ZNA Full Body 18650 Mod with converted DNA 40 chip

So a few weeks back I came across this ZNA which was a Full Body 18650 version, something I'd been wanting to get my hands on for a long time.

I had had the other ZNA clone which was 18500 but then an extra tube to 18650 but it didn't match the body.

This is where I bought the 18650 ZNA full body mod:
$61.25 ZNA zna50 Mechanical Mod - Silver(18650)



It arrived fast from them and it was nice, good quality and actually lighter than the other ZNA I had had

I had searched around and found a bit about the maker and the chip, had to laugh at what they said about the chip;
VV/VW model zna 50 50w MOD 1:1 clone mod cloupor zna50 mod clone wholesale zna50, View zna 50, zna 50 Product Details from Shenzhen Kangxin Technology Co., Ltd. on Alibaba.com



I knew what my plan was, stick in an Evolv DNA 40 Temp control board.
But first thing first play around with it as it was.

Having no testing gear it was me using my taste, looking at the vapour production and seeing what was what.
I know exactly what kind of vape I get from my DNA 30 mods with my tanks.
Also looking at the screen seeing what it does
First few days it was vaping good, not a huge difference in vape, hitting fine at 15W with a 1.4 ohm coil

Then I started to look at the display, soon seeing how crap this chip was.
Not the best pictures but you can see with differences in the battery life it wasn't giving the amount of Volts to the atty, it was dropping....not good:



So this should be a 50W chip, let's throw the Atlantis on it, see what it does, this is what it did:


0.5 ohm coil, 50 W pulling in 2.4 V, let's say i didn't hold that fire button too long.

Finally my Evolv DNA 40 board arrived, so I set about getting my tools together to strip this bad boy apart.
Now I had been reading all of the vaping net about people who had done a change of boards, also asked plenty of qurestquestionsver no one had done it in this version of ZNA clone.

I knew there was going to be 3 wires to solder, and also the back plate was going to be a bugger to get off.
Also remember I had zero experience in soldering a DNA board, and actually hadn't had a soldering iron in my hand for maybe 20 years or so since I was younger..and that was just for radio controlled cars, not circuit boards

Ok, the striped out ZNA, the back plate was hard, but nice and slowly, taking time, with a knife I got it out just fine, then unsoldered the board:



Basically, the 3 wires were;
Red to the battery positive
White to the atty
and then one more wire which was soldered to the body of the ZNA which basically acts as the OUT negative

So the thing with the ZNA is it uses the onboard button on the DNA chip as the buttons, Fire Up Down
There is no room to play, they must match the buttons from the body to the board nothing is wired button wise
Guess what? This Chinese clone and chip wasn't the same size, it was longer, wider and the fire button on the board was higher up on the chip.
The Up and Down buttons did match though.
So what did that mean, well the Fire metal button on the ZNA which needed to make contact when pushed to the onboard button of the DNA 40 chip wasn't long enough.
It needed to be extended some how.
See the pencil marks of where it needed to be extended:



I found a nice thin piece of metal which I cut to the correct length, then super glued it to the on in the mod.
I did a few test glues with metals and super glue was the strongest and worked fine

Also the DNA 40 board needed to be lifted of the body more, and also padded on left and right sides of the ZNA to sit tight, it's can't just sit there alone.

I padded it out with some cardboard from my Rose box, got it so it was right for the DNA board.
After which I replaced that with some thin pieces of plastic the same size.

Then it was a case of wire it all up.
I wired up the body wire to the board first, then the atty wire, i had removed the atty plate from the wire to re solder last as that was right at the top of the mod so it wasn't an easy solder if the chip was already fitted.
Then placed back the chip into the mod, soldered the body wire to the body, then the battery positive to the chip, then finally soldered the atty plate wire ontop.

I got myself busy and forgot to take any more pictures...
Until it was done that is.
The back plate of the mod had to be skimmed a lot so it didn't push down on the chip making the Up and Down buttons not work, I just used a sharp knife to skim it a lot till it fitted and the buttons worked great.

I popped in the battery, and hoped it would work
And it did, worked just fine, I damaged a little part of the back plate while I was taking it out and in to get it to sit right, not too much damage, but you have to be careful with it, it breaks off real easy.

Here it is;
ZNA clone FULL body 18650 with Evolve DNA 40 Temperature chip in it:



I have yet to vape with the Temp setting as I don't have the Ni 200 wire yet, so I will update with that as soon as I do with a few pics too.

So far it works great, took a lot of doing.
I started it Sunday, and finished it midnight last night, but I was doing it on and off while working and home stuff.

Tools used and needed, a hell of a lot..lol..

I'd actually like to do it again, as now I've done it I feel so proud.
This is one mod I won't be selling, when vaping with it you have this smile on your face knowing you'd made that happen...

Cheers all for reading, ask any questions
V

 

Well I wanted this finished thing before saying about it, although I had been keeping pattsvape in track with it all via PM, needed someone to vent with...

The 18500 ones yes, a lot easier, I read a lot about them but this one is different in size and made differently...

First thoughts when I found out the fire button was too short and the board was just floating around was that it couldn't be done, but a few UK friends on a vaping site geared me up to sort it, and I'd actually already started to plan how to do it at the same time

Well it is full body 18650 ZNA, great quality and with the DNA 40 board in it this is a thing of beauty for sure.

It's definitely worth the price of the clone and sticking a DNA 40 in it, it's a good first project for someone, but you do need tools and time to get it all right.

I'd say go for it...and if it's too much send it to me to do for a small price

 

Congrats V, well done! Sounds like it was a difficult job but worth it in the end.

Did you get another DNA40 chip or is this the original one that didn't work in the rDNA30?

 

For sure, once they start being available on sites to buy i will get one and do the same...

 

Got myself a new one from a UK site, Evolv are dragging their feet with the returns, they said by the end of this week they'll send mine back....It's ok, as that will go in my Zero mod.....

 

I think i'll wait for FT, I know where i am with them, read nothing but bad things about that other site...

 

Here is the ZNA 40 with it's first Temp built coil.....


Need to get used to building these coils as they are a bit different to build, and also different with the temp over watts setting to find your right vape spot...

 

Shit mate that was fast.
How was the change over?
I would guess easier than mine due to it being 18500...