Safety Guide For Mechanical Vape Mods

Mechanical mods, a safety guide

The mechanical mod sits firmly within the upper tiers of vaping, offering users a technical and powerful way of vaping. Using a mechanical mod is perhaps the rawest kind of vaping possible, thanks to its unregulated output. It’s important to remember that a mechanical / unregulated vape device is recommended to only the most experienced users out there. These are users who have an extensive knowledge of battery safety, battery output, Ohm’s law and vaping as a whole.

Nevertheless, vaping maestros will tell you that using a mechanical is an experience unlike any other. Through the simple act of pushing the fire button, you complete a circuit that runs the power of your vape battery through your unregulated device and into your atomiser. With this in mind, we’ll take through a few key points of safety to help you get the best experience when using your mechanical mod.

Single battery mechanical mod diagram

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

You should be familiar with the saying ‘just because you can, doesn’t mean you should’, well this appropriately applies to vaping as much as anything else. Yes, you can put a coil build below 0.2 Ohm into your RDA and fire it on your unregulated device, but the lower the resistance the more likely it is that you run the risk of a flow of power that can cause the battery to vent, or even in extreme circumstances, cause a thermal runaway. To avoid this risk, it’s advised to build coils at 0.2 Ohm or above, resulting in plenty of cloud production, but more importantly, peace of mind.

Vape mod examples

THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB

An Ohms reader, or Ohmmeter, is an essential piece of kit for anyone who is looking to build their own coils, especially for those who are looking to move to an unregulated device. An Ohmmeter allows you to check the resistance of your coil, detect any possibility of a short circuit, and judges whether your coils are correctly fitted. If you were to skip this vital stage and fire your RDA on your mechanical mod without checking, the results can be deadly.

The same can be said for a coil building kit, which are specially designed vape tools that allow the user to build coils efficiently and effectively, whilst increasing safety. These are essential for any mechanical user.

Vape mod toolkits

THE COIL + THE BATTERY = THE RELATIONSHIP

As aforementioned, the danger of building a coil with too low a resistance relates to the relationship between the battery and the coil. The rule of thumb is, the higher the Ohm rating the less Amps from the battery are needed. This is where Ohm’s Law really comes into play, as it’s used to confirm that the amount of energy discharged from your battery is safe.

'I = V ÷ R'

This is the equation that will decide it all for you. Whilst this looks rather complicated, it’s easy once you get your head around it. Where ‘I’ is Current, measured in Amps; ‘V’ is power measured in Volts; and ‘R’ is Resistance, measured in Ohms. As a rule of thumb, batteries with a higher mAh, will have a lower Amp so it’s important to take this into consideration.

For example, you have a fully charged 18650 3.7V 20A Battery and an RDA with a registered 0.3 Ohm coil build. 3.7 divided by 0.3 equals 12.3. Meaning this build will draw 12.3 Amps from the battery. This is perfectly safe for a 20 Amp battery, making this a practical combination of coil and battery to use with an unregulated device. It’s absolutely vital to always use this simple equation when using a mechanical/unregulated device.

Remember to keep your batteries charged as voltage can drop, which will have an adverse effect on your vape. It’s also worth noting that reverse polarity (putting in batteries the wrong way round) can easily result in a nasty accident so please be mindful when placing batteries into the device.

Vape coil and battery examples

DUAL BATTERY UNREGULATED DEVICES

The above tips are a good starting point to the world of mechanical and unregulated devices, yet if you’re planning on using a dual battery mechanical mod, the rules take on a new dimension of complexity. Dual battery unregulated devices are divided into two categories; Series and Parallel. Whilst the same above equation is still used, these devices get their names from the type of circuit they utilise.

Series

A Series Circuit Device will double the Voltage level of batteries. For example, two 3.7V batteries will create 7.4V of power. This must be taken into consideration when calculating safe coil resistance.

Check out our calculations below, they have been worked out using two 18650, 3000mAh, 3.7V, 15A batteries as the power source. You can use other battery types but always take into account the difference in Voltage and Amp levels.

7.4 V / 0.3 Ohm = 24.6A Required (UNSAFE TO USE)
7.4 V / 0.4 Ohm = 18.5A Required (UNSAFE TO USE)
7.4 V / 0.5 Ohm = 14.8A Required (SAFE TO USE)

Parallel

A Parallel Circuit Device will double the Amp limit of batteries. For example, two 15A batteries will create 30A of current. This must be taken into consideration when calculating safe coil resistance.

Check out our calculations below for some helpful examples. They have been worked out using two 18650, 3000mAh, 3.7V, 15A batteries as the power source. You can use other battery types but always take into account the difference in Voltage and Amp levels.

3.7 V / 0.1 Ohm = 37A Required (UNSAFE TO USE)
3.7 V / 0.2 Ohm = 18.5A Required (SAFE TO USE)
3.7V / 0.3 Ohm = 12.3A Required (SAFE TO USE)

Series or Parallel Regulated Mod - Which Is Better?

As you can see from the above calculations, using either a Series or Parallel unregulated vape device will greatly change the type of vape you experience. A parallel vape device will allow you to use coils of much lower resistance, this will result in a more powerful vape, boosting vapour production. A series vape device, on the other hand, will require you to use higher resistance coils, but the device will have a much faster ramp-up.

SUMMARY

It’s important to remember the golden rule ‘if it doesn’t seem safe, don’t do it’. We can’t reiterate this point enough. If you do not have the correct tools, vape hardware and knowledge, you’ll be setting yourself up for disaster so it’s a necessity to equip yourself in order to safely enjoy the act of unregulated/mechanical vaping.

If you have any questions regarding this topic, or vaping in general, please do not hesitate to contact us.