[WesleyPipes]

So my friends and I have been very interested in these electric hookahs. Did a little research and we have found the correct way to use electricity to heat the shisha.

A nichrome coil, with a temperature adjusting potentiometer, is used to heat the shisha to the perfect temperature.

The coil is placed above the shisha, in the same manner as a coal.

We havn't mounted this in anything, but I am thinking mounting it in an upside down bowl might be a good idea. This has to be plugged into a 120V electrical outlet. The cord has an on/off indicator and switch.

I'll be able to put some pictures up here soon.

So far she has been working superb.

Your thoughts on the design?

This post has been edited by WesleyPipes: 17 March 2008 - 12:59 AM

[Canon]

upside down bowl might make it hotter. if it works you have done something many have tried and all have failed

[WesleyPipes]

Ya, that is true. If that ends up happening you should be able to just turn it down a little.

We will see, but she already works pretty solid so the housing would just be for looks.

[Tikhman]

pictures man, pictures!

[WesleyPipes]

Pictures will be here Friday...sorry for the wait, but it will happen.

[mj_b90]

Once you get those pic's up get some schematics of that up! I wanna make one!! :-D

[Voski]

Upside down bowl would make it act as a wind cover which would cause to much heat. Go with no wind cover type thing so you can add heat if its not smoking.

[WesleyPipes]

That is true. Right now I'm just having a problem with finding an easy way to mount the coil to the bowl, while still allowing you to pack the bowl easily.

Schematics are very simple...but be careful if you're going to try and make once because you can easily shock yourself.

To make it, grab an electrical cord from something you don't need anymore. Strip both ends of the non-plug side. Attach one side to the middle lead of your potentiometer. Now attach your nichrome wire to the left lead of your potentiometer and the other side of the nichrome to the unused lead of the electrical cord...you're done.

But I did leave a few things out as I'm trying to be a little entrepreneur and sell a few of these things, so be careful if you're going to experiment and send me a PM if you would like to know some more.

This post has been edited by WesleyPipes: 18 March 2008 - 07:44 PM

[Voski]

I forget what they are called but you use them in chem labs. Its pretty much an elevated ring with 3 legs that you place over a burner so you can boil water and such. Maybe you can modify that so it fits above the bowl. Then you could place the coil on that?.

[Canon]

That is true. Right now I'm just having a problem with finding an easy way to mount the coil to the bowl, while still allowing you to pack the bowl easily.

Schematics are very simple...but be careful if you're going to try and make once because you can easily shock yourself.

To make it, grab an electrical cord from something you don't need anymore. Strip both ends of the non-plug side. Attach one side to the middle lead of your potentiometer. Now attach your nichrome wire to the left lead of your potentiometer and the other side of the nichrome to the unused lead of the electrical cord...you're done.

But I did leave a few things out as I'm trying to be a little entrepreneur and sell a few of these things, so be careful if you're going to experiment and send me a PM if you would like to know some more.

you can actually post the whole process, some of us (like me) are too lazy to build one and would rather buy one.

[WesleyPipes]

Once everything works perfectly, I'll tell the interested people the exact parts which were used.

This should also be battery capable, allowing you two run it off lithium double a batteries for 9.2 hours in theory, but we will see how it actually works out.

[SimplexCoda]

dude totally interested. are you considering using some sort of a vacum activated switch on it so that when you hit it starts to heat it?

[WesleyPipes]

Solid idea. We're just gonna leave the coil at 100-150 celsius so it should stay the same heat as a coal. I heard coals heat up as you hit them, but im thinking if you just set the coil to the temperature the coal would heat up to while it's hitting best, you will receive the best hit and there would be no chance of the shisha catching fire.

dude totally interested. are you considering using some sort of a vacum activated switch on it so that when you hit it starts to heat it?

[Bulldog_916]

Nine hours would be the equivalent of 2-3 smoke sessions for some of us. Hopefully rechargeable will make that easier. Cant wait to see how it turns out. Coal is still cheaper IMO, unless you find a way to plug it in or carry batteries everywhere you go...

[Alademuerte]

Pictures with a whole walkthrough, parts listed and all.... Or it never happened.

[WesleyPipes]

Pictures with a whole walkthrough, parts listed and all.... Or it never happened.

Hah...give me until Friday then you can check out some beast shit.

[Ninjalex]

Once I see pictures and see this working, put me on the list to buy one.

[Guinea_Pig]

hi, im new here...

Just had some thoughts on this as it seems interesting.

How about using a computer PSU to run the nichrome wire... i reckon you would need quite a bit of battery to keep it going for a long time and your average PSU will kick out 200W all day long no problem...

Another problem with using lithium is risking over discharging them... if they are rechargeable you kill the number of cycles they will hold a decent charge for quite rapidly... if they even take a charge at all after an over discharge...

Also a little googling leads me to believe that an AA lithium battery from energiser holds 2.9Ah so to last 9.2 hours the 2.9Ah lets for simplicities sake say 3Ah battery last again for ease 9hrs it would have to be supply a third of its capacity per hour to last the 9 hours... in other words 1A...

So what rubbish is this newbie gassing on about? well what im saying is that 3Volts * 1A = 3w...

I have had way too many beers so my calculations *may* be completely off.. im trying to remember school lol, in no way am i putting this idea down but i think the power supply is a little unrealistic...

um so hello... and dont think im a complete arse based on this post.. cus it was reading this thread that made me sign up in the first place!

[austinthecity]

my additions: (i have no idea how viable they are)

put the wire (heating element) inside the top of a tall windcover. people might say this would get too hot, but you could just have it at a lower temp than a normal coal.

have a default "plug in" heat of whatever a non-hitting coal it

run a wire along the outside of the hose with a button to toggle the "hitting" temp of a coal

that way, whenever you hit it, you press the button and it simulates a coal.

[WesleyPipes]

I'm not sure how a battery pack will actually work since I havn't tried it. Damn Canada shipping won't let my nichrome get here. But..12V/44 ohms = .272A

2.6A/.272A = 9.55 hours of battery life


And to hold the coil, I have one of those flip-top bowls on the way. I'm gonna try to mount it in the top and have the coil where a normal coal would sit.

So I figured the nichrome would be here already but it's not. When she's here, you guys will get instant pictures of it in action with a little cherry cola tobacco.