Paranormal 250c Battery Drain

[Taledski]

Hi Evolv Community. I just recently got my hands on a Paranormal DNA 250c and been enjoying the vape quality I get from it so far.  The response time and overall vape experience was worlds apart compared to other mods that I have used. One thing that I noticed though, it drains my battery really fast or at least that is what my battery percentage indicator tells me so. It's like it drops down 1-2% every 3-5 puffs or so. I haven't used Escribe before and I'd like to know if there is something in the software that could change that. I'm by the way using 2 married Enook 3200mah 18650 batteries which takes me 1 and a half day to fully drain on my other dual battery mods but with the DNA 250c it goes from a freshly charged 100% down to 10-15% in just half a day(or maybe even less) using the same atomizer and coil build. If it helps, I'm using Kanthal Alien reading .52ohms, always vaping around 75-80watts. I've lowered the screen brightness to minimum and turned off watt boost. Hope you guys can help me out. Thanks.

[Pphish]

You didn't change any other parameters in escribe? Are you using the stock theme that came on the Paranormal? The stock battery values it came with have a 35amp peak and a 30amp continuous discharge rate if I remember correctly... Which is way too high for any 18650 battery that I know of. Since your battery is 3200mah and not a well known brand, I would guess they have a max continuous discharge rate of 10-15amps. You will want to change the parameters to run close to spec for your batteries. Also turn on stealth mode. I have my Paranormal's screen turn off while I'm firing and changed the amount of idle time till the device locks from 60min to 10min.

[James]

How far can you keep vaping once you get to 15%? It could be that the battery curve is just off, which is cosmetic. The DNA should not be any more of a drain than any other device at the same power, and you should not have to do any voodoo to make it work right.

Do check that the cells are well balanced in Device Monitor. The DNA's meter and Weak Battery function are based on the lowest of the device's cell voltages, so if they are imbalanced that could reduce battery life. The DNA will do its best to balance the cells while (and after completion of) charging. If you have been using them together in other mods that don't balance, they may have started balanced but have diverged. Worth a check anyway.

Also, I Googled it a bit and found:

https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/threads/enook-40a-3200mah-18650-bench-test-results-only-10a-shame-on-you-enook.786067/

If those are the batteries in question, according to that review, they may not have as good life if pulsed to higher power (as you would get from a Boost, Preheat or Replay), because they are not actually high current cells. You can see in Device Monitor what the power is doing for your specific vape configuration.

Screen brightness shouldn't have much effect on battery life, by the way. There's no need to suffer

[Taledski]

 

7 hours ago, Pphish said:

You didn't change any other parameters in escribe? Are you using the stock theme that came on the Paranormal? The stock battery values it came with have a 35amp peak and a 30amp continuous discharge rate if I remember correctly... Which is way too high for any 18650 battery that I know of. Since your battery is 3200mah and not a well known brand, I would guess they have a max continuous discharge rate of 10-15amps. You will want to change the parameters to run close to spec for your batteries. Also turn on stealth mode. I have my Paranormal's screen turn off while I'm firing and changed the amount of idle time till the device locks from 60min to 10min.

Thanks for the tip Mr. Pphish. I haven't really played around that much with Escribe but I saw the settings you were referring to. The cell cutoff I saw was at 2.75 then as you mentioned 35A peak and 30A continuous. I'll try to change the settings in the battery, turn on stealth and set the idle ton10 in Escribe and update this thread again to report if there will be significant changes.

6 hours ago, James said:

How far can you keep vaping once you get to 15%? It could be that the battery curve is just off, which is cosmetic. The DNA should not be any more of a drain than any other device at the same power, and you should not have to do any voodoo to make it work right.

Do check that the cells are well balanced in Device Monitor. The DNA's meter and Weak Battery function are based on the lowest of the device's cell voltages, so if they are imbalanced that could reduce battery life. The DNA will do its best to balance the cells while (and after completion of) charging. If you have been using them together in other mods that don't balance, they may have started balanced but have diverged. Worth a check anyway.

Also, I Googled it a bit and found:

https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/threads/enook-40a-3200mah-18650-bench-test-results-only-10a-shame-on-you-enook.786067/

If those are the batteries in question, according to that review, they may not have as good life if pulsed to higher power (as you would get from a Boost, Preheat or Replay), because they are not actually high current cells. You can see in Device Monitor what the power is doing for your specific vape configuration.

Screen brightness shouldn't have much effect on battery life, by the way. There's no need to suffer

Thanks for the response Mr. James. Believe or not, it still hits hard at 2-3%. When it got to at least 5%, I transferred the batteries to a different dual batt mod and it read 10% somehow a bit close to what the the DNA250c chip indicates. I guess the pair of Enook batteries I'm using also has a significant effect on the overall performance. I tried using a pair of LG HG2s with it but still the same results. As per your suggestion, I'll try exploring the Device Monitor feature in Escribe. Also looking to get my hands on a pair of VTC5As.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Taledski

[Pphish]

1 hour ago, Taledski said:

I guess the pair of Enook batteries I'm using also has a significant effect on the overall performance. I tried using a pair of LG HG2s with it but still the same results. As per your suggestion, I'll try exploring the Device Monitor feature in Escribe. Also looking to get my hands on a pair of VTC5As.

Where did you source your HG2's? You would be surprised how many local shops (at least in my area) sell re-wraps of those brown LG's... Every battery I currently own I bought from RTD vapor; they are a very reputable online battery reseller based out of Pennsylvania, great selection and better prices than your local vape shop, and most importantly guaranteed authentic batteries. 

I own both a Triade DNA 200 & 250, and didn't feel like buying more batteries when I bought my Paranormal 250c, but already had all these married sets of three batteries. I chose break up some triplet HG2s and VTC5s; I run both over spec, with a 30amp pulse 25amp continuous (I'm in no way advocating this behavior) but get over a days worth of use out of both, but only after changing my theme and the settings I mentioned earlier. Out of the box settings though, I also noticed that my battery life was not going to last for a full day.

I can attest to the quality of the Sony VTC5A... Best battery on the market, and you won't damage the cells running them with a 30a pulse and 25a continuous discharge...2600mah should last you over a day with a bit of tweaking.

I'm currently using the latest firmware with, hg2s or VTC5s (not to be confused with 5A) at the specs I mentioned above, using the Gauges theme, on my Paranormal mounted with a Digi Flavor Themis running a dual SS316L stapled Clapton build coming in at .074 and powered by 91watts... Still getting over a full day out of a single set.

 

So it is possible...

 

[Pphish]

And from Mooch's battery test result post for the enook just some great battery advice:

Always Remember
- There is no 18650 that can have a factory/manufacturer rating over 30A.

- There is no 3000mAh 18650 that can have a rating over 20A.

- There is no 3100mAh-3500mAh 18650 that can have a rating over 10A.

- There is no 18650 with a capacity rating over 3600mAh.

[Taledski]

4 hours ago, Pphish said:

Where did you source your HG2's? You would be surprised how many local shops (at least in my area) sell re-wraps of those brown LG's... Every battery I currently own I bought from RTD vapor; they are a very reputable online battery reseller based out of Pennsylvania, great selection and better prices than your local vape shop, and most importantly guaranteed authentic batteries. 

I own both a Triade DNA 200 & 250, and didn't feel like buying more batteries when I bought my Paranormal 250c, but already had all these married sets of three batteries. I chose break up some triplet HG2s and VTC5s; I run both over spec, with a 30amp pulse 25amp continuous (I'm in no way advocating this behavior) but get over a days worth of use out of both, but only after changing my theme and the settings I mentioned earlier. Out of the box settings though, I also noticed that my battery life was not going to last for a full day.

I can attest to the quality of the Sony VTC5A... Best battery on the market, and you won't damage the cells running them with a 30a pulse and 25a continuous discharge...2600mah should last you over a day with a bit of tweaking.

I'm currently using the latest firmware with, hg2s or VTC5s (not to be confused with 5A) at the specs I mentioned above, using the Gauges theme, on my Paranormal mounted with a Digi Flavor Themis running a dual SS316L stapled Clapton build coming in at .074 and powered by 91watts... Still getting over a full day out of a single set.

 

So it is possible...

 

Thanks for this info. I always get my batteries from known local shops who claim they're legit. All I can do is to check the markings and compare them with online references provided by Mooch online which I know isn't enough to say it's the real deal.  I'm from Asia and haven't really thought about getting batteries from a US based source but now that you mention it, I might try ordering from them in the future. I just got my hands on a couple of VTC5As. I'll try them out as soon as they finish initial charging. If it's not to much of a hassle, can you possibly point me towards the right direction on how to maximize the usage of my batteries well aside from turning on stealth, changing the peak/continuous discharge and the idle time?

[James]

Please make sure it's not just the battery curve being off for your batteries. If it keeps hitting fine below 15%, it's just the percentage being off for your batteries, nothing you need to ruin your device's performance for. See how far you can keep vaping it. It may be absolutely fine.

If you limit your DNA to 10A continuous, on the other hand, you're capping it to 60W near low battery and 80W max. That's your business, but it'll only improve your battery life in the same way as 'vaping at lower watts'. Remember there is "Restore Defaults" to get back to a normal configuration....

[James]

Funny thought I had.

If you go into the Mod tab, Battery, what battery type is selected?

Is it Lithium Polymer or Lithium Ion 18650? If LiPo, try selecting 18650.

[Taledski]

3 hours ago, James said:

Please make sure it's not just the battery curve being off for your batteries. If it keeps hitting fine below 15%, it's just the percentage being off for your batteries, nothing you need to ruin your device's performance for. See how far you can keep vaping it. It may be absolutely fine.

If you limit your DNA to 10A continuous, on the other hand, you're capping it to 60W near low battery and 80W max. That's your business, but it'll only improve your battery life in the same way as 'vaping at lower watts'. Remember there is "Restore Defaults" to get back to a normal configuration....

Hi Sir James. Thanks for the advice. I played around with Escribe a bit and set the Peak and Continuous Input Current Rate to 25A(I just based it on the battery rating table posted by Mooch)  to somehow match the new pair of VTC5As I'm trying out. For some reason the battery percentage indicator doesn't drop that fast and as much compared to when I was using Enook Batteries. It's either the little tweaking I did worked or that I was simply using crappy batteries before. We'll see how it turns out after a day or two of testing. I'll also try to test it with my HG2s when I get the chance.

2 hours ago, James said:

Funny thought I had.

If you go into the Mod tab, Battery, what battery type is selected?

Is it Lithium Polymer or Lithium Ion 18650? If LiPo, try selecting 18650.

I checked that and it says Lithium Ion 18650 : 2-Cells

[Taledski]

Update 050518: Ran the Escribe battery analyzer with my VTC5As. The usable battery capacity is 15.324 Wh. Will update this thread once I've done enough tests.