THE CELLS
The kind of cell batteries used by the ROVER R-1 MUSOTOKU battery pack, for both RCA tattoo machines and 3.5mm Cheyenne machines, are standard. It’s a kind of Li-ion cell that can be purchased elsewhere and it’s typically used for vapers. They are really powerful, made for delivering a big current injection while ensuring that the machine, the battery pack or consumer safe from suffering any danger.
The cells are 1400mAh each, with an INR18350 flat-top format. But, what does it mean? The kind of battery it is: 18mm diameter, 35mm height and flat upper and lower sides. This is the only shape that fits with the ROVER R-1 battery pack, made to work perfectly with your tattoo machines.
You can find this kind of battery in other brands in different shops, not only Vapcell (the one we are using), but also Amazon, Aliexpress, free market or even vaper shops.
Li-ion batteries suffer from aging effect. Any Li-ion cell will last between 200 and 300 full charges, and from that point the capacity will be reduced with each new recharge. This means that the cell has been depleted and you need to buy a new one. That’s the reason why we didn’t package the Li-ion cell inside the battery pack: our philosophy is that it must last forever, just like our MACHETE power supplies.
THE NITRO
The NITRO mode is always active. This profile we are using in the ROVER R-1 MUSOTOKU battery pack is very respectful with your brushless tattoo machines. It does not harm your machine, by no means, and it is always on to ensure that we are having enough power to unlock any tattoo machine, so that it does not get stucked or blocked.
In order to make the choice of leaving the NITRO mode configurable by the user, we made an experiment. We put two machines in parallel, starting up and running for 10 seconds, then stopping and starting again the cycle. We measured the time spent in starting up, the power consumption and the temperature. After 1 hour each machine started up 360 times non-stop.
The first thing we appreciated was that the machine with the NITRO kick-start would spend less time in starting up. Eventually, this leaded to a less power consumption, since starting up event is the moment in which the machine demands more power. All in all, the machine without the kick-start was 3º warmer than the machine with the NITRO activated.
This was the definite proof that the machine with NITRO would last longer and healthier.
THE POWER BAR SENSOR
We can see it on the bottom of the display of the MUSOTOKU battery pack. It indicates consumption: it says how much power the tattoo machine is demanding in real time. And so, it will help us know how much the cell will last.
To understand the concept better, as we can see in the video, imagine that it is like the car consumption readout that can be seen on the dashboard.
What makes a car consume more fuel? Three things:
- The speed: a car running faster will consume more fuel
- The load we put on the car: a car heavy loaded will consume more fuel
- The gradient of the road: a car running uphill will consume more fuel
The same goes to your tattoo machine:
- The higher the speed of the motor (voltage in your tattoo machine), the higher the power needed
- The harder the cartridge, the higher the power demanded
- The harder the skin and the pressure exerted on the body, the higher the power
If the fuel consumption of a car is high, then the tank will empty faster. Likewise, if the power demanded by the machine is high, the cell will empty faster too.
Other useful application is that it can tell if anything is going wrong with your tattoo machine. The power bar sensor will become of an indicator of normality for you. If it happens that you feel something different in your tattoo machine with your standard setup, you can rely on the power sensor bar to see what’s the power consumption.
BATTERY DURATION
The final idea is: the battery lasts a maximum of 7 hours when the power sensor bar is at 4 marks. But if your machine demands more power than this (more power sensor marks), then the cell will last proportionally less time.
But that’s not a problem! You can recharge a fully depleted cell in 1.5h, and the most demanding machine won’t dry a cell in such a little time, so you can work without worrying about duration. And, of course, you have unlimited cells, and so, unlimited hours of continuous tattooing, without the need of having to recharge while tattooing.