A couple electrical questions. (conductivity, shorts, and wire gauges)

[treehead]

Hey guys I've got a pretty good understanding of electrical engineering, and electrical theory even, but I have some major confusion about how it works applied to vaping. After a few chemistry & physics classes I found out brass is not exactly the best candidate for a mechanical mod, although it looks great and has superior tensile strength to copper, it's less than 1/3 as conductive as copper, and even less compared to silver. My real interest started when I order a custom alloy of 99% copper/1% silver and it was a huge success, here's the project: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...er-silver-alloy-mechanical-mod-hits-hard.html

That gives you a general idea of what I'm getting at, and below are the questions confusing me. Most conductive metals: 1. Silver 2.Copper 3. Gold and here's a nice example of where my first question comes from: Electrical Conductivity of Materials

1. Conductivity of mechanical mod materials: I know that the material the actual mod tube is made of is basically part of the circuit, and I've noticed this personally through the difference of battery time between my stainless turtle-ship and my copper stingray (both authentic ). It's baaarely a difference, I mean were talking maybe a 15-30min difference so I don't mind at all (since I kinda like the look/convenience of steel). But my ultimate question is, Does the thickness of material have an effect on it? Going by the chart above and some research I'm imagining that More will always be better, especially when using significantly less conductive materials like brass and especially steel (I didn't know steel was so low!). But something in my brain is telling me that's wrong, like if you have too much 100% conductive material like copper or even better silver, it will just "get in the way" and have too much material for the current to flow through.

-I have no idea, but that chart is definitely interesting, it looks like the superior metals (copper and silver) need ALOT less mass to do the same job the other metals will to do the same job. So maybe less mass for copper and silver, and more mass for brass and stainless steel for optimum results? I don't know, hopefully you do. Most mods I've ever seen are super thin that's why I ask, which may be because the manufacturers are cheap, or maybe because it's better. Personally I'd love a thicker, heavier mechanical anyway. My custom alloy mod that I remade is 5mm in thickness, and it definitely outperforms my stingray on paper, but no real noticable difference to my lungs.

2. Here's a short question on shorts: I know a short when coil wrapping is pretty muc only when you overlap on accident, or cross the leads. So is a short just an "interruption" of the flow of electricity? Where the electricity "skips" some wire and continues further down the coil? I realize that if the leads cross then all the power gets shot into that tiny amount of kanthal and usually incinerates it, but I'm having a hard time imagining it. I got wrapping a wire across the inside of the coils to "spread out" the flow to give the coils something to average out their current into. I thought it'd be interesting to see if it will work, but something tells me it wont. Kinda similar to the idea of a clapton coil, how the main inner wire evenly transports the power to the coils wrapped around it if that makes sense.

3. Thicker wire gauges: I'm sure this is childs play for most of you, but I'm hitting a mental block. I always use 28ga kanthal, and have been thinking about ordering some 26 or 24. Just wondering does thicker wire use more battery? I know that it takes longer to heat up, but is that because there's less resistance or is there simply more wire to heat up? A while back someone confused me and said that the thicker wire allows electricity to flow easier, so it heats up just as fast as any gauge wire, in other words a 28 gauge and a 22 gauge wire will be the same temperature if you input the same amount of power.

~If this is the case I think I'll definitely want some thicker wire; easier to wrap, more surface area, lasts longer, AND heats up just as fast? I'll be a fan if so, is this true?

Thanks so much for helping this confused vaper out guys, I know there's some electrical buffs out there! Yeah you! ANY info concerning this would be awesome, anything, I've researched this quite a bit and google has been no help, I'm about to go to the library and rent some conductivity physics books!

P.S. I know a guy in Mexico, and I've already started making a STERLING SILVER mechanical mod, with pure silver contacts! I'm aiming for 105% conductivity with no varnishing! Surprisingly silver isn't that expensive from Mexico.

***Also a possibly cheaper/better future alternative, some kind of graphene lining for you mechanical mod, it's cheap, relatively easy to manufacture, and conducts close to the speed of light! =DDDDD

Vape on!
​

 

[treehead]

come on nerd, I need help broseph

 

[TheReign]

Not all of us here are nerds Sheesh Lol. I don't feel like the thickness of the metal makes any difference, But am I an electrician? nope, Thats not the question that I would be able to answer that with the correct knowledge Lol. I can tell you from my experience that the lower gauge wire definitely seems to kill my batteries faster than higher. I started with 28 gauge and I could last for a while on it with one sony vtc4, now that I have 24g dual coils the batteries go down a little faster than the 28g. the thicker the wire uses more power to heat it up, not to mention the thickness of the coil takes longer to heat up rather than 28g. Thats just my opinion though. Although It varies depending on the coil you build you never know.


24g is much easier to work with and you don't have to pre torch wires before you install onto the atty. Im waiting for a little more use out of my 100ft spool then Im going to get some 22g and crack out some single coil builds.

 

[Bunnykiller]

105% conductivity?? maybe if its a superconductor in liquid nitrogen
as far as thicker wire heating up just as fast as thinner wire with the same power, Nope that doesnt work that way... if it did then the power companies would be using 22 gauge wire on the poles. to get the same "heat" in different gauges, the thicker wire requies more energy ( amps).
the Thickness of the mod has little to do with current capacity at the levels we use them at. The main reason the tubes are as thick/thin as they are is mainly for mechanical strength and material required to create threads.
As far as copper, silver, brass, SS conductivity... yes there is an advantage for using such materials ( silver/copper over brass, SS) if you have thin/minimal conductive channels. For example, 32 ga. silver wire will conduct electricity better than a steel 32 gauge wire running the same amps/volts. But when you start getting into #4 wire size and still running the same power that you ran in the 32ga, it doesnt even matter anymore.

 

[Bunnykiller]

oh yea... on shorts.. a short circuit is considered by 2 factors...
1. if the working circuit is excluded by the addition of a channel ( wire/path) to make the circuit inoperable
2. if a low ohm load is applied to the power supply which can exceed or damage the power supply or any part of additional circuits involved.

 

[danny4x4]

1) Asked a friend of mine who has a degree in electrical engineering some time ago. Basically, thickness of the mods do not matter, but rather the material. HOWEVER, if you have 2 exact same mods made of copper, but one of the mods has has a very thin chrome plating (in the region of nano, I guess), the one with the chrome plating will in fact conduct better!! Something to do with conductivity when the plating is really really thin. But the problem is in getting the correct THINNESS of plating. Too thick and the opposite happens. Most of what he told me flew past my head. So I just coil my coils to suit my mods instead.

2) A short is when the current follows a path with the least resistance than the one you want it to. You can't interrupt the flow of electricity. That would just be an open circuit. You can't average out the current either.

3) Thicker wires would have lower resistance, BUT more mass. It would drain your battery more.

eg 1.
Same lengths of wires, 24awg and 28awg.
24awg would have a lower resistance and draw a higher current, hence shorter battery life.

e.g 2.
Different lengths of wires, 24awg and 28awg, BUT coil is the same resistance.
In this case, the 24awg would have to be longer to achieve the same resistance as the 28awg. The extra length and also the extra mass(thickness) of 24awg means that you would need to fire longer to heat up the wire.