battery sizes?
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The number on most tell the size. 14500 is 14mm by 50mm, 18650 is 18mm by 65mm
There is small differences between manufacturers and if they are protected or not.
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I was wondering why no one uses either double or triple A batteries? They are everywhere so you wouldn't need to wait for an order to arrive in the mail if you had any battery problems. The only thing I can think of is that they are not double protected???? Would that mean they can explode if expose to liquid?
I did see where you could make a "puck" but I think that is a little above my skills at this point. They use AAA's, but they are in a separate case....
I did see where you could make a "puck" but I think that is a little above my skills at this point. They use AAA's, but they are in a separate case....
14500 Li-Ion cells are the same size as AA batteries. 10440 Li-Ion cells are the same size as AAA batteries. 26650 Li-Ion cells are the same size as C batteries.
You can also use NiMH AA batteries to build a good e-cig mod. That's discussed ad naseum in the forum here (the Puck). They have their advantages and disadvantages. The biggest one is the safety, NiMH cells are perfectly safe. Li-Ion cells are not. The trade-off is performance and size. NiMH cells don't deliver power as efficiently and take up more space for the same amount of run time.
I would advise against using AAA NiMH cells. They are not as capable of providing the power required to drive an atomizer. I would expect performance to be rather dismal. People do it, but the cells are overloaded so power output is not as good and run time is poor.
You also have to be careful about using 10440 Li-Ions to drive an atomizer. They can be easily overloaded. For a protected Li-Ion, overloading engages the protection and the cell disconnects. For an unprotected Li-Ion...boom.
IMR 10440 cells can handle the load of just about any atomizer, but you should add a PTC fuse to protect from overload since IMR cells normally do not have built-in protection.
You can also use NiMH AA batteries to build a good e-cig mod. That's discussed ad naseum in the forum here (the Puck). They have their advantages and disadvantages. The biggest one is the safety, NiMH cells are perfectly safe. Li-Ion cells are not. The trade-off is performance and size. NiMH cells don't deliver power as efficiently and take up more space for the same amount of run time.
I would advise against using AAA NiMH cells. They are not as capable of providing the power required to drive an atomizer. I would expect performance to be rather dismal. People do it, but the cells are overloaded so power output is not as good and run time is poor.
You also have to be careful about using 10440 Li-Ions to drive an atomizer. They can be easily overloaded. For a protected Li-Ion, overloading engages the protection and the cell disconnects. For an unprotected Li-Ion...boom.
IMR 10440 cells can handle the load of just about any atomizer, but you should add a PTC fuse to protect from overload since IMR cells normally do not have built-in protection.
Alkaline batteries aren't suitable for modding, I don't think they can handle the drain rate. A standard alkaline AA is only 1.5 volt, anyway, so you'd need to use multiple in series just to get a vapable voltage.
AA or AAA size NiMh batteries can be used (see the threads on "The Puck"). Those are only 1.2 volts each, so again it takes multiple batteries. They are more suitable for vaping than alkalines, but still not ideal
EDIT: typing too slow with too many tabs open
Listen to Craig, he knows his schtuff ;-)
AA or AAA size NiMh batteries can be used (see the threads on "The Puck"). Those are only 1.2 volts each, so again it takes multiple batteries. They are more suitable for vaping than alkalines, but still not ideal
EDIT: typing too slow with too many tabs open
Listen to Craig, he knows his schtuff ;-)Hey Craig, the "C" size is 26500, the 26650's are longer. Same diameter though. No big deal just thought I'd mention it.....
Thanks Killjoy,
I was going to mention primary cells (such as Alkalines), but I took it for granted everyone knows it's impractical to drive an atomizer with them. The main reason being it's too expensive. A 4 pack of AA duracells is like $7 or something. That will get you a day or two of vaping. You can get Alks for half that cost, but they run half as long. Almost $4 a day for batteries is just not cost effective. It's also hellish on the environment disposing of them.
Aside from the cost and environmental issues, efficiency for Alkalines is somewhat lower than NiMH cells, but they also have a higher nominal voltage. I haven't tried it so I can say for sure, but you might be able to use 3 Alks in series compared to the required 4 NiMH in series. I suppose if you can get the Alks cheap enough, it might be worth it, but I wouldn't want to be disposing of that many batteries every day. I suppose if you can get them to a recycler it would be fine, but a hassle at the least.
Oh, yes, sorry for that. I always get those confused. Yes, the C cells are 26500.
I was going to mention primary cells (such as Alkalines), but I took it for granted everyone knows it's impractical to drive an atomizer with them. The main reason being it's too expensive. A 4 pack of AA duracells is like $7 or something. That will get you a day or two of vaping. You can get Alks for half that cost, but they run half as long. Almost $4 a day for batteries is just not cost effective. It's also hellish on the environment disposing of them.
Aside from the cost and environmental issues, efficiency for Alkalines is somewhat lower than NiMH cells, but they also have a higher nominal voltage. I haven't tried it so I can say for sure, but you might be able to use 3 Alks in series compared to the required 4 NiMH in series. I suppose if you can get the Alks cheap enough, it might be worth it, but I wouldn't want to be disposing of that many batteries every day. I suppose if you can get them to a recycler it would be fine, but a hassle at the least.
Oh, yes, sorry for that. I always get those confused. Yes, the C cells are 26500.
This discussion of Alkalines peaked my curiosity so I did a load test on a brand new Duracell AA battery. I found voltage sags 150mV with a 1A load which is 150mΩ internal DC resistance for the cell. I've measured AA NiMH cells in the past and they are close to 100mΩ.
So, with a nominal open circuit voltage of 1.5V per cell, 3 Alkalines in series would provide 4.5 Volts. A 3Ω atomizer plus the 450mΩ total internal resistance of the cell pack would result in a current of 1.3A. Multiplying current with the internal resistance of the pack results in a voltage sag about 6 tenths of a Volt. That means actual voltage delivered to the atomizer would be 3.9V, probably acceptable.
Lets do the same calculation for 4 Alkaline cells. That would be 6V open circuit, but with the extra cell, internal resistance of the whole pack is 600mΩ. With a 3Ω atomizer, resulting current would be 1.67A. Multiplying that with the internal resistance of the cells yields 1V sag. That results in a voltage at the atomizer of 5V. That's actually a more ideal voltage for vaping.
As a comparison, lets do the calculation for 4 NiMH cells. Open circuit voltage would be 5.2V (open circuit voltage is actually closer to 1.3V for NiMH cells). Cell pack resistance would be 400mΩ. Resulting current with a 3Ω atomizer would be 1.5A. Sag would be 600mV. That would be around 4.6V delivered to the atomizer.
The conclusion is that for an ideal voltage, four Alkalines in series would be preferable to three, but three would work with a voltage of 3.9V at a standard resistance atomizer.
Another consideration is cell longevity. A Duracell AA Alkaline battery has around 3000mAh of charge capacity. That does not add for a series pack so that number applies to either a 3 or 4 cell pack. Using the 1.67A of a 4 cell pack, you'd get 1.8 hours of continuous run time. Using a hit length of 5 seconds that would be about 1300 hits. With an average of one hit per minute, that would be a little over 20 hours of run time or a rate of 150mAh per hour. I'm a heavy vaper and can use as much as 250mAh per hour, but 100mAh per hour is probably a better average. That would be about 2 days of vaping.
Looking at cost, you can find AA Duracell copper tops for as little as $1 a cell. Using four cells that last two days results in a cost of $2 a day. Though, you can get other brands cheaper, but they may have lower charge capacity and higher internal resistance which could be a problem. $2 a day is not unreasonable, but it's certainly much more expensive than using a rechargeable cell. A 4 pack of NiMH AA batteries is around $20 and can last as many as a thousand charge cycles. Li-Ion cells are similarly economical in comparison.
So, with a nominal open circuit voltage of 1.5V per cell, 3 Alkalines in series would provide 4.5 Volts. A 3Ω atomizer plus the 450mΩ total internal resistance of the cell pack would result in a current of 1.3A. Multiplying current with the internal resistance of the pack results in a voltage sag about 6 tenths of a Volt. That means actual voltage delivered to the atomizer would be 3.9V, probably acceptable.
Lets do the same calculation for 4 Alkaline cells. That would be 6V open circuit, but with the extra cell, internal resistance of the whole pack is 600mΩ. With a 3Ω atomizer, resulting current would be 1.67A. Multiplying that with the internal resistance of the cells yields 1V sag. That results in a voltage at the atomizer of 5V. That's actually a more ideal voltage for vaping.
As a comparison, lets do the calculation for 4 NiMH cells. Open circuit voltage would be 5.2V (open circuit voltage is actually closer to 1.3V for NiMH cells). Cell pack resistance would be 400mΩ. Resulting current with a 3Ω atomizer would be 1.5A. Sag would be 600mV. That would be around 4.6V delivered to the atomizer.
The conclusion is that for an ideal voltage, four Alkalines in series would be preferable to three, but three would work with a voltage of 3.9V at a standard resistance atomizer.
Another consideration is cell longevity. A Duracell AA Alkaline battery has around 3000mAh of charge capacity. That does not add for a series pack so that number applies to either a 3 or 4 cell pack. Using the 1.67A of a 4 cell pack, you'd get 1.8 hours of continuous run time. Using a hit length of 5 seconds that would be about 1300 hits. With an average of one hit per minute, that would be a little over 20 hours of run time or a rate of 150mAh per hour. I'm a heavy vaper and can use as much as 250mAh per hour, but 100mAh per hour is probably a better average. That would be about 2 days of vaping.
Looking at cost, you can find AA Duracell copper tops for as little as $1 a cell. Using four cells that last two days results in a cost of $2 a day. Though, you can get other brands cheaper, but they may have lower charge capacity and higher internal resistance which could be a problem. $2 a day is not unreasonable, but it's certainly much more expensive than using a rechargeable cell. A 4 pack of NiMH AA batteries is around $20 and can last as many as a thousand charge cycles. Li-Ion cells are similarly economical in comparison.
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Wow, thanks for all the great info! You guys sure know your stuff! Much appreciated!
This was a lot of help for me when comparing battery sizes and typical mAh.
List of battery sizes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of battery sizes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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