Lavatube 1.5 output voltage testing

[f00ma]

Hello,
I got my Lavatube 1.5 yesterday and did some output voltage tests unloaded and under load; the results are very strange, so I'd like to ask if there are others Lavatube 1.5 owners that could try to replicate them in order to check if I've got a faulty unit or not.

Unloaded measurements:

Display setting on LT 1	LT1 measurement	Display setting on LT 1.5	LT 1.5 measurement
3.0	3.0	3.0	4.8
4.0	3.9	4.0	5.3
5.0	4.9	5.0	5.7
6.0	6.0	6.0	6.2

Inline measurements under load with 1.5 and 2.5 ohm DC cartos (I've included an Ego 650 battery in the comparison):

Cartom	Ego 650	LT 1 set at 3.7 V	LT 1 set at 6 V	LT 1.5 set at 3.7 V	LT 1.5 set at 6.0 V
DC 1.5 ohm	3.3	3.5	3.5	2.8	4.3
DC 2.5 ohm	3.4	3.6	4.9	3.4	5.3

vaping wise, this unit is certainly a leap forward from the previous version, DC 1.5 and 2.5 cartomizers work pretty well for my taste, but these results look pretty weird to me.

BTW, The battery and resistance measurements features on the Lavatube 1.5 work as advertised (I compared the Lavatube readings with a multimeter).

 

[Hoosier]

Yeah, I cannot see a reason in power or amperage for those LT 1.5 voltage readings.

"Very strange" seems to be great wording for this data.

Looking forward to others posting results on the unit...

 

[Malduk]

Uh... those measures are all over the place. I hope its just your device, and hopefully you can replace it.

 

[f00ma]

Just found another series of unloaded voltage readings of the LT 1.5 on pinoyvapers (a Philippines vaping forum), looks very similar to mine:

setting / Reading
3V / 4.6
3.1V / 4.65
3.2V / 4.7
3.3v / 4.76
3.4v / 4.81
3.5v / 4.86
3.6v / 4.91
3.7v / 4.97
3.8v / 5.02
3.9v / 5.07
4.0v / 5.12
4.1v / 5.17
4.2v / 5.22
4.3v / 5.28
4.4v / 5.33
4.5v / 5.38
4.6v / 5.44
4.7v / 5.49
4.8v / 5.54
4.9v / 5.59
5v / 5.64
5.1v / 5.70
5.2v / 5.75
5.3v / 5.8
5.4v / 5.85
5.5v / 5.91
5.6v / 5.96
5.7v / 6.01
5.8v / 6.07
5.9v / 6.12
6v / 6.17

 

[Thompson]

That second series of numbers just looks like the device when its not loaded? All of them are above the displayed voltage, whereas your results for not loaded seem fine but underload are skewed.

I'm real curious about this situation, as I'm at that point where I'm trying to decide LT v Provari. I just keep reading the LT is having difficult times giving the displayed voltage. If thats the case for a majority of them, then even at under half price I think I'd rather just keep saving up.

By "DC" do you mean dual coil? Thought I had read that the LT doesn't like Dual Coils, would automatically reduce the voltage?

 

[Hoosier]

That second series of numbers just looks like the device when its not loaded? All of them are above the displayed voltage, whereas your results for not loaded seem fine but underload are skewed.

Double check his first table of values of unloaded for the LT 1.5. The variance is different, but comes fairly close to the same pattern.

 

[Thompson]

Ah, indeed it is. I need to read more carefully.

 

[zoiDman]

WTH?

Those numbers are Wiki-Wacky.

 

[HawkeyeCS]

Just got my 1.5 today, unfortunately I don't have a inline meter, so can't tell you what it's doing, but whatever it's doing, I'm enjoying it so far...

How do you read the battery voltage on the tube itself? Trying to figure that out, but haven't been able to... I remember you have to hit a button a lot, but don't know which one.

As far as fit and finish go, screen is kinda eh, not bad when it's lit up though, and mine doesn't sit exactly flat, it wobbles a bit when it's on it's end... Don't know if that's just my end cap or a design issue...

 

[zoiDman]

...

How do you read the battery voltage on the tube itself? Trying to figure that out, but haven't been able to... I remember you have to hit a button a lot, but don't know which one.

...

Hit the Read Button 7 Times.

 

[MariosGr]

Interesting testing.
Thanks!

 

[arnokouros]

very interesting the Lavatube 1.5 output voltage testing!

 

[f00ma]

I got a ProVari V2 yesterday and did a quick test using a 18650 IMR battery with 3.5 V of charge left.
I did my testing using an IO6 atom measured 1.6 ohm, here are the results:

Setting	Lavatube 1.5 Voltage under load	Provari V2 Voltage under load
3.7	2.4	3.7
4.0	2.7	4.0
4.8	3.1	4.8
5.0	3.3	Error
6.0	4.2	Error

I haven't received yet my replacement for the Lavatube 1.5 from the seller (should arrive in a couple weeks), but after seeing other opinions on different forums I think that people should just wait for the Lavatube 2 that will be out as soon as the next week (at least here in Italy) and leave this alone

 

[vdrum4250]

i have experienced the same strange numbers with inline meter.

 

[AttyPops]

Just a guess here..... The device may use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to control the voltage. This is basically switching a power FET on-off real fast with different widths of "on" time. It messes up some meter readings. Particularly those inline things. So the readings could vary depending on the meter used. Try a test rig with a multimeter clipped to the test wires. Plus you have to account for the fact that it's a booster circuit so that has a pulse too (usually leveled out with capacitors).

I'd suggest hopping over to the modder's forum for this and seeing if any of the gang there can give you more recommendations on how to properly measure this stuff. Not that it will be easy to understand the answers . Some of them may have even tested an LT version 1.5.