Gus"Hosting a WebSite on a Disposable Vape"
https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/
Truly, we live in an age of absurdly wasteful wonders.
(Although the vapes aren't running Android. Yet.)
Space-G@projectgus I don't know a lot about electronics and circuit design... Do you have any insight into why a simple rechargeable vape would need a microcontroller at all?
Like, I have the impression that a dedicated battery dealing IC connected to the power lines of the USB connector should work and be cheaper, but again, I don't know much. It just feels overkill for that
@spaceg It's a very good question! I think the large 8-pin IC on the right is probably for battery charge management.
I'm not that familiar with vape technology, but my understanding is you need a timer so you're not powering the heating element for too long at once (and with long enough gaps in between). I think thats what the generic black epoxy Vape ICs implement, and probably what they've used the micro for.
You don't need a whole microcontroller with 3KB of RAM to do that, but if its as cheap as the simpler alternative then I suppose there's no reason not to...
Matteꙮ Italia@projectgus @spaceg the fun part is that someone (IIRC in the linked reddit thread) noticed that if you disconnect the battery and reconnect it, it resets the counter, so it's not like it's even stored in EEPROM or anything 😄 . The most incredible part to me, though, is that it seems like that chip is ~$ 0.08, so I guess we are in the realm where it's not like you can save much money by mounting anything simpler? The biggest cost is probably the lithium battery, I think.