Minding Your mAhs – Ep19 – Is pulse battery testing more “real world”?

[Mooch]

Many vapers feel you need to simulate the way we vape, using discharges of a couple to a few seconds long, in order to accurately predict which batteries will be the better performers for vaping.

In this video I review the results of testing four different batteries with pulsed and continuous discharges. Can continuous discharge testing give us the same results as pulsed discharge testing?

 

[DaveP]

Enjoying the marriage of theory and real world testing in your videos. Great stuff in your presentation!

 

[Robin Becker]

From my experience with eBike batteries I know, that the internal resistance (impedance) is an impotant indication to the performance of the battery at its life time. So if the 21700 from Molicel has at the same specification like the 40T a higher internal resistance it means, that the battery with higher internal resistance will lose most probably faster on performance (Voltage and capacity).

 

[Baditude]

Thanks for this test @Mooch. Like yourself (I think), I never put any stock into pulse ratings. For one, there are no standards in the industry for pulse ratings, which makes comparing one battery model against another battery model impossible. While continuous discharge ratings are an industry standard, so we can compare one battery model against another.

The only situation where comparing continuous discharge ratings to a pulse rating might be lacking is your category of "hardest hitting" battery. That seems to be more of a subjective observation than an objective one, unless voltage drop comes into play.

 

[Mooch]

From my experience with eBike batteries I know, that the internal resistance (impedance) is an impotant indication to the performance of the battery at its life time. So if the 21700 from Molicel has at the same specification like the 40T a higher internal resistance it means, that the battery with higher internal resistance will lose most probably faster on performance (Voltage and capacity).

I don’t think we can say that as the aging of different cells occurs at different rates. Their cycle life could be different, negating any IR advantages one or the other might have at the start.

 

[Mooch]

Thanks for this test @Mooch. Like yourself (I think), I never put any stock into pulse ratings. For one, there are no standards in the industry for pulse ratings, which makes comparing one battery model against another battery model impossible. While continuous discharge ratings are an industry standard, so we can compare one battery model against another.

The only situation where comparing continuous discharge ratings to a pulse rating might be lacking is your category of "hardest hitting" battery. That seems to be more of a subjective observation than an objective one, unless voltage drop comes into play.

It’s as objective as it can be.
It’s based on testing and the DC internal resistance numbers.