E-cigarette basics: everything you need to know about battery carriers and batteries

As a newcomer to the field of vaping, you first need one thing: an initial overview of the technical terms in order to understand the basics and connections to the subject of battery mods, batteries, battery safety and electronic cigarettes. To be honest, it all seems very confusing at first. But it really isn't once you understand the basic things! For this reason, we have summarized the basics for you in a clear and understandable way.

Basic information about battery carriers
A battery carrier, also called a mod, is a carrier or housing for a replaceable battery or a permanently installed battery. However, it is not just a housing, but in most cases also has built-in electronics that are required to operate a vaporizer. Modern battery carriers now usually also have a display on which all settings are clearly displayed. Battery mods differ, among other things, in their maximum output power, which is stated in watts (see below).

What types of battery carriers are there?
Mechanical battery carriers
A mechanical battery carrier has no electronics. Mechanical battery carriers are simply a device for transporting electricity from the battery to the winding, i.e. into the evaporator. There is no regulating electronics and no type of fuse. A contact, the fire button, closes a circuit and you can then start vaping.

Regulated and unregulated battery mods
A distinction is also made between regulated and unregulated battery mods.

An unregulated battery carrier has no electronics installed. This battery carrier consists only of a metal tube, an on/off switch (also called a button) and the holder for an evaporator. With unregulated battery mods, special attention must be paid to the choice of battery, as no electronics help to monitor and protect the battery in terms of safety aspects. For these cases, there are batteries with special protective electronics and so-called safe chemistry. A mechanical battery carrier is usually an unregulated battery carrier. The only exception are unregulated battery carriers that have a short-circuit protection installed and are therefore not mechanical battery carriers.

A regulated battery carrier has electronics installed that enable the battery carrier to do certain things and certain settings to be made. As soon as more than just one on and off switch is installed, it is a regulated battery carrier. The electronics' most important task is to protect the battery. Another task of the electronics of a regulated battery mod is to regulate voltage and power depending on the individual settings that the vaper makes. Depending on the vaporizer used, the steamer can then regulate, among other things, the amount of steam and flavor development. This is called VV or VW (operating modes, variable volts and variable watts, see explanation below).

Clocked and unclocked battery mods
If a battery carrier has electronics installed (regulated battery carrier), it is usually also clocked. Clocked means that when the battery gets weaker, the evaporator does not receive less power, but rather the same power is constantly sent to the evaporator and therefore the amount of vapor is always the same. This protects the battery from harmful deep discharge.

An unclocked battery mod, on the other hand, delivers less power to the atomizer as the battery performance decreases, which means that less and less vapor is produced. This is the case, for example, with mechanical and unregulated battery mods that do not have any electronics installed.

All-in-one devices
All-in-one devices, also called hybrids, are particularly suitable for beginners. With these e-cigarettes, the evaporator, tank and battery are perfectly coordinated and form an ideal unit and are very handy and compact. The tank and evaporator unit are installed together with the battery (carrier). The fire button is usually also the on and off switch. There are no complicated settings to be made here, it is very easy to use. The disadvantage of all-in-one devices is that usually no vaporizer models other than those provided by the manufacturer can be combined with the battery. However, there are also all-in-one devices that can be made compatible with other vaporizer models using adapters.

Choosing the right battery carrier
But which battery carrier is the right one, how many watts and power do you actually need? 80 watts, 100 watts, 200 watts - what is the ideal maximum output power? There is no general answer to this and it depends entirely on the vaping behavior you exhibit.

For a battery carrier, the maximum wattage indicates the power range within which d