This is a blog post with basic information about different box mod types being released and a basics of battery circuits. First though, I will stress if you are using a Mechanical mod of any sort or a 100watt plus regulated mod of any type to invest in 30amp Continuous Discharge Rate batteries for these devices for safety. This is general information I am entering into one post so I am not always having to retype them over and over, instead just link to them. Pre-warning, I am not a definitive expert on battery safety, or any other field, just this is information I have gathered and picked up from posts here on ECF, my own searches and research, shaded a bit with my own opinion and level of comfort with how safe I wish to be, which is a bit conservative toward more safety than caution to the wind.
Most box mods on the market currently, Mechanical and Regulated are coming in Single battery config, dual battery series, or dual battery parallel configuration, there are a couple triple battery mods coming out that I am glancing and researching over only mildly, but they will follow these three basic circuits, single, series, or parallel. Remember as batteries age from charging and discharging, they lose Milliamp Hours and C Rating, both of these figures determine maximum CDR the battery can handle, either one lowers, the Max CDR decreases as well, and many suggest, including myself, never ask a battery to supply more than 50% to 75% of its max CDR all the time, for 6 even 18months down the road that battery that was 20amp CDR could only produce 10amps CDR, 30amp CDR could be max 15amps at this age. You'll notice the battery is aged due to it will not hold a charge as long as it used to, this represents physical output of the Mah rating, and the battery will get warmer under heavy load than it used to when brand new, so keep this in mind.
Remember with multi-battery devices, batteries for them should be bought together, marked as a set, charged, and used together, or married together, this makes sure the batteries have the same wear and tear, are balanced, and equal at all times for safety, that way one battery does not under perform the other and put excessive stress on either, ever stress a battery bad things happen, doesn't matter if it is a pairing of 2 batteries, a triple pairing, or even quadruple pairing, keep the batteries equal.
***Keeping basic Logs of batteries helps here, date bought, brand and model, CDR of them, Mah Rating of each, label number to keep track of them, even date of first charge after buying, as well as if stored for future use, date of last charge and charge state they were stored in helps, when storing batteries, store them between 3.4 to 3.6volts, periodically check batteries with a volt meter at a full charge, this helps show their age as well, 4.2v charge should be 4.2, not 4.0***
Single battery - This is pretty simple, we have been running these for a very, very long time. In a mechanical the battery gives output of what it still has in charge at that moment, where most regulated variable voltage or wattage devices can throttle this output higher or lower that charge level. 2 principles of this configuration are the most basic, on a mechanical you use an Ohm's Law calculator or formula to determine your final output using 4.2volts (fresh charge) and your coil resistance (Ohm's) to determine your Amperage and Wattage output, ie a 0.5ohm Dual coil dripper, using 4.2v in a calculator along with 0.5ohms we get 8.4amps and 35.28watts output to understand how safe our CDR drain will be on our battery, or using a 0.25ohm dual coil, we get 16.8amps and 70.56watts output a single battery must be able to provide to us. On a regulated, basic Variable Wattage Device, this calculation is different, though it is still an Ohm's law formula, most mod with regulation will not fire from a battery below a charge level of 3.2volts to 3.6volts, so we use this low battery charge level figure, and divide that into what wattage we have set, example 50watts max output mod, 50/3.2v=15.625amps will be required to be supplied by our battery at that time.
Multi-Battery Series Configuration - Many of the higher output devices use this configuration, older days it was called stacking batteries, see above about pairing batteries, always use same model pairings together, never mix and match. In a series, or stacked configuration, this is the same thing happening as is used in say a large Maglight Flashlight. In a series, the voltage is doubled from what a single battery is capable of, yet Mah and CDR Amp rating stay the same as a single battery, dual battery, that becomes 8.4volts, same CDR and Same Mah rating of the single cells, Sony VTC4 for instance, 4.2volts fresh charge, 20amp CDR, 2100mah, 2 in a series would be 8.4volts, 20amp CDR, 2100mah, triple series, 12.6volts, 20amp CDR, 2100mah, etc. In a mech we use this high full charge voltage and our coil resistance to determine our Amps and Watts just like a single battery config, regulated series mod like the Sigelei 150watt, we use 150watts/6.4volts=amps (3.2volt low state X2), very few mechs use this config, but many of the regulateds are using this method.
Multi-Battery Parallel Configuration - Parallel Multi-battery Configurations you see mostly with mechanicals coming out right now, the Eleaf iStick100watt Regulated also uses this method. In a parallel configuration we only get the voltage of a single battery, fresh charge 4.2volts unlike the Series method, but in this configuration load is distributed equally, so our max CDR and Mah are doubled. Using the Sony VTC4 again, these figures would be 4.2volts, 4200mah, and 40amps CDR available. Determining max CDR is the same as a single battery configuration, 4.2v and our coil resistance to determine max CDR and wattage on a mechanical, for a regulated 3.2volts divided into our mods max wattage setting.
Stay safe out there.
Most box mods on the market currently, Mechanical and Regulated are coming in Single battery config, dual battery series, or dual battery parallel configuration, there are a couple triple battery mods coming out that I am glancing and researching over only mildly, but they will follow these three basic circuits, single, series, or parallel. Remember as batteries age from charging and discharging, they lose Milliamp Hours and C Rating, both of these figures determine maximum CDR the battery can handle, either one lowers, the Max CDR decreases as well, and many suggest, including myself, never ask a battery to supply more than 50% to 75% of its max CDR all the time, for 6 even 18months down the road that battery that was 20amp CDR could only produce 10amps CDR, 30amp CDR could be max 15amps at this age. You'll notice the battery is aged due to it will not hold a charge as long as it used to, this represents physical output of the Mah rating, and the battery will get warmer under heavy load than it used to when brand new, so keep this in mind.
Remember with multi-battery devices, batteries for them should be bought together, marked as a set, charged, and used together, or married together, this makes sure the batteries have the same wear and tear, are balanced, and equal at all times for safety, that way one battery does not under perform the other and put excessive stress on either, ever stress a battery bad things happen, doesn't matter if it is a pairing of 2 batteries, a triple pairing, or even quadruple pairing, keep the batteries equal.
***Keeping basic Logs of batteries helps here, date bought, brand and model, CDR of them, Mah Rating of each, label number to keep track of them, even date of first charge after buying, as well as if stored for future use, date of last charge and charge state they were stored in helps, when storing batteries, store them between 3.4 to 3.6volts, periodically check batteries with a volt meter at a full charge, this helps show their age as well, 4.2v charge should be 4.2, not 4.0***
Single battery - This is pretty simple, we have been running these for a very, very long time. In a mechanical the battery gives output of what it still has in charge at that moment, where most regulated variable voltage or wattage devices can throttle this output higher or lower that charge level. 2 principles of this configuration are the most basic, on a mechanical you use an Ohm's Law calculator or formula to determine your final output using 4.2volts (fresh charge) and your coil resistance (Ohm's) to determine your Amperage and Wattage output, ie a 0.5ohm Dual coil dripper, using 4.2v in a calculator along with 0.5ohms we get 8.4amps and 35.28watts output to understand how safe our CDR drain will be on our battery, or using a 0.25ohm dual coil, we get 16.8amps and 70.56watts output a single battery must be able to provide to us. On a regulated, basic Variable Wattage Device, this calculation is different, though it is still an Ohm's law formula, most mod with regulation will not fire from a battery below a charge level of 3.2volts to 3.6volts, so we use this low battery charge level figure, and divide that into what wattage we have set, example 50watts max output mod, 50/3.2v=15.625amps will be required to be supplied by our battery at that time.
Multi-Battery Series Configuration - Many of the higher output devices use this configuration, older days it was called stacking batteries, see above about pairing batteries, always use same model pairings together, never mix and match. In a series, or stacked configuration, this is the same thing happening as is used in say a large Maglight Flashlight. In a series, the voltage is doubled from what a single battery is capable of, yet Mah and CDR Amp rating stay the same as a single battery, dual battery, that becomes 8.4volts, same CDR and Same Mah rating of the single cells, Sony VTC4 for instance, 4.2volts fresh charge, 20amp CDR, 2100mah, 2 in a series would be 8.4volts, 20amp CDR, 2100mah, triple series, 12.6volts, 20amp CDR, 2100mah, etc. In a mech we use this high full charge voltage and our coil resistance to determine our Amps and Watts just like a single battery config, regulated series mod like the Sigelei 150watt, we use 150watts/6.4volts=amps (3.2volt low state X2), very few mechs use this config, but many of the regulateds are using this method.
Multi-Battery Parallel Configuration - Parallel Multi-battery Configurations you see mostly with mechanicals coming out right now, the Eleaf iStick100watt Regulated also uses this method. In a parallel configuration we only get the voltage of a single battery, fresh charge 4.2volts unlike the Series method, but in this configuration load is distributed equally, so our max CDR and Mah are doubled. Using the Sony VTC4 again, these figures would be 4.2volts, 4200mah, and 40amps CDR available. Determining max CDR is the same as a single battery configuration, 4.2v and our coil resistance to determine max CDR and wattage on a mechanical, for a regulated 3.2volts divided into our mods max wattage setting.
Stay safe out there.
