Why am I disappointed with my Provari

[Dampmaskin]

With a Provari, Ohms are not all that important. It regulates the voltage like nobody's business. The last couple of days I've been checking out cartos for the first time. I have a 2.1 ohm carto on my Provari Mini right now, still waiting for tanks to arrive. Very satisfying. I like my wattage low and right now I'm vaping at 3.5V... only 5.83 watts.

 

[zapped]

Id go with the 3ohm cartos as well. The reason for this is battery life. At 5-5.5 volts the battery will last longer than a 2ohm carto at 4 volts. Sounds backwards I know, but it has to do with drain rates.

Picture a cartomizer as a faucet. If you turn it wide open ( lower resistance) the water comes out faster and your water tank (your battery) will empty quicker.

Increase the resistance and it will drain slower.


I use Smoketech 2 hole laser drilled flanged XL cartos from smoktek.com but Ive heard others swear by Ikenvapes.

Baditude has some excellent pictures showing various sizes of IBTanks on a Provari.

If moneys not an issue, check out Phiniac.com as well. They cost more than IBTanks but are well worth it IMO as they have thicker caps and glass.

 

[Alter]

My wife been running protank and now protank2 on her provari for months now and have had no issues at all with it or I'd hear about it. The only thing I found is that her provari is finicky about protank bases so I have several bases around and found the one that works best and stick to that particular base. As for the 510/ego adapter I found that just any run of the mill adapter DOESN'T work properly on her provari, either she gets crappy vape or the provari shuts down. I ordered the adapter from Provape and it s a sealed unit and there must be something different about it cause it works fine. The other solution I found for her provari is not to use PT mini's or any other atty that has just ego threading and alleviate the adapter altogether.

 

[zapped]

With a Provari, Ohms are not all that important. It regulates the voltage like nobody's business. The last couple of days I've been checking out cartos for the first time. I have a 2.1 ohm carto on my Provari Mini right now, still waiting for tanks to arrive. Very satisfying. I like my wattage low and right now I'm vaping at 3.5V... only 5.83 watts.

They are if youre concerned about battery life but I agree with your statement in general.

 

[Gone Digital]

sounds like a plan.

 

[Dampmaskin]

At 5-5.5 volts the battery will last longer than a 2ohm carto at 4 volts. Sounds backwards I know, but it has to do with drain rates.

Picture a cartomizer as a faucet. If you turn it wide open ( lower resistance) the water comes out faster and your water tank (your battery) will empty quicker.

Increase the resistance and it will drain slower.

For an unregulated mod, this is correct, but for a regulated device like the Provari, it is not necessarily true.

The voltage and current on the atomizer side of a regulated device is not the same as the voltage and current on the battery side of the circuitry. The wattage however, is roughly the same: The number of watts drained from the battery equals the number of watts delivered to the coil, minus the number of watts lost in conversion.

In short, the main factor determining battery drain with these devices, is the wattage you vape at.

Battery life is also affected by the efficiency of the voltage regulator circuit. The efficiency varies between different device models, atomizer ohms, user set voltages, and battery levels. With that many variables, it is difficult to say anything general about this efficiency, but if I should guesstimate, I'd probably say somewhere between 80 and 98%, give or take, ymmv, etc.

Update: I googled "provari efficiency", and found a FAQ on Provape.com where they claim an efficiency of 90-95%.

 

[PLANofMAN]

Update: I googled "provari efficiency", and found a FAQ on Provape.com where they claim an efficiency of 90-95%.

Not 90-95%. They claim efficiency of 95%.
The ProVari is super efficient compared to most other mods. I would even say that ProVape is being conservative. One of the reviewers said his ProVari was 97-98% efficient, though I imagine the numbers will be slightly different from ProVari to ProVari, and also dependent on other factors like how clean the contacts and threads are.

 

[serenity21899]

I am thinking it is more the topper than the ProVari that is not performing well. I have never had a ProTank Mini but the ProTank2 works just fine. I would try some different toppers before dismissing the ProVari.

 

[TFL!]

I use Protank 2 with aero tank bases, 2.4 olm coils. 7/6 wraps on 2mm screw in the threads 32gage wire. 3.7 3.8 volts. Good flavor fair cloud.

 

[Baditude]

Baditude has some excellent pictures showing various sizes of IBTanks on a Provari.

IBTanked cartotank review

Baditude's Cartotank Setup Guide

 

[Megabyt]

With a Provari, Ohms are not all that important.

Doh!

 

[zapped]

For an unregulated mod, this is correct, but for a regulated device like the Provari, it is not necessarily true.

The voltage and current on the atomizer side of a regulated device is not the same as the voltage and current on the battery side of the circuitry. The wattage however, is roughly the same: The number of watts drained from the battery equals the number of watts delivered to the coil, minus the number of watts lost in conversion.

In short, the main factor determining battery drain with these devices, is the wattage you vape at.

Battery life is also affected by the efficiency of the voltage regulator circuit. The efficiency varies between different device models, atomizer ohms, user set voltages, and battery levels. With that many variables, it is difficult to say anything general about this efficiency, but if I should guesstimate, I'd probably say somewhere between 80 and 98%, give or take, ymmv, etc.

Update: I googled "provari efficiency", and found a FAQ on Provape.com where they claim an efficiency of 90-95%.

It is true with a Provari.

Ive tested it after having some pretty long arguments with people because it sounded backwards to me.

Im sure Baditude, Ocelot and PLANofMAN can attest to that. I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that lower resistance equalled longer battery life and I was dead wrong.

With a 2ohm carto at 4.2 volts and a 3ohm carto at 5.2 volts, I get two more hours out of a freshly charged 18650 battery.

If you look at a wattage chart both both those resistance and voltage combinations are right at 9 watts.

2ohms at 4.2 volts = 8.82 watts

3ohms at 5.2 volts equals 9.01 watts

If your hypothesis was true, the higher ohms should drain the battery faster and thats not the case.

 

[PLANofMAN]

Forget about the volts and watts for a minute. Low oHms draw more amps than high oHms do. It's not rocket science.

 

[Katya]

Hi gang
After reading all the Provari hype, I bit the bullet and bought a mini. I was quite impressed with the look and feel.
I have been using protank minis with it and have to say I'm not impressed... Why??
On my vamo v5 I get great clouds and excellent flavour, but on the provari my flavour is muted, less smoke. I have played around with the voltage and found a reasonable setting of 3.5 - 3.7 volts on a 2.1 atty in my protank.
Any advise please.

Hi Gone Digital. Your mini ProTank has an eGo connection and will not work on a ProVari without an 510/eGo adapter. Vamo has dual eGo/510 connection so it works flawlessly with both threads. ProVari's head was designed a long time ago to be used with 510 atomizers and cartomizers--it doesn't work at all with eGo-threaded toppers and doesn't work well with larger tanks that come equipped with bottom air uptake--if you tighten a tank on a ProVari, you are cutting off air flow to the atomizer.

But not all is lost. If you want to use your mini ProTank, get a 510/eGo adapter:

510 to [eGo] Adapter

If you want to use larger tanks on the ProVari, like ProTank 2, try it with the Kanger Aero base:

Kanger Airflow Control Valve - Protank II, Protank 3, Aerotank

 

[ruet]

I'll give you the skinny on this whole thing. The Kanger BCC (Protank, EVOD, etc.)sweet spot is 6.5 watts(I beleive it says as much in the Kanger documentation). You can occasionally take them up to 7.5 but 6.5 is where you want to be 90%. I also recommend removing one or all of the "flavor wicks" that ship with factory coils. You might get a little leakage (more like seepage) but it is worth it. A 2.1 Ohm coil would put you at about 3.7 volts. If you were vaping them at 5 watts on your VAMO you should set your Provari from 3.2 to 3.3 volts. ...if it even goes that low. I would start with a new coil at 3.3 volts and slowly work up to where you get a hint of burning then back your voltage down a 10th or two. Do yourself a favor by not spending $30 on a carto-tank. The vaping world has moved on from those antiquated, overpriced, high cost of ownership mess makers. I used them for the second year of my vaping journey and will NEVER go back. I've been using Kanger BCC's for the last 8-10 months and am starting to move on to RBAs.

 

[DavidAmonettNashville]

I am sorry that your topper of choice doesn't seem to perform well on your new Provari but I am even more sorry that someone had the gall to suggest you were here looking to argue. You have been nothing but polite and humble in every post you've made and I think that the suggestion that you were here to start discourse should have been roundly condemned. I also think that telling you to "Switch over to a Real tank" is silly....I, for one, do not think you should have to buy a $100.00 kayfun or a $50.00 Carto tank to get a decent vape. Something is awry and I wish I knew enough to help you. I'm sorry if you felt pushed around by a few and I hope it doesn't reflect poorly on everyone. I use a protank on an MVP2 and blow clouds so I'm sure you should be able to on a provari..Again sorry for the insinuations directed at you.-Dave

 

[ruet]

Doh!

 

[PLANofMAN]

I'll give you the skinny on this whole thing. The Kanger BCC (Protank, EVOD, etc.)sweet spot is 6.5 watts(I beleive it says as much in the Kanger documentation). You can occasionally take them up to 7.5 but 6.5 is where you want to be 90%. I also recommend removing one or all of the "flavor wicks" that ship with factory coils. You might get a little leakage (more like seepage) but it is worth it. A 2.1 Ohm coil would put you at about 3.7 volts. If you were vaping them at 5 watts on your VAMO you should set your Provari from 3.2 to 3.3 volts. ...if it even goes that low. I would start with a new coil at 3.3 volts and slowly work up to where you get a hint of burning then back your voltage down a 10th or two. Do yourself a favor by not spending $30 on a carto-tank. The vaping world has moved on from those antiquated, overpriced, high cost of ownership mess makers. I used them for the second year of my vaping journey and will NEVER go back. I've been using Kanger BCC's for the last 8-10 months and am starting to move on to RBAs.

Using cartotanks (on a Vamo or similar device), and using cartotanks on a ProVari, are two different things entirely. The ProVari goes down to 2.9 volts (the V1 ProVari's go down to 3.3 volts). 3.3 volts is still ridiculously low. I don't think I've met anyone who vapes that low.

Most likely the Vamo is in mean mode or RMS mode (I never can tell which one's which) and is pushing more power than the OP has it set for.

 

[SuperTenere]

You opened up a can of worms with the ProVari issue, I'm sure the ProVari is not your problem, you need to try a different tank setup.
I have a ProVari and just ordered one more, been using the Protank II with Kangers adjustable airflow base, I also build rebuild my coils with cotton yarn and big fat coils, crank up the voltage 4.5 to 5 and OMG this thing rocks, huge vapor and the flavor is unreal. Forget the little stuff BIGGER IS BETTER.

 

[jonhall2]

glad i found this thread as i bought another vamo v5 to keep from changing tanks. now i have one for my adv and one for tobacco adv. at under sixty dollars the vamo is practically disposable and the vape is superb. i have 35 ego clearos and the ability to use either that or 510 built in. saving the big bucks for zna30. i will wait until then to build coils subohm. i agree with an earlier reply about stock coils being around 6 watts sweet spot. once wicked with cotton and you get the juices flowing 9 watt area is ideal. my best guess is connection lost voltage since it performs fine on the vamo. nothing wrong with the tank.

You opened up a can of worms with the ProVari issue, I'm sure the ProVari is not your problem, you need to try a different tank setup.
I have a ProVari and just ordered one more, been using the Protank II with Kangers adjustable airflow base, I also build rebuild my coils with cotton yarn and big fat coils, crank up the voltage 4.5 to 5 and OMG this thing rocks, huge vapor and the flavor is unreal. Forget the little stuff BIGGER IS BETTER.