Understanding Variable Voltage/ Wattage

If you are looking for information about Variable Voltage / Wattage electronic cigarettes, it could be because the E-cig you are using at the moment is not giving you the vapour production and flavour you want.

When you are new to vaping (using an electronic cigarette) finding what works best for you can be a maze, and you will be going through a steep learning curve, as here are a lot of different Electronic cigarette devices available on the market.

If you are new to vaping we at Vaper Train advice our customers to start their vaping experience with a starter kit, rather than jumping straight in to the deep end.

Our reasons are not to make more money out of you but merely because of the following:
If you buy an expensive (Variable Voltage / Wattage) device and find that vaping is not for you, you will have invested a lot of money on something that you will never use again, as where if you would buy a cheaper alternative (Starter Kit) and you wish to continue using the E-cig it is very easy to upgrade.
Also when using a starter kit you will get used to some of the most common quirks of most 510 / eGo batteries, and or the clearomiser / tank that is attached to it.

When you have just started vaping, you are most likely using a device that operates at 3.7 volts, though you will find. that your experience with vaping changes.

This can be due to:
Using different E-liquid flavours,
Trying different nicotine strengths
Trying a different PG (Propylene Glycol) / VG (Vegetable Glycerin) ratio mix
Or even trying a different clearomiser / atomiser
Some combinations may give you more flavour and good throat hit, whilst others can leave you wishing you could turn up the volume a bit to give you more uhmpf.

Variable Voltage and or Variable Wattage electronic cigarettes, or as we like to call the PV’s (Personal Vaporisers) do exactly that, making it possible to change the voltage / wattage of your device to give you the flavour, throat hit and vapour to how you want it to be.
Once you have experienced vaping with a standard 3.7 volt device and you switch to a variable voltage / variable wattage device you will find that some flavours taste better on low voltage / wattage as where other flavours taste better on higher voltage / wattage

About the Watts
The main advantage of variable-voltage / wattage electronic cigarettes is, that they produce more vapour than the small E-cigs most people buy when they first start vaping (E.G. the cigarette look a like).
To understand the difference, let us take a look at the specifications of a standard electronic cigarette;
most devices use 3.7 volt batteries and 2.4Ω atomisers / tanks, and so producing a little under 5.5 watts of power.
To get a little bit more out of their E-cig, some vapers (Electronic Cigarette users)  buy larger batteries and combine them with low resistance atomizers / tanks.(1.8Ω)
When you use a 3.7 volt battery with for instance a 1.5 Ω clearomiser / tank, the vapour production of the E-cig increases to over 9 watts.
This still doesn’t equal the performance a variable voltage / wattage e-cig can achieve (up to 12 watts at 6 volts with a 3.0Ω clearomiser / tank).

How do these E-Cigs work?
Most variable-voltage / wattage E-cigs use 3.7 volt batteries, just like standard  E-cigs.
The difference is that a variable voltage / wattage E-cig has a circuit that stores and regulates power from the battery, delivering it to the atomiser / tank at the voltage / wattage you choose.
Many variable voltage / wattage E-cigs also have micro processors for safety (of the battery) and control over vapour production.
These advanced internal electronics often make variable voltage / wattage E-cigs more expensive than standard E-cigs.

Is Variable Voltage / wattage for Me?
At the moment variable voltage devices produce the best performance available on the E-cig market.
However, if you have never used an E-cig before, a variable voltage / wattage device may not be right for you.

For example:
If you are not a 20+ a day smoker, or you smoke light cigarettes, you may find the vapour production / throat hit of a variable voltage / wattage device too intense at higher power levels.
If you have to turn a variable voltage / wattage E-cig down to 3.7 volts  or lower, to get the vapour production / throat hit, you want, you may be better off buying a standard 3.7 volt E-cig.
Using variable voltage / wattage E-cigs can be tricky (especially when you are new to vaping), as there is more to vaping than just simply pressing a button, and a lot of people underestimate how tricky using some devices can be.
For instance, when using an E-cig at 6 volts or 11 watts, an atomiser can give you a harsh / dry vapour with an unpleasant flavour if the heating coil in the tank is not kept wet.
If you add too much E-liquid to the atomiser, the atomiser / tank can flood resulting in your atomiser / tank to gurgle, spit out E-liquid through the top (Drip Tip) and / or leak.
The best results with variable voltage / wattage devices tend to be by the more experienced E-cig users.

We did not create this chart, but found it useful as guidance, all rights belong with its original owner

  • Volt –        unit of electrical potential or motive force, potential is required to send one ampere of   current through  one ohm of resistance.
  • Ohm-       unit of resistance, one ohm is the resistance offered to the passage of one ampere when impelled by one volt.
  • Ampere- units of current, one ampere is the current which one volt can send through a resistance of one ohm.
  • Watt-      unit of electrical energy or power, one watt is the product of one ampere and one volt – one ampere of current flowing under the force of one volt gives one watt of energy.