What are the Best Batteries for Box Mods? A Quick Guide for Beginners

Vape batteries for box mods are perhaps one of the essential parts of your vapes. Just like the tank and the vape juice, they are crucial. But these batteries come with certain specifications, and you must know what these specifications are before buying them since not all box mod batteries are made equal or even interchangeable. From size to even how long they can hold a charge, you must know all of these things before buying them. In today’s blog, we take a quick look at how to choose the best vape batteries and even what you should consider when purchasing your first pair.

Table of Contents

1. What is a Vape Battery?
2. Vape Battery Sizes
3. The Two Most Important Specifications
4. Regulated VS Unregulated Box Mods
5. When To Choose a Middle Ground
6. Always Marry Your Batteries
7.  What To Know When Buying
8. Conclusion

What is a Vape Battery?

A vape battery is a lithium-ion battery. These batteries are more potent than regular AA batteries and are used in electric vehicles, laptops, electric bikes, and vapes. They are rechargeable, long-lasting, and, when practicing good vape battery safety, very safe to use. 

However, because they require special treatment by the user, they generally aren’t endorsed by the manufacturer as vape batteries, and if not treated right, they could cause an explosion. 

If you want to learn everything there is to know about vape batteries, we suggest you read our blog on battery safety that tells you exactly how to handle them, use them, and even dispose of these batteries. 

Vape Battery Sizes

Before we can tell you what vape battery is best for your box mod, we should first go over the vape battery sizes. Some of the most common vape battery sizes for box mods include 18650, 20700, 21700, and 26650.

Their names are what they measure in millimeters. For example, a 18650 battery is 18 x 65 in millimeters. A 20700 battery is 20 x 70 in millimeters. 

The difference between each size usually means that the bigger the battery is, the longer it can hold a charge for, and the more powerful it will be, while the smaller it is, the less powerful it will be, and the lesser the charging time it will have. 

Almost 90% of the vape batteries you’ll encounter out in the wild will be 18650s, and they are so prevalent that even in box mods that take 20700 batteries and 21700s, these mods come with plastic battery adapter sleeves that will allow you to use 18650s in box mods made for 21700s or 20700s. When talking about vape batteries for box mods, we’ll be referring to the 18650s unless otherwise stated.

The Two Most Important Specifications

There are two necessary specifications that you need to know about when deciding which are the best batteries for your box mods: Milliampere-hours (better known as mAh) and Amp limit or continuous discharge rating. With these two specifications, you can decide what type of vape batteries will suit you best. But first, let’s learn what each of these two specifications does. 

What is mAh?  

mAh stands for Milliamp Hours. It is the battery's capacity and tells you how long the battery lasts before it needs to be charged again. For example, a 3000 mAh battery can run for 3000mA per hour, or it can run 1500mA for two hours, or it could even run 12000mAh per half an hour.

What is Amp Limit

The Amp Limit or continuous discharge rating is the number of amps that a battery can safely deliver continuously. Think of it as a stress load rating. The higher the constant discharge rating, the better the battery can withstand the electrical current or the number of amps created. Vape batteries vary in range, but most have 20 Amps to 30 Amps continuous discharge rating. 

The Relationship between mAh and Amp Limit

Now that you know what mAh and Amp Limit are, you might think that a battery with two high levels of mAh and Amp Limit would be ideal. However, this is impossible since battery chemistry dictates that the higher the amp limit, the lower the mAh and vice versa. 

So in a way, you are left with two choices, you can either opt for a high mAh and low Amp Limit battery or a low mAh but high Amp limit battery. But how do you know which one is best?

Regulated VS Unregulated Box Mods

One of the first questions you have to ask yourself when deciding which vape battery is best is to know if your box mod is regulated or unregulated. Suppose your box mod has a safety chip regulating the electrical current. In that case, you’ll want to go for a box mod with a high capacity or mAh. The chipset will regulate the Amp Limit where it will never reach unsafe internal temperatures and give you more capacity or more time to vape since the battery will last longer.

If you have an unregulated box mod, you’ll need a battery that has a high Amp limit. Without a chipset to regulate the electrical current, you’ll need batteries that can reach higher and withstand the electrical current to prevent venting since safety comes first before a long-lasting charge when using unregulated mods. 

When To Choose A Middle Ground

Things won’t always be so cut and dry, though. For example, if you have a regulated box mod but want to run a low resistance build below or at 0.1ohms, you’ll need a high performing battery which means having a battery that has a higher amp limit than one that has a high capacity or mAh. 

In this case, a battery that has 30 amps and a lower capacity. For example 2600mAH, it might be ideal since it is a middle-of-the-road solution for box mods that want the performance and cloud production of an unregulated mod and a decent long-lasting charge, which is not optimal. Still, it’s decent enough not to need to carry spare batteries with you. 

Always Marry Your Batteries

Another thing to keep in mind, especially for beginners, is always to marry your batteries. While some people might believe they can mix and match batteries with different specs to make them more efficient (either has more mAh or a more significant continuous discharge rating), you should never do this. 

Suppose, for example, you have a 20 Amp and 3000mAh LG battery and want to mix and match it with a 30 Amp 2500mAh battery to make them more efficient. In that case, the only thing you’ll accomplish is that with a regulated box mod, your device will now read the lower mAh rated battery, so the 2500mAh will have a more challenging time controlling the electrical current created by the batteries. 

So it’s always best to marry your batteries. Buy them as a pair, use them as a pair, and throw them out as a pair. 

What To Know When Buying

Now that you know the most critical specifications of buying a battery, you should be aware of a couple of things when buying your vape batteries. For starters, you should know that no 18650 battery, no matter from what brand it comes from, will ever exceed 30 amps. 

For now, that is the current limit in vape battery technology, 30 amps, at least for the 18650s. And while you might see brands advertising that they have a continuous discharge rating of 50 amps, this is a complete lie. The truth is that 30 is the limit for 18650 batteries.

Another thing that you should be aware of when buying your first pair of vape batteries is that, unfortunately, there are tons of counterfeit batteries on the market. Since they are so easy to replicate, they are often wrapped in a single color with a printed code; many batteries are fake. 

To find the best batteries for your box mod, we recommend you only rely on reputable websites, avoiding websites like eBay or poor-looking websites hastily thrown together. In these instances, they sell unheard-of brands that will often have very high and fake continuous discharge ratings. 

Finally, to ensure you are getting quality, we suggest you only buy from the big four manufacturers, Sony, Samsung, LG, and Panasonic/Sanyo. Although even here, the batteries could be fake or re-wrapped. 

Since even specs are constantly enlarged to make the batteries seem more powerful, even those from the big four, it’s always necessary to test them out. Mooch is the go-to person for this type of testing and research in the world of vaping. On his Facebook, you can find the actual ratings of many vape batteries and resources where you can learn more about general battery knowledge and even a list of recommended stores of where to buy vape batteries. 

Conclusion

With this brief guide, we hope that you can get started on learning more about the best batteries for box mods and how to use them, no matter if you have a regulated or unregulated box mod. Remember that if you have a higher continuous charge rating, you’ll have a lower mAh rating and vice versa, and be wary of vape batteries that state they have a bigger amp limit than 30 amps since they don’t exist.