Perhaps you didn’t always pay attention during physics lessons at school, or perhaps it was just a long time ago and you don’t really remember.
The fact is that it can be difficult for many people to find out what volts, watts and ohms actually are when we talk about E-cigarettes or physics in general.
Before we begin with a really long explanation, we want you to know that you can easily have a great E-experience with variable voltage and coils with different resistances, even if you don’t understand the physics behind it all.
In its simplest form, it is simply a matter of varying the voltage until you achieve exactly the vapor, flavor and throat hit you want. Likewise, you can experiment with different coils and atomizers that have different resistances.
However, there are also people who would like to know more about the physics behind the E-cigarette and that is why this blog post exists.
The blog post is divided into two parts. First, we have an introduction to volts, watts and ohms, followed by a somewhat more advanced explanation in which we also discuss Ohm’s law.
What is Ohm?
Ohm is a unit used to measure resistance.
You can say that the lower the resistance in your coil, the greater the amount of electricity that will pass through it. If you increase the resistance in the coil, less electricity will pass through it.
When you use a coil with low resistance, more electricity passes through it and you will experience the following:
- more heat is generated by the coil
- more vapor is produced
- you may experience a more intense flavor
- the vapor becomes warmer
Depending on your preferences and wishes regarding your E-cigarette, this can therefore be very positive. However, there are also some negative consequences:
- your battery will drain faster
- battery life may be reduced
- you consume your E-juice faster
- the coil’s lifespan is reduced
- the possibility of a “dry hit” becomes greater
Of course, the same things happen when you use a coil with high resistance, only in reverse.
What ohm resistance should I use in my clearomizer?
There is no simple answer to this. It depends on you and the vapor and throat hit you want. In addition, it depends on the voltage you combine with the resistance.
Furthermore, you will find that different E-juices react in different ways and that the resistance you choose has a major impact on certain flavor varieties. So there is room here to experiment a little to find the solution that suits you best. However, you can use this table as a guide (click for a larger image).
Explanation of E-cigarettes with variable voltage
The resistance in your coil is not the only thing that controls the amount of vapor, flavor and throat hit.
It also depends on the current in your atomizer. As we have seen, you can get a more intense experience by reducing the resistance in your coil. You can do the same by increasing the current in your E-cigarette. It may sound complicated, but it is usually quite easy if you have an E-cigarette with variable voltage. It only requires you to press a button or something similar.
And if you want even more vapor? Then you can combine low resistance with high current. However, note that such a combination of a very low and a very high value can cause you to burn your coil, or at least significantly reduce the coil’s lifespan. If you want more information on how to get more vapor, you can continue reading here.
Variable voltage vs. variable wattage
The difference between variable voltage and variable wattage can easily be compared to the difference between a car with an automatic transmission and a car with a manual transmission. With variable voltage, you can manually control the current (voltage) that passes through your E-cigarette. The amount of energy that actually comes out depends on how the resistance in your atomizer interacts with the current passing through it.
With variable wattage, instead of telling the E-cigarette how much current you want, you primarily tell it how much should pass through your atomizer. It will therefore produce the energy output you need itself.
To put it another way: Watt is essentially how much power the E-cigarette produces as output, while voltage concerns how much power should be sent through the E-cigarette.
That means that when you increase the wattage, the voltage will also increase – and vice versa.
However, voltage is not the only thing that affects wattage. You should also take the resistance in your coil into account. Low-resistance coils produce more flavor, vapor and heat at a low voltage than high-resistance coils because they use more watts.
An example: If you have a 1.8-ohm coil using 3.7 volts, you will get an output of approximately 7.3 watts.
If you instead use a coil with higher resistance, for example 2.8 ohms, you will quickly notice that you get less flavor, vapor and heat and that the wattage is reduced to around 4.4 watts. Therefore, you will need to increase the voltage to increase the wattage, which provides a better experience.
Since low-resistance coils require more watts, they will usually also produce more heat, and there is a risk that they will burn out faster than a high-resistance coil.
What does mAh mean in E-cigarette batteries?
You have probably seen “mAh” when looking at E-cigarette batteries. “mAh” is important, as the number helps you know how long the battery can last. If we use the comparison with the car again, you could say that volts are the fuel, while mAh is the size of the fuel tank – the larger the tank, the longer the car can drive before it needs to be refueled. mAh stands for milliampere-hours. We will discuss this in a little more detail later.
What is “Sub Ohm Vaping”
We have seen that you will experience more vapor, a stronger throat hit and somewhat more flavor if you reduce the resistance in your coil while increasing the voltage. Sub-ohming is the extreme version of this. Here you use a resistance below 1 ohm, which is extremely low. This produces large amounts of vapor, but it also wears down both the battery and the coil in your clearomizer.
It is most often used on mechanical mods that have no electronic safety mechanisms whatsoever. This naturally increases the risk of the battery exploding if it is not used correctly. Until fairly recently, sub-ohming was reserved for experienced vapers who wanted to push the boundaries with “rebuildable” atomizers.
Advanced explanation of volts, watts and ohms
An E-cigarette is an incredibly simple circuit consisting of a battery, a contact and a coil.
Here we will go through some of the concepts we have already discussed, but at a slightly more advanced level.
Milliampere-hours (mAh)
A milliampere-hour is one thousandth of an ampere-hour (Ah). Both are used to measure a battery’s capacity. A higher number means greater capacity. Note that mAh is only used to measure capacity and should not be confused with volts.
Ampere
Ampere, sometimes abbreviated as amps, measures the amount of constant current. Ampere is defined as the number of electrons passing through a circuit in one second.
Volt
Volt measures the amount of potential energy between two points in a circuit. One point will be more charged than the other. The difference between the charges of the two points is called voltage.
Watt
Watt measures the amount of current consumed by an electrical device.
Ohm’s law
Ohm’s law concerns a calculation that shows the relationship between volts, amperes and ohms.
V = the amount of volts
I = the amount of amperes
R = the amount of ohms
The law states that if you know two of the values, you can always calculate the third. You do this by using the formula V= I x R.
So, if you were to use a 0.5-ohm coil (very low) with a battery that provides 4.2 volts, you can use Ohm’s law to calculate how many amperes the circuit draws from the battery.
Using simple mathematics, we isolate amperes (I), which gives:
I = 4.2 / 0.5 = 8.4 A. This therefore gives 8.4 amperes.
The mathematics is important for E-cigarette users who want to build their own coils. The number you get by using Ohm’s law can therefore be very important. You should never use a coil whose resistance you do not know or a battery with an unknown voltage.
