E-Cigarette, the Electronic Cigarette seems it would help if people understood some basic electronics theory to fully understand the e in the electronic cigarette. Since I have been an electronics technician for over twenty-five years, maybe I can help.
What we are doing when we turn on an e-cig is apply power to an atomizer which heats the juice causing it to vaporize. It is the same principle for all PV, no matter if it is with an atomizer, cartridge, or cartomizers. Power is the best way to gauge how effective the atty will vaporize the e-juice, and power is really not that difficult to figure out. Most of this is learned first in any electronics school, no advanced degree required. And it doesnt matter what kind of device you are using, 510, eGo, KR808, Silver Bullet, Screwdriver, Box Mod, or Pass Through, they all work with the same principles.
What the e-cig is doing is using the battery/atomizer combination to deliver power to the device, thus powering the vaporization of the juice. To figure out the power you use ohms law and power law which deal with four things:
Power law is P=I*V, so you can substitute V/R for the I and get;
Power is what makes the world go round. A 700 watt microwave oven has noticeable less cooking power than a 1200 watt microwave. A 40 watt light bulb puts out noticeable less light than a 120 watt light bulb. Power is what you will feel and taste as it vaporizes the juice, just as with a light bulb or microwave oven, you can tell the difference between a 6 watt vape and a 12 watt vape.
Many like the 3.7V battery on a 1.5 2.0 Ω atty. Doing the math this gives you between 6.84 watts and 9.13 watts. Many like the 5V battery on a 3.0 Ω atty, giving you 8.33 watts. You can't use a LR (low resistance) atty on high voltage devices because they just cannot take the power, 6V on a 1.5 Ω atty is 24 watts, and 24 watts will cause the atty to burn up and pop.
Experimenting is probably the best way to determine what power you like. By changing the atty resistance you change the power, and if your battery can handle the higher powers grab a lower resistance atty and try the higher power.
However, before you go out and get lower resistance atomizers, you have to remember, the more amps (I) you use the less time you get out of your battery which are rated at mAh (milli Amp hours). Some of the popular batteries sizes are;
Ever wonder why the Joye 510 has a poor reputation for battery life, 3V, at 3 Ω, equals 1 amp or 1000 milliamps which gives you 180mAh/1000mA = 0.18 hours of on time. That is just over 10 minutes or roughly between 92 and 216 drags.
Another thing you need to realize is the battery power (unless regulated) is going to change over the charge of the battery and this is a large factor in vaping. A 6.0V battery will charge to around 6.5V, and drain to around 5.5V so the power on a 3 Ω atty will change from 14 watts to 10 watts. A 3.7V battery will charge to around 4.2V and drain to around 3.2V, changing the power on a 1.5 Ω atty from 11.76 watts to 8.17 watts, or on a 2.0 Ω atty from 8.82 watts to 5.12 watts.
Voltage Regulated devices will keep the voltage the same level for most of the battery discharge cycle at a lower voltage then the batterys peak voltage. A 6V battery can be regulated at 5.5V and it will stay at 5.5V until the battery drops below that voltage level. This allows you to pick an atty for the 5.5V and it will stay there in the sweet spot for most of the battery discharge cycle. This is a great concept and although I dont have one it seems to me it would work great.
A Pass-Through is basically a voltage regulated device, and is one reason they are so popular; that and you dont have to mess with charging batteries.
Variable voltage devices are also a great idea. Some juices just dont taste right when vaporized at the same power another juice tasted great at. Well, if you can change the power without changing the battery or atomizer you can select the power that suits you and your juice with just a turn of a dial, changing the voltage going to the atty.
Whats the down side to the regulated and variable devices? Cost; more electronics cost more money. Reliability; more electronics have more things that can break. But just like everything else; computers, phones, etc., they will get smaller, cheaper, and more reliable.
Atomizers will change resistance over time and temperature. An atomizer may start its life off at 2.0 ohms, but as is wears out it can go higher or lower. Also, resistance is lower in heat than in cold, so as the atty heats up the resistance will go down. This usually doesnt make too much of a difference because they are designed to deal with this, but when chain vaping if I notice my atty getting hot I will back off a bit to allow the atty to cool.
It is always a good idea to have a multimeter when dealing with all this electronics stuff. A multimeter can measure voltage, resistance, current, as well as other parameters not mentioned in this post. Realistically all you need is voltage and resistance to keep an eye on your batteries and atomizers and with a calculator you can figure the power. There are tips and advice on using a multimeter that I wont get into in this post, but all the information you need is available by searching this forum or the internet. Someone once said, A PV user without a multimeter is like a doctor without a stethoscope. I tend to agree. They are cheap and readily available, go pick one up, however, do yourself a favor and get a digital one, the analog meters (with a needle on a printed scale behind the needle) are difficult to read, digitals just give you the number on a LCD readout.
I hope this helps you understand the basic electronics behind the e-cig. Happy vaping,
Jag
What we are doing when we turn on an e-cig is apply power to an atomizer which heats the juice causing it to vaporize. It is the same principle for all PV, no matter if it is with an atomizer, cartridge, or cartomizers. Power is the best way to gauge how effective the atty will vaporize the e-juice, and power is really not that difficult to figure out. Most of this is learned first in any electronics school, no advanced degree required. And it doesnt matter what kind of device you are using, 510, eGo, KR808, Silver Bullet, Screwdriver, Box Mod, or Pass Through, they all work with the same principles.
What the e-cig is doing is using the battery/atomizer combination to deliver power to the device, thus powering the vaporization of the juice. To figure out the power you use ohms law and power law which deal with four things:
Voltage (V) measured in volts
Resistance (R) measured in ohms, and the symbol for ohms is Ω
Current (I) measured in amps
Power (P) measured in watts
Ohms law states V=I*R, so using simple algebra you can manipulate the formula to get I=V/R. Resistance (R) measured in ohms, and the symbol for ohms is Ω
Current (I) measured in amps
Power (P) measured in watts
Power law is P=I*V, so you can substitute V/R for the I and get;
P=(V/R)*V, or
P=(V*V)/R, or
P=(V^2)/R.
Thus, knowing only the voltage and resistance you can determine the power in watts the atomizer is generating.P=(V*V)/R, or
P=(V^2)/R.
Power is what makes the world go round. A 700 watt microwave oven has noticeable less cooking power than a 1200 watt microwave. A 40 watt light bulb puts out noticeable less light than a 120 watt light bulb. Power is what you will feel and taste as it vaporizes the juice, just as with a light bulb or microwave oven, you can tell the difference between a 6 watt vape and a 12 watt vape.
Many like the 3.7V battery on a 1.5 2.0 Ω atty. Doing the math this gives you between 6.84 watts and 9.13 watts. Many like the 5V battery on a 3.0 Ω atty, giving you 8.33 watts. You can't use a LR (low resistance) atty on high voltage devices because they just cannot take the power, 6V on a 1.5 Ω atty is 24 watts, and 24 watts will cause the atty to burn up and pop.
Experimenting is probably the best way to determine what power you like. By changing the atty resistance you change the power, and if your battery can handle the higher powers grab a lower resistance atty and try the higher power.
However, before you go out and get lower resistance atomizers, you have to remember, the more amps (I) you use the less time you get out of your battery which are rated at mAh (milli Amp hours). Some of the popular batteries sizes are;
Joye 510 180mAh
510 Mega Batter 280mAh
KR808 380mAh
eGo 650mAh
Have you ever wondered why box mods are so popular, I have one and it uses a large battery called an 18650 (18mm (or 0.7087 inches) in diameter, 65 mm (or 2.5591 inches) long, the last 0 is for its shape, round) that delivers a whopping 2600 mAh, and those will last me a couple days on a single charge. Since I am using a 2.0 Ω atty and it is a 3.7V battery, it runs at (nominally) 1.85 amps (remember I=V/R), or 1850 milliamps (1 amp = 1000 milliamps), thus giving me 1.40 hours (2600mAh/1850mA=1.40h) of on time, and 1.4 hours is a lot of vaping when a drag is about 3-7 seconds. That works out to between 720 and 1680 drags. 510 Mega Batter 280mAh
KR808 380mAh
eGo 650mAh
Ever wonder why the Joye 510 has a poor reputation for battery life, 3V, at 3 Ω, equals 1 amp or 1000 milliamps which gives you 180mAh/1000mA = 0.18 hours of on time. That is just over 10 minutes or roughly between 92 and 216 drags.
Another thing you need to realize is the battery power (unless regulated) is going to change over the charge of the battery and this is a large factor in vaping. A 6.0V battery will charge to around 6.5V, and drain to around 5.5V so the power on a 3 Ω atty will change from 14 watts to 10 watts. A 3.7V battery will charge to around 4.2V and drain to around 3.2V, changing the power on a 1.5 Ω atty from 11.76 watts to 8.17 watts, or on a 2.0 Ω atty from 8.82 watts to 5.12 watts.
Voltage Regulated devices will keep the voltage the same level for most of the battery discharge cycle at a lower voltage then the batterys peak voltage. A 6V battery can be regulated at 5.5V and it will stay at 5.5V until the battery drops below that voltage level. This allows you to pick an atty for the 5.5V and it will stay there in the sweet spot for most of the battery discharge cycle. This is a great concept and although I dont have one it seems to me it would work great.
A Pass-Through is basically a voltage regulated device, and is one reason they are so popular; that and you dont have to mess with charging batteries.
Variable voltage devices are also a great idea. Some juices just dont taste right when vaporized at the same power another juice tasted great at. Well, if you can change the power without changing the battery or atomizer you can select the power that suits you and your juice with just a turn of a dial, changing the voltage going to the atty.
Whats the down side to the regulated and variable devices? Cost; more electronics cost more money. Reliability; more electronics have more things that can break. But just like everything else; computers, phones, etc., they will get smaller, cheaper, and more reliable.
Atomizers will change resistance over time and temperature. An atomizer may start its life off at 2.0 ohms, but as is wears out it can go higher or lower. Also, resistance is lower in heat than in cold, so as the atty heats up the resistance will go down. This usually doesnt make too much of a difference because they are designed to deal with this, but when chain vaping if I notice my atty getting hot I will back off a bit to allow the atty to cool.
It is always a good idea to have a multimeter when dealing with all this electronics stuff. A multimeter can measure voltage, resistance, current, as well as other parameters not mentioned in this post. Realistically all you need is voltage and resistance to keep an eye on your batteries and atomizers and with a calculator you can figure the power. There are tips and advice on using a multimeter that I wont get into in this post, but all the information you need is available by searching this forum or the internet. Someone once said, A PV user without a multimeter is like a doctor without a stethoscope. I tend to agree. They are cheap and readily available, go pick one up, however, do yourself a favor and get a digital one, the analog meters (with a needle on a printed scale behind the needle) are difficult to read, digitals just give you the number on a LCD readout.
I hope this helps you understand the basic electronics behind the e-cig. Happy vaping,
Jag
