Lava/Vari Tube measured volt and watt for 1.7,2.0,2.5,3.0 cartomizers

[MrWarspite]

Hey all,

I decided to run some tests with my new meter and see what my varitube was putting out. So i pulled two different fresh batteries off the charger and started recording. Here is the output. I used the batteries that came with the varitube and the panasonic cgr18650ch. Only single coil carto's were used. I bolded the max recorded entries measured with a meter between the varitube and cartomizer, anything below that is strictly theoretical using an ohm's calculator. These are simply my observations, im happy to discuss any failings there might be. I'm by no means an expert.

Max Voltage - Fully Charged			Ohm	Volt	Watts		Ohm	Volt	Watts		Ohm	Volt	Watts		Ohm	Volt	Watts
panisonic 18650			1.7	3.7	8.05		2	3.7	6.845		2.5	3.7	5.48		3	3.7	4.56
1.7	4.3		1.7	3.8	8.49		2	3.8	7.22		2.5	3.8	5.78		3	3.8	4.81
2	4.8		1.7	3.9	8.95		2	3.9	7.605		2.5	3.9	6.08		3	3.9	5.07
3	5.7		1.7	4	9.41		2	4	8		2.5	4	6.40		3	4	5.33
2.5	5.3		1.7	4.1	9.89		2	4.1	8.405		2.5	4.1	6.72		3	4.1	5.60
			1.7	4.2	10.38		2	4.2	8.82		2.5	4.2	7.06		3	4.2	5.88
stock 18650			1.7	4.3	10.88		2	4.3	9.245		2.5	4.3	7.40		3	4.3	6.16
1.7	4.1		1.7	4.4	11.39		2	4.4	9.68		2.5	4.4	7.74		3	4.4	6.45
2	4.6		1.7	4.5	11.91		2	4.5	10.125		2.5	4.5	8.10		3	4.5	6.75
3	5.6		1.7	4.6	12.45		2	4.6	10.58		2.5	4.6	8.46		3	4.6	7.05
2.5	5.1		1.7	4.7	12.99		2	4.7	11.045		2.5	4.7	8.84		3	4.7	7.36
			1.7	4.8	13.55		2	4.8	11.52		2.5	4.8	9.22		3	4.8	7.68
			1.7	4.9	14.12		2	4.9	12.005		2.5	4.9	9.60		3	4.9	8.00
1.7 ohm resurector	1.7		1.7	5	14.71		2	5	12.5		2.5	5	10.00		3	5	8.33
2 ohm smok	2		1.7	5.1	15.30		2	5.1	13.005		2.5	5.1	10.40		3	5.1	8.67
2.5 ohm smok	2.5		1.7	5.2	15.91		2	5.2	13.52		2.5	5.2	10.82		3	5.2	9.01
3.0 ohm boge	3		1.7	5.3	16.52		2	5.3	14.045		2.5	5.3	11.24		3	5.3	9.36
			1.7	5.4	17.15		2	5.4	14.58		2.5	5.4	11.66		3	5.4	9.72
			1.7	5.5	17.79		2	5.5	15.125		2.5	5.5	12.10		3	5.5	10.08
			1.7	5.6	18.45		2	5.6	15.68		2.5	5.6	12.54		3	5.6	10.45
			1.7	5.7	19.11		2	5.7	16.245		2.5	5.7	13.00		3	5.7	10.83
			1.7	5.8	19.79		2	5.8	16.82		2.5	5.8	13.46		3	5.8	11.21
			1.7	5.9	20.48		2	5.9	17.405		2.5	5.9	13.92		3	5.9	11.60
			1.7	6	21.18		2	6	18		2.5	6	14.40		3	6	12.00

For me, my best heat output(watts) was actually the 2.0 carto. We cant push the 2.5 and 3.0 hard enough to get them above the 2.0

 

[Eddie.Willers]

Presumably, the voltage in your chart is what the Lavatube display said it was putting out? Or were you using a breakout box to measure actual voltage?

I ask because the LT's protection circuit is known to restrict the voltage on LR cartos without informing the user.

 

[MrWarspite]

I used a breakout box, whats listed in the table is the measured and loaded voltage going to the carto.

 

[ChrispyCritter]

The sweet spot for vaping should be around 8 watts..so if you could go close to 12 watts that should be more than anyone would need. I find with my 2.4ohm CE2's that much over 4.4v it's just too much.

It's not because there isn't enough juice because even when I turn it upside down and soak the coil if you get much above 4.2-4.4v it "burns" the juice..it's pretty much the same thing dripping on my homemade atomizers made of CE2 parts it should be around 2.5ohm's and I use a Drip on Demand so no running out of juice there. Usually I run my 2.4ohm (more like 2.4-2.6ohm) CE2's between 3.7 and 4.2 with most flavors..at 4.2v the atomizers/cartomizers can get pretty hot too.

BTW nice work..it took me a min to understand your chart though. One thing not taken into account by a lot of people is a higher OHM coil means more coil touching the wick (depending on the thickness of the wire used in the coil) so that could mean more flavor.

 

[MrWarspite]

So on the left side I listed the max recorded voltage for each carto with each battery. Beneath that i listed the advertised ohm rating and the measured ohm rating of the carto's.

The 4 tablesets to the right of that are the measured voltages with each carto with the bolded entries the max i could get from the tube for each battery, the second bolded entry being the better panasonic battery. It wouldnt let me color code for the different batteries like i have in my excel spreadsheet. Past the max i put in simulated numbers up to 6v

 

[ChrispyCritter]

I'm assuming the batteries are 1500mAh for the ones that come with it and the Panasonic's are 2250mAh? If so you're probably seeing higher voltages with the Panasonics because of the higher mAh. Boost circuits use the direct voltage and add voltage by "doubling the output" (or adding voltage to the output voltage to what you set it) from the battery in a way..at least that's how I understand it written in simple terms. So a higher mAh would give you more oomph to boost the voltages.

 

[AZCraig]

Never mind... I re-read your post and answered my own question.

 

[AZCraig]

10 watts is the sweet spot for me and at least 3 other vapers I know in person.

Maybe 11 watts max with certain juices.

The sweet spot for vaping should be around 8 watts..so if you could go close to 12 watts that should be more than anyone would need. I find with my 2.4ohm CE2's that much over 4.4v it's just too much.

It's not because there isn't enough juice because even when I turn it upside down and soak the coil if you get much above 4.2-4.4v it "burns" the juice..it's pretty much the same thing dripping on my homemade atomizers made of CE2 parts it should be around 2.5ohm's and I use a Drip on Demand so no running out of juice there. Usually I run my 2.4ohm (more like 2.4-2.6ohm) CE2's between 3.7 and 4.2 with most flavors..at 4.2v the atomizers/cartomizers can get pretty hot too.

BTW nice work..it took me a min to understand your chart though. One thing not taken into account by a lot of people is a higher OHM coil means more coil touching the wick (depending on the thickness of the wire used in the coil) so that could mean more flavor.

 

[ChrispyCritter]

10 watts is the sweet spot for me and at least 3 other vapers I know in person.

Maybe 11 watts max with certain juices.

I just got the 8 watts from reading around the boards. I don't worry about watts I go by taste..I'm pretty happy with a 2.5ohm CE2 on an eGo most of the time but VV is nice for the few times I'm not. I just came into a little money and will be probably buying another LT but I'll wait for the new versions

 

[MrWarspite]

I strongly believe there is a sweet spot for every juice.

gooey butter cake i like at 10-11 watts
morning dew i like at 7-8 watts

thats the best part of vv, you can dial it in and find it for every juice. From what i measured it seems we can technically get the most wattage out of 2.0 ohm. But each .1v increase gives about a half a watt jump in heat. 2.5 ohm can get almost the same heat but gives you finer control of the wattage as its only going up about .4.

The thing i havent figured out is the effect of driving a 3.7v battery through a "boost" circuit at different voltages. I'm not really clear on how they exactly work. The reason i want to know is to figure out if pushing them at higher volts on the 'tube drains them faster or not? I "think" the battery just puts out what it puts out, so the answer to my question would be no if thats correct. Anybody know?

 

[ChrispyCritter]

The thing i havent figured out is the effect of driving a 3.7v battery through a "boost" circuit at different voltages. I'm not really clear on how they exactly work. The reason i want to know is to figure out if pushing them at higher volts on the 'tube drains them faster or not? I "think" the battery just puts out what it puts out, so the answer to my question would be no if thats correct. Anybody know?

The higher you set the voltage the higher amperage drain on the battery..since the device can limit or boost the voltage depending on the settings I believe it uses small fast acting capacitors to boost the volt and resistance to limit it. So the short answer for people that don't understand amperage's is the higher the voltage setting the faster it drains the battery.

Also anything that changes the power of the battery to whats using it has some inefficiencies..the regulator in a stacked device can be in the 80% efficient range..boost is in the 90% range..well that depends on the regulator too...