Darwin - What's your wattage and battery life like?

[BiffRocko]

I picked up a used Darwin last week and the battery is not lasting as long as I'd expect based on the few reports I've seen around the web. It seemed like I could expect around a day per charge. I'm getting in the neighborhood of 4-5 hours when vaping between 8.4 and 10.5 watts. I probably take 5-10 tokes a few times an hour.

I'm wondering if my battery is just ready to be replaced. What wattage are you guys using and how long are you getting between charges?

 

[retird]

Hum....sounds like you may be using a LR atty/carto...??

10 watts....1.5 ohm atty...... = 3.88 volts at 2.58 amps

LR's drain batteries quicker

 

[BiffRocko]

Indeed I have. I've been doing the 3.7v/1.5 ohm thing until now. I have around twenty new 1.5 ohm Cisco 306s left in my stockpile.

Is LR the culprit? Seems counterintuitive to me, like having to produce higher voltage would shorten the battery life, but I guess I don't know how the internals work to make such an assumption. If LR is the culprit, I guess that gives me an excuse to try out an HH357.

 

[retird]

You might want to try a 2.5 - 3.0 ohm atty....I think you will see improvement in battery life...

Have used 3.0 ohm for over a year with the Darwin.....that is all I use at 8.4-ish watts....

8.4 watts at 3.0 ohm = 1.67 amps with 5.01 volts.

 

[BiffRocko]

OK, I guess it's time to order a HH357 and give it a try.

It probably doesn't help that the particular Cisco 306 I'm using right now is measuring in at 1.2 ohms.

 

[wv2win]

OK, I guess it's time to order a HH357 and give it a try.

It probably doesn't help that the particular Cisco 306 I'm using right now is measuring in at 1.2 ohms.

I would say that is definitely the problem. When I use 2.5 - 2.8 ohm cartos/attys (and I am a HEAVY vaper) at 8.5 watts, I will get 21 - 22 hours on a charge. When I use dual coil cartos (1.5 ohm but because they are dual coil, they are not LR's) at 12.7 watts, I will get 15 - 16 hours. I take a puff every 5 - 10 minutes.

 

[retird]

Yep, at 10 watts a 1.2 ohm atty draws almost 2.9 amps..... the higher the amp draw the shorter the battery life....

 

[BiffRocko]

Thanks, guys. That's reassuring. I'll pick up a 3.0 ohm HH.357 and give it a shot.

Now if Avid Vaper would just finish their maintenance and put their site back online...

 

[jkmtwo]

Yeah I got mine on Friday, and I have used pretty exclusive, all I use is 2.5 ohms or higher, and I cape at 10 watts, so far I have been charging it every night at bedtime, and the battery meter says its half full.

 

[Killjoy1]

Keep in mind that the battery gauge isn't a direct analog to the charge of the batteries. When that gauge is half full, your batteries are about 2/3 discharged (rough estimate based on my own observations). My figure my not be exactly right, but the gauge is more of a "charge me" warning than an actual statement of battery charge ;-)

 

[jkmtwo]

Yeah Killjoy I had heard that, that's why I charge every night, lol.

 

[BiffRocko]

Just wanted to post a follow up in case anyone else with a similar problem finds this thread in the future.

I didn't end up getting a HH.357 because, according to the description on Avid Vaper, they "are designed for single cell 3.7 Li-ion battery mods or VV mods with outputs under 4v." Instead I just got some standard Cisco 3.0 ohm 306's.

My battery life is definitely better, but I'm still not getting the full day that others have reported. That's probably because I'm now vaping at 12.7 watts since the 3.0 ohm Cisco's don't hit quite as hard as the 1.5 ohms.

In any case, battery life is now up to the point that I'm not tethered to a USB port all day.

 

[Keeno]

Directly from Avid: "These 1.5ohm hybrid atomizers are designed for single cell 3.7 Li-ion battery mods or VV mods with outputs under 4v. DO NOT use on 5v or 6v mods or eGo/Riva batteries."

Go ahead and order you a 357 3ohm...it is 3ohms of resistance and you'll be fine. I saw no reference to not using higher resistance 357's at more than 3.7. Wouldn't make for much of a vape and no reason to produce the higher ohm. Just be sure you follow the instructions for preparing it and breaking it in. No one wants to or hear of someone popping a 22.00 atty..... Would be well worth the money as these things last with proper care.

 

[BiffRocko]

Directly from Avid: "These 1.5ohm hybrid atomizers are designed for single cell 3.7 Li-ion battery mods or VV mods with outputs under 4v. DO NOT use on 5v or 6v mods or eGo/Riva batteries."

Go ahead and order you a 357 3ohm...it is 3ohms of resistance and you'll be fine. I saw no reference to not using higher resistance 357's at more than 3.7. Wouldn't make for much of a vape and no reason to produce the higher ohm. Just be sure you follow the instructions for preparing it and breaking it in. No one wants to or hear of someone popping a 22.00 atty..... Would be well worth the money as these things last with proper care.

Well, crap....the day I bought my stuff, they only had the 1.5 ohm option listed, but today they do indeed have a 3 ohm option. Oh well, I only bought 5 of the 306's and one is dead already. I'll pick up an HH.357 when the others die.

 

[makasin]

Indeed I have. I've been doing the 3.7v/1.5 ohm thing until now. I have around twenty new 1.5 ohm Cisco 306s left in my stockpile.

Is LR the culprit? Seems counterintuitive to me, like having to produce higher voltage would shorten the battery life, but I guess I don't know how the internals work to make such an assumption. If LR is the culprit, I guess that gives me an excuse to try out an HH357.

making it produce a voltage higher (or lower) than the battery is going to use up the battery. Basically its a buck/boost converter, which basically pumps charge from a switching transistor (the switching frequency corresponds to the voltage you want outputted I believe but could be wrong) through a small capacitor which is then connected to a inductor, making a "constant" voltage. through this process of increasing or decreasing the voltage compared to the reference (the battery, 3.V), there are losses due to heat, from switching a transistor on and off quickly (the faster the "clock" rate, the more energy used by the power transistor) to charge the cap (which has internal resistances and heat losses). All elements, from resistors, caps, inductors all have a non-ideal impedence. For example, a cap has some inductance and resistance, a resistor has some inductance and capacitance, etc. Not that these things are particularly lossy (except for resistance, which creates heat), its just that no element is ideal. The coils in our atomizers probably have a relatively substantial inductance since it is coiled (aka a inductor is coiled, but also connected to a ferrous core to increase inductance). Also, the chip used in the Darwin, the DNA12 (amirite?) has an efficiency of 87%, and is always on, so it is discharging ever so slightly as it's "off". The buck/boost converter I described may not be exactly what the darwin uses, but it's a pretty typical circuit and charge pumps are used in all kinds of applications.

ANYWAYS, back to the topic. LR is intuitively going to drain more power than HR or SR. a lower resistance path from the + terminal (Vdd) and - ("ground") of a battery means that there is almost nothing "resisting" it from discharging at it's full current output. A higher resistance, like 3 ohms, resists twice as much as 1.5, so the current being pulled from the battery is half.
Simple V=IR
I= 3.7V/1.5ohm=2.4666 Amps
I= 3.7/3ohm = 1.233 Amps of instantaneous and sustained current as you drag.