Possible stupid question on how to test a kick

[Zildjian]

Ok I may be just missing something, but I'm curious as to how to test my kick to make sure it is working the way it should.

To my knowledge a kick is supposed to regulate the wattage to my rta. However it seems like after a day or two of vaping my battery seems to get weaker as if I had no kick in it at all.

Now it should keep the wattage the same until it cannot fire anymore not get weaker and weaker.

I know there are inline voltage testers and Ohm testers, but how would one test the wattage coming from the device?

In case it is relevant: I'm using a Satin Brass King w/kick along with a Russian 91%.

 

[DavidOck]

Since the Kick is regulating the watts delivered, it's adjusting the applied voltage to reach that value with the attached coil, of whatever resistance. So if, for example, you're set around 10 watts and the voltage is say 5.0, any decline from that will indicate that you're no longer getting the 10 watts. When it starts to drop off, take out the kick and check the battery voltage.

Could be, too, that at your chosen watts and at the moment battery voltage, it just can't give you the power setting you want. So time to swap to a fresh battery.

Watts are a convenient fiction, and don't really exist other than as the result of a math operation.

 

[edyle]

Ok I may be just missing something, but I'm curious as to how to test my kick to make sure it is working the way it should.

To my knowledge a kick is supposed to regulate the wattage to my RTA. However it seems like after a day or two of vaping my battery seems to get weaker as if I had no kick in it at all.

Now it should keep the wattage the same until it cannot fire anymore not get weaker and weaker.

I know there are inline voltage testers and Ohm testers, but how would one test the wattage coming from the device?

In case it is relevant: I'm using a Satin Brass King w/kick along with a Russian 91%.

Well, ideally a good kick will output a flat dc output; the cheaper kicks will give a boosted voltage and by varying the time it spends boosting the voltage per second, you end up with an average voltage.
In practice the root mean square voltage is used instead of the mean voltage

... blah;

So anyway;
set your wattage on your evolv kick.
get your multimeter and check the voltage under load on your kayfun.
Then if later on if you think the wattage has dropped, check it again.

 

[anumber1]

Well, ideally a good kick will output a flat dc output; the cheaper kicks will give a boosted voltage and by varying the time it spends boosting the voltage per second, you end up with an average voltage.
In practice the root mean square voltage is used instead of the mean voltage

... blah;

So anyway;
set your wattage on your evolv kick.
get your multimeter and check the voltage under load on your kayfun.
Then if later on if you think the wattage has dropped, check it again.

Thats exacty how I would do it!

 

[Zildjian]

I have my build at 1.5 ohm. I do not have a multi meter. I used a old VV/VW ego to check the ohm's of my build.

It is an Evolv kick purchased from their site not a clone.

I need to get one of them omnitesters, but this only shows voltage as well.

So will using vaping power chart at 1.5 ohm build at 9 watts (Where I have my Kick set to) it should read 3.7 volts on a Omnitester. Is this correct?

 

[DavidOck]

Depends on the accuracy of your voltmeter, the math is actually 3.6742 volts, so darn near 3.7, yes.

But voltage under load may not be the same. The omnitester, iirc, is an inline device, so should show the under load voltage when your topper is on.

 

[edyle]

I have my build at 1.5 ohm. I do not have a multi meter. I used a old VV/VW ego to check the ohm's of my build.

It is an Evolv kick purchased from their site not a clone.

I need to get one of them omnitesters, but this only shows voltage as well.

So will using vaping power chart at 1.5 ohm build at 9 watts (Where I have my Kick set to) it should read 3.7 volts on a Omnitester. Is this correct?

An evolv kick should give a dc reading, so you're good on that side of things;
To check the voltage UNDER LOAD you want a multimeter so you can attach the probes to the two posts on the kayfun then fire the coil and see whether you are getting the same voltage as the day before.
Since it's an evolv kick, then the math should work out so yes, 1.5 ohm at 9 watts would be 3.7 volts.

I would be surprised if the kick performace drops off when the battery goes below a certain voltage, like maybe 3.4 volts.
That's easier to check in fact; when you see the drop in performance, check the battery voltage.

2 days without recharge sounds pretty good to me.

 

[HughDaHand]

When a evolv kicks detects low voltage in the battery it doesn't just quit working. It kind of pulses the power on and off which makes it seem like a weak hit. I always end up holding the atty up to my ear to listen for the pulse. Before that it should stay constant power tho.

 

[p7willm]

Unfortunately the only way to see if it is putting out the same voltage over the life of the battery is to actually check the voltage. A volt meter measuring across the posts of your build will do it or one of those inline meters build for vaping. You will need some hardware.

Unless you test with any device, DNA 30 or CNA 30 or whatever, you are trusting the manufacturer to get it right. There is no guarantee that the voltage displayed on the DNA 30 is correct.

 

[edyle]

The "after a day or two" thing has me wondering if the OP is just talking about what happens when the battery voltage gets low, like 3.3 volts.

The kick module does not have an on/off switch like a regulated pv.
In a regulated pv, when the pv sees a 3.3 (or is it 3.2) from the battery, it cuts off.

With the kick module, it is always on; if the battery is weak, but intermittently registers the threshold voltage due the just normal variation including movement shifting the battery on the contacts (contact resistance), the kick will activate and deactivate intermittently, producing the results observed.

 

[danny4x4]

Not all kicks are created equal. I have different kick clones from 2 different manufacturers. One would get weak when battery gets to 3.6. It still fires, but is weak. Another would strain the battery until it's 3.2v. I actually much prefer the one that gets weak at 3.6v. Don't want to be stressing the battery.

 

[Zildjian]

Thanks for all the replies. I do remembering reading somewhere awhile back about the pulsing when the battery gets low.

Started doing that last night, swapped out batteries and no more pulsing or weak hits.

I was mostly wanting to make sure that the Kick was working as it should. As I had read awhile back about issues with that copper contact with the side of the tube. Was worried that it was not making good contact or something.