Buying a battery for the first time, to use in a MOD, can be confusing. You are bombarded with terms like, IMR,ICR,Hybrid,Protected,Unprotected,Li Ion,Li Mn, I could go on.
So to help get to the bottom of all these terms, and get you a battery that you can use safely with your MOD I have put together this guide. In this guide, Mod will refer to any vv/vw and Mechanical device.
We have three battery choices when buying a battery for our Mod.
IMR : (Li Mn) These batteries are a later edition to the ‘lithium’ family. They have the ‘safer’ chemistry, and for this reason the manufacturers deem it unnecessary to include a built in protection circuit. These batteries may vent gases under extreme stress, but should not catch fire or explode if this happens.
ICR : (Li Ion) These are an earlier edition to the ‘lithium’ family. The chemistry in these are more volatile under stress, and manufacturers deemed it necessary to include built in protection circuit. These batteries under extreme stress could fail spectacularly hence the need for a protection circuit.
Hybrid : These batteries are a new edition to the lithium family. They are a mixed chemistry and fall into the ‘safer’ category of battery. These batteries can give the high drain capability that is needed like IMR and can have larger mAh capacity similar to ICR.
IMR or Hybrid batteries are now recommended over ICR (Protected) batteries for all Mods. Their safer chemistry, and higher stress tolerance make them the safer option.
ICR’s should the protection circuit fail can burst into flames and even explode in an event called thermal runaway. (No longer recommended for use).
Hybrid batteries are a good choice for high drain applications that need longer lasting batteries, and can be found with 20A continuous discharge rate. Which is more than enough for even sub Ohm vaping.
When using a Mech
Remember not to over discharge an unprotected battery when in a Mech. Although safer, doing this will damage the battery. A way of monitoring the batteries voltage or a separate 'kick', may help if you are unsure.
What rating in Amps(A) do you need.
For normal vaping at above 1.0 Ohm a 6A or greater will do the job.
For sub Ohm vaping a battery of 10A or more will be needed. Sub ohm battery chart
For an up-to-date List of Recomended Batteries Take a look at The AAEC Battery Power Guide The List contains the make and power rating of Suitable for Vaping Batteries (Thanks to Ripshod for his time and effort).
Only buy your batteries from recommended AAEC vendors. That way if there is a problem with their stock. They should act to put things right.
Do not buy batteries from ‘any old charley’ on Ebay. There are masses of fakes being sold on Ebay.
Here is an example of what you can end up with.
Do not buy anything with ‘Fire’ in the name. Even when they are not fake, they are second rate batteries, and I'm being generous saying that about them.
Recently ebay has been flooded with fake Sony batteries. This is an ongoing problem that is here to stay.
Only use the vendors listed below when buying on ebay. These 2 vendors test every batch they receive and if found to be suspect they wont sell them to us.
Ecoluxshop is my vendor of choice on ebay.
Tourchy is also a good place for batteries and has a shop on ebay and goes by the name: big_f_d_d.
Stick to the Batteries on
The AAEC Battery Power Guide.
Chargers
I would recommend a nitecore intellicharger or one of the Xtar range. These are highly recommended by many people.
I hope this Basic Guide gives you an insight into some of the issues vapers should be aware of when it comes to batteries.
For a more comprehensive guide I would recommend reading The Battery Safety & Charging Guide by VapingBad
Below are some references I used to write this guide. I thank these people for doing most of the leg work.
what exactly does imr mean
battery basics
battery specs and calculators
