Totally Wicked – Experimental Engineering

I’ve been a vaper now for many years, after giving up the evil weed that is tobacco. Here’s my latest acquisition in the vaping world, the JoyeTech eVIC 60W. This one is branded by Totally Wicked as the Forza VT60.

Under the battery a pair of screws hold the electronics in the main cast alloy casing.

After removing the screws, the entire internal assembly comes out of the case, here’s the top of the PCB with the large OLED display in the centre.

On the right side of the board is the USB jack for charging & firmware updates. The adjustment buttons are also at this end.

On the left side of the board is the main output connector & the fire button. Unlike many eCigs I’ve torn down before, the wiring in this one is very beefy – it has to be to handle the high currents used with some atomizers – up to 10A.

Removing the board from the battery holder shows the main power circuitry & MCU. The aluminium heatsink is thermally bonded to the switching MOSFETs, a pair under each end. The switching inductor is under the gap in the centre of the heatsink.

A close up of the heatsink shows the very slim inductor under the heatsink.

The main MCU in this unit has a very strange part number, which I’ve been unable to find information on, but it’s probably 8081 based.

This is just a few notes on the repair of an eCig battery (1Ah Tornado).

These batteries seem to have a flaw in which they will randomly stop working, while still displaying all the normal activity of the battery.
Here is what I have found.

Here the battery has been partially disassembled, with the control circuitry exposed here at the end of the unit. All the wiring here is fine & the electronics themselves are also OK, due to the LEDs still operating as normal when the button is pushed. The 1000mAh Li-Poly cell is to the right.

Here the end cap has been removed from the opposite end of the battery & the problem is found: the short wire here is the GND return for the atomiser, normally connected to the negative terminal of the battery in the tube, however here it has broken off.
This is most likely due to either the cell moving inside the tube during normal operation, weakening the solder joint, or simply a bad solder job from the factory. (This lead-free ROHS bullshit is to blame).

Here the wire has been successfully soldered back on to the battery tab. I have also added a small dab of hot glue to hold the battery in place on the inside of the tube, & replaced the solder on the joints with real 60/40 leaded solder. £15 saved.

Tag: Totally Wicked

Totally Wicked Forza / JoyeTech eVIC 60W Teardown

Tornado eCig Battery Repair