Vype teardown and two ways to refill.

The quality of this unit took me by surprise. I initially thought it might be a generic mass produced item, but a lot of though seems to have gone into the design of the Vype pen in terms of aesthetics, controls, circuitry and the slightly devious cartridge system that seems to have had a bit of thought put into making it hard to refill yourself. For the majority of users in the intended market that's not an issue, as they will just by cartridges as they would have traditionally bought cigarettes. But to people like us it's an intriguing challenge. Much like the early days of refilling inkjet cartridges.

The scale of this product is perhaps hinted at by the oval lithium cell. I guess it's been spiral wound round a flat shaft to create the shape. I wonder if it's a standard shape of cell the case has been designed around or if it's a custom cell. Either way it fits a decent capacity into a stylish form.

The active components are quite elusive. I've not worked out what the processor is yet.

On the control PCB there is a three pin component marked 432 (shunt regulator/reference?)
and a processor marked:-
BT001
745GD
2724B063
ARM

On the power PCB there is:-
A PS63020 buck/boost regulator
2 3-pin components marked R15
1 small 3-pin component marked MA

The charge control and monitoring PCB has:-
5-pin LPS 887W1 (presumably a lithium charge controller)
3-pin 431 (shunt regulator/voltage reference?)
3-pin 1HC
3-pin WS07

The heater coils seem to have a resistance of about 2-3 ohms.

The whole thing is surprisingly well designed. It appears to be an attempt by the tobacco companies to keep their foothold in the nicotine addiction industry by making a high quality vaping device and then making their money from the refill cartridges.

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