VV/VW noob with a question

[JaxTel]

Yoooo guys how's it going? So as the title indicates I'm still a NOOB, was vaping for a while about a year ago and then relapsed to analogs after a break-up (boohoo me) but been vaping since New Years and going strong. I've been using only ego style devices (once bought an iTaste SVD which stopped reading resistance after like a week..Still have it if anyone knows a fix?) until now when I've just received an istick. Everyone and their mum has an iStick these days eh. Anyway I'm just wondering how people possibly get a pleasant vape using a high wattage/voltage. I read about how people are disappointed with the fact it maxes at 20W. Or they vape 13W with sub-ohms.. Well I can only get a decent tasting (not burnt & tasting like s**t) vape at 5-6W or 3-3.6V, with ~2Ω attys. I'm clearly missing something! Can someone help illuminate me on this matter please? Many thanks!

 

[State O' Flux]

I read about how people are disappointed with the fact it maxes at 20W. Or they vape 13W with sub-ohms.. Well I can only get a decent tasting (not burnt & tasting like s**t) vape at 5-6W or 3-3.6V, with ~2Ω attys. I'm clearly missing something! Can someone help illuminate me on this matter please? Many thanks!

With a 2.0Ω production atomizer - probably made with a single coil, 32 gauge or even thinner wire, your 5-6 watts produces a reasonably warm heat flux of around 220 mW/mm2+/-.
I say it's likely a single coil because if it were dual parallel coils, the heat flux would be below 60 mW/mm2... and stone cold.

What is "heat flux" you ask? It's the coil temperature expressed in milliwatts per millimeter of coil surface, squared.

Lets say that your typical set-up has a 220 mW/mm2+/-heat flux. Now, lets say you're comparing that to a rebuilder with a high(er) watt mod.

With a 26 gauge dual parallel coil build at 0.5Ω resistance, you'd need 50 watts to equal the heat flux value of your build. Makes a bit more sense now?

If not, click on my two sigline hyperlinks below (and the imbedded link above)... and read everything and ever link you find. You'll be smarter for it. ;-)

 

[JaxTel]

Ahhh that certainly explains it for me! Although I will check out your links for future reference as well can never know too much when it comes to vaping. Thanks very much!

 

[State O' Flux]

Ahhh that certainly explains it for me! Although I will check out your links for future reference as well can never know too much when it comes to vaping. Thanks very much!

No problem, Jax - welcome to ECF...

The deal with regulated APVs is that you can "force feed" wattage to an atomizer... a major advantage they have over unregulated mech mods, where the battery will discharge current only as the resistance requires.

This is why mech mod users build such thick wired, low resistance atomizers... to max out their batteries Maximum Continuous Current Discharge (MCCD)... of around 120 to 140 watts for an 18650 battery.

 

[JaxTel]

No problem, Jax - welcome to ECF...

The deal with regulated APVs is that you can "force feed" wattage to an atomizer... a major advantage they have over unregulated mech mods, where the battery will discharge current only as the resistance requires.

This is why mech mod users build such thick wired, low resistance atomizers... to max out their batteries Maximum Continuous Current Discharge (MCCD)... of around 120 to 140 watts for an 18650 battery.

That makes sense, I think. Although what would the advantage be of going to all that trouble to get the same 'heat flux' that one gets from a standard build?
I still have a lot to learn before I get into building my own mods; even after reading some battery safety guides, after seeing some horrifically burnt hands I still don't think I'd feel safe vaping on something I'd built myself haha

 

[State O' Flux]

That makes sense, I think. Although what would the advantage be of going to all that trouble to get the same 'heat flux' that one gets from a standard build?
I still have a lot to learn before I get into building my own mods; even after reading some battery safety guides, after seeing some horrifically burnt hands I still don't think I'd feel safe vaping on something I'd built myself haha

It's all about the amount of heat you can apply, air you can flow and juice you can vaporize. A guy with a sub-ohm RDA or RTA may be using twice as much juice as you do... per draw. Look on YouTube for "cloud competitions"... not my thing, but it' will give you an idea of what's possible.

It's a learning curve... for some a longer, more difficult curve than others - and some are happy right where their at. If you ever become dissatisfied with the performance of your kit, you may find yourself with a higher wattage APV.

Anymore, you don't really have to be a RBA builder if it's not your "thing"... Kanger and Aspire both make ready-to-go sub-ohm glassomizers where you just toss in a fresh, pre-made coil head, when the old one's performance drops off.

Cheers

 

[Maiar]

It also doesn't help that when the istick says it's putting out 5 watts it's lying and tastes like it's pumping out 100.

 

[JaxTel]

It's all about the amount of heat you can apply, air you can flow and juice you can vaporize. A guy with a sub-ohm RDA or RTA may be using twice as much juice as you do... per draw. Look on YouTube for "cloud competitions"... not my thing, but it' will give you an idea of what's possible.

It's a learning curve... for some a longer, more difficult curve than others - and some are happy right where their at. If you ever become dissatisfied with the performance of your kit, you may find yourself with a higher wattage APV.

Anymore, you don't really have to be a RBA builder if it's not your "thing"... Kanger and Aspire both make ready-to-go sub-ohm glassomizers where you just toss in a fresh, pre-made coil head, when the old one's performance drops off.

Cheers

Ahh ok awesome! Great replies, very informative

It also doesn't help that when the istick says it's putting out 5 watts it's lying and tastes like it's pumping out 100.

Hahah well it tastes alright at low wattage really but I haven't tried a really nice piece of kit to compare it to tbf. I think I'll invest in a few better tanks soon though to get a nicer vape, and I'm gonna try to fix my SVD before too long too.