Can you measure voltage drop with a mulimeter??

[Mitch65]

I have a standard multimeter and would like to measure the voltage drop of my favorite cartomizer. I want to see the difference between my atmizoo roller, provari, silver bullet and ego batteries. If I were to cut a cartomizer open to measure this where would I place the red and black needles to get an accurate reading? I don't mind wasting a carto or 2 as I want to find out what the voltage drop is on my favorite 1.7ohm carts.

Thanks guys

 

[Oomee]

Not sure what you mean by voltage drop !

Most of the posts I have read about the performance of mods and atties seems to be off the mark .
In short (haha) it's not that straightforward .

 

[Relayer1974]

Your best bet is building something like an inline voltmeter box like this one...

http://www.stevevape.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/IMG_1461.jpg

...but without the meter. Just wire the connectors together with some fairly thick wire to eliminate voltage losses due to the length of the conductors. You could use it with any device/atomizer combination. Leave the conductors exposed at least somewhat so you can touch or clip your meter leads to them.

 

[SissySpike]

get a long 510 adapter take it apart with a pair of pliers cut a small slot in the out side thread in a couple of wires soder one to the positive one to the negative put it all back together atach a couple of alligator clips then you have this

 

[Relayer1974]

With regulated devices, you'll be getting something pretty close to the setting unless the device hits its amp limit, which is more prone to happening on lower resistances and higher voltage settings.

 

[cedric212]

Sure, it's easy and cheap to do.

Parts needed:

510 Battery Connector, Sealed
510 Atomizer Connector, Assembled <---- can strip from a carto

Just solder + to + and - to - and attach it to the corresponding DMM lead, basically it's the same as shown in the picture below but with DMM instead of the LED voltage panel:

 

[Mitch65]

thank you all for the great answers seems straight forward enough

 

[Oomee]

None of the above measure the Vdrop of the mod .
They will measure the PD across the atty when fired ...... but they all change what is being measured in the first place !

Not being truculent , just pointing out !

 

[PEneoark]

None of the above measure the Vdrop of the mod .
They will measure the PD across the atty when fired ...... but they all change what is being measured in the first place !

Not being truculent , just pointing out !

No, you have a very good point. It will depend on mod internals combined with your load. For the most part, it's irrelevant, unless you are running real low ohm coils IMO.

Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4

 

[PEneoark]

Disregard. I accidentally quoted myself lol

 

[Oomee]

No, you have a very good point. It will depend on mod internals combined with your load. For the most part, it's irrelevant, unless you are running real low ohm coils IMO.

Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4

It can be done , but as you say it's not really worth the effort .

On a side note, in the vaping world the only thing to rival the clone wars, is the Ohms wars !

 

[PEneoark]

It can be done , but as you say it's not really worth the effort .

On a side note, in the vaping world the only thing to rival the clone wars, is the Ohms wars !

I do it to test mechs, as I run lower res genny coils.

OMFG, +1 on the Star Wars reference lol

Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Relayer1974]

None of the above measure the Vdrop of the mod .
They will measure the PD across the atty when fired ...... but they all change what is being measured in the first place !

Not being truculent , just pointing out !

Hence my point about using large conductors. Doing so will add negligible resistance, thereby giving you as accurate a reading as possible.

 

[SissySpike]

To be honest Voltage drop is not a very useful as there are so many variables to consider. Lets take a Mech with copper contacts and ss body. Its going t hit well we all know that.

Now lets take a mod with brass contacts ans ss body brass is like 40% less conductive that copper If I remember right. but you can not tell any difference in the vaping experience.

While its a good sales gimic Ive not found any mod has any more or less vape quality from one to the next to speak of. some have better buttons and are made better but I think voltage drop is just a coll sounding term people like to throw around;-)

You can tell a difference in quality electronics over cheap electronics to some degree IMO but I dont think alot of people really care. It is fun to play around Ill be interested in what you come up with hope you post your results.

 

[Oomee]

Hence my point about using large conductors. Doing so will add negligible resistance, thereby giving you as accurate a reading as possible.

What you posted would measure the PD(voltage) across the atty under load , this is different than the voltage dropped across the series resistance of the mod .
Things get confused when people talk of "Volt drop" when they are speaking of volts across load, this I think is where we differ in terms .

Battery Volts=PD mod+PD atty+PD coil (Kirchoff's law)
Bear in mind the Battery output will sag under load too , and adding conductors especially via connectors will also drop further volts skewing the test .

@ Buzz, if you are interested I'll PM you a way you can do it, but without decent test gear, it becomes and exercise in p!ssing in the wind !
Also it will return a number of "fek all" in real terms most likely (unless your are testing a Wan HungLo vaping set-up) .

 

[Mitch65]

the main reason i ask if because if i put the same carto and the exact same 18650 battery in my silver bullet compaired to my atmizoo roller its a whole different vape. The roller hits harder than the silver bullet. Same carto and same battery so something its going on in the mods. The roller is delivering more power it seems. I couldnt be wrong but im almost 100% positive the roller is delivering more volts to the carto

 

[Mitch65]

its a 1.7ohm smoketech that reads about 1.8-1.9ohms on my provari.

maybe the silver bullet had it at 3.6-3.7 on a fresh bat and the roller is 3.9-4.0 on a fresh bat? Does that sound like whats happening

 

[NicoHolic]

Negative meter lead at the battery negative terminal

Voltage under load (firing) at the battery positive terminal
minus voltage at the coil positive terminal when firing
equals voltage drop of the mod [and atty] at a particular coil resistance

These 510 voltmeters tell you the voltage across the atomizer connector--nothing more, nothing less.

A multimeter across the coil screws tells you the voltage across the coil--nothing more, nothing less.

You cannot deduce the voltage drop of the mod with either method, especially comparing it to the resting voltage of the battery out of the mod.

 

[Mitch65]

Negative meter lead at the battery negative terminal

Voltage under load (firing) at the battery positive terminal
minus voltage at the coil positive terminal when firing
equals voltage drop of the mod at a particular coil resistance

How do i do this?

 

[Mozzer]

Negative meter lead at the battery negative terminal

Voltage under load (firing) at the battery positive terminal
minus voltage at the coil positive terminal when firing
equals voltage drop of the mod at a particular coil resistance

That's also measuring any drop in the atty, but it gives you a pretty good idea comparing mods. That's the way I do it, actually.