Mode Zero

These have a conventionally shaped lipo cell, same capacity, 500mA


Today I was given these by a friend, slightly fatter square body, these have a very useful 1500mAh cell,
two of these would power a transmitter for a very long time!




Here's a home-made PP3:

What a great idea from Phil, one of many, immediately after reading I phoned up a relative who vapes and next day acquired two vapes and four single cell chargers!
I tapped off the vape ends and removed the battery from each and found they are li-ion 2200 milliamps each. I charged them up individually using the single cell charger that came with them having altered and soldered on wires to the battery tabs. All went well so I decided to make up a 2S pack for my next conversion a Futaba M 4 channel, I’ll send photos when finished as slightly different from the norm. I digress the 2S has worked out very well so now I too will be pestering vaping persons for their offcasts.

I found a few since Christmas, while walking around the village. The larger cells are marked 1500mAh, and the smaller ones 500mAh or 550mAh. I've not actually measured their capacity, but they all were well over 3V when found, and the marked capacities seem to be in the right ballpark, given the amount of charge I put into them to bring them up to storage voltage (about 3.8V).

First one I've found of these alternate format 'square' type.
Inside it had a smaller-than-usual 360mAh cell, which should be a great fit in my Elf Discus-Launch-Glider.

The ones I have seen in that format, seem to use an aluminium extrusion, originally intended for 2 x 18650 cells.

The can be used to make tough 2S 18650 packs for FPV goggles.

The one I found (pictured above) must be a smaller version of that design - the extrusion is much too small to hold 18650 cells. It can take cells with a maximum diameter of 13.5 mm, and the extruded part is only 41 mm long.

The cheap cylindrical vapes that used to use 550mah cells are now quite often fitted with 360 or 400mah cells.

My RET brushless Hangar Rat certainly notices the difference!

The slightly longer "Lost Mary" vapes have a really handy 350mAh flat cell, ideal for a Multiplex Fox or Solius, or the smaller Lidl chuck-glider.
Probably good for indoor flying too. A pair of them make an easy PP3 though only 350mAh, still useful

Some bad news here in OZ, single use vapes are going to be banned by the government, making them illegal to sell. I have managed to scrounge up around 20 of the 1400mah cells, can make a few receiver packs both 2S and 2P/2S. Will have to find a few more of the 850mah cells, only have 2 x 2S packs, great for 2M RES gliders and small GG setups.

I've been throwing away everything except the battery until now, but I've recently watched some of GrandadIsAnOldMan's YouTube videos, where he's using the little sensor/switch module as a ten-second timer to restrict the flying time of a free flight plane (actually a flying car).

All the vapes have this little chip inside the tiny watch-battery shaped thing, usually at the opposite end of the vape to the mouthpiece. It times the maximum length of a 'puff' to about ten seconds, by cutting off the power to the heater after that time. There are three wires going into it: the red and black (usually) wires from the battery, and a third, usually blue, wire which is the switched positive output to the heater. I don't know how much current it can switch, but it's enough to run a small motor of the type you'd use on a free-flight plane. I suppose on a radio control plane, there's not much use for a ten-second timer?