Mech Mod, safety and calculations

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Ozzybozzy

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Dec 22, 2014
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So Im tired of looking for a small 18650 tube mod with wv because I cant find one that looks compact enough to take with me in the city.

The ones I find always looks as big as my vamo v5.


The Mech mods have the size i like but one thing im confused about is the safety and how they work. People always come with long borring explanations about it and I start falling asleep.

I will use the mod with my Lemo and it should only be pushing 10 watts to the coil.

Does this mean I just have to make a coil at 1.5 ohm and my battery should be able to handle 3.87V and 2.58A?

What about other safety as battery cutt of etc`?
 

bwh79

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What about other safety as battery cutt of etc`?

There is none. That's what makes it a "mechanical" mod instead of a "regulated" mod -- there is no regulation whatsoever, it's just a direct electrical connection from the battery contacts to the atomizer coil. You can buy a fuse that sits in-line between the battery and the atomizer and will blow if the current gets too high, but that's it. The only other safety features on a mechanical mod are your brain, and the vent holes that prevent it from turning into a pipe bomb if thermal runaway occurs and the battery starts venting hot gasses.

You will need to use Ohm's Law (Amps = Volts/Ohms) to keep your amp draw below the battery's recommended specifications. Since there is no voltage regulation on a mech mod, you need to do all your calculations at 4.2v, as for a fully-charged battery. This means that the only way you have of controlling the current, is by controlling the resistance (ohms) of your coil build. You will need an ohm reader or multimeter, if you don't have one already. You must use the battery's "CDR" or ("continuous discharge rating") value, and NOT the "PDR" or ("pulse" or "peak" discharge rating). Since you will, presumably, be firing it for more than a few miliseconds at a time, the PDR spec is useless. Make sure that the coil build keeps the amp draw below the continuous discharge rating, or else you may get into trouble. It's also probably a good idea to leave yourself a good 20-25% margin of error. This means if your battery is rated at 20A, you'll want to keep it down around 15-16A just to be on the safe side.

At 4.2v and 15A, this means you're looking at:

15 = 4.2/Ohms
15*Ohms = 4.2
Ohms = 4.2/15
= 0.28 (or higher -- remember, lower ohms means a higher amp draw and vice versa)

Of course, if your battery has a higher amp rating, then you can safely go to lower ohms, but make sure to keep yourself well within the specs. Also, note this post about the purple Efest batteries not being up to their advertised specs. The "35A" battery is actually only good up to 20A, and the "20A" battery is really closer to 6.5A.

EDIT:

Also the atomizer itself may be rated for a certain power consumption. Power (in watts) is equal to volts times amps:

Watts = Volts*Amps

Since the amperage is already a function of the voltage over resistance, you will need to calculate that first based on your coil build, and then multiply by 4.2 to get the maximum power output of your setup. At 10W max for your coil, you're now looking at:

10 = 4.2*Amps
4.2*Amps = 10
Amps = 10/4.2
= 2.38

So now we know that the maximum amp draw should be no greater than 2.38, we can plug that back into the first equation:

2.38 = 4.2/Ohms
2.38*Ohms = 4.2
Ohms = 4.2/2.38
= 1.76

So you'll actually want to keep your build above 1.7-1.8ohms. Your battery (if it's 20A, as in the example) will be able to handle coil builds as low as 0.28, as discussed earlier, but remember that's putting out 15 amps, or 15*4.2=63 watts of power to the coil.
 
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chomper33

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Sep 22, 2014
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With mechs you should go by the highest wattage you want to hit at a full 4.2V charge. So if 10W is as high as you wish to go, then:

Watts / Volts = Amps

10W / 4.2V = 2.38A.

Volts / Amps = Ohms

4.2V / 2.38A = 1.76 Ohms <-- you target coil resistance.

Mechs typically do not have any built in protections aside from a locking fire button. You can buy things like a fuse for added protection.
 

Susan~S

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If you are going to use a mech mod you are going to have to WAKE UP and endure the "long boring explanations" or read the "long boring blog links" AND understand all of it if you want to be safe.

That's the downside (for some) of mechanicals as well as this: With a mech mod the only way to "fine tune" your vape is to build a new coil. With a high vv/vw regulated mod (and its buck/boost circuitry) you can "fine tune" with a push of a button. On a mechanical mod your voltage drops as you vape, with a regulated mod this does not happen. Your first hit is just as good as your last hit.

Did you consider the eLeaf iStick when you were looking at vv/vw mods? It's not a tube mod per se but it's very small (not much bigger than a bic lighter) and not much bigger in circumference than a tube mod. I use my KFL+ v2 on an iStick and it runs GREAT!
 
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wheelie

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I run a mechanical mod with a Kayfun at 1.2 ohms. I have never in 8 months blown a 7amp fuse in it. I run 20 and 30amp batteries but as stated I never blown a 7amp fuse yet. You will not have any issues if you do not sub ohm and run good batteries. Just have to keep an eye on batteries getting to low on charge. At3.7 a drop in performance, 3.5 their is a massive vapor loss and after you get used to it you can tell. A good multimeter for testing batteries is a must. At 3.2 or lower your batteries could be ruined. I check mine every half tank of juice or a drop in performance what ever comes first. I have tons of systems but I prefer my mechanicals because of my job and I am hard on equipment. CHEERS!
 
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bwh79

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Protected battery has built in fuse right?

Well, not a mechanical fuse exactly, but they have a tiny circuit board that's designed to prevent charging or discharge of the battery in certain circumstances. This is supposed to prevent over-discharge (short-circuit, or too high a current draw) but, like any electronic device, can be subject to failure. Best not to press your luck, and keep your coil build within safe margins even with a "protected" battery. Also, you should always use "safer-chemistry" batteries (IMR) which, when catastrophic failure does occur, it occurs less energetically than with ICR batteries. It is generally accepted that an unprotected IMR battery is actually safer than a protected ICR, since the IMR battery will vent hot gasses and flames when it fails, while an ICR battery will just f--kin' explode!
 
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philoshop

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The folks here who are offering their "long, boring explanations" are trying to help you avoid a long and boring hospital stay.
That said, yes, a 1.5 ohm coil on your setup should be fine, if the battery can handle it. See the 'long, boring explanations' to determine if your battery can handle it or not.
 
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novamatt

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If you're hell bent on running a mech and don't want to read the long, boring explanations, get yourself a Samsung 25R battery and a kick for it. Set the kick to 10W. Make sure you get a mod that has a segmented tube instead of separate tubes for each battery size - most of them have room for a kick if you use every tube.
 

chomper33

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Sep 22, 2014
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Really sorry, am not too sure where to post this but have been researching for a while and am unsure if I can operate an aspire atlantis with my evic supreme with a sony 18650 vtc4 battery?

New members should post their introductions and questions in a new topic in the New Members forum. While we are here, yes. You can operate an Aspire Atlantis with an Evic Supreme using a Sony VTC4. Evic Supreme supports 0.5 ohm resistances and a Sony VTC4 is more than enough to handle it.
 
So Im tired of looking for a small 18650 tube mod with wv because I cant find one that looks compact enough to take with me in the city.

The ones I find always looks as big as my vamo v5.


The Mech mods have the size i like but one thing im confused about is the safety and how they work. People always come with long borring explanations about it and I start falling asleep.

I will use the mod with my Lemo and it should only be pushing 10 watts to the coil.

Does this mean I just have to make a coil at 1.5 ohm and my battery should be able to handle 3.87V and 2.58A?

What about other safety as battery cutt of etc`?

Check out then house of hybrids zenisis or for a cheaper alternative the z 50. Its basically a mech tube with an off shoot that houses the device, its much smaller than many box style mods or soda can sized 26650 mods. I've found it easy to haul around

If the explanations of how to use much mods are boring for you, you might consider skipping them, they have safety concerns that can't be glossed over
 
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dice57

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Really sorry, am not too sure where to post this but have been researching for a while and am unsure if I can operate an aspire atlantis with my evic supreme with a sony 18650 vtc4 battery?

Welcome to the ecf kusakov. VTC4's & 5's, are the purrfered batts for all my mods. The 30 amp continuous is going to give one longer running time before recharge is necessary, especially when running high watts.. Also find it purrfectly acceptable to ask this here without creating a new thread. :D Sony VTC 4's would be the purrfect batt for the op too.

If one is considering mechs, yeah, one really needs to do the foot work first, have a grasp of ohms law, battery safety and capabilities, a whole compliment of additional vape knowledge should be attained also. Considered advanced user item.


Vape long and Prosper.!!!!
 

HecticEnergy

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I think everyone covered everything. Mech mods can be a great stealth vape, but regulated has great benefits: safety, consistent vape, less restrictions on your builds. New gear keeps coming out all the time and now they have some great 20-50w mods that are pretty stealthy. Personally I didn't like boxmods at first, but now I like the shorter form factor and I think they fit more naturally in the hand.


Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk
 
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