Parallel, Series, and Stacked Batteries

With the increasing popularity of dual battery box mods, people are often confus
ed by the different ways in which cells can be introduced into a circuit. This a
lso includes the knotty issue of stacked batteries in tube mods, which is genera
lly regarded as a bad idea, if only because without knowing the issues, it can b
e potentially harmful. We'll deal with each format separately, and for sake of i
llustration we'll assume we're using fully charged Sony VTC5 batteries. Before w
e get into that, let's cover some rudimentary battery basics. The Sony VTC is an
3.7v, 2600mAh, 30A, unprotected, IMR cell, so what do those numbers and designa
tions all mean?
Volts: this is the 'potential difference' between the negative and positive, or
'electrical tension' that the cell provides - if we think of a water system, vol
ts is akin to pressure. Whilst 18650 batteries are labeled 3.7v, a fully charged
cell will actually be able to deliver 4.2v. 3.7v is the recommended long term s
torage charge, and ensures your cells arrive in the best condition possible.
mAh: Milliamp hours - the capacity of the battery. In simple terms, this is how
much energy the cell contains. If we again imagine electricity as being like wat
er; the bigger the mAh rating, the bigger the tank, and the more water it holds.
Amps: Returning to our water analogy, this is like the diameter of the water pip
e, and completes the system - we have a tank containing a certain amount of wate
r, an ability to push that water from either a pump or gravity, and finally the
hose out of which the water flows.
The labeling of batteries can be misleading on many vape specific batteries. Whi
lst the Sony VTCs state a rated amperage of 30A - representing how much current
it can deliver - this is a 'continuous' rating. That means that a VTC5 can 'work
' a device that pulls 30A until the battery is at its minimum recommended charge
, but without harming it. In reality a VTC can be 'pulsed' (used in short bursts
, which is what we vapers do) with far more demanding builds - 100A is easily po
ssible as long as you're not taking thirty second pulls. Sadly many other compan
ies are a little more shady, and we often see cells marked '50A', but with no cl
ue as to whether this is continuous or pulse. When it comes to 18650s, currently
30A is about as high as you can get with a continuous rating, and vape specific
cells from Vamped, Keeppower, and Xtar are often simply rewrapped VTCs with a b
est guess at safe rating which sounds good in the marketing literature.
Unprotected: So that sounds bad, right? Well all it means is that the cell doesn
't have a notoriously untrustworthy chip inside it that prevents your batteries
over charging or over discharging. Any 18650 charged higher than 4.2v is in dang
er of being damaged at best, exploding at worst. You should always use a good qu
ality intelligent charger from Nitecore, Luc, or Xtar (others are available, but
those are the most popular and trusted brands) that cuts out as soon as 4.2v is
achieved. Similarly, the VTC we're using as an example will die and refuse to c
harge if allowed to discharge below around 2.5v. If you're using a regulated dev
ice, then the circuit in your mod will tell you long before that figure is reach
ed, and show your battery as 'empty'. In fact you will usually still have around
3.5v available, but the device is guarding against your cell dying. In a mech m
od, it's down to you to know when your cell is about to check out. Below 3.7v, t
he vape production will drop off noticeably, but it's worth buying a cheap meter
you can screw into your 510 to check if you're not sure.
IMR: the two most common battery chemistries you will encounter are IMR and ICR.
ICR (lithium ion cobalt oxide - round cell) are usually protected cells, and ar
e considered 'unsafe chemistry'. Despite the protection, they can fail, and tend
to make a world or fuss about it when they do. Even if there isn't a loud explo
sion, the gasses they vent are very toxic - not something you want when they're
an inch from your mouth as you're inhaling. IMR (lithium ion manganese oxide - r
ound cell) however, are considered 'safe chemistry'. On the rare occasion they d
o throw in the towel, an IMR venting is rarely more than a hot fart of far safer
gasses. Hence why all vapers should take the extra bit of effort to look after
their cells, and use IMR.

So, having covered the basics, let's move onto how we can introduce the stored e
nergy (mAh), pressure (V), and current (A) into our circuit.
Parallel:
Even though most dual box mods have batteries side by side, we need to quite lit
erally 'think outside the box', and imagine the wiring going on under or around
the 'sled' or battery tray in which they're held. Picture your two cells side by
side, and with the terminals both pointing in the same direction; for the sake
of illustration, let's say both positive (+) point up, and both negative (-) poi
nt down. To connect the batteries in parallel we need two branching Y shaped wir
es at each end. That means that the two positive terminals are connected togethe
r and push the current into a single wire that connects to your button or chip,
whilst a similar arrangement joins the two negative terminals to ground - usuall
y the body of your mod if it's metal.
In this configuration, your batteries share the workload in pushing with the sam
e pressure - so the voltage remains at 4.2v. However, by sharing the work, the a
mount of energy in the tank is doubled from 2600 to 5200mAh. This means your dev
ice will last twice as long between charges.
Series:
In a serial connection, your batteries are strung together like sausages; the po
sitive of one battery being connected to the negative of the next. The connectio
n to your switch or chip comes from the single positive terminal of the top batt
ery in the string, whilst the connection to ground is made from the single negat
ive terminal of the bottom battery in the string. By doing this, your batteries
work to their maximum combined potential, so whilst the energy in the tank remai
ns at 2600mAh, the paired cells apply more pressure - a combined 8.4v.
So why is this a good thing? Well, in certain applications a mod uses a DC-DC vo
ltage regulator (imagine a step up or step down transformer) which can 'kick' or
boost the voltage, 'buck' or dump the voltage, or both. This means that your 8.
4v potential difference can be stepped down to a very mild and useful 4-6v, whic
h means the batteries are only working at a fraction of their potential. Imagine
using a powerful large engined car to cruise at 60mph - barely ticking over.
Stacking:
This is essentially another way of saying 'series', but tends to refer to tradit
ional mechanical tube mods. Mods started life as torch bodies, and anyone famili
ar with an old school Maglite will understand how one puts often a number of bat
teries into the body end to end, thus increasing the available voltage for the b
ulb. Even in a torch, it's bad practice to mix brands and types of batteries, bu
t it is generally speaking a low drain application - low amps. With a mechanical
mod, we can be talking about extremely high drain applications - remember how w
e said that our 30A VTC can actually handle pulses of much higher currents? Well
, when you add mismatched batteries in series - and this applies just as much to
regulated series box mods as a tube mech - the different chemistry, internal re
sistance, capacity, and amp ratings can be a recipe for disaster. Even two ident
ical batteries at widely different states of charge could be problematic. Sandwi
ching a weedy tired low drain cell between two beefy high drain ones, and then p
ushing all of them to the ragged edge of their capabilities can result in catast
rophic failure. Hence why stacking is considered a bad thing, even though some b
ox mods rely on precisely that.
Certain low end regulated devices actually work far better with stacked cells. F
or example, the Vamo range even recommends using two 18350 batteries instead of
one 18650, as the circuit delivers it's full potential more easily with batterie
s in series. However, even in a comparatively low drain application like that (t
he Vamo will only handle builds of 1.2ohms and higher, and at it's maximum 15w,
is only drawing 3.5A) it's still wise to use matched safe chemistry batteries.
There are mech mods designed for stacked cells, such as the frankly ridiculous C
ongestus (sorry, I'm not a fan, it looks like a fucking shock absorber), that ca
n take two 26650 batteries in series. However, at a full 8.4v, most sensible (lo
l) users of the device are not going to be building super sub ohm. With a 0.1ohm
build, that will give you over 700w, and almost 85a. Let that sink in for a mom
ent as you puff away on your 30w DNA device. Now, whilst that's certainly within
the albeit short pulse rating of an individual cell, that's still a whole world
of stress to put on the circuit as a whole - even if those batteries are perfec
tly matched and the order in which they're placed in the circuit regularly cycle
d, you're begging for something to go horribly wrong.
In conclusion, there's no reason why series box mods, and even stacked tube mods
can't be safe. However, those are toys for advanced users who understand the ri
sks, and have cut their teeth on less extravagant builds already. Shouting "YOLO
" and throwing some anonymous batteries dug out of a laptop into a home made box
mod is asking for trouble, and if you bleed, we ALL bleed. Your dalliance with
danger could have far wider repercussions if your missing fingers make you the p
oster child of the anti vape lobby. As always the rules are as follows:
If you don't know; ask.
If you ask but don't understand the answer; DON'T RISK IT.
If you do understand the answer; ask a few other people to make sure it was righ
t in the first place.
Read, learn, do your own research, gain experience, AND VAPE SAFE!
Nymza Vril 2014
www.Facebook.com/groups/juicejunkies
www.Facebook.com/groups/jjsvapebay