Hacking the ZEX bottle warmer

http://www.zex.com/store/graphics/00000001/400-400-82006-001.jpg

Just a tip I remembered from having nitrous a few months ago.

For those who don't know it shuts off at a certain temperature then heats up a bit again when it cools down, always going back and forth never really heating the bottle.

On the pad there's an orange rubber block housing the wires and a relay of some sort. I took a sharp knife to the base and cut as if taking the whole thing off the pad, then paleantologisted my way to the wiring. I saw two little metal rectangle parts (thermometers) in series on a wire and cut them both off, then soldered the wires together completing the circuit. After that when I used the warmer and the bottle was half empty I could get the pressure from like 500psi to 1000psi in about 20 minutes.

You do of course have to be careful not to leave it turned on after turning the car off now because the bottle could explode.

so you say you don't like exploding bottles:confused:
























just j/k:wink:

I read your bottle warmer fix last night and decided to cut up my zex, since I'm also frustrated with how long it takes to get pressure. (Don't worry, I have an in-cabin pressure gauge and the bottle warmer is switched power with a big red light for when it's on.)

Anyway, if found two thermostats which look like this http://www.pepiusa.com/modc.html. You say you soldered the wires together, but which wires? From one thermo to the other or just the two wires that run to each thermo? There's not a lot of room to move in there. Any advice would be much appreciated.

You do of course have to be careful not to leave it turned on after turning the car off now because the bottle could explode.

:evillol:

Yeah, did you see the picture of the nissan where the warmer was hardwired straight to power, it was left on and the pressure relief valve failed? What an idiot. Of course, the pressure relief should give first.

Is that the one with the garage door thats completely destroyed? I wouldnt mess with that. If your pressure relief valve fails for whatever reason and you dont notice the pressure guage, you are dead. No question. Not something I'd mess with. NOS is illegal on the streets anyways, no? So when you go to the track, just remember to turn your heater on early. Unless you're shooting on the street, in which case.. sure cut the wire, better you die than someone you hit when you're racing.

Nitrous in cars is not illegal in CT. Also, I don't street race. I just merge quickly and like to pass with gusto.

Wow holy old post!

ridewhencan, all you are doing is taking the thermostats out completely and soldering the wires together that held them on. Here is a simple schematic:

Thermostat: [###]
Wire: -----

Here is how is came:
------[###]---[###]------

Cut out the thermostats:
------ ------

Connect the wires to complete the circuit:
---------------------------

Nitrous in cars is not illegal in CT. Also, I don't street race. I just merge quickly and like to pass with gusto.

Thats even worse than racing! So you're already at high speed on the highway, and you want to pass some lady in the slow lane so you hit your NOS? So let me get this straight - you're eliminating half of the safety features(temp sensor and the pressure release valve).. so you dont have to wait as long for your NOS tank to warm up? That is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. I can't believe you would actually consider doing this. And when your tank does explode killing all the people in the car, and your parents try to sue NOS or whomever made the blanket, they'll lose because you modified their product. Great idea. So now you only have one item that needs to fail for you to die, not to mention anyone else in your car or bystanders/other traffic. I wish I had the link to the picture of a guy's tank that exploded(while no one was in the car, thank god) because the pressure release valve failed. The car was completely demolished. This isn't something you want to fuck around with, I don't think anyone should put NOS on a street car to begin with. And if you're idiotic enough to cut out a safety mechanism on the blanket, you shouldn't have your driver's liscence.

a better fix would be to replace the original thermostats with ones that give u a bigger temp window, but will still protect you. But i admit they over do the safety on the stock thermostats

That is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. I can't believe you would actually consider doing this.

Take it easy, Jr., it's clear you are not understanding my set up or nitrous very well. But yes, you make a point about voiding warranties. However, unlike the idiot who blew up his car (yes, I saw the pictures) I did not hardwire my bottle heater directly to the battery. It is switched, which means when I turn the car off there's no power to the heater. Also, I have a nitrous pressure gauge on my console and the switch itself is a giant red light mofo. I can SEE the pressure when I flip the switch. I'm not about to "forget" that I turned the bottle heater on. Drag racers warm bottles with propane torches, for God's sake. Also, why would I eliminate the pressure relief valve?

The better suggestion is the higher rated thermostat, though it'd be hard to install in this application. It'd work better with a NOS heater.

If I couldn't moniter what was happening, I wouldn't consider the mod.

Well, from The Top 10 Nitrous Mistakes, comes:
1. Never heat a nitrous bottle with anything but an approved bottle heater with the proper safety features. If a nitrous bottle is overheated or heated too quickly, a catastrophic explosion can occur."

It's the "heated too quickly" that I didn't know about. Since I am about safety (two kids seats in the back, yo.) though I'm tempted, I'll pass. (Yes, that was a pun - look out grandma in the slow lane, here ah come.)

paleantologisted

....Classic.... :bigthumb:

It'd work better with a NOS heater.
Nope, NX heaters are the best because they heat to a user-selected psi setting. The ZEX warmer heats to a factory-set temperature, which is hardly enough to even warm the outside of the bottle. ZEX warmers suck unless you do my trick, but you shouldn't leave it on for too long because it does get very toasty.

Nope

What I was saying was that the thermostat switch would work best with NOS since they are not buried in all that rubber and are easily reached. NX system is the best but cost 2x as much. After I decided not to do the trick I decided to go ahead and give it a try. Unfortunately (fortunately?) I pulled one of the wires all the way out from the relay and then just cut that little bitch to pieces. (Zex heater sucks.) I may just go down to the priceclub and get a 12v seat warmer, wrap it around the bottle and see what happens.

And kids, don't forget to turn your shitz off when you get home.

http://www.saturnspeed.com/images/nos_exp/rearend.jpg

Gotcha.
btw, NOS is a name brand, the gas is called nitrous oxide.

ya it really bugs me when people call it NOS, shows true ignorance. It wouldnt be hard at all to solder in more leaniant thermostats, just order the right ones from radio shack and pick up the 7 dollar soldering iron they have there.

Who is calling nitrous "NOS?"

"pass some lady in the slow lane so you hit your NOS?" - Duplox

"NOS is illegal on the streets anyways" - Duplox

only ones i can find in this thread but its countless how many times i have heard of n2o adressed at NOS. But its besides the point, i was just makin a comment

i was just makin a comment

No offense intended. Yeah, it was pretty clear Duplox didn't know what he was talking about.

Anyway, here's what I did. My old zex bottle warmer looked like this.
http://www.glassbraus.com/bottle.JPG
It is a clean set up with the installation only requiring connecting a red wire to the power switch and a black wire to the ground. However, these wires run to a rubber block, which contain the thermostats and a small relay. The thermostats are located well inside the block, which sits on top of the pad. I don't know why but with the zex heater, the pad never seemed to get more than warm and it would take an hour for pressure to rise.

Here's my new NOS.
http://www.glassbraus.com/heater.JPG
Obviously the install is not as clean and requires some wiring but I am greatly encouraged by the fact that the thermostats (connected to green wires) rest on the bottle itself. Also, power runs straight from the battery to the relay (orange wire.) After turning it on for less than a minute the heater was hot to the touch. :biggrin: It too hot outside to see how well it works but for my money, I'd take the NOS over the zex anyday.

looks, uhhh, functional haha, actually i like the setup i would have maybe tried to organize the wires so they hide under the bottle but i understand heat rises and that makes it challenging i am making a fiberglass casing for an n2o bottle should look sweet but we'll see

Have you ever said 'write it down on a Post-It' or 'xerox it for me'... there are other brands besides Post-It and Xerox. But these are the brands that popularized the item, so their name gets directly associated with the type of product. I wouldn't say NOS if it hadn't been popularized in the same sort of way. Did you know what I was talking about? Yes. If it annoys you, tough shit. I don't say "NOS" when I'm actually speaking about nitrous. Its no shorter than saying nitrous. but nitrous is a lot longer to type than NOS, and its easier to type than N20(plus I dont know how to make a subscript 2, so it doesn't look right anyways).
And I dont know what I'm talking about? Removing a safety feature on something as dangerous as nitrous is idiotic. If you bought a shitty bottle heater, deal with it. You made the mistake. Either live with the slow heating time or buy a good heater. But that is just my opinion, and after all, I have no idea what I'm talking about, right?

By the way, ricewhenyoucan, do you live in CT? I do as well.. Go to the pike often?

ya my pops is a patent lawyer i think when that happens the trademark becomes public domain and they loose their protection on it. Maybe we can all sabatoge NOS by calling all nitrous that so thye loose their trademark and all the popular reputation that is with it and thus all the business with people who are buying n2o after watching 2f2f where they throw around 'NOS' all day. And yes we know what you are talking about but it would be the same way as if i said 'i seed him do it' do you know what i am saying? Yes. Do I sound uneducated? YES. thats all i ment by it calling something by its proper name shows u know what u are talking about

If you think I'm uneducated, thats fine by me. I just find it somewhat ironic that I'm being called uneducated because I used the inaccurate terminology for nitrous when trying to convince people not to remove the safety features on such a dangerous substance.

nah i got your back on that one i think the way they are going about changing it is wrong too, and if u want to call it NOS go ahead, i just told u the way it comes off to people here that know their stuff

looks, uhhh, functional haha, actually i like the setup i would have maybe tried to organize the wires so they hide under the bottle but i understand heat rises and that makes it challenging i am making a fiberglass casing for an n2o bottle should look sweet but we'll see

You're right. I could clean that up a lot by putting the relay in the wheel well and I might rotate the thermostats to the bottom or the side. It does look a bit of a rat's nest.

ya good call then it will look a lot cleaner