A Noobie's Guide to Batteries
While in the chat room one night, someone was asking if there was a guide for batteries. He was hearing all these battery numbers in the conversation, and not familiar enough to follow along. I decided to write this guide to help familiarize the noobs to all the batteries we use for mods.
All of the batteries we use are either 3.7volts or 3.0volts. There is however a 5volt battery used in the Mako Maksi, but it's not one of the popular batteries you frequently hear about, so I'll just concentrate this discussion on the 3 and 3.7volt varieties.
The 3.0volt batteries are primarily used in pairs for a total of 6.0volts for 6volt vaping, and single battery mods are 3.7volts. The 3.7volt batteries are usually only paired if the mod has a voltage regulator (adjustable or fixed) for consistency in voltage throughout battery life and load conditions. Now that you have a little background on how the batteries are used, let's try to make sense out of the numbering system.
The first 2 digits of the battery number indicate the dimension measuring across the battery. So a 10440 measures 10mm across, a 14500 measures 14mm across, and so forth, and the last 3 digits make reference to the length. For example the last 3 digits in a 14500 battery would suggest that the length would be 50.0mm long, but that would be for the unprotected version of the battery. The overcharge/overdischarge protection circuit will add between 2 and 3 mm to the length of the battery, so a 14500 is really 52.5mm long.
Aside from the physical size of the battery, there is something referred to as mah (milliamp hour) rating. This is a capacity rating of the battery, and indicates the amount of energy the battery can store. In other words, how long it will last between charges (more mah, more charge life). Physical size will affect mah ratings, and therefore smaller size batteries will typically have lower mah ratings. Some batteries are available in more than 1 mah rating.
Below is a listing of the more commonly used batteries in e-cigarette mods.
**This is not meant to be a complete list, so please don't shoot me of you know of a battery I didn't list.**