DICODES No6

After very successful 2380 and Extreme tube mods the Dicodes enhanced its offer with box mods: DANI Box and DICODES No6. Are they so good as predecessors? Let's see at the example of the DICODES No6...

1. The FINISH.

It's just PERFECT (again). The body is made with high quality anodised aluminum. The head and bottom plates are made of solid stainless steel:

So the mod is VERY solid but at the same time INCREDIBLY ergonomic. Despite the 26650 battery bay No6 lies very well in the hand (right hand) - as I remember I haven't used yet such ergonomic mod, even the VaporFlask was not so good.

 

Mod is equipped with three buttons for menu operation and firing. FIRE button is very reliable - it works 100/100.

 

 

At the top we have quite big and easy readable OLED display and spring loaded 510 socket with center pin made of copper beryllium: 

 

 

Bottom:

 

Battery bay has quite long thread, so there is no problem with longer/shorter batteries.


2. FEATURES.

* power: 5-60 W,
* coil resistance: 0,05-5 ohm,
* temp. control: 120-280 *C (250-540F),
* adjustable TCR coefficient,
* 10 boost modes,
* 10 heater protection modes,
* battery: 1x 26650,
* dimensions: ~ 80x55x30 mm.

In my opinion it is more than enough for 95% of vapers.

It's a good moment to mention about menu. At first sight it looks complicated [1]:

 

But it is very well thought and perfectly optimized. You will learn it in 1-2 days.
NOTE for Dicodes tube mods users: two additional buttons makes menu navigation MUCH easier!


3. VW MODE.

Measurements were done on real 0.25 ohm coil and Tektronix TPS2012 oscilloscope:

 

 

Voltage is ROCK STABLE and very smooth - just PERFECT. The same with efficiency - power setting accuracy is ideal: you get exactly what you set.


4. TC MODE.

Ni200 first:

 

TC regulation is at REFERENCE level - soft rising edges, with no peaks and modulation. We can see again how the temperature control should look like. ONLY DNA200 may keep pace.

Now SS316. No6 has predefined "inox" mode for ss316 but I decided to test the manual TCR settings. So I set the TCR=110 and fired ss316 coil:

 

 

As we can see when the wick gets dry we have about 1 second voltage dip, then voltage rises a little. In my opinion it is caused by low TCR value for ss316: big changes of temperatures coused only slight changes of resistance so the regulation is quite difficult. Anyway, after that what I saw during the tests of other mods I can say: it is VERY GOOD.

 

5. COMBINED MODES.

5.1. Heater protection mode.
The heater protection mode is periodic interruption of the power applied to the coil. The duration and the repetition rate of the interrupts is predefined as shown in table below [1]:

 

According to the manufacturer: the repeated power interrupts helps to avoid a break in liquid flow and thus an increase in temperature. Hmm, if I need a modulation I will buy Vamo :-)

5.2. Power boost mode.
YEAH!!! The power boost mode enables an initial (or PERIODIC) short term boost pulse with different length and repetition rate. The types of power boost are shown in table below [1]:

 

The first three are quite common (used in SXmini, ProVari, The Eye, etc.) - it is initial boost with different length [1]:

 

But the next 7 are the periodic [1]:

 

 

Higher power pulses are applied cyclically at defined time intervals. As I know at this moment No6 is the only mod with such feature! RESPECT!


6. BATTERY.
 

How long can we vape using 26650 battery? Using the No6 counter feature I compared the number of puffs and pure vaping time on 26650 and 18650 batteries. The test was done at power 20W:
* 18650 (LG HG2) - 579 puffs, 22 minutes,
* 26650 (green Efest 40A) - 947 puffs, 34 minutes.

Half time longer - NICE.

 

7. DRAWBACKS.

 

After a month of intensive use I noticed ... one :-) display on top plate. Especially in case of RDA which leaks through airhole the liquid drips on the screen and it needs to be cleaned often.

The second issue: No6 is asymetrical and it is tailored to the right-handed person. But it is only my opinion - I know few left-handed people who are also very satisfied with No6 ergonomy.

 

8. CONCLUSION.

Electrically: HIGH-END, one of the best mod on the market.
Finish and Ergonomy: PERFECT (especially for right-handed).
Competition: the only natural competitor - ProVari Radius - stays far behind...

I highly recommend it!

References:

[1] Dicodes No6 Manual.

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VaporShark DNA200 vs Wismec Reuleaux RX200 TC

There are more and more powerful mods with expensive dna200 chip on the one hand and a budget ones on the others. Is it worth to pay 3-5 times more for dna200 mods? Let's have a look at VaporShark DNA200 for around 200$ vs Wismec Reuleaux RX200 for around 40$...

1. The FINISH.

It's just PERFECT in both mods. The Wismec is made out of stainless steel and lies well in the hand. The battery flap is hold on solid magnets and there is no way to move it during regular use. The VaporShark is made out of aluminum, but then is more complex: finish starts with a black anodization process, followed by black paint and then a light rubberized coating completes the finish. And ... IT WORKS! The coat is quite difficult to scratch (even at the 510 head) and is very pleasant to the touch. Anyway, in both mods everything is very well fitted, including buttons - they are well-fixed.

510 socket without complaint in both cases:

With spring loaded center pin all the atomizers I used worked with no problems.

If we look at the Wismec display:

we can see:
* battery status,
* power,
* coil resistance,
* temperature setting,
* type of wire.

In VaporShark the display is at the bottom of mod and at first sight it looks typical for Evolv chip:

but IT IS CUSTOMIZABLE in dedicated Escribe software - so we have a lot of parameters to show:

 
Wow!

Both mods are ergonomic when in use, the Wismec even better (it perfectly lies in the hand) BUT the Wismec has one disadvantage: the WEIGHT - around 300g with battery installed (no atomizer), so it is definitely NOT for outside. The VaporShark weighs around 170g.

The comparison with other mods:

2. FEATURES.

- power: 200W,
- resistance range for VW mode: 0.1-3.5 ohm / 0.03-3 ohm(*),
- resistance range for TC mode: 0.05-1.0 ohm / 0.03-3 ohm(*),
- temperature range: 100-300*C (200-600 F),
- battery: 3x18650 / 3S LiPo 10 Wh,
- size: 50x40x84 mm / 48x24x89 mm.
* - according to the manual dna200 starts from 0.01 ohm but I do not recommend it.

The VaporShark is powered by 11V | 900mAh | 10Wh LiPo battery with quite easy access to replace:

 under the flap with magnet and latch.

In Wismec we have 3x18650 battery bay with spring loaded negative pins:

Polarity is clearly identified and battery exchange is quick and quite easy. 

You may easily guess that difference in battery operation time will be HUGE between these mods (more on that later).

Both mods have microUSB slot for battery charging and firmware update. Additionally the VaporShark is FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE by use of Escribe software - and it is significant advantage over every other mods (not only rx200). At this moment there is absolutely no competition for Escribe.

NOTE - I do not recommend using the internal battery charger in Wismec (more on that later).


3. VOLTAGE SHAPE and EFFICIENCY.

Measurements were carried out by use of real atomizer with coil resistance 0.26-0.33 ohm:

Velocity with dual AWG22 coils.

And the results:

We can see several things:
1. Voltage of the dna200 is ROCK STABLE. It is nothing unusual - it is DNA :-)

2. RX voltage flows a little - if we expand the timebase:

we will see slow oscillations with around 0.5V amplitude - of course it is nothing terrible and unnoticeable during vaping.

3. With dna200 we get exactly what we set up to 70W - the differences in wattage are below 1%. Then the differences get bigger - up to 8%. But it is still VERY GOOD - remember: at 200W we get around 30A in coils.

4. RX has a bigger differences between set and obtained wattage - could reach even 15%. Of course having so much power we can easy compensate it (setting a higher wattage) but it is worth to keep in mind.


4. TEMPERATURE CONTROL

Setup was made as regular coil with Ni200 wire, ~0.1 ohm, 30W and 250*C, the oscilloscope was set for longer acquisition time and go...

 

As we can see for the Dna200 temperature control is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. After the preheat pulse (setting in the Escribe software) we get very smooth regulation with no modulation and oscillations - there is only one mod with such good regulation: Dicodes.
TC for RX200 looks worse but not so bad, especially when the wick is wet. Only when wick is almost dry the strong modulation appears.

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Resistance wires and TC

How it works, and how we can trick the mods?

All materials have a temperature coefficient. In case of metal wires it describes the relative change of a resistance that is associated with a given change in temperature. It means how the coil resistance changes when it is heating up. Just as all materials have a certain specific resistance (at 20* C), they also change resistance according to temperature by certain amounts. For pure metals, this coefficient is a positive number, meaning that resistance increases with increasing temperature. For the carbon, silicon, and germanium, etc. this coefficient is a negative number, meaning that resistance decreases with increasing temperature. For some metal alloys, the temperature coefficient of resistance is very close to zero, meaning that the resistance hardly changes at all with variations in temperature. Generally the resistance values for conductors at any temperature other than the standard temperature (reference temperature, usually specified at 20 Celsius) may be determined through the formula:

The “alpha” (α) constant is known as the temperature coefficient of resistance, and symbolizes the resistance change factor per degree of temperature change.

Within our interest surely are the most popular "temperature" wires:
* Ni200 - temp. coeff. 0.006,
* Titan - temp. coeff. 0.0035,
* Nife30 - temp. coeff. 0.0032,

Let's go to the practice.

For better understanding of above formula I created a chart showing how the resistance changes with increasing temperature of the coil:

And now, how is it used in TC mods?

Let's say we have the 0.1 ohm (measured at 20*C) coil of Ni200 and set the temperature 200*C. How the mod will work?
a) it fires the voltage, and
b) measures the coil resistance (all the time),
c) when the resistance will reach 0.208 ohm mod "knows" that the temperature of coil is 200*C,
d) if resistance exceeds the 0.208ohm the temperature is higher, so the voltage must be reduced to reduce the power (and of course temeperature).

That's it.

How to use other wires with mods dedicated for Ni200?

Much of the TC mods can work only with Ni200 wires. What is happening if we try to use Ti or NiFe wire on it? Let's look at the figure:

As we can see Ti and NiFe resistance steep less than Ni200. So 0.208 ohm means 200*C in case of Ni200 but for Ti it corresponds to 330*C and 360*C for NiFe wire. So the wire other than Ni200 will burn out immediately or at best will burn our mouth.
But we can trick the mod :-) Let's see at Ti in the above figure again... We have to check what resistance corresponds to 200*C for Ti wire? It is about 0.160 ohm. Then we need to find what temperature corresponds to 0.160 ohm in case of Ni200 wire? It is about 120*C. So in order to reach 200*C using Ti wire on mod dedicated for Ni200 wires we have to set 120*C.
Of course such conversion may be a little uncomfortable, so I prepared the ready to use table with temperatures of our interest:

How to use it?

Let's say we have SnowWolf mod (Ni200 only) and want to use Ti wire at 220*C. So we have to find 220 in first row (the red one) and get down to the Titan row - YES: if you want to wape at 220*C with Titan wire on Ni200 dedicated mod you should set 165*C.

Regards :-)

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Eleaf iStick TC40W

Cheap solution for the start of TC adventure.

1. The FINISH.

Plastic fantastic :-) Typicall at this price (about 30$), however everything is well-fitted with no looses and mod lies well in the hand. And thanks to the plastic finish it is very light. The 510 head is quite decent:

with plus pin on the spring - so each tested atomizer worked with no any problems.
Next to the head we have attached necklace hole. On the bottom:

 

we have only microUSB socket.

The display:

is typicall DNA20-style, with the battery, resistance, voltage and power indication. In TC mode the themperture is shown instead of wattage.


2. FEATURES.

* Output Power: 40W
* Coil Resistance:
- 0.05 - 1.0 ohm in TC mode
- 0.15 - 3.5 ohm in VW mode
* Temperature control: 200 - 600F (100-315 *C)
* Built-in battery capacity: 2600 mAh
* pass-through feature,
* dimensions: 22x36x77 mm.

For the beginners is enough...
The menu is very simple, with additional middle button for mode selection.

NOTE - iStick40 has no wattage regulation in TC mode. Why? Because in this mode the temparature has the PRIORITY - independently of preset wattage mod primarily check the  temperature, and control the voltage so as to ensure that the temp. limit is not undershot. Between us most other TC mods work in a similar way - yes, we can set e.g. 140W in Snow Wolf but so what if mod after half second will have to drastically pull off the power to maintain the temperature?
So do not worry too much about it because generally it works, and the cloud is regulated by changing the temperature limit.


3. VOLTAGE SHAPE.

Measurements were done in my typical test set-up with 1 ohm microcoil on MutationX atomizer and Tektronix TPS2012 oscilloscope.

It is quite well. Although there are some oscillations it is unnoticeable during regular wape.


4. EFFICIENCY.

Having the setup with 1 ohm coil we can also check if we get what we set. Below I compared:
* theoretical voltage what should be on the coil for a given power (calculated according to the P=U^2/R formula),
* real voltage MEASURED on the atomizer pins by use of multimeter.

No comment... Everything is perfect, mod as usual adds a little more voltage than is needed ;-).


5. TEMPERATURE CONTROL

Is VERY WELL - described here. 


6. DRAWBACKS

1. The 510 head is designed so as to leave a gap below the atomizer. In my opinion it is less than half a millimeter and it is hard to see, however it is... One theory is that they did it to avoid scratching the beautifully chromed surface during mounting the atomizer.

2. "Lightness" of the mod. So, when using large and heavy atomizers center of gravity is very high and mod easily falls. 


7. SUMMARY
What can be in case of mod with reasonable power, sub-ohm handling and VERY GOOD temperature control for 30$?
For the start of adventure with TC buy without hesitation!

What I LIKED?
* VERY GOOD temperature control,
* ergonomics,
* 0.05 ohm.

What I DISLIKED?
* built-in battery,
* a bit too plastic.

With others:

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