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How To Pick safe Batteries for variable wattage mods

choolsy

Postman
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This is a collection of links and information to help you to stay safe when vaping and to help you choose the best batteries for your vaping needs.

I wanted to put something together to help new vapers and the not so well informed, make an informed choice, but also give some peace of mind as battery safety is something people rightly worry about.

REGULATED MODS: a Variable Wattage device used by the majority of vapers

Regulated devices generally do not care about ohms. There's no resistance involved in how one gets its power. The battery drain is dictated by the wattage setting. If you set it at 100w, then it will pull as much current as it needs to hit that at the batteries' voltage under load.
Their are many built-in protection features, this makes these types of devices much safer and more power-efficient. What unregulated devices do with current, they can do with voltage. The more current that is needed from the batteries, the more taxed they are, and the higher the likelihood of catastrophic failure is. Variable Wattage devices need to pull more current from your batteries as they deplete and their natural voltage drops. This is where you need to be careful. What is a safe wattage for fresh batteries may not be so safe on half-dead ones.

I'm oversimplifying it a bit, as there are parallel regulated mod boxes which use boost circuitry to hit higher wattages, but those are uncommon. You will be much more likely to encounter single or dual-series boxes that work as described.
robot zombie, Nov 1, 2015 http://vapingunderground.com

For regulated single and in-series mods you can use this calculation to find the max strain put on your batteries ...
Max Watts / lowest cut off voltage (x number of batteries) = Amp Rating Needed + 10% for efficiency

I have used 3.2V as this is average cut off voltage but you should check you device specs as some do go lower than this.

A lot of mods are now more than 90% efficient but adding 10% gives you a good safety buffer if you don't know how efficient your mod is.

Some Examples:

40watts / 3.2v (3.2 x 1 battery) = 12.5 amps + 10% = 13.75A
80watts / 3.2v (3.2 x 1 battery) = 25 amps + 10% = 27.50A
150 watts / 6.4v ( 3.2 x 2 batteries) = 23.44 amps + 10% = 25.79A
200 watts / 6.4v ( 3.2 x 2 batteries) = 31.25 amps + 10% = 34.37A
220 watts / 9.6v ( 3.2 x 3 batteries) = 22.92 amps + 10% = 25.22A

If you have a 200w MOD and you know you will never use more than 120w you can use that amount for your calculation.

Ok now you can work out the Max Amp Draw of your device on your batteries, you can make an informed choice on what you need. You should also remember this is the Maximum when the voltage of the battery is running low, fully charged it will be a lot less.

The next problem you have is CAN you trust the specs of the battery as shown on the label ?

Thanks to well known battery testers like Torchy and Mooch we know that a lot of battery resellers are less than truthful when it comes to battery labels and often over exaggerate capacity and power output.

Personally I only buy batteries made by the big manufacturers LG SONY SAMSUNG SANYO and from a seller I trust.

My Recommended 18650 Batteries

LG HB2 4 or 6 30A 1500mAh CDR 32A MVA 40A Max Power
Samsung 20R 22A 2000mAh CDR 22A MVA 40A
SANYO UR18650NSX 20A 2500mAh CDR 22A MVA 35A
Sony VTC5A 2500mAh CDR 25A MVA 30A
Samsung R25 20A 2500mAh CDR 20A MVA 25A
LG HE2 & HE4 20A 2500mAh CDR 20A MVA 25A
Samsung 30Q 15A 3000mAh CDR 20A MVA 25A
Sony VTC6 15A 3000mAh CDR 19A MVA 25A
LG HG2 20A 3000mAh CDR 18A MVA 20A
Panasonic NCR18650GA 10A 3300mAh CDR 10A MVA 15A Max Life

CDR = MOOCHs Safe Continuous Discharge Rating,
MVA = MOOCHs Recommended Max Vaping Amps. (See bottom of testing list for more detail)


Full summery list of MOOCH’S Resent tests
https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/attachments/image-jpeg.594999/

Mooch’s battery tests
https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blog-entry/list-of-battery-tests.7436/

The Battery interview with Mooch by Vaping Biker (Doormandean)



Always buy from a recommended battery reseller like these or others recommended on PoTv:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/ilovetorchythebatteryboy
http://ecoluxshopdirect.co.uk/batteries-accessories/batteries-for-vaping.html
https://eu.nkon.nl/rechargeable/18650-size.html

I hope this helps you pick the batteries you need

I would like to thank Mooch and Torchy for all the hard work they do to help keep us informed and safe.
 
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I've been looking at this before I start coil builds. Would I be right in thinking that as you approach extremely low resistance you're effectively shorting the battery or very close to it?
 
Not on regulated devices - the output is a seperate stage from the input - but watch the Interview with mooch - above, it tells you everything...
 
Not on regulated devices - the output is a seperate stage from the input - but watch the Interview with mooch - above, it tells you everything...

I've watched it and will likely watch it again. Just trying to get my head around the basic mechanics of how one factor changes when you adjust another. It's a bit mind bending.
 
Yes but a regulated mod will only fire down to its minimum say 0.15 ohms below that its protection would kick in.
A lot of what they talk about is to do with Mech mods that have no protection so you need to use Ohms law as your coil is connected directly to the batteries.
 
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Nice. I posted some similar info I found about this stuff in a thread I made the other day. Cool to see a post like this. I'm gonna watch that video and see what else I can learn.
 
Yes but a regulated mod will only fire down to its minimum say 0.15 ohms below that its protection would kick in.
A lot of what they talk about is to do with Mech mods that have no protection so you need to use Ohms law as your coil is connected directly to the batteries.
_____________________________________________________________________

Or you need Variable Volt or Variable Wattage Kick on mech mods. Sitting inside your mod, atop the battery you've got a regulated device that provides the same hit throughout the life of the battery and also serves as a safety protection circuit, cutting out when your battery is too low for safe operation.
 
I have 2 LG HG2 20A 3000mAh CDR 18A MVA 20A batteries coming with my Smok Alien 220w. I have already had some advice (on here) about the max wattage I should use which was great but as I am trying to understand further...

Where these are 20A, is that a joint number or would it increase to 40A when using 2 batteries. My thinking is that it would remain at 20A?
 
Hi Perkinoy, this is calculate the amp draw from each cell, so they actually would remain at 20A

LG HG2 is rated at 18Amps by mooch - If we pretend you vape at 100W :

100Watts/6.4 = 15.6 Amps

+10% safety = 17.18 Amps

Also its useful to remember that mods are not 100% efficient, some are only around 97%. So even after your 10% safety increase, it's always handy to have some spare.
 
I have 2 LG HG2 20A 3000mAh CDR 18A MVA 20A batteries coming with my Smok Alien 220w. I have already had some advice (on here) about the max wattage I should use which was great but as I am trying to understand further...

Where these are 20A, is that a joint number or would it increase to 40A when using 2 batteries. My thinking is that it would remain at 20A?
Hi mate.

It will remain at 20A, as the alien is a Series regulated mod. If you was using a mod which is wired in Parallel, then CDR does increase.

With the LG's, you will be fine up to around 100W on the Alien, as it has a cut off of 2.8V per cell. This would leave you at 19.84A at cut off.

EDIT: This is a conservative number, and assuming you take the batteries to cut off voltage. When fresh off the charger, you can achieve a fair higher wattage and still be within CDR of the batter.
 
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