Single vs. Multi Battery Mods

A good explanation here

Probably the best-known example of a dual-cell series box is the Wismec Noisy Cricket. A series battery configuration is just as described: the batteries are placed (or connected) end-to-end, one after another. The most common example of series battery usage outside of vaping would be a dual battery flashlight.

In a series configuration, the resulting voltage is additive — in our example 3.7V + 3.7V = 7.4V. The current in the circuit, however, is limited to the maximum CDR of a single battery or 20 amps since the same current is pulled through both batteries. Lastly, the life of our series configuration would also be the equivalent of a single battery or 2000 mAh.

• Higher voltage output
• Muscle to drive large wire mass

• Current limited to equivalent of a single battery
• Battery capacity / run time
• May run too hot for low-wattage vapers

The key thing to remember is that the same load (build) is going to behave very differently on each of these mods. For example: On a parallel mod at 3.7 volts, a 0.15-ohm load will pull 24.6 amps from your batteries and result in around 91.3 watts. The same load on a series box at 7.4 volts would pull over 49.3 amps and give you 365 watts — which of course is way outside of the safe limits of the batteries.

If you up the resistance of your build to 0.5-ohms, and use heavier wire — like clapton coils — the resulting load will pull 7.4 amps and deliver a mere 27.4 watts to your coils on a parallel mod. The coils will heat slowly, and the vape will be cool. On the series mod, the claptons will pull 14.8 amps and give you just under 110 watts, and the coils will ramp very quickly compared to the parallel box, giving you a much warmer and denser vape.

We recommend not going below 0.5 ohms when building for a series mod.

Using the above example it tells us a couple of important things.

Amp ratings of batteries are of utmost importance if you build your own coils or use low ohm pre built.

Using two or more coils will lower your resistance. Two coils for example will half it. 1 coil at .5 will equal .25 if you install a dual coil.

Using the car versus truck analogy. Most cars have equipment that runs on 12 V, so one 12 V battery can run these. On a truck, they have 24 V equipment, so to achieve this they take 2 x 12 V batteries and connect them in series.

Agreed Stranger

I agree wholeheartedly, with what you're saying ... IF you took advantage of the higher voltage of a series cell mod, and RAISED the resistance of the coils to keep the power dissipation constant, then logically you would indeed get a greater battery life, however the move in the market place is the other way .... It's towards LOWER RESISTANCES, (sub ohm heating coils / mesh / pads), and at the same time mods are moving towards multi SERIES cells, which seems counterintuitive to me

My opening post questioned the market moving to SERIES multi cell mods, as the fact remains, that there is no inherent advantage of series multi cell mods over a single cell mod based on the amp/hour rating remaining the same, (assuming sub ohm coils and loads below 50 Watts), however;
If coil resistances were to go up in the case of series mods, or ...
If the cells were to be placed in parallel, then battery life would improve substantially.

The only advantage that I can see in a vaping context was if you wanted instant and large volume vaporization. Perhaps for competition ... OH wait... there are some folk that just want to blow huge clouds to compensate for the size of their penises or self esteem.

So I can see the logic behind such devices, but it does not fit in with ADV. For that you need longevity and a 2 or 3 battery mod in parallel is the answer.

Stranger said:

The only advantage that I can see in a vaping context was if you wanted instant and large volume vaporization. Perhaps for competition ... OH wait... there are some folk that just want to blow huge clouds to compensate for the size of their penises or self esteem.

So I can see the logic behind such devices, but it does not fit in with ADV. For that you need longevity and a 2 or 3 battery mod in parallel is the answer.

Click to expand...

Too funny ... Methinks you may be right here tho'

OK, let's see how this goes.
Voopoo Argus GT, it is a dual battery mod, series configuration.
Married set of Molicel P26A 18650 batteries. Fully charged.
0.63 ohms coil resistance
I've cleared the puff counter. Will vape this until my batteries are flat. And then I'll switch over to a single battery mod (Drag X) using the same Atomizer and build and also a single unmarried Molicel P26A cell.
Then we can see if there is a difference in amount of puffs/vaping time between a single and a dual battery mod. Both devices will be vaped at 15w.
All my batteries are externally charged, usb cable plugged in on the side solely to illustrate battery levels.

Dela Rey Steyn said:

OK, let's see how this goes.
Voopoo Argus GT, it is a dual battery mod, series configuration. Married set of Molicel P26A 18650 batteries. Fully charged. 0.63 ohms coil resistance an I've cleared the puff counter. Will vape this until my batteries are flat. And then I'll switch over to a single battery mod using the same Atomizer and build and also a single unmarried Molicel P26A cell. Then we can see if there is a difference in amount of puffs/vaping time between a single and a dual battery mod. Both devices will be vaped at 15w. View attachment 208966 View attachment 208967

Click to expand...

Now that is a brilliant idea @Dela Rey Steyn! Wanted to do the same, but realized I am still waiting for my replacement single battery mod and cant do it right now... unless i "borrow" one of the Mrs' mods when she gets home tonight... that now comes from passing the good stuff on to her... would love to hear your outcome on this!

Dela Rey Steyn said:

OK, let's see how this goes.
Voopoo Argus GT, it is a dual battery mod, series configuration.
Married set of Molicel P26A 18650 batteries. Fully charged.
0.63 ohms coil resistance
I've cleared the puff counter. Will vape this until my batteries are flat. And then I'll switch over to a single battery mod (Drag X) using the same Atomizer and build and also a single unmarried Molicel P26A cell.
Then we can see if there is a difference in amount of puffs/vaping time between a single and a dual battery mod. Both devices will be vaped at 15w.
All my batteries are externally charged, usb cable plugged in on the side solely to illustrate battery levels.
View attachment 208966 View attachment 208967

Click to expand...

See my post above that is exactly what I did.. So let's see if you confirm my findings.
I can also point out I bought 4 new batteries and they were all charged on an external charger to 4.20 volts.

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

You will get these results if your batteries are linked in parallel. As stated, linked in parallel will increase the amp hours or in our case Mah. So 2 x 2500 Mah batteries will give you 5000 Mah. Link these same batteries in series and you will be able to produce higher volts but you will still only have 2500 Mah

Stranger said:

You will get these results if your batteries are linked in parallel. As stated, linked in parallel will increase the amp hours or in our case Mah. So 2 x 2500 Mah batteries will give you 5000 Mah. Link these same batteries in series and you will be able to produce higher volts but you will still only have 2500 Mah

Click to expand...

This is so confusing..
The question begs then...
If dual battery mods in series (literally 99% of mods on the market) gives same battery life as a single battery mod then have we as consumers been taken for ride and exploited.

Why would manufactorers then even release a dual battery mod in series other than for financial gain, and, why would we as consumers even purchase them given their price compared to single battery mods

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

Because they are not series mods, there are a few that I know of like the cricket and the Luxotic nc.

We have to understand how the batteries are "wired"

Most mods are "wired " in parallel. This is simply a function of how the batteries are joined together physically.


Your car takes 12V to start it, I can't do that with pic 1, but I can with pic 2

This is going to be a very very very long test. At the 100 puff mark. My last puff was 1.31 seconds, which is about average. So roughly 2.18 minutes total vaping time so far. Not even a dent in the battery levels yet. Going to have to switch to a 12mg fruity liquid for the rest of this test. The resistance drop on the Coil is just the SS316L coil settling in.

Please tell me what the V reading is when you fire it. Thanks

Stranger said:

Please tell me what the V reading is when you fire it. Thanks

Click to expand...

3.28v

OH boy talking about putting your anatomy on the block.

I predict: 65 - 70 minutes and over 800 puffs (your puff time is quite short.)

I would also ask that as the batteries drain down, say 400 puffs, please post the voltage again. Thanks

Stranger said:

OH boy talking about putting your anatomy on the block.

I predict: 65 - 70 minutes and over 800 puffs (your puff time is quite short.)

I would also ask that as the batteries drain down, say 400 puffs, please post the voltage again. Thanks

Click to expand...

Yip, 18mg Freebase, I'm definitely not taking any long puffs on this! I'll post again at 200 puffs.

Stranger said:

Because they are not series mods, there are a few that I know of like the cricket and the Luxotic nc.

We have to understand how the batteries are "wired"

Most mods are "wired " in parallel. This is simply a function of how the batteries are joined together physically.
View attachment 208989View attachment 208990

Your car takes 12V to start it, I can't do that with pic 1, but I can with pic 2

Click to expand...

If they not series then why do the Batteries go opposite sides up in the mod and then bridged by the battery door like in series, positive to negetive

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

One has to look at this from a power perspective. Say you have set 30W on the mod. A single cell mod will draw the full 30W from the single cell. In a 2 cell mod, whether series or parallel, only 15W will be drawn from each cell, therefore battery life is always approximately doubled when using two cells.
The rate of discharge of the cells will be halved when using 2 cells. It will take roughly twice as long for each cell to go from 4.2V to 3.2V in dual cell configuration as compared to a single cell.

BubiSparks said:

One has to look at this from a power perspective. Say you have set 30W on the mod. A single cell mod will draw the full 30W from the single cell. In a 2 cell mod, whether series or parallel, only 15W will be drawn from each cell, therefore battery life is always approximately doubled when using two cells.
The rate of discharge of the cells will be halved when using 2 cells. It will take roughly twice as long for each cell to go from 4.2V to 3.2V in dual cell configuration as compared to a single cell.

Click to expand...

Now this makes sense to me

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

Going to take this test with a DL setup rather. Just over 200 puffs and the batteries are stil cruising

In a regulated mod using 2 batteries in series, the input voltage is doubled. This means that to get the same 30w output, the regulator will only draw half the current. See screenshots below. The only variable changed is the voltage.

Single Battery at 3.7v



Dual Battery in series at 7.4v


Because the current draw is roughly halved, the battery life is roughly doubled.

Credit to Steam Engine's calculators
http://www.steam-engine.org/batt

So the pic shows the voltage dropping but the W are staying the same.

Stranger said:

So the pic shows the voltage dropping but the W are staying the same.

Click to expand...

The chipset regulates the voltage according to the resistance. SS316L wire's resistance fluctuates when heated. The chipset is deciding the amount of volts to apply to give me the required watts.

Intuthu Kagesi said:

I like MOST of what this guy says, however there is a contradiction ...
Battery life is measured in Amp/hours, so a parallel battery mod would increase the life, and a series battery mod, would be the same as a single cell mod PROVIDED the voltage across the coil(s) is lower than the voltage of a single cell ... Which he admits, (check the ringed elements below);

View attachment 208954 View attachment 208955

Click to expand...

No one is disputing that the mAh is doubled in parallel and stays the same in series what we are saying is how power is drawn from the batteries in the two set-ups basically gives you the same Watt hour (vape time). You summit theory and stick to your guns which is fair enough but theory isn't proof that can only be proved in practice. So when we put identical builds on a single and dual (series or parallel) mod and vape them both at the same wattage and get pretty much double the puff count with a double battery device that is proof in practice. Problem is you have the first half of the theory but not the second half!

After the Coil has cooled down completely, the resistance goes back to 0.62ohm and the supplied volts goes up again. The chipset self regulates. That's why the battery life will be better in a dual battery mod. The chipset only supplies the required voltage to obtain the required watts. It's not a constant drain at 7.4v