So I've been vaping for about 6 weeks now (off the analogues for 4) and I think I'm obsessed. I'm now jnterested in sub ohming and planning on buying a kanger subtank mini but I've also found myself obsessing over mods, mainly mech mods some of the customisation I've seen round the forum is off the chain. My question is would it be worth my while to purchase one or just stick with the istick? What are the real benefits of a mech mod other than looking smart as ....!!?
The practical applications of heat flux, wire gauge, parallel wire count & net resistance as they relate to... the simplicity of a mech mod vs. the independent wattage control of regulated mod.
In simpler terms... the Ohm's law limitations of mechs vs. the ability to "force" wattage with an APV... as it effects user vaping performance / satisfaction.
I'll keep this relatively short. If you've read my Steam Engine User Guides - parts
1 and
2... then you (probably) have a good handle on the fine tuning aspects of your builds.
This is for those who may be on the fence about mechs and APVs in general, or those considering a first time purchase of a high wattage APV.
It might even be handy for complete noobs, with little to no understanding of Ohm's law, wire selection and so in. For those folks, start with the "Advanced Education" article, and proceed in what ever direction suits you.
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Trust me when I tell you, although I'm a true lover of mech mods... in actual fact, if you don't give a crap about the "battery holder"simplicity (and "style"?) that mechs provide... the high-output, regulated APV is the way to go...if you want more build freedom than Ohm's law will allow.
Without independent regulation, a battery will discharge wattage/amperage at a rate determined by net resistance and voltage.
For wattage ("Power") the formula is V² ÷ Ω = P
For voltage ("Current"), the formula is V ÷ Ω = C.
The calculated wattage doesn't care about your wire gauge or coils in parallel count... just the net resistance and battery voltage.
Heat flux is the coil(s) radiant heat, expressed in milliwatts per millimeter of coil surface area... squared. For our purposes... it's simply how warm you perceive your vape to be.
Heat flux does care about the wire gauge, coils in parallel count and net resistance.
With that out of the way, lets move on to examples. All values are arrived at using the Steam Engine vapist's calculator.
With a mech mod... if you want to run at 0.5Ω with a heat flux of approximately 300 mW/mm² ...
Ohm's law formula calculates this to be a discharge of 35 watts @ 4.2v (and less as the battery voltage diminishes) ...
For a single coil, you must use 24 gauge wire (the thickest you can use), and for dual coils you must use 28 gauge wire. That comes out to 309 & 311 mW/mm² respectively.
With a regulated wattage mod (for consistency, we'll call this a 250 watt output APV) you can use what ever wire and build you want... or at least a broader spread of possibilities.
A 26 gauge dual parallel build at 0.7Ω? No problem... 95 watts will provide 300 mW/mm2 even. With a mech, you simply can't do it (at least, not with 26 gauge - try 30 ga.)... Ohm's law dictates that you will discharge only 25 watts, for a stone cold 39 mW/mm² with 26 gauge wire.
Another example... lets go deep sub-ohm, say 0.2Ω, with a quad parallel 24 gauge build. From a mech mod, Ohm's law dictates 88 watts @ 4.2v.
Run those numbers through Steam Engine, and we get a very cool 121 mW/mm². With a regulated mod, all we need to do is run at 218 watts to obtain our HF of 301 mW/mm².
Can we get 300 mW/mm² from a 0.2Ω, quad parallel 24 gauge build with a mech? Yes, we can. but it can only be done with 27 gauge wire, for a slightly hotter than desired, 345 mW/mm².
So what does all this mean to you? The most important values to the vapist are heat flux, parallel coil count net coil surface area, wire gauge and net resistance.
Secondary values are heat capacity ("lag time" to desired temperature) and leg power loss... which is the percentage of power wasted heating the legs. This last value is based on wire mass/density... the greater the mass, the more energy wasted to the coil legs.
In either case, we want low numbers... and to obtain those low numbers (and good primary values), we need to perhaps use thinner wire than we'd prefer... or possibly a higher net resistance, or a single coil build, when we'd prefer a dual parallel build.
With a regulated mod, you don't have total freedom in the sense that you can do stupid stuff, but... the range of possibilities opens up greatly when you can force wattage above that of the unregulated Ohm's law discharge.
Again... I'm a mech fan. Don't even own a hi-watt regulated mod. Yet.
SoF
