I don't know why the connector was dirty, maybe a bit of something left on during manufacturing? A little dust on the top of the first battery that was put in?
Despite the
Magic that is ProVari, it's a piece of machinery. Personally, as long as cleaning off the connectors has it working now, I wouldn't worry too much about why it wasn't working before. I don't think you will find an answer. Sometimes things just need to be used for awhile to get all the pieces working together as they should.
The first time I put a new Protank on one of my brand new mods (I can't recall if it was a Vamo or a Zmax) it threw an error code. I cleaned off the 510 connector and it worked fine. It hasn't had a problem since.
With regard to battery life:
You may want to try using devices with a higher resistance. When vaping we generally use up more mAh than a battery is rated for, especially with variable power devices (VV or VW). Plus, using low resistance and low voltage to produce the same watts as higher resistance and higher voltage uses more amps and can shorten the battery charge. At the settings most of us vape though, the shortened life may not be noticeable, but perhaps to some people it is.
The 18350 batteries I use in my mini are listed as 700mAh. You will often see on the forum that 100mAh equals = 1 hours of "use," but that's rarely, if ever, the case and not the whole picture.
mAh (milli-ampere hour) is a capacity rating that measures how much
current a battery will discharge over a specified period of time (typically a one hour period). Higher mAh ratings do not necessarily reflect how
fast current can be drawn, but rather, how
long a current can be drawn. For example a 2000 mAh battery will sustain a 2000 milli-Amp draw for approximately one hour before dropping to a voltage level that is considered discharged. A 1700 mAh battery will sustain a 1700 milli-Amp draw for approximately one hour. Overall capacity will be influenced by other factors including what power level the device is set at (no matter if it's VV or VW) and if the battery is regulated or unregulated.
In less technical terms: 100mAh doesn't equal roughly 1 hour of producing watts, it equals roughly 1 hour of current being drawn from the battery. It's a very fine distinction and not terrible important to an average vaper (in fact, I recommend you forget everything I just typed, except for the general concept). It might come into play if someone is obsessed with why their batteries aren't lasting exactly the mAh that's listed on the wrapper, but if they care that much they should really get out more. To the majority of us
100mAh ≈ 1 hour of use is an adequate analogy - although it's still safer to knock a couple of hours off when applying the time to vaping (I say 700mAh lasts about 5-6 hours. If it lasts longer, Yippee! If it doesn't, you were prepared for it).
Now what was this amp thing I was talking about?
As noted above, battery life is determined by the amps you're pulling.
I changed the order of quadrants around on the wheel, but the formulae are all still correct.
P = power (watts)
V = volts
R = resistance
I = current (amps) I forgot why it's "I"
Voltage x voltage ÷ resistance (ohms) = power (watts)
4.5v²/2.2Ω = 9.2w
Voltage ÷ resistance (ohms) = I (current/amps)
4.5v/2.2Ω = 2.05 amps
3.7v²/1.5Ω = 9.1w
3.7v/1.5Ω = 2.47 amps
Even though a 2.2Ω atty at 4.5v and a 1.5Ω atty at 3.7v are producing the same amount of watts (+/- 9), when
vaping low-res the amps increase, which draws more from the battery.
Since 9 watts is 9 watts, an average vaper isn't going to notice a difference in the temperature of their vape (I'm sure I will be corrected about this by someone really smart, but I am an "average" vaper writing for other average vapers); however, if the vaper is watching the clock, they might
theoretically be able to tell the battery isn't lasting as long, but these are similar to people who can calculate the exact moment a microwave begins to generate heat in a potato.
ProVape recommends using 3.0Ω devices, since it offers a broader range of voltage settings to find your "Sweet Spot."
I won't even touch coulombs. rawr
