A few short years ago, you needed a firm grasp on tricky electrical principles like Ohm’s Law before you could safely optimise your vape’s power settings. Nowadays, the intelligent chips within your vape can do most of the calculations for you.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to use the latest advanced vaping modes to fine-tune your vaping experience. Whether you want fewer burnt hits, longer battery life or more control over your vape cloud, you’ll learn the vape modes to look out for when shopping for box mods!
Automatic Coil Detection (SMART Mode)
This vape mode offers the perfect compromise for vapers who want to try new coils but can’t get their heads around Ohm’s Law. In Automatic Coil Detection mode or SMART mode, a vape’s computer chip will test the resistance of your coil, then adjust your vape’s wattage to suit that resistance.
For the record, we think it’s worth learning Ohm’s Law even if you own a SMART mode vape. Our complete guide to Ohm’s Law explains how resistance, voltage and current all work together in your vape device. The basic principles are simple and you don’t need to memorise the exact formula to get a benefit.
Variable Power Curve (Wattage Curve Mode)
VPC, or Wattage Curve, allows you to control the heat of your coil and consistency of your vape cloud mid-vape. It’s similar to older modes like Variable Voltage and Variable Wattage (see our guide to VV & VW).
With Variable Power Curve devices, you can set your coil to ‘start strong’ (heat up quickly at full power when your coil and wick are wettest), then get gradually weaker over a couple of seconds. VPC mode saves on battery and cuts the risk of burnt hits, as you’re not throwing too much power into a dry coil for the last half-second of your vape’s firing.
To learn more, shop our VPC mode vapes here > >
TCR (Temperature Coefficient of Resistance)
Do you ever find that the fifth or sixth puff on your vape tastes different to that first one?
As a vape coil heats up, its electrical resistance changes slightly. This change in resistance can impact the delicate balance between current, voltage and coil temperature within your vape. It can change the heat, flavour and size of cloud you can draw from your e-cigarette. TCR mode is all about trying to smooth this out, and improve the overall consistency of your vaping experience.
When you vape in TCR mode (Temperature Coefficient of Resistance) mode, the vape’s computer chip will calculate the right wattage and voltage to match the coil’s resistance as it heats up. Sometimes your vape’s TCR setting needs to know what your coil is made from first (kanthal, nickel etc). Sometimes, the chip can take live readings of the resistance in the coil and adjust the power settings in real time (similar to SMART mode vaping). Either way, you get a smooth, controlled vaping experience from start to finish.
If you want to understand the more technical side of TCR Mode, take a look at our guide to Temperature Control vaping.
Memory Mode
Memory modes are very handy if you use a few different atomisers on the same box mod. With memory mode, you can adjust your mod’s wattage to suit each tank without too much mucking around. You just key in the perfect settings to match the vg/pg ratio, coil resistance and vaping style of each of your vape heads, then switch to one of your saved settings in a couple of clicks whenever you swap tanks.
Bypass Mode
Bypass Mode lets you vape using the full strength of your vape’s battery at any moment in time. When the battery is fully charged, bypass mode will deliver a high-voltage vaping experience. When the battery is almost depleted you get a very low voltage vaping experience. It really is that simple.
We don’t personally enjoy bypass mode, as it provides a very inconsistent vaping experience: too strong at the start and too weak at the end. The whole point of an advanced vape chip is to offer a more pleasant, consistent vape, regardless of battery power. Bypass mode doesn’t bypass any safety features, so it’s not a more dangerous way to vape, but we wouldn’t call it a more enjoyable way to vape, either. By all means give it a go and see for yourself.
Power Saving (Eco Mode)
If you’re out and about with a low battery, then eco mode can help you vape for longer. Most power saving modes work by limiting your vape’s wattage so that you can get more puffs out of your vape before it cuts out completely. In eco mode, your vape coil won’t get quite as warm quite so quickly, and clouds won’t taste as rich, but weak clouds are better than nothing when there’s no alternative. This is a really handy setting to fall back on if you have to go without access to a vape charger for long periods of time.
We hope this guide gives you a solid understanding of how all the latest vape modes work. Slowly but surely, vaping technology is getting much more user-friendly and intelligent, and we can’t wait to see what comes next.
Stay safe and happy vaping!
John Boughey