Delrey

Since I'm moving out of the traditional stock "kits" out there, and now considering mods and customs, I was wondering the advantages and drawbacks of both HV and LR vaping, ie: battery consumpition, vapor production, flavour (or lack of), TH, etc.

There is so much out there in terms of products, devices, attachments and mods that it's literally overwhelming to say the least, and I understand what works for one, may not work for another....

Right now I'm dripping with ego 1000mAh batteries and back and forth between my new Iken LR 1.7 ohm 501 attys and stock 306 attys which I really love at the moment, lots of flavor from these. All suggestions welcome and thanks in advance.

My head hurts

berger

Truthfully I think the VV mods give you maximum flexibility...it all comes back to total watts in the end HV or LV / HR or LR...being able to dial up or down to what your using makes life much easier

hagstrom

Could'nt agree more Berger

Delrey

So I guess that brings me to what VV devices out there are worth a look? I'm sure that's covered elsewhere on here...

berger

Well Hagstrom there sells the Buzz & the Infinity @ notcigs.com
also there is the Provari and the Darwin if you google them
also smoketek in the suppliers hype sells a VV box mod
I think madvapes has a VV box mod kit if you're DIY inclined
Im sure there are others as well...all with their pluses and minus
There's also the lavatube just coming out very soon but Im not sure what its amp limit is and that could be major if its too low...like any VV mod, just because the unloaded volts can be turned up high doesn't mean anything if it cant handle the amps necessary under loading
If you play around with this as far as ohms and volts you will see what I mean:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/ohms_law.htm
There are also some ego adjusts and evo adjusts (2 batts) but they are not exactly VV in my mind...more like Multi Volt with 3 or so settings...more then a plain straight ego but not totally VV..Im testing the evo now and hope to put up some preliminary data very soon

Shekinahsgroom

Common over to the free components thread, Del....build your OWN VV mod!

**FREE COMPONENT SHOPPING SPREE!!***

There will be enough information provided (eventually) that you should be able to complete a VV mod of YOUR CHOICE for $0.00

You'll need tools, some soldering skills (which can be learned in a short time) and a little patience....

The community will help you do the rest!

You may even wanna join in the Co-Op thread for a special kind enclosure for a heavy duty mod:

CO-OP INTEREST?

Either way, glad to have ya Del...

tek

\
In the past year of vaping <sorry i just did not think i would make a year> of vaping i have yet to buy any mod in the e cig comunity, or any mod in general... I BUILD MY OWN, and i trade on the forums once in a while, and its the most fun i can have with my clothes on in a tiny cell in the basement ... well its a lot of fun to see what i can and cant do yet then only to figure it out.. And if you want you can build your own vari volt for less then the price of a 3.7 volt box mod from most distrubitors... so it might just be worth a look....

Or you can find a modder like me, with a good reputation to have one made just for you, there is a vapor bargain finder, <if you want the link pm me> and you can pick some stuff up cheap..

Shekinahsgroom

Yeah, you should SEE the FAMOUS TEK-MOD, Del....

Damn this guy is talented!!

tek

umm, the syringe carto cleaner?

Shekinahsgroom

Well now I feel kinda dumb.

I thought you were the designer of the "TEK-MOD"...

tek

Well i am tek4 youtube tek413 and umm the TEKK mod is not mine, its a phone charger or some thing, idk, but i am the guy who did the 4barrel vari volt 26650 mod that puts out 48-50 watts per hit, <and that is not even max duty>

Delrey

Holy sheet Tek, I just watched your death box vid - You're a maniac dude!

With some Jane's Addiction to boot...

tek

naa just some one inspired by rocky....

Delrey

Yup, Built my first flashlight this week due to him.

tek

He had me build my first a year a go about a year ago, and havent stopped since.. heck i even modded my silver bullet to light up

Rocketman

Yup, that rocket dude is something else

tek

Hi ROCKET how have ya been bud?

Rocketman

Remodeling "this old house".
Little time for anything else.

I'll give an "on topic answer".

I never liked LR. Was concerned about overheating the filler, but the Smok Tek 1.7 ohm single coils seem to be OK. SO my aversion for LR is slipping. The 1.5 and 1.6 ohm Dual coils aren't really Low Resistance with respect to the carto (couple of 3 ohm coils that don't get overly hot individually), just LR as felt by the battery.

I also don't really care for High Voltage vaping, partly because of the hotter vape, but mostly because of the additional parts count in a HV mod and the resulting higher number of failure modes.
A single cell, boosted mod costs you in electrical efficiency and a stacked battery buck mod has stacked batteries (which I don't like).

A note for you VV guys out there. I find it hard to make a 3.7 volt single cell mod with a 5 amp switch and 18 ga. wiring beat 96 to 97% efficiency. That's losses in just the switch, wires, and various connections to get the electricity to the carto heater. I've seen mod makers quote efficiencies of 96% for a variable voltage mod. That's probably the efficiency of the switching regulator all by itself, without any circuit board wiring, or mod wiring, and at the optimum input voltage/load current for the chip used.

Battery life has ALWAYS been my short suit. For those that have followed my rantings, you all know that a big battery is my preference. I seem to be able to juggle cartos and juice to make 3.7 volt mods work for me.

tek

Its too bad a enterprising individual like me cant help out, all well.. I may be headed to ashton nc soon for some work my self on a fb data center..

Delrey

Rocket! Thanks for the inspiration my brutha! Funny thing is, I couldn't believe it actually WORKED!!!!

hagstrom

Rocket I find this curious , the losses in the wires is next to nothing IMO and calcs *( depends on current vs. wire size etc. ) but a 1" piece of say even 26 gauge wire is .041 ohms so adding .041 ohms to a 3.0 ohm load @5 volts = 8.22098 watts or .112 watts loss or about 1%

so I guess if you total all looses with 26 guage wire at 2" lenght there may be a 2% total wire loss, 99% of VV devices do not switch the current the IC has an external control pin to turn them on/off.

Increase the wire size and this goes way down but it is still a very small loss IMO .

we spec the IC efficiency on a BUCK type regulator that is spec'd at 96% efficiency at 5 volts output so I guess we could make it 94.5% total LOL. OH at 3.3 volts out the IC drops to 94% FYI . Most boost type regulator efficiency specs I have seen are around 86% avg.


Just curious of your response because I know you do know your stuff.,

Rocketman

Hag,
The wires themselves are only a part of the story. Take a 2 cell mod for example.

Start with the contact from the top positive post to the mod positive contact, any connecting circuit runs, the mosfet switch, more runs, maybe a short wire (with a solder connection a each end) to the mod center pin atty connector, and contact there to the atty/carto. Go through the carto and make a connection with the mod connector shell, down the mod shell which usually makes a pressure contact with a 3 inch long spring, another pressure contact with the negative contact of the bottom cell, then another cell contact between the cells. Add all of these up for maybe a total path resistance of 30 to 40 milliohms. Add in the mosfet resistance of maybe 10 millohms for a grand total of 40 to 50 milliohms. 45 milliohms is 1.5% with a 3 ohm carto and 3% with 1.5 ohm carto. Pressure contacts and coiled up springs probably account for most of the losses. Internal cell resistance isn't being considered here because that is internal and inherent to the cells. Stacked cells with a protection board for each also adds the mosfet 'on resistance' of the protection boards.
For Boost/Buck circuits that use a 'control pin' the efficiency of the switching circuit replaces the mosfet 'On resistance'.
It would be interesting to know the "total path resistance" of some mods.

hagstrom

I would go with about what you are quoting but the spring and pressure contact losses are the same for a straight battery mod so those are a wash IMO , the ohms in a switch can be pretty bad if it is not a good switch .

to compare a VV mod VS a mechanical mod you have to look at the IC mainly or if there is a mosfet switch involved , the internal switches on say the IC we use are logic level and do not to my knowledge include any resistance in the path , if it does it is included in the IC specs !,
SO for a mechanical mod you have all pressure contacts + switch + any wire contacts , remove the switch and you have the same thing in a VV mod + the IC IMO , so in our case I see a 3-4 % loss Vs a Purely mechanical mod .

Rocketman

I'll agree. It comes down to how well the mod is constructed. A cheaply made mod, with 'cut corners' will have losses. A well designed VV mod can come close to 96% (at the higher voltages), but I suspect most you see aren't that good. A higher voltage mod with a higher resistance atty or carto will have less losses that a LV/LR mod (lower IR losses). Don't even think about wide operating ranges with a Boost mod. Tuning for a boost mod over a wide range is difficult.

wetwire

Boy.. I saw that coming.. But it does come down to who/how makes it. But we're really talking splitting hairs here. A little bit of extra wire and such is never gonna be seen (electrons wasted) by the end user. No one is gonna care that one lasts 5-15 minutes longer. Or would even know for that matter. What does matter is when some goof that just learned what a soldering iron is and their favorite tool is a Dremel and a hot glue gun, goes to town making cold joints. Seen plenty of those. NOW we have a problem.