# Watts vs Volts - The Vape Experience - Same Same, but different?



## Sash (10/1/18)

Hey Guys,

So, I might get harped on or looked at weird when I say this but, vaping the same wattage or voltage on any device that offers the option...is different. I am no techie but here is the confusion to which I am looking for the light....maybe I am just not grasping something. Read on for the scenario.

*Setup:*
VooPoo Drag
Goon 1.5RDA
@smilelykumeenit 's lovely coils

*Vaping Volts*
Lets say you have a 0.14Ohm coil.
Lets say the maximum you want to vape is 3.7volts.

*Fire the Mod(in Volts):*
You will get give or take, 92w to get that 3.7v power, according to what is shown on the screen.

*Vaping Watts*
Lets say you have a 0.14Ohm coil.
Lets say the maximum you want to vape is 3.7volts.

*Fire the Mod(in Watts)*
You will get give or take, 3.68v to get that 92w power, according to what is shown on the screen.

*So What's the problem?*
_Well, the flavour is not quite the same when vaping volts, compared to watts with the same e-liquid on the same setup etc._ Only thing that changed was moving settings from Volts to Watts or vice versa.

*Suspicions*
Again, I am no techie and know barely anything about electrical stuff, so maybe there is a difference in the way the mod delivers Voltage and Wattage to the coil.

*The Question*
Have you had this experience OR what do you think could be the cause of this?
Share your experiences, I would love to know!

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## Scissorhands (10/1/18)

As a mech user my voltage is set to the cells output/charge. My wattage is determined by the coils resistance,cells change and conductive material (mod)

So the question above is difficult to answer but I assume the difference in vape quality in volts/watts you experience is directly related to your chips ability/accuracy to deliver your preferred setting again I assume this will be slightly different with every regulated mod/chip set 

Not sure if that helps

Kind regards

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## Sash (10/1/18)

Scissorhands said:


> As a mech user my voltage is set to the cells output/charge. My wattage is determined by the coils resistance,cells change and conductive material (mod)
> 
> So the question above is difficult to answer but I assume the difference in vape quality in volts/watts you experience is directly related to your chips ability/accuracy to deliver your preferred setting again I assume this will be slightly different with every regulated mod/chip set
> 
> ...


Well it strengthens my suspicions for sure and if that is the case this is also pushing me more towards a mech. That being said I tried a mech with fully charged batteries versus the voopoo set to 3.7v and the vape was still different

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## Scissorhands (10/1/18)

Sash said:


> Well it strengthens my suspicions for sure and if that is the case this is also pushing me more towards a mech. That being said I tried a mech with fully charged batteries versus the voopoo set to 3.7v and the vape was still different



From my understanding/experience

The delivery from a mech and reg mod is different, difficult to describe but a mech (to me) has a smoother/linear delivery where regulated has a wave pattern

With that said every mech will hit differently depending on the materials, overall conductivity

With mechs your cells properties determine your limitations, the higher the true amp limit = lower internal resistance = better efficiency , the closer you get to your amp limit = increased resistance (your cell contributes to the overall resistance of the circuit)

Also factor in that your chip is probably not 100% accurate 

Long story short your coil resistance isn't the circuit resistance

I hope that makes sense somewhat

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## Greyz (10/1/18)

FWIW I only use the VooPoo Drag in Voltage mode. It might be a placebo but it seems to hit faster and the batts last a tad longer too.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Silver (10/1/18)

Interesting @Sash 

I have only tried this on my iStick50 - ie vaping in wattage mode and then the equivalent volts to get that wattage. I dont notice any difference

What i will say is that i have noticed some mods are "smoother", more "direct" or mech like than others.

I know that our old mighty Innokin MVP2 had an extremely smooth voltage waveform when PBusardo put it on his oscilloscope. He remarked how mech like it was. Ok, it only goes up to 11W, hehe - but it definitely feels smoother than say the istick20, which rattles and pulses...

Not sure if changing from voltage to wattage could have some sort of effect like this on other mods, but i would imagine that some mods are just putting out a smoother waveform than others based on the differences of their internal electronics.

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## antonherbst (10/1/18)

Hey @Sash 

We must have a coffee again for me to try and help answer this question more directly as here on the forum i am not sure ill have the time or tools to help you understand this. It is very technical and i investigated this same type of question i had last year when i got the DNA mod. Ill refresh my memory on the theory i got and try answer this best possible for you tomorrow.

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## antonherbst (10/1/18)

Just found this in my vape arsenal of video's

It helped me understand the exact question you have.

Reactions: Like 1 | Winner 1


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## Sash (10/1/18)

Hey @antonherbst thanks for the video, it did help explain it technically. Coffee time I am always available so yup lets do it 

I do however think that @Silver might be closer on this one purely because:
I took off the same atty and put it on a mech with a fully charged battery. Although it did not hit quite like the VooPoo Drag as @Greyz says, I am also feeling that the Drag is hitting faster in voltage mode and yes who knows...maybe it is placebo. Also it seems to be easier to get the burning taste on 3.7V on a Drag whereas on a mech you can have the cotton "looking dry" but still vaping smooth AF.

Now, you know when we meet I always have to enjoy your mech so I also see and have experienced where @Scissorhands is coming from.
I will never know if the Drag delivers the different modes in different manners so as a small scale test here is what I have done:

I have taken a e-liquid that is not very complex and tasted it in wattage and voltage mode. 
What I found is that the taste is more or less the same on a juice that is not complicated.

Then I took a juice that is more complicated in flavour and found that wattage mode for such juices are tasting better with the Drag.
This makes me think that ramp up on the Drag, in voltage mode is quick whereas in wattage mode it allows you to quickly taste more flavours before peaking. Maybe it is indeed placebo.

What do you guys think?

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## Timwis (10/1/18)

Greyz said:


> FWIW I only use the VooPoo Drag in Voltage mode. It might be a placebo but it seems to hit faster and the batts last a tad longer too.


No, it's not placebo, less calculations for the chip before it hits.

I'm not an expert but the way i understand it is of course a mech is the quickest (virtually instant) because it's straight power to coil with no calculations being done between. As well as hitting hard and true it will be smoother but as everyone knows during the batteries use the voltage drops, so slowly the vape gets weaker. Voltage is second quickest because the only calculation the chip needs to make is whether to boost or hold back on voltage (depending on what voltage you have set) before delivering to the coil. When vaping in wattage mode the chip has to calculate what voltage is needed to get the set wattage via the resistance of the coil before then boosting or holding back on voltage so quite a few calculations are needed before firing the voltage. However the benefits of wattage mode is there are variables like the resistance of your coils are constantly during vaping slightly moving as well as other variables and whatever wattage you set should be the wattage you get, (the chip will constantly take into account all the changes and alter voltage accordingly to give the set wattage). As chips have been improving all these calculations are done so quickly a really good device even in wattage mode should be hard to detect a delay.

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## Timwis (10/1/18)

Lol a video was posted while i was typing i hope he talks slower in that video i normally need to slow RIP down to half speed.

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## Sash (10/1/18)

Timwis said:


> No, it's not placebo, less calculations for the chip before it hits.
> 
> I'm not an expert but the way i understand it is of course a mech is the quickest (virtually instant) because it's straight power to coil with no calculations being done between. As well as hitting hard and true it will be smoother but as everyone knows during the batteries use the voltage drops, so slowly the vape gets weaker. Voltage is second quickest because the only calculation the chip needs to make is whether to boost or hold back on voltage (depending on what voltage you have set) before delivering to the coil. When vaping in wattage mode the chip has to calculate what voltage is needed to get the set wattage via the resistance of the coil before then boosting or holding back on voltage so quite a few calculations are needed before firing the voltage. However the benefits of wattage mode is there are variables like the resistance of your coils are constantly during vaping slightly moving as well as other variables and whatever wattage you set should be the wattage you get, (the chip will constantly take into account all the changes and alter voltage accordingly to give the set wattage). As chips have been improving all these calculations are done so quickly a really good device even in wattage mode should be hard to detect a delay.


Ahh...lovely response and it sinks in. I would say the VooPoo Drag is about the quickest I have tried. I am yet to try the new one.
Its just hanging on the shopping list.

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## RainstormZA (11/1/18)

I find the same thing happening here with my pico. 

I need 40w (3.10v) to get the cooling effect from my diy juice. Any lower than that, it tastes different...

Sent from my D5503 using Tapatalk

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## BubiSparks (11/1/18)

In an unregulated mod, there is a massive inrush current when the coil is fired. This current quickly drops once the coil has heated up. That's why they are favoured for bigger hits. On a regulated mod you dial in a wattage and the inrush current is controlled (Capped at what you set it at) and thus takes longer to heat up the coil. This is also why many mods offer a ramp function to increase the power on initial fire. The time and amount of extra power can usually be programmed by the user.

There will be no lag whatsoever caused by any calculation required. Any processor on the planet will calculate 3 variables (V, I, R) in single digit nanoseconds!

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## Timwis (11/1/18)

BubiSparks said:


> In an unregulated mod, there is a massive inrush current when the coil is fired. This current quickly drops once the coil has heated up. That's why they are favoured for bigger hits. On a regulated mod you dial in a wattage and the inrush current is controlled (Capped at what you set it at) and thus takes longer to heat up the coil. This is also why many mods offer a ramp function to increase the power on initial fire. The time and amount of extra power can usually be programmed by the user.
> 
> There will be no lag whatsoever caused by any calculation required. Any processor on the planet will calculate 3 variables (V, I, R) in single digit nanoseconds!


I bow to your superior knowledge!

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## Sash (12/1/18)

BubiSparks said:


> In an unregulated mod, there is a massive inrush current when the coil is fired. This current quickly drops once the coil has heated up. That's why they are favoured for bigger hits. On a regulated mod you dial in a wattage and the inrush current is controlled (Capped at what you set it at) and thus takes longer to heat up the coil. This is also why many mods offer a ramp function to increase the power on initial fire. The time and amount of extra power can usually be programmed by the user.
> 
> There will be no lag whatsoever caused by any calculation required. Any processor on the planet will calculate 3 variables (V, I, R) in single digit nanoseconds!


Ok so this gives me a new thing to take into account...vaping through a curve function. Tried it (on the minikin v2) and I can safely say if you make the initial hit too high, you will taste the organic fields of Japan. But with a mech, it wont burn the cotton so easily. Changed to curve mode with a few adjustments on the Minikin and the vape was as smooth as a mech. I will try and figure out how to get to the curve settings on the Drag and give it a go.

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## Timwis (12/1/18)

Sash said:


> Ok so this gives me a new thing to take into account...vaping through a curve function. Tried it (on the minikin v2) and I can safely say if you make the initial hit too high, you will taste the organic fields of Japan. But with a mech, it wont burn the cotton so easily. Changed to curve mode with a few adjustments on the Minikin and the vape was as smooth as a mech. I will try and figure out how to get to the curve settings on the Drag and give it a go.


I still liked my theory it sounded great lol

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## Sash (12/1/18)

Timwis said:


> I still liked my theory it sounded great lol


Ya maybe you're right..Yes I should just get a mech. I see your point now

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