Upgrading to higher voltage - question on atomizers

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Hogie

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I have ordered a ProVari variable voltage vaporizer. I wonder if I should also get LR attys or will the standard 510 do fine? I also have a couple of 306 attys that I just got. I already have 4 standard 510 attys as well as 2 eGo tank attys. I hope to use all of them on the new toy. Maybe the tank atomizer will work better too (I hope)
 

Hoosier

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Congratz on the nice mod! Having that kind of voltage control is fantastic, so I hope you have your AW IMR batteries and charger all set up because the only other thing you will need are attys and you have those.

Which atty? That is entirely up to you. I would not recommend a LR though if you go above 3.7 volts. And with a whole wide range of voltages soon to be available to you, why would you want to stay on the low side?

You will be able to pick the power you use to vaporize your juice with the ProVari. Power is what does the work, and the work is heat for us, and voltage is a component of power. You can also adjust power with the atty you choose with any PV. I'm going to do some simplified math to show you what this means.

Power is the product of potential and flow. Power is in Watts, the potential is Volts, and the flow is Amperes to give us P=VI. So to increase our power, Watts, we can increase volts, or amps, or both. You may have seen V=IR which means voltage is the product of resistance and flow, but with some quick algebra we find I=V/R. We can plug that back into our power equation, so we know how much work, heat, the device is doing for us and P=VV/R. Since voltage is squared, it is pretty clear that voltage has a greater impact on the amount of heat or work the atty can produce or do. The resistance of the atty can change, but does not have as great an impact on power, but it works for fixed voltage devices. Since we divide the squared voltage by the resistance, the lower the resistance the higher the power.

Using the same atty with the same resistance you will be able to dial in the perfect amount of power for your tastes. It really is a great way to hit that sweet spot. Much easier than changing to different attys with different resistances to find the amount of power that works for you. But I said I would not go with low resistance attys, and there is a reason. The wire that gives the atty resistance, and produces the heat, is the same material in all your attys. The reason it has a lower or higher resistance is the length of wire. That wire has so much resistance per unit of length, so the manufacturer can cut the wire to a certain length to give a certain resistance.

When a wire is shorter, there is less area to dissipate the heat. Since the shorter wire has less resistance it produces more heat than a longer wire. Taken together the shorter wire has the most heat to dissipate in the least distance. This means the shorter wire is much more likely to melt and the likelihood of that increase as the voltage goes up. (You can do a demonstration of this with a lighter and a plastic straw by moving 6" of straw through the flame of a lighter, back and forth, and the straw will get warm and soft. If you do the same thing to only 2" of straw for the same time period, the straw will most likely catch fire. Same heat, but in a smaller area. Now imagine if our lighter put out more heat because the area was smaller! That wire does not stand a chance.) I hope this makes sense without going into heat dissipation math. Not that it is complicated math here, but it may make this all messy looking with more algebra.

Now, there are some unknowns here. The amount of current, amperes, the device puts out is not limitless and the vendor states the current is limited, but doesn't give specifics. (Remember that power is a product of potential and flow and our flow is limited so our power is limited.) So your exact power may be lower than the equation would indicate if you hit the current limit. Since I do not know what that is, I cannot account for it here. (I could figure it out if I had one on my bench.) But I think it is safe to assume that it will allow enough current to damage a low resistance atty at higher voltages though as the battery is perfectly capable of that much current.

I would suggest you pick an atty, or even carto, and experiment with your voltage level to find that perfect vape. Be ready to adjust when you switch attys. With a little experience you should get to the point that you can dial in the perfect vape to match your juice, your flavor, your preferred TH, and the atty type without too much thought.

But most of all, have fun with your new shiny mod!
 

DonDaBoomVape

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I know that Hoosier debated whether to provide that lengthy, technical answer or a shorter, simpler one ... and he consulted other veterans about it. I commend him for that in-depth response.

In case a shorter one would better meet your needs (one month into vaping):

A great advantage of variable voltage is that it can be used safely and effectively with atomizers of any resistance. Since LR attys (intended for 3.4-3.7V vaping) tend to be more delicate than standard resistance attys, I don't see the point of using them on a VV mod like the ProVari ... but you can. Just set the voltage toward the low end of the ProVari's range.
 
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