Regulated Mod Battery Safety....

[johnm1971]

A while back, I remember seeing something about battery safety in a regulated mod. I might have seen it on Reddit or some other forum, but I'm sure someone here will know. I started vaping about 3 years ago, and for the first year, I used an Ego type vape. The second year, I graduated to an Innokin MVP with an internal battery. And earlier this year, I bought a Kanger Dripbox and a Tesla Invader 2, both basically unregulated mods with some safety features. I've been thinking lately about looking into a regulated mod, like maybe the Wisemec RX200, and I know I saw somewhere that battery safety is different in a regulated mod than in an unregulated one. Unregulated mod battery safety is pretty simple, and that's probably why I gravitated towards them. With unregulated mods, I know that the battery is connected to a chip that distributes electricity to the coil at a consistent voltage until the battery is low. So, unlike a regulated mod, you start to worry about the Continual Discharge rate when the battery gets LOWER. Can anyone fill me in on this a bit more. I know there's a formula for figuring all this out and I just want to know before I buy a regulated mod. Thanks, and keep on blowin those clouds!

 

[Eskie]

Actually, an unregulated mod, known as a mech mod, has no chip to protect you. It's essentially a battery and a switch, and you have to know whether the coil you're using is appropriate to the mod (yes, you can add a fuse for a little more safety). Regulated mod have chips in them both for protection as well as allowing adjustment of voltage/wattage, and maintaining those values until the battery is drained.

Regulated mods are regarded as far safer than unregulated mods in terms of built in protections.

 

[Baditude]

With unregulated mods, I know that the battery is connected to a chip that distributes electricity to the coil at a consistent voltage until the battery is low. !

You've got it backwards. Unregulated mods (mechanical) have no processor chip to regulate the battery voltage to the coil.

I believe the formula for a regulated mod that you are searching for is this one:

Calculating battery current draw for a regulated mod
​

For a simple comparison of regulated vs unregulated mods, read the below blogs:

Advancing Up the Vaping Ladder

• From cigalike batteries, to eGo's, to mods. Another picture dictionary of terminology and form factors for beginning vapers. Includes videos.

A Beginner's Guide to Your First Mechanical Mod
​

• Covers the differences between a mechanical vs. regulated mod, essential safety accessories, optional safety accessories to add layers of safety to your mech, routine maintanance, use of proper batteries, proper ventilation, low resistance vaping, and faux hybrid mods.​

 

[AzPlumber]

The OP might be referring to fixed regulated.

Battery safety is paramount on all vaping devices.

 

[bwh79]

Actually, an unregulated mod, known as a mech mod, has no chip to protect you.

Not necessarily. "Unregulated" and "mechanical" aren't necessarily the same thing. Kind of like how all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares, all mech mods are unregulated, but not all unregulated mods are mechs. Some mods like the Tesla Invader 2 and Kanger Dripbox that the OP mentioned, do have some basic protections like low res/short circuit protection, low-voltage cutoff, or reverse battery protection, yet do not have any voltage or wattage regulation.

OP: For regulated mod battery safety, assume 3.0 volts per battery under load at low-voltage cutoff, modified for device efficiency. Divide the maximum wattage (either the max the device will do, or the max you will be using it at) by that voltage (3), and then by the number of batteries, to determine the amp drain per battery. Example: a 150-watt device with two batteries. 150w / 3v = 50A (total). 50A / 2 batteries = 25A per battery. So you know you cannot safely do this with a pair of 20A-rated batteries.

^^This assumes the batteries are wired in parallel. If they're instead wired in series, the math is different, but the answer is the same. Rather than dividing by number of batteries at the end, instead you would add their voltages together at the beginning. So then you would have 150 watts, divided by 6 volts now instead of 3, still equals 25 amps. This time the full 25 amps is "seen by" each battery, instead of 50 amps divided evenly between the two when wired in parallel (so that each battery only "sees" 25 of them), but in the end it all works out the same.

 

[IMFire3605]

A while back, I remember seeing something about battery safety in a regulated mod. I might have seen it on Reddit or some other forum, but I'm sure someone here will know. I started vaping about 3 years ago, and for the first year, I used an Ego type vape. The second year, I graduated to an Innokin MVP with an internal battery. And earlier this year, I bought a Kanger Dripbox and a Tesla Invader 2, both basically unregulated mods with some safety features. I've been thinking lately about looking into a regulated mod, like maybe the Wisemec RX200, and I know I saw somewhere that battery safety is different in a regulated mod than in an unregulated one. Unregulated mod battery safety is pretty simple, and that's probably why I gravitated towards them. With unregulated mods, I know that the battery is connected to a chip that distributes electricity to the coil at a consistent voltage until the battery is low. So, unlike a regulated mod, you start to worry about the Continual Discharge rate when the battery gets LOWER. Can anyone fill me in on this a bit more. I know there's a formula for figuring all this out and I just want to know before I buy a regulated mod. Thanks, and keep on blowin those clouds!

The Tesla 2 Invader and Kanger Dripbox are the kind of mods with a misnomer, they output at a set voltage with a chipset that you can not adjust, but it is still regulated.

The crux of what you are looking for is still "Ohm's Law" but compared to a mechanical unregulated using the formula Voltage/Resistance (aka Ohms)=Amps, and used at a fresh charged battery, example 4.2v/0.5ohms=8.4amps.

Regulated mods the highest amp draw is at the lowest battery charge the mod will fire at, the chipset pulls more amps from the battery to convert to voltage (called a boost circuit or amplifier circuit on the chipset board), example set wattage is 8watts on a 1.86ohm coil, to get there the mod needs 3.86v to stay consistent, but if the battery charge is only 3.4v, extra amps are pulled to convert to that extra 0.46v required, lower the charge level, higher the amps required for this. Using "Watt's Law" a subset of Ohm's Law, we use the formula of Watts/Lowest Volts=amps needed/90% mod efficiency=Final Amp Pull (note that lowest volts depends on what the mod is programmed for safety reasons to not exceed the CDR of the battery).

Examples
Single Battery Mod (60watts/3.2v=18.75/90%=20.83333 Actual Amps)
Dual Battery Parallel (iStick100w, voltage of single battery, amp and mah are balanced between both batteries, technically 2x CDR and 2x Mah) (100watts/3.2v=31.25/90%=34.7222amps/2 batteries=17.3611amps per battery)
Dual Battery Series (Sigelei 150watt, in series voltage is doubled, but amps and mah are the same as a single battery) (150watts/6.4v=23.4375/90%=26.0417amps)
Triple Battery Series (Wismec RX200) (200watts/9.6v=20.8333/90%=23.1481amps)

 

[bwh79]

The Tesla 2 Invader and Kanger Dripbox are the kind of mods with a misnomer, they output at a set voltage with a chipset that you can not adjust, but it is still regulated.

Are they? See my other post, above. Just because it has a chipset, does not mean it is "regulated." Do these mods actually regulate the voltage to a fixed amount, regardless of the battery's charge state? Or do they simply output raw battery voltage, whatever that happens to be at the time, with safety features that prevent them from firing at all when outside of certain operating parameters?

 

[AzPlumber]

The Tesla 2 Invader and Kanger Dripbox are the kind of mods with a misnomer, they output at a set voltage with a chipset that you can not adjust, but it is still regulated.

Yes, this is the fixed regulated I was referring in my previous post.

 

[AzPlumber]

Are they? See my other post, above. Just because it has a chipset, does not mean it is "regulated." Do these mods actually regulate the voltage to a fixed amount, regardless of the battery's charge state? Or do they simply output raw battery voltage, whatever that happens to be at the time, with safety features that prevent them from firing at all when outside of certain operating parameters?

Not sure about the Tesla but the Dripbox has a fixed voltage of 3.7v.

 

[IMFire3605]

Are they? See my other post, above. Just because it has a chipset, does not mean it is "regulated." Do these mods actually regulate the voltage to a fixed amount, regardless of the battery's charge state? Or do they simply output raw battery voltage, whatever that happens to be at the time, with safety features that prevent them from firing at all when outside of certain operating parameters?

Well for the Tesla 2, I know that it has a set programed resistance range (something like 0.2ohms minimum) and a set maximum wattage of around 100 to 120watts that allows it to read the resistance and output what is safest for that coil. So there is some automated regulation programming going on, as AZPlumber above says, I think the set voltage output is in the 4.2v range.

 

[johnm1971]

Actually, an unregulated mod, known as a mech mod, has no chip to protect you. It's essentially a battery and a switch, and you have to know whether the coil you're using is appropriate to the mod (yes, you can add a fuse for a little more safety). Regulated mod have chips in them both for protection as well as allowing adjustment of voltage/wattage, and maintaining those values until the battery is drained.

Regulated mods are regarded as far safer than unregulated mods in terms of built in protections.

I probably didn't make it too clear, but I know all of that. Sorry. What I'm wanting to know is the formula for knowing how long your batteries are safe in a Regulated Mod. The way I understand it, the lower the battery goes, the more voltage is drawn from them in, say, a regulated dual 18650 mod in series, etc.

 

[johnm1971]

Well for the Tesla 2, I know that it has a set programed resistance range (something like 0.2ohms minimum) and a set maximum wattage of around 100 to 120watts that allows it to read the resistance and output what is safest for that coil. So there is some automated regulation programming going on, as AZPlumber above says, I think the set voltage output is in the 4.2v range.

No, Tesla Invader 2. It's basically a mech mod, but that wasn't my question. I'm wanting to know about battery safety in regulated mods.

 

[johnm1971]

You've got it backwards. Unregulated mods (mechanical) have no processor chip to regulate the battery voltage to the coil.

I believe the formula for a regulated mod that you are searching for is this one:

Calculating battery current draw for a regulated mod
​

For a simple comparison of regulated vs unregulated mods, read the below blogs:

Advancing Up the Vaping Ladder

• From cigalike batteries, to eGo's, to mods. Another picture dictionary of terminology and form factors for beginning vapers. Includes videos.

A Beginner's Guide to Your First Mechanical Mod
That helps. Thanks!​

• Covers the differences between a mechanical vs. regulated mod, essential safety accessories, optional safety accessories to add layers of safety to your mech, routine maintanance, use of proper batteries, proper ventilation, low resistance vaping, and faux hybrid mods.​

 

[johnm1971]

Ok, just to make it clearer, I know all about battery safety in mech mods, and the actual mods I have. I'm interested in knowing more about how battery safety works in, say, a dual 18650 regulated mod. It is different, I just don't understand it!

 

[johnm1971]

Ok, just to make it clearer, I know all about battery safety in mech mods, and the actual mods I have. I'm interested in knowing more about how battery safety works in, say, a dual 18650 regulated mod. It is different, I just don't understand it!

A dual 18650 regulated mod in series.

 

[bwh79]

What I'm wanting to know is the formula for knowing how long your batteries are safe in a Regulated Mod. The way I understand it, the lower the battery goes, the more voltage is drawn from them in, say, a regulated dual 18650 mod in series, etc.

See my post #5 in this thread. (And it's actually the amperage drawn that increases as the battery's output voltage decreases.)

 

[johnm1971]

You've got it backwards. Unregulated mods (mechanical) have no processor chip to regulate the battery voltage to the coil.

I believe the formula for a regulated mod that you are searching for is this one:

Calculating battery current draw for a regulated mod
​

For a simple comparison of regulated vs unregulated mods, read the below blogs:

Advancing Up the Vaping Ladder

• From cigalike batteries, to eGo's, to mods. Another picture dictionary of terminology and form factors for beginning vapers. Includes videos.

A Beginner's Guide to Your First Mechanical Mod
That's the best way to put what I'm trying to ask! Calculating battery current draw in regulated mods! Thanks so much!​

• Covers the differences between a mechanical vs. regulated mod, essential safety accessories, optional safety accessories to add layers of safety to your mech, routine maintanance, use of proper batteries, proper ventilation, low resistance vaping, and faux hybrid mods.​

 

[IMFire3605]

No, Tesla Invader 2. It's basically a mech mod, but that wasn't my question. I'm wanting to know about battery safety in regulated mods.

Watts/Lowest Volts=amps needed/90% mod efficiency=Final Amp Pull (note that lowest volts depends on what the mod is programmed for safety reasons to not exceed the CDR of the battery).

Examples
Single Battery Mod (60watts/3.2v=18.75/90%=20.83333 Actual Amps)
Dual Battery Parallel (iStick100w, voltage of single battery, amp and mah are balanced between both batteries, technically 2x CDR and 2x Mah) (100watts/3.2v=31.25/90%=34.7222amps/2 batteries=17.3611amps per battery)
Dual Battery Series (Sigelei 150watt, in series voltage is doubled, but amps and mah are the same as a single battery) (150watts/6.4v=23.4375/90%=26.0417amps)
Triple Battery Series (Wismec RX200) (200watts/9.6v=20.8333/90%=23.1481amps)

 

[johnm1971]

Watts/Lowest Volts=amps needed/90% mod efficiency=Final Amp Pull (note that lowest volts depends on what the mod is programmed for safety reasons to not exceed the CDR of the battery).

Examples
Single Battery Mod (60watts/3.2v=18.75/90%=20.83333 Actual Amps)
Dual Battery Parallel (iStick100w, voltage of single battery, amp and mah are balanced between both batteries, technically 2x CDR and 2x Mah) (100watts/3.2v=31.25/90%=34.7222amps/2 batteries=17.3611amps per battery)
Dual Battery Series (Sigelei 150watt, in series voltage is doubled, but amps and mah are the same as a single battery) (150watts/6.4v=23.4375/90%=26.0417amps)
Triple Battery Series (Wismec RX200) (200watts/9.6v=20.8333/90%=23.1481amps)

Thanks!

 

[johnm1971]

Somebody cleared it up for me and put it in the exact words I was meaning to say. It's calculating battery current draw for a regulated mod. I'm familiar with mech mods and unregulated. Thanks, everyone!