5v Electronic Cigarette Mod

A while back my friend and I got into electronic cigarettes. After looking at some of the ones on the market, we decided they were too expensive and decided to make our own.
Here's an example of one of our early attempts.

Most of the parts you see can be easily obtained through online vendors like http://www.ivape.net
More information on Box Mods can be found on http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/
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So I'm trying to build a 5v bottom feeder and cram it all into a 3xAA...
It's a tight squeeze as it is and I've run into a couple problems so far, but I think this can be done once I hammer out all the bugs.


First up, I did this:
I scavenged.




I debated on actually using the button part of the controller button, or just have the exposed circuit board be the button.
The switch can be really high resistance because of the mosfet, so it's possible to use your finger to bridge the two connections. After soldering I decided to just use the button to hide it. Plus it'll give you nice haptic feedback to let you know you're actually making a connection.




http://i.imgur.com/ACjWQ.jpg




http://i.imgur.com/UzyAl.jpg
Cut out the board sections with a boxknife




http://i.imgur.com/OZEiE.jpg
I need to drill a hole.




http://i.imgur.com/3Z8Jh.jpg


Need a drill bit small enough... I think .040" should work.


http://i.imgur.com/sxYnH.jpg


Nailed it.




http://i.imgur.com/XQCKe.jpg
Time to solder on the wires.
http://i.imgur.com/pq3BJ.jpg


Like a boss.


http://i.imgur.com/Ll92E.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/mzCOd.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/K37Tm.jpg


It should fit nicely and still allow room for an LED.




Vape - Imgur






http://i.imgur.com/V3cat.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/L3uVS.jpg


It worked awesome up until I glued everything in there permanently. I have no idea what fuxed up but I pulled it out and started over. It was all down hill from there and there was one problem after another with this box (broke a wire, broke an LED...)


http://i.imgur.com/lr9Do.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JJCti.jpg

I rebuilt it a couple times, making improvements each time (until I gave up on it)


http://i.imgur.com/tZ5bk.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/v9Lvq.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/LHVoC.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/BZSoT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/jr9b9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JnA7C.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/dvUsN.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0pmcf.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1UJUV.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ehTNz.jpg


so I decided to build another box from scratch (as a control):


http://i.imgur.com/5RVaP.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/yO43Y.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/47tDD.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/sIC92.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/DFP9z.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/mXsM6.jpg


I goofed a bit when I made this second one. I used the wrong resistor on the LED so it won't light up. I need 2.5v to the led so I basically have to get a resistor to cut the voltage in half.




I'm having some problems with this one too though.
Sometimes it only vapes for a second before cutting off. I have to flip the switch off/on before it'll work again.


Also unlike the first one, I have to actually touch the wires together, instead of just using my skin (or some other high resistance thing) to bridge the connection.


I used this wiring guide to make it:



So here we are, I have two 5v boxes that almost work and I can't figure out why...
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A few weeks later:
It turned out the regulators I was using were somehow damaged. As was the atomizer. The reg was overheating too easily and tripping the thermal protection circuit. The atomizer was way under what the ohm should have been and causing the regulator to shut off as well.
I got some new ones and made new boxes and they work fine now. I don't have any pictures of those at the moment. But I'll post up some later along with my 3.7v setup.

I hope someone on here finds it mildly interesting!

Please resize your images to a maximum of 800 X 800 Pixels - Norm