# Thelema Solo, how to use your first box mod > Thelema Solo by Lost Vape explained for beginners, from the battery and power-on to the screen, a first wattage setting, the lock and charging. Moving from a pod to a box mod changes the way you vape. With a pod, you draw and everything sorts itself out. The Lost Vape **Thelema Solo**, by contrast, arrives without a battery, with a screen full of figures and a chip that offers five modes. Do you click, hold, pick a particular cell? Shop listings set out the specifications, but seldom the order of the steps. A mod set up badly on the first evening soon disappoints, or damages the coil in the tank. ## Thelema Solo, the five steps for day one The **Thelema Solo** gets going in five steps. Fit a 21700 battery, or an 18650 with the supplied adapter, under the cover. Screw the tank onto the 510 connection. Switch the mod on with five quick presses of the fire button. Check the coil resistance shown on the screen, then set a wattage at the bottom of the range recommended for that coil. This guide covers the Thelema Solo 100W, built around the Quest 2.0 chip. Search results mix it up with the Thelema Solo 100 Pro and a V2, which are different models. Check the name printed on your box before following these steps. For a first session, one principle is enough. Stay in power mode until the other settings make sense. ## Before switching on, the battery and its adapter There is no built-in battery. Everything therefore starts with choosing and fitting a cell, a step that a pod never teaches. ### Which battery size goes under the cover The manufacturer lists support for a single 21700 or 18650 battery, sold separately. Several retailers state that an 18650 adapter comes in the box. The larger 21700 generally holds more capacity, and the official page presents the 100 W maximum as reached with a 21700. The cover comes off, the battery slides in following the polarity marked in the bay, and the cover goes back on. A cell whose plastic wrap is nicked does not go in the mod, it gets replaced. ### The current the mod asks of the battery The official page gives two figures that shop listings rarely put side by side, a battery voltage of 3.0 to 4.2 V and a current range of 1 to 35 A. The sum is simple. At 100 W, the mod draws about 23.8 A from a full cell at 4.2 V, and 33.3 A from a nearly flat cell at 3.0 V, a little more in practice since no circuit is perfectly efficient. In other words, at full power and late in the charge, demand comes close to the chip's 35 A ceiling. That gives a rule worth keeping for a first mod. Choose a battery whose continuous discharge rating, published by the cell maker, covers that order of magnitude, and with an 18650 stay well below 100 W. ## Switching the mod on and reading the screen Once the battery is in, the chip needs waking and the screen needs reading. These are the two steps that puzzle pod users most. ### Five presses of the fire button The fire button is the large button on the front, the one that heats the coil while you hold it. A retailer and the review published by the UK site Ecigclick describe the same start-up, five quick presses, within two seconds according to that review. The same action switches the mod off, a useful habit before it goes into a bag. The adjustment buttons sit below the screen. Several retailer listings describe two of them, plus and minus, while that review counts three, with a select button in the middle. Look at your own unit, and treat the manual in the box as the reference. ### What the 0.96 inch screen shows The top line shows the coil resistance detected and the battery level. The middle shows the active mode and the power set. Lower down, according to several reviews, sit the puff timer, the preset in use and a puff counter. Read the resistance before your first draw. A missing figure, or one far from the value stamped on the coil, points to a tank that is not screwed on properly. ## Setting the Thelema Solo wattage without getting lost in the modes The Quest 2.0 chip offers five modes, power, VPC, bypass, voltage and temperature control. A beginner only needs one of them to start. ### Power mode first In power mode you choose a number of watts, from 5 to 100 W, and the chip adjusts the voltage. It is the mode every coil listing refers to. For the UB Pro tank often supplied in kits, the manufacturer gives 70 to 90 W for the 0.15 ohm P1 coil and 60 to 70 W for the 0.3 ohm P3. Start at the bottom of the range, then go up a few watts from one session to the next, as our guide to [vape wattage settings](/uk/vape-wattage-settings/) explains. The 0.3 ohm coil, less demanding, makes the gentler starting point. ### Modes to leave aside at first Temperature control only works with certain wires, nickel, titanium or stainless steel, and means knowing which one your coil uses. Bypass sends the full battery voltage without regulation. VPC lets you draw a power curve. All three are for fine-tuning a result, not for getting started. ## Soft, Normal or Hard, the ramp-up setting In power mode the mod adds a three-step ramp-up setting, Soft, Normal and Hard, listed by several retailers. It does not change the power you set, only how fast the coil reaches it at the start of the draw. Hard drives the coil firmly from the first second, which helps a large coil get going. Soft eases the start. To begin with, Normal keeps the variables down, and changing one setting at a time tells you what altered the result. ## Locking, presets and what the Thelema Solo cuts off on its own A mod gets carried, put down and picked up again. Three functions head off unwelcome surprises between sessions. ### Locking the settings The UK review mentioned above also describes locking the plus and minus buttons by pressing and holding both together. The fire button stays live, but the wattage no longer shifts at the bottom of a pocket. For a mod that must not fire at all, switching off with five presses remains the only complete safeguard. ### Three presets in memory The chip stores three setting profiles, according to retailers and reviews alike. One profile per tank saves starting over when you change hardware, provided you note which is which. ### The 10 second safety cut-off Several listings and reviews state an automatic cut-off after 10 seconds of continuous firing, along with short-circuit protection. If the vapour stops dead in the middle of a long draw, the mod is not faulty, it is applying that limit. ## Charging the battery in the mod A USB-C port, rated at 5 V on the official page, charges the battery without taking it out, and the battery icon animates while it charges. Retailers and reviews still recommend an external charger suited to the cell size, and one UK retailer advises against fast charging through that port. An external charger also has a practical advantage. With two batteries, one charges while the other is in use, without leaving the mod plugged in. ## FAQ These questions come up from people who have just received their first box mod and have never handled anything but a pod. ### Does this guide apply to the Thelema Solo 100 Pro? No. The 100 Pro is a separate model sold under the same range name. Its controls and menus may differ, so follow its own manual. ### What should I do if the mod will not switch on? Check the direction of the battery in its bay first, then its charge. With an 18650, the adapter must be in place. Then try the five presses again, faster, since presses spaced too far apart are not read as a command. ### Can I change the screen colour and brightness? Yes. Several reviews describe a settings menu with six colour themes and adjustable brightness. These options change nothing about the vape, only how easily you read the screen. ### Which e-liquid suits the kit tank? The UB Pro coils in the kit are sub-ohm coils, below one ohm. They generally pair with a liquid high in vegetable glycerine, 50/50 or above, thicker than a pod liquid. In the UK, nicotine e-liquid is sold in bottles of no more than 10 ml at up to 20 mg/ml. ### Can I leave the battery in the mod between sessions? For a few hours, yes, with the mod switched off by five presses. For longer storage, take the battery out and keep it in a rigid case, never loose next to keys or coins. ## Thelema Solo, getting started on a box mod The **Thelema Solo** comes together in order, a battery suited to the current it will supply, a tank screwed on properly, five presses to switch on, the resistance read on screen, then power mode set at the bottom of the range. The rest, temperature control, bypass or curves, can wait. That leaves capacity. The UB Pro tank is listed at 5 ml in several kits, while a refillable tank sold in the UK is limited to 2 ml. Check the version supplied with your **Thelema Solo**, and keep the same method for any mod, one change at a time. ## Further reading - [Beginner vape kit, choosing your first one](/uk/beginner-vape-kit/), to place the box mod among the other device families. - [How to use a pod vape](/uk/how-to-use-a-pod-vape/), to compare with the steps on a device with no settings. Editorial content written for adult readers in the United Kingdom. Vaping products can contain nicotine, which is a highly addictive substance. Vaping products are not for sale to anyone under 18 in the UK, and nothing here is a purchase recommendation.