Eureka! Volts, Ohms and Watts 101 (Updated)

[OneDay]

I originally posted this back in July 2012. I have updated it to reflect the changes in vaping equipment since then, but the examples will soon be outdated again. The basics are still the same though!. I hope it is useful, especially to those using (or considering) a Twist or Spinner or other vv device.

Apologies in advance for this long post, but I hope it’s worth it. During the time I’ve been vaping I have been confused by the whole Volts / Ohms thing ???. From the number of posts and questions I know it’s a subject that confuses many others too. This isn’t helped by all the choices and abbreviations. Standard Resistance (SR) – standard to what? By whose definition? Low Resistance (LR) – Lower than what? How low is too low? If 2.0 is low, what the heck is 1.5? And now we’re all able to get into Variable Voltage and Variable Wattage, especially now the Twists and Vamos are here, it can become a nightmare. Various people have answered these questions on threads but I found the answers as confusing as the questions as I’m not a scientist and have forgotten whatever physics I learned at school

Someone posted a chart that I’ve seen a few times before, and I kinda yawned… charts remind me of work or school. I had another look at it and suddenly the penny dropped. Finally the whole thing made sense

So, I’m going to try to explain my understanding in the clearest way I can in the hope that it may help somebody else. If anyone with a technical mind finds that I have, in fact, completely MISunderstood, let me know! OK here we go….

In any e-cig, from a disposable to a provari, a Riva to a Zmzx, (and whatever atty you have on top of it) all that is happening is that a battery is passing a current through a coil of wire, causing it to heat up. That’s what happens in a light bulb. The current heats a coil until it glows white-hot. Now we don’t talk about Ohms of light bulbs, we don’t worry what Voltage our mains is. We buy based on Wattage. We know that a 100 watt bulb burns brighter than a 60 watt bulb. Simples. And it’s the same with vaping. When people talk about finding the ‘sweet spot’ what they mean is that for a particular juice you’ve found the wattage (i.e. the heat) that suits it best, makes it taste best or vape best. It’s like finding that a particular wattage bulb is best for reading, or another is best for watching telly. With me so far?

OK, back to that chart. This shows volts along the top and ohms down the side. But all the numbers in the middle are watts. You can see that they have highlighted a cell in the middle (the pink one) that shows 6.45 watts. By reading up and sideways from this cell you can see that the 6.45 was achieved by a combination of 4.75 volts (at the top) and 3.5 ohms (at the side).



Now, here’s the clever bit. Let’s say you have a 3.5 ohm carto or clearo or whatever, and you find that using it at 4.75 volts gives you your sweet spot. In other words, you prefer to vape this juice at 6.45 watts. One day your 3.5 carto dies and it was the only one you had. How can you achieve that same delicious vape? Well, if you look at the chart again you can see that the magical 6.45 watts, or numbers damn close, can be achieved in different ways which I’ve circled. So, you could use a 2.8 clearo at 4.25 volts, or a 1.8 at 3.4 volts, or even a 1.5 at 3.0 and a bit volts and they will all give you more or less the same vaping experience.



Phew. Now I know what to use in my vaping kit, what to pair with what, and why some vaping combinations taste better (or worse) than others. Hallelujah

[Deleted]

So explain how things change if i have a dual coil carto, do I double the volts?

[djs]

Feb 21, 2013 21:43:36 GMT OneDay said:

Ah, the "yellow" zone. This would explain why an E-Lite basically produces nothing after a few weeks of recharging.

[MarkS]

I know I am being thick, but I still do not really understand this.

Received my Ego C-Twist today, so am I right in saying that if I use a standard boge cartomiser (2.80ohms I think?) or a CE4 Clearomiser, I can turn the Twist as high or low as I want without it burning them out as they would remain in the blue?

[OneDay]

Feb 28, 2013 12:04:16 GMT MarkS said:

I know I am being thick, but I still do not really understand this.

Received my Ego C-Twist today, so am I right in saying that if I use a standard boge cartomiser (2.80ohms I think?) or a CE4 Clearomiser, I can turn the Twist as high or low as I want without it burning them out as they would remain in the blue?

Yes.. if you find 2.8 on the left hand side and follow the line along, you will see that above 4.75 volts it turns red. In other words you can turn your twist up to it's max 4.8 and just about get away with it. However, if you used a 2.4 head, you shouldn't go above 4.5 volts

[MarkS]

Feb 28, 2013 12:11:16 GMT OneDay said:

Yes.. if you find 2.8 on the left hand side and follow the line along, you will see that above 4.75 volts it turns red. In other words you can turn your twist up to it's max 4.8 and just about get away with it. However, if you used a 2.4 head, you shouldn't go above 4.5 volts

Thank you onedayillquit

So when the lava tube arrives, if i want to try it out to it's 6 volts max, I'd need higher resistance carto's and clearo's.

It's making more sense now.

[OneDay]

Feb 28, 2013 12:17:35 GMT MarkS said:

Feb 28, 2013 12:11:16 GMT OneDay said:

Yes.. if you find 2.8 on the left hand side and follow the line along, you will see that above 4.75 volts it turns red. In other words you can turn your twist up to it's max 4.8 and just about get away with it. However, if you used a 2.4 head, you shouldn't go above 4.5 volts

Thank you onedayillquit

So when the lava tube arrives, if i want to try it out to it's 6 volts max, I'd need higher resistance carto's and clearo's.

It's making more sense now.

Yes you've got it. The whole point of focussing on watts though is that the only reason you'd want to use 6 volts would be with a particular carto to achieve a specific wattage, if that still makes sense. It's the power (heat) i.e. wattage that produces the vape

[MarkS]

Got ya. Thanks onedayillquit. You've been a great help.