Battery Over Discharging
- Thread starter CCarr33
- Start date
- th_trl_thread_readers 0
- Status
If your mechanical mod has a locking switch for the fire button, use it when the mod is not in use. This can prevent the fire button from being accidentally pressed in the "on" position for an extended time and cause the battery to go into thermal runaway like this one:
Generally speaking, you shouldn't be able to over-discharge a battery with normal vaping use. Once the battery drops to below 3.4 - 3.5 volts it will not have enough power to fire the heating coil and your vapor production will stop. Then its time to put the battery on the charger.
Vaping high amp devices like an RBA or RDA is a different story.
It's always a good idea to have a voltmeter or a digital multimeter on hand as vape tools. One of these will allow you to know the status of your battery's voltage and general health. You'll be able to check the voltage coming off the charger (4.1 - 4.2 volts) and coming out of your mod (3.4 - 3.5 volts).
inline voltmeter
How to use your digital multimeter
Generally speaking, you shouldn't be able to over-discharge a battery with normal vaping use. Once the battery drops to below 3.4 - 3.5 volts it will not have enough power to fire the heating coil and your vapor production will stop. Then its time to put the battery on the charger.
Vaping high amp devices like an RBA or RDA is a different story.
It's always a good idea to have a voltmeter or a digital multimeter on hand as vape tools. One of these will allow you to know the status of your battery's voltage and general health. You'll be able to check the voltage coming off the charger (4.1 - 4.2 volts) and coming out of your mod (3.4 - 3.5 volts).
inline voltmeterHow to use your digital multimeter
Last edited:
when you begin using a mech mod it is a little duanting to know when to pull the battery.
a few variables come into play, what resistance are you running, what kind of device etc. while I agree with bad somewhat there are setups and situations where a newer mech user may continue to try and vape into the discharge zone, inexperience in understanding what to look for is usually the culprit.
usually there are a couple ways to keep track.
one is simply after a few hours pull the battery and check the voltage, vape a bit, check, vape a bit, check and try and get a feel for how the vapor is being produced at certain voltage levels, in this way you get used to "oh its vaping like this so my battery is low"
If using a tank like system run one full tank then check the voltage, if still high enough you run another and check again, when you get to a level you are uncomfortable with you have a basic reference of " usually X amount of tanks and I charge"
there is no harm in charging a battery that is not used up yet, with many users charging them early to be safe.
if rebuilding it is very easy to build a resistance that will die off very eary in the battery cycle. usually 1 ohm or higher and you will def get the effect Bad refers too. once you you go very low resistance it may be hard to notice the drop off until very low. for example you build 1.3 ohms and notice after a couple hours you have to take extra long drags to get the coil to heat up enough to produce a good hit then thats a good sign its getting weaker.
a few variables come into play, what resistance are you running, what kind of device etc. while I agree with bad somewhat there are setups and situations where a newer mech user may continue to try and vape into the discharge zone, inexperience in understanding what to look for is usually the culprit.
usually there are a couple ways to keep track.
one is simply after a few hours pull the battery and check the voltage, vape a bit, check, vape a bit, check and try and get a feel for how the vapor is being produced at certain voltage levels, in this way you get used to "oh its vaping like this so my battery is low"
If using a tank like system run one full tank then check the voltage, if still high enough you run another and check again, when you get to a level you are uncomfortable with you have a basic reference of " usually X amount of tanks and I charge"
there is no harm in charging a battery that is not used up yet, with many users charging them early to be safe.
if rebuilding it is very easy to build a resistance that will die off very eary in the battery cycle. usually 1 ohm or higher and you will def get the effect Bad refers too. once you you go very low resistance it may be hard to notice the drop off until very low. for example you build 1.3 ohms and notice after a couple hours you have to take extra long drags to get the coil to heat up enough to produce a good hit then thats a good sign its getting weaker.
Last edited:
All of us old timers vaped mechs in the beginning (before VV). As Baditude said, the vapor drops off and you know your battery has hit the bottom of the curve. Time becomes a factor also. I always knew when my eGo or Joye 510 was going to drop. It was predictable.
I vape 2 ohm Kanger coils in the 3.4v to 3.7v range on my VV and VW mods. It's just where I get the most satisfying vape for me. If I have 3 ohm coils, I hit 4.2v most of the time. But, I'm not into cloud vaping. I judge my vape level by what my old filtered tobacco cigarettes produced. You didn't blow clouds unless you lit up a Hav-A-Tampa or White Owl.
I vape 2 ohm Kanger coils in the 3.4v to 3.7v range on my VV and VW mods. It's just where I get the most satisfying vape for me. If I have 3 ohm coils, I hit 4.2v most of the time. But, I'm not into cloud vaping. I judge my vape level by what my old filtered tobacco cigarettes produced. You didn't blow clouds unless you lit up a Hav-A-Tampa or White Owl.
Agreed, I use RDA at many different ohms, some sub ohm some 1.2. You will notice the vapor production decrease, so just charge then.
Could always throw a kick in it...I run most of my mechs (which in effect become APV's) with kicks
As the above said...when the vapor production drops off heavily on unregulated...that is the sign the battery is getting weak...swap out the batteries
As the above said...when the vapor production drops off heavily on unregulated...that is the sign the battery is getting weak...swap out the batteries
I like to be able to crank up the voltage when the vaper drops. If it starts to taste nasty, it gets a clean and a dry burn and the process starts over. If that doesn't work ... new head time and throw the old one in the rebuild ziplock.
Check the voltage regularly til you can "feel" the drop off. Otherwise, stick with regulated. It's what I did the past year til my friends in reoville helped me Understand
Also, note that theoretically your batteries will last longer if you don't fully charge them, and if you discharge them less.
If you've got a charger that lets you stop charging at 4.1, it's a good idea (unless you're trying to maximise power output, of course). Most people don't have such a charger, but some go 'green' before they hit 4.2.
I generally try not to let mine drop below 3.7, but it's a personal choice at what point protecting your batteries becomes just plain inconvenient.
If you've got a charger that lets you stop charging at 4.1, it's a good idea (unless you're trying to maximise power output, of course). Most people don't have such a charger, but some go 'green' before they hit 4.2.
I generally try not to let mine drop below 3.7, but it's a personal choice at what point protecting your batteries becomes just plain inconvenient.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
