the end of it working but there was no short and it would work again.

 

Someone said in someone else's older similar thread "Usually, when you see a cell voltage above 4.2v, it is an indicator of a board problem/issue". But changing their mod to 2-cell fixed theirs.

 

Should I just warranty it? I guess fasttech will pay return shipping and refund me or do I have to go through evolve? I want the same MOD even though DNA250C and DNA400s are coming out very soon with Replay feature, I like this MOD because it's one of the smallest if not the smallest dual 18650 DNA167 MOD.

If I don't warranty it and you can somehow help me get it fixed, is it prone to doing this again and thus I should just warranty exchange it for a replacement?

 

Thanks in advance.

[skineedog]

I don't have a fix but a suggestion: Don't bother with FastTech if you end up RMAing it. The guys here at Evolv will fix for $0. Evolv is a great company. They stand 100% behind their chips even when the mod sucks. They will make it right, period. (Not implying that you mod sucks) You can create a help desk ticket to get your issue sorted out here: https://helpdesk.evolvapor.com

[vapesmooth234]

thanks, I'll give this thread a few more day to see if someone has a solution, if not, I think I'll try the return with fasttech. Since with FT, I'll be able to just get the MOD replaced instead of with evolv,,, actually, I think you're right, if this chip is part of a bad batch, evolv would be better to just open the MOD and stick a better board in whereas with FT, they might just give me the same problem batch again. Not to mention it'll probably take like  a month for FT to receive and deliver a replacement.

[shehabismail]

3 fried dna 250 boards and counting after months of research i nailed down the issue. its the balanced charging IC used, you need to RMA the board or desolder and install this faulty IC Check here

 

 

 

[vapesmooth234]

Evolv RMA got approved. Glad they will replace/fix board rather than fasttech send me replacement mod possibly from same batch as this one.