Rapty's Vapo LS mod by Johann

[johann]

Yes Good point there Walt about the soft solder, do you mean the plumbing type solder?

One thing I do these days to improve subcooling a little is the heatshrink on the last part of the ss before the evap, most of captube is coiled in that area and it pulls it nice an tigth there.

This unit is tuned and ready, Im really happy with the way its running, compressor temps is good, pressures and temps good also so I wont dissasemble now for the soldering of captube.

Lastly, you ask about the accumulator, its not a filter its only an empty shell that privides a little volume there that is really needed because the suctionline is shortish and the captube a few inches shorter than usual. I can give little more refrigerant there without too much worry about liquid return. I have frost all the way back to the end of the accumulator on idle and if it was not there I would have had liquid returning. The bit of wrapped captubing around the accumulator also helps with evaporation there.

Too all the rest of comments, always appreciated

[wdrzal]

I think you mean the suction line accumulator?

A suction line accumulator has a J tube with a orifice in it to return oil, they are mounted vertically.

That looks like a filter/dryer to me.


yes low temp plumbing solder 50/50 lead/tin even that you can't use that mix for plumbing anymore, it will work great for this application.

[johann]

A suction line accumulator has a J tube with a orifice in it to return oil, they are mounted vertically.

That looks like a filter/dryer to me.


yes low temp plumbing solder 50/50 lead/tin even that you can't use that mix for plumbing anymore, it will work great for this application.

Walt, the accumulator is empty inside so in essence I large diameter tube not a suction accumulator

[pazza316]

@Dimas you have PM !!! Sorry mate I missed your message!

[Nosfer@tu]

Johann.

will you post temp just like you did ,where I qouted you in #13 ?

Or is that a inacruate way of explaining?

[johann]

I will when it is completely finished but I never test this vapo before mods. I believe it will be same as all other standard vapo's.

[rapty]

Thanks Johan for posting the progress of the Mod Ill message you when Im ready for the Unit

[jinu117]

Actually Walt, there are things called spun suction line accumulator. Not as controllered as typical one but they WERE used by major company like GE. (well GE stopped using them thus impossible to find good sized one in US... Parker used to make them and still have it on their website ... only problem was... they didn't want to make it even for hundreds I asked ... :P)

[Gray Mole]

That's really strange Jin, I can buy 'em here with no problem. They're cheap and plentiful.

It's just 90% of them are just hollow, which isn't really ideal.

If you get the slightly oversize 1/2" ones though, you can insert the 3/8" tubes to opposite ends, which makes the 'swirl' a little more effective.

The same can be done with a piece of 7/8" tubing though it's not quite as pretty, the accumulator is hidden under insulation and it's no less effective as a premade one, possibly more if it's just a hollow can.

Nice mod Johann btw I'm interested in the performance with that condensor as it just doesn't look like it 'should' have the same capacity, but it's been working well for those who use it.

If you could measure the subcooling using it, and low speed fans, both idle and load, it would be very interesting and informative

Oh, and I split up a mach condensor for a desuperheater for Melted's new unit, and they actually rifle the pipes on those too but the performance is still just 'ok' (not his unit, but mach/vapo condensors in general ) Seems like it's the whole 'package' on a condensor, fin density, pipe layout, the works that makes a condensor work well.

Gray

[dominick32]

Can anyone tell me how to start this unit up with the chillcontroll connected.

Mods before I simply replaced the cooling unit and sent it back but this time I asked Rapty to include the chillcontrol so I can test the machine propperly.

At the moment I have the two wires from the unit connected as per the manual. LCD and the second one.

When I give power to the unit the LCD comes on "Vapochill Ligthspeed by Asetek inc" When i press the power button for "longer than a second" as the manual say nothing happens, LCD remains the same.

I have the molex connected and but dont have the USB connected because Rapty did not send the cable.

How do I get it to start cooling?

First off, you need to jumper the actual PSU to make sure it is running and supplying voltage to the chillcontrol board. Than jump the chill control unit which should trigger startup on the Vapo.

With the powersupply turned off, you will not have the juice to start up the vapo.
EDIT* Why did you delete your last post?

[johann]

I figured it out so was no real need. Thanks

[rapty]

Any updates on loads Johann

[KarenM]

Very very nice Johann, I am proud to say that the guy build and mod that stunning units, is MINE!!! Nicely done!!

[johann]

Very very nice Johann, I am proud to say that the guy build and mod that stunning units, is MINE!!! Nicely done!!

My Fiance ....

Anyways I have completed a series of load testing with my nice new variable cartridge heater Load tester with thanks to Jinu117 who made it.

1st of all, The temps from this tester cannot be compared to temps from previous load tests. This one seems to be hotter as its built in a more efficient way, across the board around 2-3c hotter than my old one.

At first the temps on lower (150w) does nto seem impressive, its around 2-3c less than other NL11F units of mine but as I said before, this machine was set up to handle load, I loose 2or3c around the 150w mark but give this machine some serious load and it becmoes seriously impressive.

I was amazed, around the 150w-200w load mark this machine EATS load. I decided to go for 225w and the the max i can give the tester which is 237w and it stil EATS load.

This temps is constantly holding load, not a few minutes, at least 30 minutes at a time

Heres the shots:

Idling on the tester:



150w:



185w:



200w:



237w:

[LittleDevil]

Nice temps for sure Show us complete unit.

thanks

[Raja@ASUS]

Nice work bro', as always. I see Karen made it online too, now that's unique, a couple on the same forum and thread. Welcome to XS karen...

[Tekdemon]

lol you changed almost everything...I don't know if that counts as a mod or simply a build

[johann]

hehe for sure, from the outside it looks like a vapo LS still

Here is a few of the last pics I took, I dont have the panels for it so its just some shots of the open unit.

On Idle I see around -66c on the vapo display, sometimes just jumps to -69c. The Vapo chillcontroll on this one is about 6c colder on idle but reasonbaly accurate below -50c and below -40c pretty much the same temp as my meter. Not as bad as Mach controllers for sure.

Idle temp without the head attached to load tester on vapo LCD and my thermometer

[Nosfer@tu]

You have 2 pictures at almost the same wattage.

209 watt and 217 watts

Think you are missing 150Watt load

[johann]

Sorry I did not explain, that is voltage on the multimeter not wattage. The Heat cartridge has a resistance of 237 Ohms.

You can see the variable transformer on the background

[Nosfer@tu]

Nice work.

Now blow somthing up and throw the temps at us

EDIT:
Love your pre tempreture testing
Gives a REALLY god view of your work


taken from Mouawad's Vapo LS Modded by Johann


"125w -25c
150w -20c
185w -14c

I have to say I was not impressed with the performance of the stock LS atall.

Results after Mods:

125w -47c
150w -44c
185w -40c"

Just to make it more easy to see
150w -40.5c
185w -36.6c
200w -35.0c
237w -24.6c

[johann]

Just to make it more easy to see
150w -40.5c
185w -36.6c
200w -35.0c
237w -24.6c

Sure but temps cannot be compared to above unit, I used a resistor load tester there which seemed to loose more heat along the way.

[rapty]

Why is Mouwads Insulation cleaner Johann

[pazza316]

Rapty you need to compare the set ups of the suction and flex lines on both units before stating one is cleaner than another. I have modded over 30 LS in my time and each one is slightly different. In this case they are very different. One is a Dimas Head the other is not one uses large bore flex hose the other does not and finally and most importantly one uses an accumalator the other does not. You are therefore comparing two totally different things.

The accumalator especially is hard to insualte as it is not the same size as insulation available so you have to fabricate your own if you wish to fit it in the limited dimensions of the vapo case. I use those accumalators regularly its not an easy job. I think the insulation job done here is good work as is the rest of the unit.

I believe the performance of the unit to be equal to any custom builder on here using straight R402a refrigerant and Nl11F including myself. You should be greatful for what a great unit Johann has produced. I see no reference to excellent unit Johann here!

[johann]

It is true what Pazza316 say, its quite hard to insulate that setup mostly due to Flexline all the way instead of solid copper until case exit.

The advantage of having a the line this way is that it is more versatile and can be pulled up or pushed back sligthly to make an easier fit on the socket since the new flexline is less flexible than the stock line and the evap assembly is alot bigger.

Another reason why Mouawad's may look cleaner is the drier position and the fact that the drier is polished. This machines drier sits behind the insulation hence no point in me trying to get in there with sandpaper and brasso.

I actually thougth the insulation job was great, next time just pop me a PM if there is something you are not happy about then I will do what I can.

In the end there is sidepanels on this machine so personally insulation looks did not come up as the 1st priority.

1st priority for me was spending a week tuning/adjusting/leaktesting this machine to produce the temps it delivers reliably while keeping the appearance good and neat.

If you want the insulation job redone then I will try my best to do it to your liking.