#4793650
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My father (JimFin) and I figured out how to integrate e-cig technology into the N-Filter and Ghost Trap props that we have built and there has been interest on making a tutorial so that others can do the same. Please keep in mind that we don't really have experience in making "tutorials" but will try our best to explain/show how it all works and what is needed to replicate it. We estimate cost for basic parts needed for a similar set up as shown is only about $50 and that once you have all the parts, it should be a fairly straight-forward process for adapting it into your own props. The trickiest part is the soldering the cartomizer, next would be splicing it to work with your existing sound board or setting up a manual trigger.

Here's a pic of the items that we use:
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Some more parts with a unit partially constructed:
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Part/source list:

KANGER "T2" Type eGo 2.4ml CC (Coil Changeable) Clear Cartomizer / Clearomizer
http://www.carolinavapes.com/KANGER-T2- ... p_178.html

3V Mini Oxygen Air Pump
http://www.ebay.com/itm/261248406245?ru ... 26_rdc%3D1

(Alternative/Larger Air Pump) 6V Micro Oxygen Air Pump
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331084944785?ru ... 26_rdc%3D1

Magic MGA5012HR-015 12V 0.14A 50mm x 15mm 6000 RPM 2-Pin Computer Fan X23
http://www.ebay.com/itm/400681994933?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

12V 13-LED Strobe Light
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131178478635?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Hobbywing 3A 5V 6V MAX 5A UBEC Lowest RF Noise RC Switch
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131143756446?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

May use various Rechargeable Lipo 11.1V Battery Packs. (We used a 11.1v 3S1P 1000mAH 20C Lipo Battery W/ JST Male Connector for my pack)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181337712689?ru ... 26_rdc%3D1

.25" Rubber Vacuum Cap (will require hole drilled to force fit tubing inside)
(can be found at auto part stores) http://www.autozone.com/autozone/access ... p/_/N-25v0

1/8 OD Nylon or Polyurethane Tubing

Standard positive and ground wires, wire connectors

Mueller Streamline 2 in. x 1-1/2 in. PVC Schedule 40 Pressure Spigot x Slip Bushing
(Home Depot: Serial #: 012871626753) http://www.homedepot.com/p/Mueller-Stre ... 2871626753

Glycerin (First Aid Skin Protectant)
http://shop.riteaid.com/Rite-Aid-Glycer ... 3gf2PldVMg

Chauvet Fog Fluid
http://www.amazon.com/Chauvet-FJ-Q-Fog- ... +fog+fluid


Here's a brief concept plan of how it works for this particular set up:

The Kanger T2 clear cartomizer coil of an e-cig has the center contact high-temp soldered to a 6v batter, the ground contact is high-temp soldered to the side of the cartomizer. For the Ghost Trap, the rechargeable 6v battery is then regulated by a Vellman timing switch so that the heating coil does not burn out (it may not even be necessary as we have been using 6v or less to the coil constantly with out apparent burn out). For my Proton Pack, the Mighty Micro-Controller sound board coding itself controls the duration/timing for the e-cig to be on and the 12v power supply is brought down to 6v with the UBEC switch; this is what prevents burn out for the pack set up. There is a 12v 2" 50mm fan installed in a short PVC bushing pipe that mounts perfectly into the N-Filter of the pack that produces airflow to push the vapor through N-Filter holes. A hole is drilled into the side of the PVC bushing that allows the cartomizer to be directly mounted so that the vapor can be injected; alternatively, a hose from the can be funneled from the end of the cartomizer and into the bushing hole if desired. A 12v LED strobe light is wired in parallel with the 12v fan, both of which are connected to a relay board that works off a "vent" signal from the sound board itself or when the vent toggle is triggered (GBFas Sound Board connected toggle switch). The cartomizer has a .25" rubber vacuum cap (found at Auto stores) that is attached to same center contact end that was soldered. Small 1/8 OD tubing is connected to the end vacuum cap and going to a 6v air pump (for fish tanks/medical devices, ect) that pushes air through the cartomizer. The air pump is attached in line to 6v UBEC switching regulator that is connected to the 12v Battery supply of the Proton Pack. The cartomizer uses a mix of 50% poly-glycol ("fog juice" or you can use plain water instead) and 50% food-grade glycerin (available at local pharmacies).

Results:
"Smoke" on demand that is safe, non-hazardous and can be used over and over again. This set up takes up very little space and requires only an occasional refill.

Notes:

Our set up bypasses the internal regulating circuit of a normal e-cig battery and we have found that it is capable of producing more vapor and for a duration of up to 10 seconds or more...it's difficult to tell the actual limitations due to the airflow. The UBEC switching regulator is only needed to allow the 12v Fan and 12v LED Strobe lights to be added to the set up if desired, otherwise using a 6v power supply will be sufficient. Keep in mind that airflow needs to be generated to push the vapor out and the strobe . The PVC bushing should fit into most hollowed-out N-Filters and can be secured in place by wrapping the bushing with tape; different pack shells may require some modification to install or use of a smaller diameter bushing. We also found that the cartomizer produces more vapor when it is mounted with the end pointed downward or at an angle.


Additional Pics that we will refer to in further comments to this tutorial...


Cartomizer (Note that soldering to the center contact and that there, one of the existing holes is drilled out a little larger and a trench made):
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1/8 tubing attached to the vacuum cap:
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PVC Bushing with fan and strobe attached:
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Updated Configuration:
Image
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Strobe connected to battery pack:
Image


All wired up and activated:
Image

E-Cig Fluid Mix and Refill:
Image
Image

Video:

Video of internal mechanics and e-vent (without strobe)


Video of e-vent effect (with strobe)


Video of Internal components connected and switched on
Chace, Gareee, jackdoud and 9 others liked this
#4793654
Holy crap! So happening on my next build
Ecto-1 fan, Chace liked this
#4793657
I've already posted this in the thread about my custom pack, but these guys did this in my custom as well with the GB Fans board.

I just got my hands back on it today and the video really doesn't even to it or the other props justice. The effect is amazing.



If you watch this clip and change the word "driving" to "operating"....then Ferris Bueller describes this vent kit best.

Tyrael liked this
#4793660
Wow - can we use some tutorial drawings?

I am highly interested in using this in my hero as an extra effect.... but need more drawings as I can't figure out how I would trigger this in a standard full GBFans pack set up....unless the wire was run to the main soundboard on PU4 (left hand side)?

I REALLY wanna do this lol
#4793667
Hoot wrote:Wow - can we use some tutorial drawings?

I am highly interested in using this in my hero as an extra effect.... but need more drawings as I can't figure out how I would trigger this in a standard full GBFans pack set up....unless the wire was run to the main soundboard on PU4 (left hand side)?

I REALLY wanna do this lol
Thanks for the suggestion; we'll work on a wiring diagram and upload it soon. It will show how to trigger the effect using the GBFans sound board as well as installing a kill-switch and a charging port for the 12v battery.

Both the kill-switch and charging port are installed on my XLR plate.
#4793676
If I attempt this I'm going to try to do a game pack style vent, I already have a way in mind.

Also, I saw the glycerine you use to make your fox fluid, I figure it's glycerine and water, but in what amounts? If I can jsut make my own fog juice I can avoid going to a smoke shop to get it.
#4793702
So awesome! Thanks! Will be a while till I'm at the point that I can integrate this into mine, but I'm looking forward to it!
#4793775
Wow, just... wow. The timing of the fog burst with the lights is just perfect. When I finally get round to building my pack, I think this is something that has to be included! :)
#4793784
Image

This schematic may be subject to change after I receive the new version of the sound and light boards I just preordered
from gbfans
you might notice that the vent wires from the board are going to normally closed contacts on the DPDT, the opposite of what I expected, this confused me until I read on the documentation page for the controller that the dip switches could reverse how the switch treated the signal;
By the time I figured this out I had already soldered and mounted the switch and didn't feel like redoing it

The Mighty controller utilizes all the components except the DPDT switch and relay. In their place is a readily available Arduino compatible switch relay "brick" that utilizes port 16 digital output to control the 12V to the rest of the components.

If anyone is interested I can do another schematic for this set up
Chace, NoodleMaps, jackdoud and 1 others liked this
#4793786
kurisu7885 wrote:If I attempt this I'm going to try to do a game pack style vent, I already have a way in mind.

Also, I saw the glycerine you use to make your fox fluid, I figure it's glycerine and water, but in what amounts? If I can jsut make my own fog juice I can avoid going to a smoke shop to get it.
The glycerin is available at any pharmacy, the bottle says it is for skin care but the pharmacist said it is the same as the the food grade glycerol recommended on ecig forums for making your on juice. It' really thick thus requiring 50/50 mix with water or poly-glycol another form of glycerin made for DJ fog machines which is what I'm using in my mix
Chace liked this
#4793789
BTW if anyone is wondering why I used a separate small battery, I tried at least on Chace's pack to run the circuit off of the main 12Vbut I think the amperage along with all the lights and sound was a bit much causing the 12V strobe to not light up. I have not experimented
on my son's pack if it could possibly use one of the main batteries. It has two 9800mAh blue bricks plus the small 1000mAh Li-ion
Chace liked this
#4793792
jimfin wrote:Image

This schematic may be subject to change after I receive the new version of the sound and light boards I just preordered
from gbfans
you might notice that the vent wires from the board are going to normally closed contacts on the DPDT, the opposite of what I expected, this confused me until I read on the documentation page for the controller that the dip switches could reverse how the switch treated the signal;
By the time I figured this out I had already soldered and mounted the switch and didn't feel like redoing it

The Mighty controller utilizes all the components except the DPDT switch and relay. In their place is a readily available Arduino compatible switch relay "brick" that utilizes port 16 digital output to control the 12V to the rest of the components.

If anyone is interested I can do another schematic for this set up

Thank you for the schematic. This is extremely valuable.
#4793794
jimfin wrote:
kurisu7885 wrote:If I attempt this I'm going to try to do a game pack style vent, I already have a way in mind.

Also, I saw the glycerine you use to make your fox fluid, I figure it's glycerine and water, but in what amounts? If I can jsut make my own fog juice I can avoid going to a smoke shop to get it.
The glycerin is available at any pharmacy, the bottle says it is for skin care but the pharmacist said it is the same as the the food grade glycerol recommended on ecig forums for making your on juice. It' really thick thus requiring 50/50 mix with water or poly-glycol another form of glycerin made for DJ fog machines which is what I'm using in my mix
Half and half ,simple enough.
#4793887
NoodleMaps wrote:Curious, is the cartotank easy to access or to you have to remove the shell to refill it?

the one in our pack is inside the shell next to the nfilter, look back near the beginning of this thread. I suppose a small project box, similar to the power adapter box seen in reference photos near the bottom of the alice frame, could be attached to the back of the motherboard and a suitable size airline routed through to the nfilter fan/strobe PVC adapter.
For us it only takes a minute to take the shell off, so I never thought to do it a different way
On Chase Ambrose's hybrid pack there was no Nfilter so I built one from scratch and the cartomizer is easily accessible from outside of the pack
BTW we went through 2 parades and 2 days of a comiccon and still had over half of the 2.5ml tank full of liquid, we did put a charging port and switch outside on the switchcraft plate since the battery will need recharging long before the juice will run out.
even larger cartomizer tanks are available than 2.5ml, but I haven't tried one out yet
#4794044
So I just can't figure this out even with the diagram.... are you taking the signal to vent from the GBFans board or off the line that plugs into it?

I am using a full GBFans kit with wand pack and sound so I am rather confused as to how to make it work :)
#4794050
Hoot wrote:So I just can't figure this out even with the diagram.... are you taking the signal to vent from the GBFans board or off the line that plugs into it?

I am using a full GBFans kit with wand pack and sound so I am rather confused as to how to make it work :)
The board I had access to did not use the light kit, the vent sound was triggered by a single pole switch on his custom hybrid gun
connected to PU4 as you asked about earlier. The DPDT switch replaced that switch. I've got all 3 of the new boards on order, so hopefully I'll be able to adapt the circuit more clearly after playing with them. Whatever switch you are currently using now to trigger the vent sound is where you would need to try to adapt this circuit, I'm assuming it's a push button on the ear from what I gather from the documentation on the gbfans for sale page. If the dip switch on the sound board for the vent is not inverted, then you could get by with a double pole single throw push button in its place. I am waiting for my boards to arrive to verify if there have been any changes to the new version board to allow for more automatic sequencing of the vent effect without manually flipping a switch or pushing a button
hope this helps, some real schematics on the gbfans boards would really help. I watched some youtube videos of these boards installed that dated 4 to 6 months ago and they were impressive, changing colors on the cyclotron led's among other effects, and flashing a strobe in the nfilter after an overheat/overload sequence
#4794119
So this may be a stupid question, but I can read a schematic for the life of me... any 'crude' drawings of the wiring set-up to share?
#4794137
Wiring simplified:

- Connect your battery pack (11.1v 2200mAH with charging port installed for this set up) to the toggle switch.
- The toggle switch is then connected to 12v fan and the 12v strobe LED running in parallel (LED mounted on the inside of the PVC bushing and glued on top of a small bit of wood attached to the center of the fan).
The toggle switch is also fed to the UBEC regulkator that reduces the voltage to 5v (can be switched to 6v by moving the jumper).
- The UBEC regulator is then wired out to the air pump and e-cig cartomizer.
- The cartomizer has the positive red wire carefully soldered to the center pin and the ground black wire is soldered on the outside with a grove cut to allow this wire to be soldered flat on it (see reference pics earlier in this thread). These wires are fed through the 2 existing air-holes with 1 made slight larger to accommodate the red wire more easily.
- CAUTION: When soldering the red wire to the center pin, DO NOT ALLOW solder to plug up the center hole. This procedure requires high heat to adhere the wire to the metal center pin; it helps to scrape off the coating and to use Flux wax to help the solder adhere.
- The vacuum plug fits snugly inside the K2 cartomizer end. The tubing is fed through small hole that allows for an air-tight seal and the other end of the tubing connects to the air pump.
- If connecting to a soundboard vent toggle switch, you will use a double pole, single throw (DPST) toggle and wire it to the existing leads from the red trigger switch seen in the pics above. If the soundboard you are using has a digitally coded low-level signal (4-5v) during the duration of the vent sequence, then you will need a relay brick (not shown here, converts low-level voltage to 12v) that can accept that signal and act as the trigger for the on/off switch.
- If desired, a manual "kill-switch" (not shown here) can be spliced onto the battery wires.


Notes:

If you connect the cartomizer directly to 11.1v supply, it will burn out the heating coil, the UBEC switch is essential to keep the voltage at 5v or 6v.
The cartomizer works best when pointed down or at and angle.
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