One Stop Reference Shop For New And Experienced Vapers

I've seen many threads where people are just getting into vaping and it seems now that it's growing popular at an extremely fast rate. Vaping as opposed to smoking has always been a great alternative, but now that more satisfying equipment is readily available and popular, it would be great to have an ongoing guide for someone brand new. If you're just getting into vaping now you're going to be hit with a million different devices, a trillion different atomizers, and an infinite amount of ways to rebuild. All of this information can seem very intimidating and overwhelming, but having communities like ECF to get advice are very helpful.

I remember when I first started learning about how devices work and how sending current through a coil with different resistances at different voltages can yield different results, and then add in different ways to get to that same resistance, the possibilities go on and on. It's not easy to someone brand new, but with proper information it is easy. If we all had a single ongoing information source referring to device capabilities and ohms law available to members and the public a lot of questions would be answered everyday and thoroughly.

I say ongoing because vaporizer equipment is expanding so fast. The amount of gear and vape related things are moving so fast. I remember seeing a good amount of youtube videos with Phil Busardo visiting vaporizer headquarters and manufacturing stations across seas and here. We also see a lot of expanding on the site. I have only been a member since 2013, but the amount of stuff coming out today is much more than before. There is also a lot of traction on this forum, but that's what makes it good.

I've read a lot of good information on the forum before and some of the posts are really spot on, I feel it should be compiled to one source. I've seen Baditude and Susan~s both have readily available links for solid information multiple times. It would be great to access all the detailed information from all the great posts I see on threads all in one place, like a ongoing source with everything like: battery safety, hybrid top cap mechanical, cleaning a mechanical, coils, example chips in regulated devices and how they work, liquid and the ingredients, the effects vs cigarettes, the proactive community and the apposed laws. For someone brand new they see so many new things at once. It wouldn't have to be a day to day updated guide, just a compiled, easy to understand with examples, information source about vaping up to now. I've seen a lot of good posts and wish I could quickly pull up the same posts without searching. I think we deserve some sort of guide, vaping isn't an underground type of thing.

Ohm's law

With all that I want to present a small guide I prepared as a response to a few questions I see on the forum.

I feel the most common question is about Ohm's law and about understanding resistances for devices. Ohm's law is the most important piece of information pertaining to vaping since it's what we use all the time. There are four variables to know in the equations, but an easy way to help understand it is with the Steam engine online tool. In the online calculator you see resistance, voltage, current, power. The units are ohms, volts, amps, and watts respectively. An even easier way to understand it is thinking about it in an example.

The water pipe analogy
Think of the resistance like a pipe and you have water flowing out of the pipe and the water is amperage. There is also a valve on the pipe that you can turn to make the water(amperage) come out faster and that valve acts like a voltage control. The end result of the water flowing out the pipe is expressed by power, also known as wattage. You can increase the wattage by either decreasing the resistance or increasing the voltage.

Let's say you have a pipe set up with a certain width and water is flowing at a constant rate. Lets also say the pipe has a resistance of 1ohm and our valve to control the speed is set to 4volts. You can use Ohm's law and see that amount of water coming out is 4amps and the pipe's power is measured to 16watts. Now if you widen the same pipe more water(amps) can flow through it and you didn't touch the voltage valve. Adjust the pipe's resistance to 0.5ohms and as a result we see we just doubled the amount of water to 8amps and doubled the power to 32watts with a constant voltage.

Take the same pipe you started with, 1ohm, and instead of making it wider you just turn the valve and double the pressure or speed from 4volts to 8volts. You see 8amps of water flowing through the pipe and the power by the pipe went up to 64watts by adjusting the voltage only. Now put the two examples together and lower the resistance to .5ohms and increase the voltage to 8volts, you see even more power at 128watts and 16amps.

This can be applied to our coils and devices. Mechanical mods work like the first example in which we just made the pipe wider because that's the only thing you can adjust on a mechanical. You have a fixed battery voltage, and can only change the resistance. The second example is more like a variable voltage/wattage mod where you can keep the pipe the same resistance and just turn the voltage valve.

Understanding how these variables work will give you a better understanding of ohms law and how to build for specific devices.


Ohm's law and a regulated PV

Lets talk about personal vaporizers, or mods, a little more. Each device has: a resistance range it can read, an amperage limit it can push, a voltage range it can fire, and a wattage range it can fire. When you look at a device you want to know all of these things because it will determine what resistances will work the best on top. Some devices work well with a wide range, some work very well within a small area within that range. Lets look at an example.



Here is the DNA40(kanthal) and it's specs given by Steam Engine. I don't own one so I don't know the actual performance, but I want to use the numbers as an example. You can see the max voltage, max wattage, resistance range, and amp limit on the left. On the right there is three boxes, these three boxes is where all the information comes together.

Current limit 16 A vs 40 W
The box labeled “Current limit 16 A vs 40 W” measures the lowest possible resistance you can use to get all 40watts. When you decrease your resistance you are able to push more amps through your coil with available voltage and get more wattage. This is done by using ohms law calculator and plugging in the max amp limit along with the max wattage it can fire. You can see that the lowest possible resistance to get all 40watts while using all the amps is a bit lower than what the device can read. This means the DNA40 devices can fire it's lowest reading while still getting 40watts and it's starting to bump the amp limit. Not the best place to be, but it works as advertised.

Voltage limit 9 V vs 40 W
The next box “Voltage limit 9 V vs 40 W” measures the highest possible resistance you can use to get all 40watts. When you increase your resistance you are able to use more voltage to get to higher wattage without using as many amps. This is done by plugging in the max voltage for the device and its max wattage it can fire. You can see that highest possible resistance to get all 40watts while using all the voltage is a bit higher than what the device can read. Now you're starting to hit the voltage limit, but it's still firing 40watts.

Optimal resistance
The last box “Optimal resistance” sums it all up by giving you the resistance range along with it's median resistance. Then it gives you a “sweet spot”. This is the median from the original median and the high limit. Basically it's telling you that if you want all 40 watts and you want to keep your battery life in good shape to use a resistance around the “sweet spot”. You don't have to use the sweet spot, but keep in mind the less amps you pull, the more battery life you get while taking advantage of the device's voltage.


These numbers are unique for each device that uses a different chip. If you start looking at the higher powered devices like the Sigelei 150W you'll see that you can only get all 150 if you build within a certain range that it can fire. Too high of a resistance and you'll use all the voltage before you start taking advantage of it's available amperage by lowering the resistance. This doesn't mean the device doesn't live true it it's specs because the it can fire all 150, but there is limitations. In order to to fire all 150w within it's 0.1-3.0ohm range the power source would have to give 20+ volts which is impossible for safe portable devices we have now.




Ohm's law and a mechanical PV

Check out how mechanical devices work, you only use the specs from the battery along with your resistance.




Take the Sony VTC4 for example. I used a resistance of 0.5ohms and a voltage of 4.1volts charged on this page. The page tells you how many amps you are pushing along with the wattage output. The amp limit is advertised to be 30amps, but the box under shows the “headroom” or I like to call it the buffer. In this example you only use 8.2amps, this is safe for the battery. You really shouldn't use all the battery's amperage on an unregulated mechanical, it's not very safe. A lot of people agree on only using about 75% of the batteries amp limit, leaving a 25% headroom to be considered safe. This works out to be about 22amps used and around 0.18-0.19ohms. You should only do this if you are aware of the risks.

Finding your resistance

Now that you looked at the devices, look at choosing a coil for your device. This should be easy now because you just saw what will work well on your device. Take your resistance you feel you would be comfortable with and go to the coil calculator.



I used a 0.5ohm resistance, selected the kanthal of choice, selected dual coils, and picked the coil's internal diameter. I also calculated the wattage with 0.5ohms and 4.1volts I want to use to get around 33 watts to plug into the heat flux(under results) to get an estimate of the vape temperature.


You want to pay attention to number of wraps, the coil width, and surface area. This will give you an idea of how big your potential coil is. What you can do from here is change the diameter, you’ll notice the surface area stays the same, but the width will change because the number of wraps change. You can also change the resistance and use a fixed diameter to change width and surface area. Try selecting different gauges too.


This is my first shot a making a simple guide. Please let me know what you think and feel free to comment. I wanted this to be as simple as possible and the Steam Engine is extremely helpful in doing so. I really think it would be a great idea to have the most popular questions to vaping with answers available to anyone new. I'm not saying people are not getting the right information, because they are and the time people take to make posts explaining things are greatly appreciated. I still think having a detailed, but easy to follow guide with examples would answer most of the questions. I've seen other great guides on the forum, but the technology moves so fast and having one ongoing source explaining everything would be awesome. There is so many things to learn besides battery safety and Ohm's law and all the information is here, but only for those who take the time to ask for it.


Thanks to Lars Simonsen who made Steam engine calculator. Also thank you to ECF member Dice57 for helping me with figuring out how most of this works.


A few links I visit:

Steam Engine | free vaping calculators
E-Cigarette Forum - Baditude - Blogs
E-Cigarette Forum - State O' Flux - Blogs
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ecf-library/661383-basic-coil-building-safety-beginners.html
The ECF Library (this strongly represents the type of guide I'm talking about)
I would really like commentary on the idea of a single comprehensive vaping guide. I think the members here could easily do it, let me know what you think.  

I want to say thank you to some of the ECF members that work to help keep the rest of us vapers here up to date on what is happening in the vaping world.

Thank you for what you do, it means alot. Whether you post studies, articles in the news, or videos, the information you provide has helped to educate and keep me up to date on the state of vaping. I think I'm not the only one that feels this way.

So here's to you, vape on, and thanks for what you do people.

@Puff2K @Baditude @iVapeDIY @zoiDman @bombastinator @Vapntime @classwife

If anyone has more people they would like to link to that would be great, I know I'm forgetting a bunch  

Haven't vaped in like 8 years? So most of everything is new to me now..
But I did a little reading and I figured out a few things I need in a vape, but really there is so much, it's kinda hard to know what is good and what is not for brands and styles, so I'm hoping I can get some help by experienced vapers here.

I'm looking to quit smoking and here's what I'm looking for in a vape setup.

MTL Mouth to Lung setup so I can draw in and then inhale like a cigarette, but I would like a decent cloud. Not looking for huge, just good and maybe be able to slightly adjust what gets produced with using only 50/50 juice blends.

RTA setup? I need a rebuildable coil tank system.
I need to keep my maintenance cost low, so I need to be able to rebuild new coils.

No leak tank is a must. Needs to lay down on side on table and keep in pocket.

1 battery or 2. Doesn't matter much.

Would like a smaller mouthpiece compared to the larger style so I can get a good MTL draw.

Not sure what my options are for tanks and box mods or pen style? I think I need some kind of box mod? So i can slightly fine tune watts, volts to my coils if it just doesn't feel right and needs minor adjustments? Also like the option showing how many seconds used or draws.

There's so many tanks out there, but it's hard to tell what is really good.
The battery side, I really have no idea what I would need... watts, ohms, voltage.. with all the combinations, I can figure out what I really need..

Not looking to just be easy simple. I want good quality and I can only buy once.. I can't really afford it as it is, but I need to stop smoking..
But I want to buy once and be good for long time and not wish I bought something else. I just don't have the money to play around like that..

So I hope I can get some help here or suggestions to get me looking in the right direction for tank and battery side system.

Quality brands?
Brands to pass on because there is better options?  

Due to a recent rash of vapers using mech mods without proper knowledge. here is a simple test for vapers who want to use unregulated devices, if you can confidently answer these questions, you just may be ready to take the plunge to a mech or unregulated box mod. If you cannot answer all of the questions, don't be discouraged, use the test as a base for the knowledge you may need to acquire.


1. Define ohms law using a short paragraph, and show the equation below.

2. Define watts law using a short paragraph, and show the equation below

3. Draw a simple open circuit.

4. Draw a simple closed circuit

5. Find the resistance of a circuit running at 3.9 volts with a 20 amp current

6. Find the voltage of a circuit running at .54 ohms with a 5 amp current.

7. Find the wattage of a 4.1 volt circuit at 2.3 ohms

8. You are wrapping a dual coil set up, while pinching your coil with metal tweezers you accidentally press the fire button,
the leg of the coil you are wrapping fires bright and then disintegrates, why has this happened?

9. Your mechanical mod is getting extremely hot, is making odd noises, and has an odd smell, what is happening
and what is the procedure in this situation?

10. What is the lowest safe resistance of a 4.2v lithium ion battery rated at 20 amps?

11. You have been using a battery for several hours now, and have noticed a sharp decline in vapor production,
why is this happening?

12. You wrap a coil that reads .42 ohms on your multimeter, what important factor should be remembered while using this coil?

13. You are using 2 stacked 18350 lithium ion batteries in your mod, what kind of circuit is this? what changes because of this?
what does not change?  

So, I know that the Sony VTC batteries were the like "Go-to" battery. But they are being faked a lot and are hard to come by some authentic ones.

So whats the next best option?

I have a few different batteries and I definitely can tell the difference in the quality of the hit, and the life of the battery.

I have a red IMR 2000 mAh 18650 and it hits the worst out of all of my batteries.

Then I have a blue samsung battery (Can't really read the writing) but I can see it says 25r on it. This one hits decent.

Then I have a green 2600 mAh battery. Its a beast. Hits like a champ and lasts long. I would like to find a similar battery to this one. Im guessing this is the Sony VTC 5.

I really want to find something that is just as good as the Green one.

Does anyone know where to find these or a similar battery that is 2600mAh 30 amp? If so, are there any deals going on online where I could get a good price? Id like to order some new batteries.

Thanks for the help all!


Edit. One more question. Anyone know the difference between the Amps on each of the batteries? Just from guessing id say the red is 20 amps, blue is 25, and the green is 30? Does that sound right?  

Hey folks, I've recently created a website E-Liquid Nicotine Consumption/Absorption Calculator to calculate equivalent of how many analog 'regular' cigarettes (in terms of nicotine) we're inhaling when vaping on e-juice.

I've got some really nice feedback from you, so I've decided to give it a shot and also create a mobile version of the website. For now, it's only available for Android.

Android app is called 'E-Liquid Nicotine Calculator' and it calculates above details, as well as it allows you to estimates monthly savings of switching from regular analog cigarettes to vaping.

Please let me know what you think or how I can make it better.

You can download it from Google Play:
E-Liquid Nicotine Calculator - Android Apps on Google Play
(as long as you have an Android device it should work)

Some Screenshots:
 

Hello All,

Does anyone know which 18650 battery would last the longest when vaping at 13 watts? I have listed some below but any not listed recommendations are welcome as well.
(PS please don't respond with battery safety information or suggestions for me to look at mooch ratings)
Also, does anyone know if the vendors in the last 3 below links are reliable?

Thanks!

Sanyo NCR18650GA 3500mAh 10A

AW Protected 18650 3400 mAh

Samsung 35E 18650 3500mAh 8A Battery - INR18650-35E

Sony VC7 18650 Unprotected Li-ion Battery

18650 Battery 3500mAh Protected Li-ion 3.7V Rechargeable Orbtronic 10A Dual Protection (Panasonic-Sanyo inside) ORB3500P For High Performance Flashlights  

As many european vapers might have heard, excise tax will be implemented eventually. Estimates are that this will likely happen between 2023 - 2025 however some countries are starting in 2022 individually.

There are some estimates from proffesionals as to how the European Union will tax vaping products. It is for example really likely that you will be taxed per ml of e-liquid. This tax is likely to be between $0.08 to $1.00. It is likely that vaping products will recieve less frequent tax increases due to their positive effects compared to tabacco. If you do not want to pay this tax, there is always an option to create your own liquid with a bit of spare time on your hands as the products used to create e-liquid will not be taxed, the tax will only apply if you buy pre-made e-liquid. So I'd recommend learning how to create your own e-liquid before 2022 if you're an european vaper, could safe you some money in the end.

Things to note: This has not been 100% confirmed yet, but is 90% sure to happen eventually. They are currently working on making this all lawfull. So a few years could pass before it actually gets implemented. Vaping is probably not at the top of their list with all the things going on in the world right now, and the procedure was just started, with the average procedure taking 2-3 years I wouldn't be expecting it anytime soon.

If you have any questions, please ask. I've done quite the bits of research on the topic and chances are I could answer your question!

Happy vaping!  

So I'm trying to get my mom into vaping in order to help her cut back on her smoking, since my fiance hates having her smelling like smoke when she comes to visit our baby girl, as the smell transfers to our daughter after my mom holds her. So, I've had her try my gear: my XPro M80 Plus, my Vision Spinner II, and my Ego batteries, explained some of the differences to her like battery life, power regulation, safety, etc. Anyway, I went ahead and ordered her a Smowell DVP 50 to try out, and I'm going to be getting her a Nautilus, either the full-size or the mini, depending on which one she prefers. My question is, what kind of battery should I get for her to put in it? I know she's not going to be sub-ohming anytime soon, so I was thinking something with a high mAh rating would be good, like a Panasonic NCR18650PF, Samsung 25R, or LG HE2/4. Would one of those be acceptable?  

Or maybe even a heretic, or a blasphemer?
I like mini tanks and small batteries. My favorite setups are mini protank version 1 clones with 650mah basic ego style batteries. Stainless steel finish, no funky colors or designs. Single bottom coil on the tanks, no air flow controls. Standard voltage batteries, no twisty things on the bottom, no usb passthrough, no digital displays, just a battery. I like the ego style because the protruding button is easier to find and helps keep them from rolling around. The lack of features I don't need means the batteries are small. I like small, sleek, simple.

I have a nice big fancy Smok vv/vw battery. If I cut my juice in half with VG I can blow some massive clouds without knocking myself out. I found this to be mildly amusing for a short period of time. I also found out that with my regular mix when I dialed around for the "sweet spot" I ended up at 3.7 volts...

The mini tanks don't hold a day's worth of juice, and the 650mah batteries don't last all day. So what? Tank gets low, twist it off and pop another on. Battery light flashes, same thing. I've got a battered old EGO case from my first starter kit, it holds four tanks and batteries and a bottle of juice with room to spare.

I got my first mini pro tank from a vape shop. I just assumed it was a Kanger, but there was no mention of Kangertech anywhere on the packaging or tank. Whatever, I really liked it. I figured the real deal would be even better so I ordered one online. Kanger had discontinued the version 1, so I bought the "new, improved" version 2. It was good, but I liked the clone version 1 better. The clone tanks are polycarbonate rather than pyrex, but I don't vape plastic eating flavors, so that's a non-issue.

Now I'm not knocking all the cloud chasing, coil winding, wick trimming gear heads that seem to dominate these forums, but if there's anybody else out there who enjoys vaping with a nice, simple, inexpensive setup, I'd like to hear from you.