Ohms and Watts – Why They Matter!
In simple terms, the lower the resistance – or, as it’s often called, the “sub-ohm range” – the more wattage you’ll need. Pre-made coils usually state the coil resistance in ohms, along with the recommended wattage range.
On mechanical mods, you generally don’t vape in the sub-ohm range, but from around 1.5 ohms upwards. Why? Because a mechanical mod isn’t built for 80 watts, and there are no electronics to protect the device from overheating. Regulated mods measure the resistance themselves and also come with various safety features to help prevent overheating or battery venting. So in the 1.5 to 3.5 ohm range, you need much, much less wattage. Once you’re down at 0.15 ohms or 0.5 ohms, you need a lot more power.
So you need more current to generate heat. The more vapour you want, the more watts you need. If you’re mainly after flavour and want to keep the clouds down, lower wattage will do the job.
Exactly how many watts you need also depends on the coil material. Ceramic needs more wattage, and nickel or titanium behave differently from Kanthal.
If you build your own coils, you can simply buy a device to measure the resistance before screwing your tank onto the mod! Even with regulated devices, it’s better to measure first, because otherwise the electronics can still get fried – even if the only consequence is having to buy a new mod. Either way, it’s annoying.
So if you want to build your own coils, it’s well worth getting an ohm meter so you can check your resistance. There are also good devices that combine a build deck with an ohm meter!
Long story short – not suitable for beginners!
Before any outraged mech mod fans write in to say you can vape at low resistance on unregulated mods – fair enough, but then you need to know a lot more than what’s covered here!
