Instead of just listing watt-hour (Wh) specs to help us choose the best performing battery, which many find confusing, I have now added puff counts to every test report and ratings graphic.
The puff count is the number of two-second puffs a single battery could deliver from fully charged down to 3.2V at different power levels. 3.2V is a typical cutoff voltage for a regulated mod and for mech users too (the voltage rises back up to 3.4V-3.6V).
I don’t do two second pulse testing of each cell. The puff count is derived from the watt-hours (Wh) of energy each cell actually delivers when discharged at certain power levels.*** The puff counts are meant to be used to easily compare one cell to another, not for accurately predicting what every vaper will get with their particular setup.
Different mods have different cutoff voltages, affecting the puff count. Different chargers and charge current levels affect the puff count. The condition of the cells affects the puff count. How a person vapes affects things too. A chain vaper will never give the cells a chance to rest and recover their voltage. The will reduce the puff count compared to someone who only takes a couple of puffs every couple of minutes, even if at the same power level.
Standardizing how I calculate these puff counts though makes it easy to directly compare one battery to another and choose the one that will run the longest. Just pick the battery with the higher puff count at the power level closest to what you vape at.
Don’t worry about a difference of a few puffs, you’ll never notice that in actual use with all the other variables that come into play when vaping. If two batteries have about the same puff count then use either one.
You can also choose a battery using the watt-hour numbers I’ve been including for a while. You don’t need to understand anything about watt-hours. Just remember that More Bigger = More Better and choose the battery with the higher number. But I think that puff counts will be easier for many vapers to accept and use.
If you have a device that uses more than one battery just divide the power setting you vape at by the number of batteries. This will give you the power level each battery is being discharged at. Then look up the puff count for the power level of that one battery. This will give you the total puff count no matter how many batteries you have or how they are connected in the regulated mod (series or parallel).
Each test report and ratings graphic I post will have the puff counts. I will also update the ratings tables with these numbers but I do not know when that will be finished.
Hopefully these puff counts are useful to you!
***Here’s how I calculate the number of puffs. Each puff is two seconds long at a certain power level; 30W, 60W, or 90W. That means each puff uses a certain amount of energy in watt-seconds (Ws). For example, a two second puff at 30W uses (2 sec) * (30W) = 60 watt-seconds of energy.
If I have a battery that delivered 10 watt-hours (Wh) of energy at 30W then I can easily calculate the number of puffs. First I convert the watt-hours to watt-seconds by multiplying by 3600. So 10Wh becomes 36,000Ws. Then we just divide the total amount of energy the battery had by the energy (Ws) each puff uses. So (36,000Ws total) / (60Ws per puff) = 600 puffs at 30W.
I then repeat that process for 60W and 90W (if those power levels don’t exceed the battery’s rating).
The puff count is the number of two-second puffs a single battery could deliver from fully charged down to 3.2V at different power levels. 3.2V is a typical cutoff voltage for a regulated mod and for mech users too (the voltage rises back up to 3.4V-3.6V).
I don’t do two second pulse testing of each cell. The puff count is derived from the watt-hours (Wh) of energy each cell actually delivers when discharged at certain power levels.*** The puff counts are meant to be used to easily compare one cell to another, not for accurately predicting what every vaper will get with their particular setup.
Different mods have different cutoff voltages, affecting the puff count. Different chargers and charge current levels affect the puff count. The condition of the cells affects the puff count. How a person vapes affects things too. A chain vaper will never give the cells a chance to rest and recover their voltage. The will reduce the puff count compared to someone who only takes a couple of puffs every couple of minutes, even if at the same power level.
Standardizing how I calculate these puff counts though makes it easy to directly compare one battery to another and choose the one that will run the longest. Just pick the battery with the higher puff count at the power level closest to what you vape at.
Don’t worry about a difference of a few puffs, you’ll never notice that in actual use with all the other variables that come into play when vaping. If two batteries have about the same puff count then use either one.
You can also choose a battery using the watt-hour numbers I’ve been including for a while. You don’t need to understand anything about watt-hours. Just remember that More Bigger = More Better and choose the battery with the higher number. But I think that puff counts will be easier for many vapers to accept and use.
If you have a device that uses more than one battery just divide the power setting you vape at by the number of batteries. This will give you the power level each battery is being discharged at. Then look up the puff count for the power level of that one battery. This will give you the total puff count no matter how many batteries you have or how they are connected in the regulated mod (series or parallel).
Each test report and ratings graphic I post will have the puff counts. I will also update the ratings tables with these numbers but I do not know when that will be finished.
Hopefully these puff counts are useful to you!
***Here’s how I calculate the number of puffs. Each puff is two seconds long at a certain power level; 30W, 60W, or 90W. That means each puff uses a certain amount of energy in watt-seconds (Ws). For example, a two second puff at 30W uses (2 sec) * (30W) = 60 watt-seconds of energy.
If I have a battery that delivered 10 watt-hours (Wh) of energy at 30W then I can easily calculate the number of puffs. First I convert the watt-hours to watt-seconds by multiplying by 3600. So 10Wh becomes 36,000Ws. Then we just divide the total amount of energy the battery had by the energy (Ws) each puff uses. So (36,000Ws total) / (60Ws per puff) = 600 puffs at 30W.
I then repeat that process for 60W and 90W (if those power levels don’t exceed the battery’s rating).
