SMOK V-Fin “8000mAh” Battery Test Followup

[Mooch]

I recently tested the battery in the Smok V-Fin 160W mod that smok claims has an 8000mAh rating. It turned out to be a 3300mAh 8.4V battery pack...a shameful overrating, even if we call the pack a “6600mAh equivalent”.

Hey SMOK, stop playing battery ratings games!

I received some comments wondering if my 3.0V/cell low voltage cutoff for the capacity test might have been too high. Perhaps the pack delivers a lot more capacity if allowed to discharge further?

I retested the pack, using a different electronic load (a device that draws precise amounts of current) for the discharge as a double-check of my testing. The pack delivered 3292mAh at 0.5A down to 3.0V/cell (6.0V for the pack) for this retest. Essentially Identical to my previous results.

Continuing the discharge down to 2.5V/cell, 5.0V for the pack, only resulted in the delivery of another 35mAh. This makes the total 3327mAh.

This is a true 3300mAh 8.4V pack, matching the calculated capacity using the 12.21Wh/3.7V (nominal) info put on the cells by their manufacturer (12.21Wh / 3.7V = 3.3Ah).

For the heck of it I gave the pack a 20A constant-current discharge, measuring its temperature, to get an estimate of its current rating. At its 160W setting the smok V-Fin draws about 30A from each cell so I hoped the current rating was pretty high. Especially considering that its cells appear to be the standard round pouch LiPo’s used in so many mods with internal batteries.

At 20A down to 2.8V/cell (5.6V for the pack) the cell temperature rose to 83°C.

If the cells in the SMOK V-Fin are using the same chemistry as LiPo’s they should stay near or below 60°C at their true rating. If they use the same chemistry as our 18650’s, and other metal-can round cells, then they should stay near or below below 75°C-80°C.

I estimate this pack’s continuous current rating to be 10A-12A if it’s a LiPo and 15A-17A if not. In my opinion these are not great ratings if this mod is used hard at higher power levels.

Interestingly, these are 25600 cells. I don’t know if they are custom made for this mod or were a standard offering by one of the China manufacturers.

 

[Rossum]

At its 160W setting the SMOK V-Fin draws about 30A from each cell

I estimate this pack’s continuous current rating to be 10A-12A if it’s a LiPo and 15A-17A if not.

Does the mod at least have a cut-off after a certain amount of time firing?

 

[Mooch]

Does the mod at least have a cut-off after a certain amount of time firing?

Web site mentions 12sec cutoff.

 

[stols001]

Thanks for the retest, it's a shame the ratings remain quite similar. Although I am for the most part anti-regulation, at least concerning many things, it's a shame that vaping has to be so self policing, especially as new vapers are buying the "new, latest and greatest gear" quite often without knowing what they are doing. I'm glad YOU are doing what you do, but if there is ONE place where I wish there were a "small" amount of regulation, including batteries being rated NOT by the manufacturers themselves, well, somehow.

Although, I guess the good news is that battery explosions are somewhat low given what we are working with. It's not ideal, but at least with some safety precautions, most batteries aren't going to vent in a regulated mod... .It's just, it's a shame. IDK what the answers are, but how things are going now, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out a mod is being sold (sadly and dangerously) above specs. If you can design a mod, you know enough to be able to determine the battery type and how it will perform, and also, the whole designing fictional mod "specs" where the board can support a wattage level that NO two 18650 batteries can support.... I know that since I have learned about battery safety, I know how to stay in the safe zone, but that's not true for every new user and at some point I have to wonder where "chasing power" will stop.

In any case, thank you for your hard work, you are a boon to the vaping community (as are all the other battery and safety experts on ECF).

Anna

 

[Rossum]

Thanks for the retest, it's a shame the ratings remain quite similar. Although I am for the most part anti-regulation, at least concerning many things, it's a shame that vaping has to be so self policing, especially as new vapers are buying the "new, latest and greatest gear" quite often without knowing what they are doing. I'm glad YOU are doing what you do, but if there is ONE place where I wish there were a "small" amount of regulation, including batteries being rated NOT by the manufacturers themselves, well, somehow.

We don't need any new regulation to address this. What SMOK is doing here is fraudulently misrepresenting the product. That's already illegal.

 

[stols001]

It may be illegal, but it's also from China. But yes, I guess enforcement is more of the issue and etc. IDK exactly what that would look like though (and I'm not cut out for politics anyway, so I'm going to just attempt to put it OUT of my mind.

Anna