Sony VTC5 Alternative

[acrosstheveil]

I am just getting into mech mods and I find I like building coils around .2 ohms. I have been told not to go below .2 ohm with a sony vtc battery (not sure which one i have). Looking at ohms law, it seems I should be able to go down to .14 ohms with a 30 amp continuous discharge. correct me if I'm wrong. The safe battery megathread says its unsafe under .4 ohms which doesn't really make sense to me. Can someone please enlighten me on this?


what are other batteries I can use that are actually in stock? Every place i've looked it is impossible to find the good sony batteries.

 

[Shynobi]

Take a look at some XTAR VTC4s, which are pretty much just Sony VTC4s rebranded. You can also find VTC4s on eBay for a decent price, the only thing is to make sure its authentic. VTC4s are considerably cheaper to buy right now than the VTC5s and the only difference really is the VTC5 has more mAh. 2600(?) mAh for the VTC5 and 2100 for the VTC4.

 

[acrosstheveil]

cool, i'll pick up a couple of those in the meantime until something better comes on the market.

 

[fused2explode]

MXJO batteries are supposed to be rated at 35A continuous, 60A pulse. Whether these are rebranded / rewrapped cells remains to be seen

 

[Topwater Elvis]

Alternatives are

Orbtronic sx30 2100mah 30a CDR.
Sony VTC4 2100mah 30a CDR.
Xtar 2100mah 30a CDR - re wrapped vtc4.

The reason most folks don't recommend going super low sub ohm is to leave headroom / safety cushion.
Bump a coil, have a screw come loose & resistance can change, then there is the accuracy of what you use to measure resistance and fake / re wrapped fictitiously rated marketing hype batteries to consider.

Smart / safe sub ohm vaper leave x / % amps under the CDR of the battery for safety reasons.

 

[Chowderhead1972]

MXJO batteries are supposed to be rated at 35A continuous, 60A pulse. Whether these are rebranded / rewrapped cells remains to be seen

I have 2 of those on the way from Amazon can't wait to compare them to vtc5s.

 

[Ryedan]

MXJO batteries are supposed to be rated at 35A continuous, 60A pulse. Whether these are rebranded / rewrapped cells remains to be seen

I had a look at these the other day. The MXJO website doesn't say whether the 35A number is continuous or pulse. These guys say 35A is pulse and the continuous is 20A. I've seen that at other websites too. I don't think anyone makes a 35A continuous battery right now.

 

[Ryedan]

I am just getting into mech mods and I find I like building coils around .2 ohms. I have been told not to go below .2 ohm with a sony vtc battery (not sure which one i have). Looking at ohms law, it seems I should be able to go down to .14 ohms with a 30 amp continuous discharge. correct me if I'm wrong. The safe battery megathread says its unsafe under .4 ohms which doesn't really make sense to me. Can someone please enlighten me on this?

what are other batteries I can use that are actually in stock? Every place i've looked it is impossible to find the good sony batteries.

Yup, 30 amp draw happens at 0.14 ohms. One of the problems is that your ohm meter is not completely accurate. If it's really 0.09 ohms the draw would be 47A. Also if you have a partial short the resistance will go down. I try not to go under 0.2 ohms with 30A batteries.

I had a look at Battery Junction, Illumination Supply, Orbtroninc and RTD Vapor. NOne of them had any 30A batteries in stock. I think the Sony's will be back in a few months, but who knows how long that could take. You can get Samsung 25R and LG HE2 from Illumination Supply for around $8 a pop. The down side is they are 20A max. I have a few of these for my daily vapes and try to keep them from going under around 0.3 ohms.

It sucks right now, but it is what it is.

 

[acrosstheveil]

i guess i shouldn't go down below .25 ohms with those 20 amp continous batteries. Most of my builds right now are around .3 but I like it much better when I get it around .2. I ordered some omega sabertooth wire 22 guage which should allow me to do that easily. I guess my sony vtc3 should handle that but will probably have to charge them a lot.

it's crazy how dirty contacts can effect the performance. I seem to have to clean my mod at least every 2 days in order to avoid huge performance drop. Any recommendations on a good cleaner that won't leave green corrosion when it dries? I've been soaking in a vinegar for a few minutes then rinsing with isopropyl alcohol. I've heard soaking it for a couple hours in vinegar works well. Any suggestions? Any other cheaper solvents I can use rather that isopropyl? Kinda pricey since I clean all my mod/attys with it . going through a bottle every couple days now.


acetone, paint thinner? Anything cheap that won't leave a residue is what I'm guessing is ideal.

 

[supertrunker]

deoxit gold. Use it on your contacts and batteries.

T

 

[Ryedan]

I came across these 30A SX30 in another thread a little while ago. I'm pretty sure they are VTC4's. Orbtronic is a known good supplier so I would not have any issues buying from them. They are button top so they will be a mm or two longer than flat tops. I don't know of any mech mods that can't handle this, but that doesn't mean there are none that will have a problem with it.

 

[Ryedan]

it's crazy how dirty contacts can effect the performance. I seem to have to clean my mod at least every 2 days in order to avoid huge performance drop. Any recommendations on a good cleaner that won't leave green corrosion when it dries? I've been soaking in a vinegar for a few minutes then rinsing with isopropyl alcohol. I've heard soaking it for a couple hours in vinegar works well. Any suggestions? Any other cheaper solvents I can use rather that isopropyl? Kinda pricey since I clean all my mod/attys with it . going through a bottle every couple days now.

acetone, paint thinner? Anything cheap that won't leave a residue is what I'm guessing is ideal.

Most of my mech mods are SS with a couple of aluminum in the mix. At worst, I clean them monthly. My 2 year old K100 used to go two months easy between cleanings when I was using it all the time.

IMO it doesn't matter so much what you use to clean them with, the important thing is to get all the contact surfaces really clean. I use any alcohol I have on hand as the first pass with paper towels. Then I put on my magnifier and have a good look at things. Brass switch surfaces that develop a dark discoloration get rubbed with SS mesh. It doesn't have to go back to clean brass, but if you're not removing any of that stain, the cleaning isn't not going to last long. If that doesn't do it, I use 1000 sandpaper on them very gently. You do not want to take off any of the brass, just what is on the surface. In my experience those are the hardest surfaces to clean well.

I tried using Noalox and found it didn't work too well for me. Now I leave these surfaces dry.

 

[acrosstheveil]

is there a particular type of ss mesh i should get? going to the hardware store tomorrow, wanna make sure I get the right stuff. I ordered some of those orbtronic batteries. Look very similar to VTC4s

 

[Ryedan]

is there a particular type of ss mesh i should get? going to the hardware store tomorrow, wanna make sure I get the right stuff. I ordered some of those orbtronic batteries. Look very similar to VTC4s

I use a piece of 400 mesh from my supply of Genisis wick mesh I have from a year ago. You might be able to get a 2" x 2" piece of that for a couple of bucks from a few different vape shops. I really don't think a hardware store is going to have SS mesh, but if they do, anything from 200 to 500 is good and you'll need a very small amount. It lasts practically forever.

For sandpaper, if you decide you want to try it, remember to use it very gently. This is the stuff I've used.

 

[a wandering soul]

PVTSO IMR 18650, 1600mAh Battery, Button Top

its a new brand so there are people waiting on results on them...

i got some as a prize so i wasn't out anything to try them, but would definitely buy more in the future. pretty happy w/ them.

 

[nyiddle]

As far as I know, I don't think a 35 A (or more) battery exists. You guys do realize how much power 35A is, right?

I'd be very wary about just getting some re-wrapped other batteries. In fact, if I were to buy the PVTSO or Orbtronix, I'd scoop an extra one to take the wrapping off (if you have the technical expertise), just to find out whether or not they're just re-wrapped VTC4's (which seems to be the trend these days).

ie: My Efests are re-wrapped LG's, and were sold from a VERY reputable vendor.

 

[jdake3265]

MXJO batteries are supposed to be rated at 35A continuous, 60A pulse. Whether these are rebranded / rewrapped cells remains to be seen

mxjo is a great battery, but they are 35A pulse 20A cont., i contacted the manufacturer. They are great though.

 

[kickflipsnnollies]

I'd be very wary about just getting some re-wrapped other batteries. In fact, if I were to buy the PVTSO or Orbtronix, I'd scoop an extra one to take the wrapping off (if you have the technical expertise), just to find out whether or not they're just re-wrapped VTC4's (which seems to be the trend these days).

ie: My Efests are re-wrapped LG's, and were sold from a VERY reputable vendor.

Your mistake was buying Efest batteries. I'm pretty new to vaping but I've read a million times that Efest only reqraps cells. You could contact Efest directly and get the same thing. The trick is knowing what cell is wrapped in what wrapper.

To be fair, I also own an Efest 2000 mAh 18650. I plan on buying another handful of 30a purple Efests, but I'm gonna buy them from a B&M so I can look and see what the cell says.

 

[caged]

I think LG makes some 35 amp batteries that are very similar to the Sony VTC5, at least on paper. I personally was not impressed with the two VTC5s I own. They drain much more quickly than the Efest "35 amp" or the Samsung 20 amp.

EDIT: Never mind. It seems the LG 35 amp batteries are what Efest rebrands as their 35 amp battery that is actually 20 amp continuous discharge.

 

[supertrunker]

Orbie SX30s are VTC4's. I've seen one unwrapped. I use them all the time and have never had a problem with them. I run the button top ones and have about 12 of them in rotation for my Reos and Dibi.

My wife uses the Orbie 2900PDs which are re-wrapped Panasonics, cos her coils are higher Ω than mine. I also have a couple of the new Xtar VTC4's and those are fine too - but they are a bit longer than regular flat-tops i see. Mine again are button tops and work fine.

So the good news is that there are still reputable 30A batteries out there, and i mean 30A constant discharge; not some seller flight of fancy pulse rating.

T