Check Battery function and disturbing number.

[Bempathetic]

So...I've had my provari for a few months now and I love it (who doesn't). I have the mini, standard cap, and I'm using the AW IMR 18350 batteries from Provape. I've never gotten a weird reading aside from the time I popped a coil on a new Boge. I was recently hospitalized for 5 days, and they wouldn't let me use my Provari in the hospital. As I gave it to my wife to bring home I checked the battery volts to see what was left, it read 3.5. I turned it off and she brought it home. I returned home yesterday afternoon and immediately picked it up and turned it on, then checked the battery reading. It read 3.0. No flashing button, no warning that the voltage was that low. I did not try to use it, I quickly removed the battery and put a new one in. It correctly read 4.1 as it always does with a fresh battery with an atomizer screwed on. It took almost 2 full hours to charge the one that read 3.0 on my Pila charger. They normally take an hour. If it had charged in an hour I would think the battery posts would need to be cleaned and it was a wonky reading, but the fact that it took sooo long to charge tells me that it REALLY WAS that low. The new battery that I put in yesterday is now reading 3.2. The button is not flashing. The Lo option is set to on, the button lights up when I vape. Normally, my button starts to flash at 3.3-3.4. Should I be concerned about this? It seems like the Provari isn't shutting down or warning me when the voltage on the battery gets too low. I thought going below 3.2 was dangerous, with 3.1 being a definite no no.
Should I contact Provape about this? Anyone else had this experience?

 

[Bempathetic]

So, even though I've gotten zero responses I thought I'd add a quick update:
The second battery that I was concerned about that was reading 3.2 and not flashing began flashing while the battery was still reading 3.2. So....that's good. Still a bit concerned about the 3.0 battery.....

 

[Buzzsaw46]

What was the voltage of the battery that ran down to 3v after charging? It is probably ok if not a bit less mah. I wouldn't worry too much, but keep an eye on that one.

 

[Thompson]

I think 2.5-2.8v is where the true end of the battery is.

That is odd that the Vari let it get that low. It doesn't seem like it should be possible for the battery to lose charge while just sitting in the device.

 

[Bempathetic]

The one that ran down to 3v tested at 4.1 after charging. I admit I'm hesitant to use it just in case getting that low did some damage. It appears fine physically though (no distortions, etc.).
Thompson, yes, I'm also confused as to how it drained down to 3 while turned off and just sitting on my desk. It doesn't make any sense to me.
I'm more concerned about the fact that the Provari allowed it to happen than the actual battery itself. Does anyone know if the device monitors the battery when turned off? Obviously, it has to use some power to monitor the battery while on.....I just wouldn't think monitoring the battery over a 5 day period could drop it from 3.5 to 3

 

[Pentarth]

Yes it will monitor the battery when turned off. P Busardo complained about that in his review of the Provari because if it's turned off it should not use what precious little energy is left to make the light flash it's warning. One of his very few criticisms.
As for the 3.0 reading I would pop and e-mail to Provape and ask. Their customer service is second to none and the experts who designed it are there.

 

[Bempathetic]

I contacted Provape, I'll update when I hear back from them. I did think of something though, the battery may have been so low that the Provari didn't want to use any power to make the button flash? It could have been flashing while I was in the hospital and my wife just didn't notice it/come into this room. However, this still doesn't explain how it got so low to begin with. We'll see what Provape says....

 

[Bempathetic]

As usual, Provape responded almost immediately. Here's the response I got in case anyone else has this experience, and also a bit of a warning about leaving your Provari sitting around with a battery in it for extended times....

Please, do not be concerned. I will explain why.

When a battery is inside the ProVari, even if it is not being activated by you, it is still a completed circuit because the battery is in contact with two metal points. As long as the battery is in contact with the metal, there will be a slight discharge continuously occurring. This is why we recommend removing your batteries from the ProVari if you are not going to use it for 2 weeks or more.

I know, you were only gone for five days, and that is okay. The IMR batteries are safe to discharge down to 2.5 volts. Anything lower than that can damaged the batteries ability to hold a charge. So, as you can see, if you had left the battery in there for ten days, it would have reached 2.5 volts due to the slow trickle.

If the battery was fully charged when you left it alone, it would take about 2 weeks to reach 2.5 volts.

Now, here's the thing: the button did flash once the battery reached it's low indication, the only thing is, you weren't there to witness it

The battery will do the slow blink between 3.5 and 3.3 volts to warn you the battery is getting low, right? Well, once it reaches 3.2 volts, the light will blink more rapidly for about one minute and then it will stop. Of course, if the battery stays in, it will still continue to drain because of that completed circuit but the button will no longer flash.

When the battery gets down that low, you should not be able to vape with the ProVari, but you should still be able to access the other menu functions like Cb.

Also, when you remove a battery and reinsert it, it resets the ProVari so it will work, even though the voltage is really low.

We designed the ProVari to shut off at 3.2 volts to protect it from potential over discharge while vaping. The reason for this is when you are vaping, it can require a large amp draw from the battery. At 3.2 volts, this can quickly drain the battery to below 2.5 volts and cause an over discharge.

So, to recap, your battery will be perfectly fine since it did not reach the minimum discharge limit that is designed into it. Your ProVari is also fine. And the fact that the battery lost voltage is also completely normal

Kindly,
Cecilia

 

[budynbuick]

parasitic drain. No need to get excited. The batt is fine.

 

[Thrasher]

Cecilia rocks man, i ask her all kinds of stuff and no matter how trivial, i get a response in no time flat. like 9 pm Xmas eve i sent an email without even needing a response and was happy waiting for a few days, nope like an hour later i got a reply. she is either a bot or sleeps with her email open lol.

i think some german forum said the parasitic drain is like .09v or something really small.