Smoktech ZMax Owners - Pics., Tips, Tricks and Quirks

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skipdashu

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The extended cap for my Zmax was about the same tightness as my ver 1 Vmax requiring me to move Efest label as in my earlier post, I would have re located it anyway for the Vmax,

Thanx, good to know.

PS: and dummy me, has been cutting the bottom off the labels... turn 'em, duh, I sure shoulda thought of that!
 
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Hampa_D

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Some people have reported the Panasonic is too wide for the ZMax, hence the above referenced stripping the battery and shorting it out video. Stick with good quality IMR 18650 battery, either AW or eFest. Crystal Clear vaping has the stainless steel version in stock now, but they are the most expensive reseller of the ZMax that I have found so far.

situated in Sweden i think i'll wait til there's an EU vendor that has them but going to mail pink mule to see if they planing to stock it. regarding the battery issue im still clueless, guess i want the most reliable, best fitting and longest battery life.
 

Morandir835

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Well ran the zmax with two 18350 batts down to as low as it would go today with good results. At 6.4v combined got a low battery indicator, at 6.1v combined it cut off. Not sure what it would do with two overstressed 18350's at 2.1v or less, but not even going to try it (nor should anyone else).

The panasonic hybrid batts fit perfectly for me in the zmax, which includes the Callie's Kustoms version that does have an extra label on it.

Jackbox sir there is a place that carries the efest branded panasonic batts- eFest 18650 IMR Nipple Top 2250mah [eFest Nipple Top 18650 2250mah] - $13.50 | Best Electric Cigarette | Electronic Cigarette

Skipdashu sir efest batteries started getting a lot of talk on the budgetlight forums around June of last year, since then CCV, Gotvapes, and the aforementioned digitalciggz to name a few started carrying them and touting their performance. Just like with your tests sir, in mine they've been all over the map. AW's aren't always the best performing batteries (there are tests where some efest 18650 2000mah imr cells beat them out in direct comparison, others where they don't), but there's little variance from cell to cell with the AW. That consistency from cell to cell is how AW earned his reputation with flashlight users over on candlepowerforums. Oddly enough the high end ecig mods have more in common with high end lithium powered flashlights than anything else.
 

kbalz

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was vaping away today and checked my current level left on my panny cgr 18650. To my surprise it read 3.3 v . Are these not suppose to cut off at 3.4 ? so I fired it a couple more times to see if the lou would show and it did not , just kept firing. I normally only take my batteries down to 3.6 v , but lost track of it this time.
 

kbalz

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They're supposed to give a low battery indicator Kbalz (sir or Ms.?) at 3.4v, cut off at 3.2v. LOU should show up on the screen unless you turned off the led function.
Yeah display is turned on. Like I said Volts was reading 3.3v, no LOU . I'm going to run this battery down to see what it does this time.
 

dwcraig1

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I hope I say this right, since Zmax with a 1.5 ohm load set to 3 watt is "colder" than at 3 volts then is 15 watts "hotter" than at 6 volts with a 3 ohm load? Just something that I have been pondering.
I'm using my 1.5 ohm DID at 3 watts but I would say it's the hottest 3 watts I have ever seen.(w/stacked batts)
 
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skipdashu

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The extended cap for my Zmax was about the same tightness as my ver 1 Vmax requiring me to move Efest label as in my earlier post, I would have re located it anyway for the Vmax,
I picked up a SS extension cap for my chrome Zmax today and my 18350s fit it looser than they do in my black (not v1) Vmax. There most be some variance in different runs but then my SS Vmax fit was a slight bit looser than the black one also.
 
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skipdashu

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Skipdashu sir efest batteries started getting a lot of talk on the budgetlight forums around June of last year, since then CCV, Gotvapes, and the aforementioned digitalciggz to name a few started carrying them and touting their performance. Just like with your tests sir, in mine they've been all over the map. AW's aren't always the best performing batteries (there are tests where some efest 18650 2000mah imr cells beat them out in direct comparison, others where they don't), but there's little variance from cell to cell with the AW. That consistency from cell to cell is how AW earned his reputation with flashlight users over on candlepowerforums. Oddly enough the high end ecig mods have more in common with high end lithium powered flashlights than anything else.

Thanks for the confirm. I saw a test were an efest IMR 18650 was very close to the AW and CGR. I'll poke around some more. I also found out about CGRs on the flashlight forums last summer (CP or BLF). I think SmartVapes.com was the first vape shop to carry them. They were $7.27 when I got my 1st one.

Any idea where I can find the EnerPower 3400mAh ICRs? Seems to be a top dog amongst the ICR tests... or were in the composite compiled test graphs I keep bookmarked.

Skip

PS: If a mod wants to move this to the battery sub-forum I'd be all for it.
 
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skipdashu

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I hope I say this right, since Zmax with a 1.5 ohm load set to 3 watt is "colder" than at 3 volts then is 16 watts "hotter" at 15 watts than at 6 volts with a 3 ohm load? Just something that I have been pondering.
I'm using my 1.5 ohm DID at 3 watts but I would say it's the hottest 3 watts I have ever seen.(w/stacked batts)

lost me. Current thru 1.5 ohms to get 3 watts of power would only be a bit above 1.4A at around 2.12 volts. At 3 ohms it'd be 3 volts at 1 amp and still 3 watts. However, 3 volts thru 1.5 ohms is going to burn 2A. Using 'PIE' P=IE means you're doing 6 watts (6w=3vx2A).

Watts = temp for all practical purposes.

OH, I get it... My guess is the device can NOT go down to 2.14 volts to give you 3 watts. Probably bottoms out at 3 or more volts out. So with your 1.5 ohm atty isn't the lowest it can really do 6 watts? I=E/R or 2 Amps, then 6w = 2A x 3v. If so, you'll have to go up to 3 ohms to get down to 3 watts of power.

If I did the math right... had to take off my socks, so not sure.

Looks like your gonna have to stuff some more of those ohms down in there to cool it down. ;-)
 
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skipdashu

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I picked up an extension cap today and tried using the 8.x volt battery set up today (2 x 18350) and I'm not impressed. All it did was force me to adjust from 8.0 watts down to 7.0 on the juice I was vaping at the time. Might be good for you molten lava vapors but not for me.
Back to my single CGR.

Skip
 

VaporHead512

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I picked up an extension cap today and tried using the 8.x volt battery set up today (2 x 18350) and I'm not impressed. All it did was force me to adjust from 8.0 watts down to 7.0 on the juice I was vaping at the time. Might be good for you molten lava vapors but not for me.
Back to my single CGR.

Skip

I'm still sitting here with the 18350's AAV gave me when I bought the ZMax. Haven't used them for a second. Obviously had to wait for an extension cap anyways, but if it sucks...Gonna take em back in a cpl days if I get the time, hopefully they can switch them out for an 18650, I don't want to stack.
 

jackbox

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I'm still sitting here with the 18350's AAV gave me when I bought the ZMax. Haven't used them for a second. Obviously had to wait for an extension cap anyways, but if it sucks...Gonna take em back in a cpl days if I get the time, hopefully they can switch them out for an 18650, I don't want to stack.

The single 18650 will probably last longer than stacked 18350s also. If you are not a super high wattage vaper then you are probably best served with the single battery set up. That is how I plan on using mine when it gets here in a day or two.
 

hubblecraft83

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I hope I say this right, since Zmax with a 1.5 ohm load set to 3 watt is "colder" than at 3 volts then is 16 watts "hotter" at 15 watts than at 6 volts with a 3 ohm load? Just something that I have been pondering.
I'm using my 1.5 ohm DID at 3 watts but I would say it's the hottest 3 watts I have ever seen.(w/stacked batts)

If you are running hot... make a thicker, tighter and denser wick to suck up some heat. I made a tech tutorial based on the wick in the #500 ss mesh thread. Check it out...
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ore-you-sell-your-genesis-style-rba-read.html
 

Stonemull

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Well I got a zmax to have a play with yesterday, been busy today, it looks to me that it does not ever go below 32.7% duty cycle.

With dual batterys .. fully charged, zmax set to 3W, 2ohm carto .. calculated power is over 9W.
Not tried it yet, but if the peak voltage holds up on 1.5ohm .. it will be 11W..


 

Stonemull

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RMS is a better way than averaging for getting some kind voltage measurement for a sinusoids signal; it’s closer but not good. A PWM Supply’s output is a square wave with changing duty cycle so there’s nothing that can accurately measure the voltage, it’s all artificial. The only thing that can be measured is amps, frequency and duty cycle and even that dependent on how the PID loops are set up for accuracy.

If anyone is interested in measuring the power going out of a PWM supply you measure amps, the number of electrons per second going through your load, but we’ve all taken the easy out and been talking volts.

We don’t even try and measure volts out of a PWM supply if it’s mission critical for the operation of the load (like a paper motor motor or X-ray tube) we put an encoder at the load to measure rpm (or rad sensor for x-ray) and use that for the feedback to control the “voltage” of the PWM output. From those inputs and the current feedback we get the power.

It’s the same for us, we’re using our experience to measure the power and it’s not set up right on these PWM machine, everyone says they hit harder at the low settings, the POWER is off on all of them.

Sorry, but this is just plain wrong.
The RMS voltage obtained correctly, then used in a simple formula like P=V*I .. will give you the EXACT power, regardless of waveform. If its a continuously repeating one of course, something like audio .. it changes all the time.
Any repeating waveform you can find a formula for it .. regardless of the shape using fourier analysis, totally not needed for a pulsed waveform its simple enough .. have a squiz at Root mean square - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .. look at pulse train. no matter what the duty cycle is its a simple calculation.
 
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