Noob question about box mods and battery charge

[duc916]

I love my mechs, but I've been toying with the idea of trying a box mod, now that they are coming out with some decent ones that fit comfortably in your pocket and don't look like walkie-talkies.

With mechs we generally switch out the battery when the vape is no longer satisfactory, which is around 3.3V for me typically, but with a box mod, since I'll be able to drain the battery more than I would with a mech, at what voltage do people typically swap them out? Is battery longevity the main factor when deciding when to switch it out, or are there other reasons like flavor differences if the voltage has to be ramped up too much to provide a given power setting?

Thanks!

 

[KenD]

The devices I have are all built with clone DNA boards. They tapper down the voltage when the battery's reached about 3.7v. I'm not sure, but I believe authentic DNA mods will deliver accurate power even with the battery charge being low.

 

[towelie]

Depends on what sort of box mod your talking about. Multiple batteries? Series or parallel? Most any box that regulates has low batt cut off built in.

 

[duc916]

Well I had my eye on the ZNA 50, which does 18500 or 18650. The price and size are right for my first VV mod. So in general, you just vape til it tells you the battery needs changing? I like it!

 

[KenD]

I have the ZNA50 clone (cloupor) and I always change the battery before the device shuts down. The vapour quality drops well before that.

 

[duc916]

Thanks Ken. What kind of builds are you putting on your ZNA? I love my Orchids with dual 24 ga at about 0.35 ohm on my mechs. Can the ZNA handle that, or am I better off building to higher resistance? 28 ga coils tend to make my juices taste a little muted and get gunked up in my Orchids, at least with mechs, so I'm hoping that the battery-saving advantage of a VV mod doesn't mean I have to give up too much flavor-wise.

I'm thinking I should stick with 24 ga, but use more wraps to get me closer to 0.7 Ω ...? That's a lot of wraps though, hmm...

 

[KenD]

I'm not sure how low of a resistance the ZNA can handle, but in my experience these clone chips are more accurate at higher resistances. I build with 28-30 ga wire aiming at around 1 ohm, with wire thickness dependent of the power I'm planning on driving the build at (check heat flux on steam-engine.org). Thinner wire is more difficult to work with but it has several benefits, faster heat up and cool down being among them. 24 ga is certainly possible, but it'll take longer to heat up.

 

[KenD]

Checked steam engine, and a .7 dual coil using 24 ga wire needs a lot of power to give a good heat flux. Over 80w.

 

[duc916]

Thanks for checking. I'll give 28 ga a go and see what happens. Maybe I'll get better results than I have with a mech mod.