New BB Owner

[rippolaris]

Hi all, just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the info in this sub forum, it's been so useful to a new BB owner.

I aquired a 2nd hand SXK BB (non DNA, but came with a load of RBAs, including a vapeshell) and when it arrived I could see what I thought was remains of a juice spill are around the bottom of the battery compartment and duly cleaned it up.
After a couple of days use, the controls started getting a bit wacky, and google led me here so I ended up opening her up properly.
It was a little juicy inside the board compartment and around the negative contact, and in the process of cleaning up I ended up knackering the screen ribbon connector.
So, I've now got a DNA40 board and screen (it was cheap so I won't cry too much if I bugger it and it'll be enough power for me I think) and am planning to swap the boards after I've done a bit of soldering practice!
All the threads about this in here have given me the confidence to give it a go.

 

[Martvb60]

Welcome @rippolaris although i have a couple of BB's i have not messed around with them too much but there are people here who have and do namely @domejunky and @Vapaneezer Scrooge that i know of for definite and i am sure there are more so if you have any questions you are in the right place to ask. This is a very helpful group and there are no stupid questions so anything you are unsure of don't be afraid to ask.

 

[Vapaneezer Scrooge]

Hi all, just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the info in this sub forum, it's been so useful to a new BB owner.

I aquired a 2nd hand SXK BB (non DNA, but came with a load of RBAs, including a vapeshell) and when it arrived I could see what I thought was remains of a juice spill are around the bottom of the battery compartment and duly cleaned it up.
After a couple of days use, the controls started getting a bit wacky, and google led me here so I ended up opening her up properly.
It was a little juicy inside the board compartment and around the negative contact, and in the process of cleaning up I ended up knackering the screen ribbon connector.
So, I've now got a DNA40 board and screen (it was cheap so I won't cry too much if I bugger it and it'll be enough power for me I think) and am planning to swap the boards after I've done a bit of soldering practice!
All the threads about this in here have given me the confidence to give it a go.

Welcome to the Billet Box section, it's worth the effort to fix it for sure, any reason you went fr the DNA 40 and not the 60? or was it the cost?

I have recently swapped the board and screen on one and the big thing I regret not doing was sealing the connector pin, history will repeat itself and juice will get into your nice new DNA board, I have now got to get some sealant and unsolder to seal it, would have been seconds if I had done it while I stripped the old board out.

You might find my swapping over exploits useful, https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/.../replacing-sxk-to-dna-60-board-advice.176290/
I have not seen a DNA40 board but it looks pretty similar for the wiring, here's the data sheet if you haven't already got it:

https://downloads.evolvapor.com/dna40.pdf

@domejunky was very helpful and I'll bet he's done a DNA40 if you get stuck.

But in the meantime get yourself some sealant like I should have done.

Good luck and shout if you need help.

 

[rippolaris]

Thanks for the welcomes!

@Vapaneezer Scrooge thanks for the wiring diagrams, that and your own thread cleared up any doubts I had.
I picked up the mod and the board before xmas, but had to sideline the project until now
In the mean time, I picked up a few spare boro tanks on the slow boat from the far East.

I'm sure there's a thread on here saying someone had dropped a DNA40 into a BB, so went for a DNA40 was cremedevape were selling them on ebay for £20 at the time!
I have no faith at all in my soldering skills, so the prospect of trashing a more expensive board didn't appeal at the time.
The wiring all makes sense, and I have all the tools but soldering is one of those art forms that's always eluded me!
I have a history of turning things into a charred mess on past attempts, so I've been practicing with some junk PCBs and wiring before I go near something I actually care about!

Thanks for the tip on sealing the positive pin. Would some food safe RTV silicone do the trick? I saw @domejunky mention "LS50"? in the thread about sealing the connector, but don't seem to be able to google anything up for that.

 

[domejunky]

Thanks for the welcomes!

@Vapaneezer Scrooge thanks for the wiring diagrams, that and your own thread cleared up any doubts I had.
I picked up the mod and the board before xmas, but had to sideline the project until now
In the mean time, I picked up a few spare boro tanks on the slow boat from the far East.

I'm sure there's a thread on here saying someone had dropped a DNA40 into a BB, so went for a DNA40 was cremedevape were selling them on ebay for £20 at the time!
I have no faith at all in my soldering skills, so the prospect of trashing a more expensive board didn't appeal at the time.
The wiring all makes sense, and I have all the tools but soldering is one of those art forms that's always eluded me!
I have a history of turning things into a charred mess on past attempts, so I've been practicing with some junk PCBs and wiring before I go near something I actually care about!

Thanks for the tip on sealing the positive pin. Would some food safe RTV silicone do the trick? I saw @domejunky mention "LS50"? in the thread about sealing the connector, but don't seem to be able to google anything up for that.

Don't know where LS50 came from - should have been LS-X

https://www.screwfix.com/p/fernox-l...VCpztCh2m5gIDEAQYASABEgIuk_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

With soldering, you want a reasonably fine tip, and a temperature controlled iron is a must in my opinion - decent rosin cored solder will make things happen at a lower temperature.

There are some good tutorials on YouTube - check out 'EEVblog'

 

[rippolaris]

Don't know where LS50 came from - should have been LS-X

https://www.screwfix.com/p/fernox-l...VCpztCh2m5gIDEAQYASABEgIuk_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

With soldering, you want a reasonably fine tip, and a temperature controlled iron is a must in my opinion - decent rosin cored solder will make things happen at a lower temperature.

There are some good tutorials on YouTube - check out 'EEVblog'

Perfect, cheers.
If it's tried and trusted by your good self on your many BB fixes, I'll go with the LS- X.
That stuff you linked has the advantage of being in a nice little tube rather than weilding a sealant gun!

I've got a little better at soldering with practice and youtube, it's that feeling that you want to be able to have *some* kind of confidence in your skills before you go for the real thing, if you know what I mean?! This is one of those things you can get wrong quite quickly!

The iron is non temp controlled, it's an little Antex 18 (or 25W, can't recall off the top of my head) I got ~20 years ago and has only really been used for the odd wire/LED bodge. It probably just gets REALLY hot (probs initially too hot for stuff this small?), but has no stability at all and takes forever to recover?
Not sure if that's really holding me back or lack of skill, I imagine someone who know's what they're doing could probably do a reasonable job with it!
I could pick up a cheap (<£50?) station if that's really going to make life much easier, it'll get used for stuff other than this, I'm always tinkering with all kinds of stuff, and am usually at least passably handy lol. Any excuse for MORE tools!

Anyway, this is getting more about soldering technique than vaping related!
I'll have a nose round EEVBlog, seems like it has the basic info I need, and there looks to be some half decent adjustable stations to be had quite reasonably.
What do folks on here use out of interest?

 

[Vapaneezer Scrooge]

Best way to practice soldering is buy some cheap kits from Amazon, that's how I honed my skills, but to be fair soldering the DNA is a lot easier than the kits, you might struggle on the larger wires with your existing iron but it's doable with a bit of cussing and throwing stuff, main thing is a fine point tip and don't try to force it or hold it in place too long as you could damage the board or components.

That said, it's one of the easiest soldering jobs I've done, I have a soldering station for heavy duty work but a cheapo temp controlled iron from Amazon did the job better.

Take note on tinning wires when you watch tutorials, makes life easier, some flux came in handy also for a couple of wires.

But you're doing the right thing practising, I remember my early soldering efforts, it clicks into place once you've soldered a few things.

 

[domejunky]

Perfect, cheers.
If it's tried and trusted by your good self on your many BB fixes, I'll go with the LS- X.
That stuff you linked has the advantage of being in a nice little tube rather than weilding a sealant gun!

I've got a little better at soldering with practice and youtube, it's that feeling that you want to be able to have *some* kind of confidence in your skills before you go for the real thing, if you know what I mean?! This is one of those things you can get wrong quite quickly!

The iron is non temp controlled, it's an little Antex 18 (or 25W, can't recall off the top of my head) I got ~20 years ago and has only really been used for the odd wire/LED bodge. It probably just gets REALLY hot (probs initially too hot for stuff this small?), but has no stability at all and takes forever to recover?
Not sure if that's really holding me back or lack of skill, I imagine someone who know's what they're doing could probably do a reasonable job with it!
I could pick up a cheap (<£50?) station if that's really going to make life much easier, it'll get used for stuff other than this, I'm always tinkering with all kinds of stuff, and am usually at least passably handy lol. Any excuse for MORE tools!

Anyway, this is getting more about soldering technique than vaping related!
I'll have a nose round EEVBlog, seems like it has the basic info I need, and there looks to be some half decent adjustable stations to be had quite reasonably.
What do folks on here use out of interest?

These are great soldering irons:

https://m.reichelt.com/gb/en/digita...JpIas4AIV7Z3tCh1HLQ5xEAQYASABEgJw5_D_BwE&&r=1


I thought I was pretty shit at soldering until I got a decent iron - I've had a few of the cheap Antecs, also had a temp control iron that fell off the back of a planetarium - but it was a pretty crappy analogue one from maplin. When I got the Xytronic all the fear disappeared

 

[Vapaneezer Scrooge]

That's similar to my main soldering iron, but it's an Liddl jobbie which has been a right tw@ finding replacement tips (screw in) and only comes with beefy ones, shame as it's nice and fast on bigger jobs.

My birthday next week so I might lay down some strong hints on this one as it takes the same style tips as my cheapo one.