Build for battery life

[GeorgeS]

The following is a chart I made showing different coil resistances, 2 different wattage settings and the voltages and currents required to hit those wattage settings.

Note that the listings (excepting the final 3 at the bottom) are in PAIRS with the 2nd resistance being 2x the first resistance. Why you might ask? As it happens I vape with Temperature Control and use wire that gets ~2x room temperature resistance at vaping temperatures.

So the chart can be seen as COLD followed by HOT.

The two columns on the right are the Ohms Law calculated Coil Current followed by a %80 efficient 'guestimate' on the MOD's regulator. (some might be a bit more and others a bit less)

Given that a single typical battery used in vaping has a voltage range of 3.2 to 4.2V AND most voltage regulators are more efficient stepping DOWN a voltage (BUCK) then stepping UP a voltage (BOOST) and the current limits of the chosen battery we are using we can see that some "build to" resistances might work out better than others for battery life.

Included for an example are 3 popular resistances of old 'nautilus' atomizers from years ago.

For me personally I'll generally try to make my builds to be 0.3ohms cold and drive them with 15W. (sometimes 30W)

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[tj99959]

Personally I use 1.8 ohms @ 8.8 watts 4 volts 2.22 amps, So what's the Eff???

Yes, I'm a Tootle puffer

 

[GeorgeS]

Personally I use 1.8 ohms @ 8.8 watts 4 volts 2.22 amps, So what's the Eff???

Yes, I'm a Tootle puffer

So depending on your mod...

with a setting of 4V a single battery MOD will be 'stepping down' for only %20 of the battery life and trying to 'step up' for the remainder of it.

Given that stepping up is much less efficient then stepping down you could be loosing battery run time.

Given a 3.2 to 4.2V battery voltage range a VV setting of 3.7V would half the difference between stepping up/down - a reduction of a mere 0.3V.


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[DavidOck]

Tootler as well, usually about 1.5 Ω at 8.5 watts.

Efficiency? Battery life?

As long as a given cell vapes a whole tank, I'm fine with it When they don't, time to replenish the stock. And the tired ones go in the box for flashlights.

 

[Mordacai]

@GeorgeS what atomiser are you using?

As that's a bigger factor when it comes to coils, but it's higher resistance coils that give you greater power efficiency. But that's not necessarily so when it comes to vapour production.

 

[tj99959]

So depending on your mod...

Well, the funny thing ...........
A Caravela doesn't step up or step down. What's in the battery is what you got.
And, a 2.amp load lasts a lot longer than a 20 amp load.

add:
I use an A7 RDA, which is still the flavor king of all MTL RDA's
(still use silica (Ekowool) wicks too)

 

[GeorgeS]

@GeorgeS what atomiser are you using?

As that's a bigger factor when it comes to coils, but it's higher resistance coils that give you greater power efficiency. But that's not necessarily so when it comes to vapour production.

It really does not matter what brand/model atomizer your using - it is the load on the MOD and battery that matters.

The idea/concept is to use builds that are compatible with BOTH your mod and battery configuration.

It is very much a miss conception that higher resistance builds are more power efficient then lower resistance builds.


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[GeorgeS]

Tootler as well, usually about 1.5 Ω at 8.5 watts.

Efficiency? Battery life?

As long as a given cell vapes a whole tank, I'm fine with it When they don't, time to replenish the stock. And the tired ones go in the box for flashlights.

Bingo!!

This is what I shoot for as well. I prefer to replace batteries and refill tanks at the same time. So as long as the battery lasts for a tank full - I'm good!

I will however admit that I have a charge cord @ my night stand so the mod that sits there gets plugged in whenever it needs to be.


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[tj99959]

But-but, a RDA doesn't have a tank.

 

[GeorgeS]

But-but, a RDA doesn't have a tank.

So?

You ether wish to optimize your battery life or maybe you don't care.

 

[tj99959]

or maybe you don't care.

Now ya got it With a wopping 2 amp load the bats do pretty well.
2 ohms @ 4 volts = 2 amps
Goes all the way down to 1.75 amps as the bat goes dead (3.5v)

 

[englishmick]

You ether wish to optimize your battery life or maybe you don't care.

Sometimes there are just too many things in life to worry about. Ideally you should keep batteries sitting at 3.5V. I charge mine up as soon as I take them out of a mod and cycle through them so they spend a large part of their life sitting in a rack fully charged. I've read that you can optimise battery life by taking them off the charger at 4.0 or 4.1, and taking them out of the mod at 3.6. There are a thousand different rules like that about vaping and most of us follow a handful at most, the benefits tend to be marginal anyway. Maybe balancing your power and coil to get the most hits out of a battery is useful to you. But if I go out for a longish trip I grab 2 or 3 mods, so I never drain a battery anyway.

 

[GeorgeS]

Sometimes there are just too many things in life to worry about. Ideally you should keep batteries sitting at 3.5V. I charge mine up as soon as I take them out of a mod and cycle through them so they spend a large part of their life sitting in a rack fully charged. I've read that you can optimise battery life by taking them off the charger at 4.0 or 4.1, and taking them out of the mod at 3.6. There are a thousand different rules like that about vaping and most of us follow a handful at most, the benefits tend to be marginal anyway. Maybe balancing your power and coil to get the most hits out of a battery is useful to you. But if I go out for a longish trip I grab 2 or 3 mods, so I never drain a battery anyway.

Well yes and no.

There really are no 'rules' however some practices are better than others.

As an example instead of using 2 batteries per tank full I can use one.

Frankly, I don't really care how long the batteries themselves last as it is a given that only a few 100 charge/discharge cycles are available. However I do get annoyed on having to swap batteries on the mods that don't have a charge port.

For those that are forced to juggle batteries while out in the field changing up their build and power levels CAN make a big difference.


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