The efficiency of any power converter is one of the very first parameters you consider in any professional design, since it can become very costly very quick.
I mean, a 200 W converter board with 95% efficiency costs $50, while the same board with 99% efficiency would sell at $5000 (yes 5K).
This said, a typical board used in the most common class of vape device, those retailing for $50, do cost around $5, with an efficiency ranging widely from 70 to 90 %.
The most common limitations to the conversion efficiency of the board are slow response power MOSFET, eccessive angle of loss in capacitors, excessive histeresys and saturation in inductors, thin wires and tracks, poor timings from software in controllers, and inadequate heatsinking.
Uncaring design, low quality capacitors and ported firmware are the causes of unbelievably high parasitic standby consumption in many boards, killing batteries with few mA of current drain in OFF position (Reviewers, this is an easy one...).
Things regarding efficiency (and general quality, too) have steadily improved in the last three years, but they have reached a plateau lately; please remember - that efficiency is the first victim of cheapness, and MTBF is the second.
In that class of devices the manufacturers often decide that an appealing look will sell more than a battery-savvy one, as everyone posting in this thread have - sadly - noted already.
I mean, a 200 W converter board with 95% efficiency costs $50, while the same board with 99% efficiency would sell at $5000 (yes 5K).
This said, a typical board used in the most common class of vape device, those retailing for $50, do cost around $5, with an efficiency ranging widely from 70 to 90 %.
The most common limitations to the conversion efficiency of the board are slow response power MOSFET, eccessive angle of loss in capacitors, excessive histeresys and saturation in inductors, thin wires and tracks, poor timings from software in controllers, and inadequate heatsinking.
Uncaring design, low quality capacitors and ported firmware are the causes of unbelievably high parasitic standby consumption in many boards, killing batteries with few mA of current drain in OFF position (Reviewers, this is an easy one...).
Things regarding efficiency (and general quality, too) have steadily improved in the last three years, but they have reached a plateau lately; please remember - that efficiency is the first victim of cheapness, and MTBF is the second.
In that class of devices the manufacturers often decide that an appealing look will sell more than a battery-savvy one, as everyone posting in this thread have - sadly - noted already.
