Flawless Tugboat DNA250, do I need a new lipo?

[u8myufo]

Hi, I posted this on POTV yesterday and was advised to join up here and get some advice. I am thinking I may well need to replace the lipo on the Tugboat DNA250. The battery was showing 80% this morning, vaping at 0.3ohm from around 38 watts, it then went down to almost 25% within a few hours, and that was not vaping constantly. I am assuming the battery is wanked or maybe there`s a fault elsewhere in the circuit causing it? Anyhow, has anybody had some experience in this so they can advise on a brand of battery I should be looking for that will fit? I am wondering if the pic of the battery that is in it is even an original, or has perhaps been replaced at some point. It was also suggested that the Lipo could be out of balance and needs checking, I`m thinking then that if that is the case it simply equates to one of the cells being shot, in which case I need a new battery. Not having a meter to test it with I`m hoping an RC shop could perhaps do that for me. I have seen how it`s done but as there are two wires soldered to the board, could it still be checked just by pulling off the white connector? Any help or advice appreciated, the red mod is mine and the blue one is from an old post, that I assume would have been an original battery.

[Wayneo]

Let's first check if the battery is out of balance. No meter required as cell voltages are shown in 'Device Monitor'

Start escribe with your mod plugged in, then Device Monitor. Only enable/click the ‘cell 1’, ‘cell 2’ and ‘cell 3’ fields as shown on the left hand side. Post a full screenshot.
⬇️ Screenshot instructions in my signature line. ⬇️

[u8myufo]

Cheers @Wayneo on the case now, just downloading Escribe as I have never used it before.

[Wayneo]

You might be prompted to update the firmware. I would, but you don't have to. After sorting this, there are options for what's shown on the screen during charging. You could choose ‘cell 1’, ‘cell 2’ and ‘cell 3’ so you won't need to plug in, in the future.

That would be under the screen tab, as shown.

* Any changes made within escribe must be followed by clicking on 'upload settings to device'

[u8myufo]

Here you go @Wayneo, themonitoring just kept going so was not sure if it had to be done for a certain time or not.

 

[u8myufo]

I just noticed that the voltage box was already checked on the first pass, so unchecked it and ran it again. Not sure if I should have or not though.

[Wayneo]

12 minutes ago, u8myufo said:

......  voltage box was already checked on the first pass, so unchecked it and ran it again. Not sure if I should have or not though.

Did not matter at all. It's just the sum of the 3 cell voltages. If you look, they're all pretty much the same and your mod is charging ~1A. All looks good. At lower voltages that charging would be closer to 2A, and will now continue to decrease from 1A the closer it gets to full. Full could be 4.1V or 4.2V, depending on how the mod was setup.

After it's fully charged, while plugged in, you could also enable 'Power' and 'Power set', take a puff, pause the screen and that will show how each individual cell is operating. You could post that screenshot if you want us to look at it.

[u8myufo]

28 minutes ago, Wayneo said:

Did not matter at all. It's just the sum of the 3 cell voltages. If you look, they're all pretty much the same and your mod is charging ~1A. All looks good. At lower voltages that charging would be closer to 2A, and will now continue to decrease from 1A the closer it gets to full. Full could be 4.1V or 4.2V, depending on how the mod was setup.

After it's fully charged, while plugged in, you could also enable 'Power' and 'Power set', take a puff, pause the screen and that will show how each individual cell is operating. You could post that screenshot if you want us to look at it.

Ok thanks, will do it later as I`m going out. So my question would be then as it is the only Lipo mod I have, am I expecting too much from the battery regarding longevity for the day? I guess I am considering it`s only a 1200Mah battery. Is it possible to get a much higher Mah Lipo to put in or is that out of the question? Thanks once again for the help though.

Edited June 1 by u8myufo

[Wayneo]

3 hours ago, u8myufo said:

...... I guess I am considering it`s only a 1200Mah battery. Is it possible to get a much higher Mah Lipo to put in or is that out of the question?

It's a 3 cell battery. That's 3@1200mAh, so 3,600mAh total or about a single 21700 battery. Your vaping habits will dictate length of usage. LiPo's will have lower voltage sag overall compared to a round cell (all things being equal). You are limited by the cavity size for what will fit inside. If you're lucky you might find a bigger cell but it would probably only be an extra 100-200 more mAh. Hobbyking has a LiPo sizer. I'd look at the dimensions of that Turnigy and use the sizer for other 3S batteries, or Amazon or an RC store.

Edit: Your picture of yours looks like an OG 'Fullymax' battery, used by many vendors, including the Steamcrave Hadron Pros, but hard to find at retail.

I have 6 LiPo mods and can say they like to be used, as they can easily get out of balance a little. Like your cell 1 which in all screenshots is 0.03V lower. That might add 10 minutes extra charge time.

[u8myufo]

Good evening @Wayneo, ok first screenshot is of fully charged, second screenshot is whilst taking a quick draw.

 

[Wayneo]

I can see them all charged up in your first pic. In your 2nd you see cell 1 is 4 hundredths of a volt lower than cell 2 and 3. I'd say that's fine for that battery. Nothing new required.

Earlier I said this and yours charged to 4.2V. From evolv's testing and mooch, by setting the charge limit to 4.1V you can save on battery life. You might want to make that change when you get a new battery, or I can explain now.

8 hours ago, Wayneo said:

Full could be 4.1V or 4.2V, depending on how the mod was setup.

Enjoy your mod, the search bar works, and now you know where we are. 

[u8myufo]

Thanks once again for the help @Wayneo, ok that`s cool then. You can explain how to set the charging voltage up if youget a moment, and I`ll take a look. Seems like there`s no panic to install a new cell yet then so I can take me time searching one out for when the time comes, although the way me body is feeling nowadays it`ll be me who packs in first 😁

[Wayneo]

Here you go, in 2 screenshots. 1st one opens up battery details, 2nd maximize puffs (4.20V) or Recharges (4.1V). Followed by Upload settings to device.

 

[u8myufo]

On 6/1/2025 at 8:50 PM, Wayneo said:

I can see them all charged up in your first pic. In your 2nd you see cell 1 is 4 hundredths of a volt lower than cell 2 and 3. I'd say that's fine for that battery. Nothing new required.

Earlier I said this and yours charged to 4.2V. From evolv's testing and mooch, by setting the charge limit to 4.1V you can save on battery life. You might want to make that change when you get a new battery, or I can explain now.

Enjoy your mod, the search bar works, and now you know where we are. 

And here we are a few months on @Wayneo 😁 Ok, so the other day I put the mod on charge, came back home just after lunch and it was at 84%, so left it as I had to go out and came back later in the afternoon. The battery was as flat as a pancake. Checked it with escribe and all cells are showing 0%, only thing I had noted of late was that the battery seemed to be draining much faster with very little use. So I am now off to source one, once I get it installed if I could come back to you again with regards to setting the charge limit that would be appreciated thanks.

[Wayneo]

51 minutes ago, u8myufo said:

Checked it with escribe and all cells are showing 0%, only thing I had noted of late was that the battery seemed to be draining much faster with very little use.

Really, all 4 cells showed 0 Volts in Device Monitor? As 1 or more cells become unbalanced the battery % reflects that and the mod will work less once that weak cell hits the board hard cutoff.

[u8myufo]

1 hour ago, Wayneo said:

Really, all 4 cells showed 0 Volts in Device Monitor? As 1 or more cells become unbalanced the battery % reflects that and the mod will work less once that weak cell hits the board hard cutoff.

If I read this right, if one cell becomes unbalanced it shuts it down completely as a failsafe then? And just to confirm, when I said the battery seemed to be draining much faster with very little use. I was meaning not getting a full day or slightly more from it with my vaping habit, and not a case that I was not using it very often. I`ve seen a couple of batteries online I could use but just not sure if the block connector will be the same. Also where I have a blue and white wire in the middle of the connector, the one`s I have found have two white wires in the middle, could I assume that they will still be wired correctly if the block connector does fit the board?%7BfileStore.core_Attachment%7Dmonthly_2025_12/IMG_8201.jpeg.0f48276060eb6c67ef03322cf7f24ce9.jpeg 

Edited December 14 by u8myufo

[Wayneo]

33 minutes ago, u8myufo said:

If I read this right, if one cell becomes unbalanced it shuts it down completely as a failsafe then?

Not really. Let's say 2 cells are at 4.1V (fully charged) and the 3rd (unbalanced) cell only reaches 3.5V. So a .6V difference. When that weak cell reaches 3V you'll get a weak battery or check battery warning. Effectively won't fire, while in escribe cells 1 and 2 would still show ~3.6V.

42 minutes ago, u8myufo said:

Also where I have a blue and white wire in the middle of the connector, the one`s I have found have two white wires in the middle, could I assume that they will still be wired correctly if the block connector does fit the board?

I would say yes. You're showing me a four position JST-XH connector. I dont how the outer red and black were connected.

[u8myufo]

@Wayneo, ok thanks. The black and red wires were soldered directly on the board either side of the connector.

Edited December 14 by u8myufo

[Wayneo]

So depending on how much wire was left on the board and room in the enclosure, you can either solder to the board again or use a connector to match the battery connections. XT30 is a 30Amp connector and the XT60 is 60Amps, but there are many.

[u8myufo]

I nipped the wires of at halfway point, although I thisk soldering the new ones back on the board will be the best option as they need to be bent over when installing the battery back inside.