Clapton and parallel builds slow firing

[Mden89]

Built my first Clapton coil today. I only have 26 gauge Kanthal so I wrapped the 26 around 26 to make the coil. Wondering why my coil fires up so much slower than the ones I see in the tutorial videos RipTripper does. I was firing it on a mechanical mod with a single 20a 18650 in it with a full charge of 4.2 volts. Pulsing it took days to get it glowing. It did glow eventually but it took a damn long time.

Same with the dual coil parallel build I made. Took much less time to heat up than the Clapton but still slow.

Is it just that the Clapton build needs some serious wattage? Did I mess up by using the same gauge inside and out? Also, how can I speed up firing time on my parallel builds? Thinner kanthal?

 

[alicewonderland]

needs more power to heat up faster. what a clapton coil is in the end, is basically a low gauge thick wire.

 

[Cullin Kin]

needs more power to heat up faster. what a clapton coil is in the end, is basically a low gauge thick wire.

Agree. Definitely need more power. Also, I didn't see any mention of resistance? What did the build come out to?

 

[Mden89]

Agree. Definitely need more power. Also, I didn't see any mention of resistance? What did the build come out to?

Whoops you are right, sorry! It came out to .56 I think. Im having trouble remembering because I had to make so many of them before I got it right. So if I'm firing on my mechanical mod I'm getting around 35 watts. I'm guessing I need more?

 

[Cullin Kin]

Whoops you are right, sorry! It came out to .56 I think. Im having trouble remembering because I had to make so many of them before I got it right. So if I'm firing on my mechanical mod I'm getting around 35 watts. I'm guessing I need more?

Yeah, you're dealing with a lot of wire so you will definitely need more power. Have a 100W regulated mod laying around?

 

[Mden89]

Yeah, you're dealing with a lot of wire so you will definitely need more power. Have a 100W regulated mod laying around?

No but I have a dual 18650 mechanicalmod en route. With two Sony VTC4s and a bit lower resistance build I think I can do it right

 

[Nickstive]

Along with more power, when you build a clapton, you'll want to use a much lower gauge wire than what you're wrapping on, like 26g core with 36g wrapped around it. The larger the outside wire is, the more time it will take to glow.
Also, the type of wire affects the ramp up time. Nichrome heats up faster than kanthal, so it cuts down ramp up time. Inner diameter also changes the glow time. The larger it is, the longer it will take.

If you can't, or don't want to, get different gauge wire, you can try wrapping the coil with the clapton and a strand of 26g. It creates a staged heating effect and should help kill some of your ramp up time. The great Twisted Messes has a tutorial on his YouTube page.

Hope I've helped a bit.

 

[USMCotaku]

No but I have a dual 18650 mechanicalmod en route. With two Sony VTC4s and a bit lower resistance build I think I can do it right

You won't get faster ramp up with that dual battery mech.... You are still giving it 4.2 volts (unless its one that can be run in series....be careful with that, most of the switches on the mech boxes can't handle that much current, and if it shorts out with the button in the open position.....melt down soon to commence ).
Claptons are great coils, but they are better suited for regulated mods

 

[Braaapp]

IME the highest resistance you'd want to run a clapton on a mech is 0.55Ω PER COIL. There will still be noticeable ramp time but it won't take a week to start performing. And like Nickstive said, ramp time is highly dependent upon wrap wire gauge, with +34ga being nearly instant compared to 32ga and lower taking a second or more. Lower resistance on a mech will cut down ramp time...with a 20A battery you could build down to a 0.22Ω and still be within continuous discharge spec.

When you get more wire try: 32 or 34 on 24ga, 2mm diameter, 5/4 wraps for 0.5-0.55Ω per coil depending on wrap gauge.

 

[Mden89]

IME the highest resistance you'd want to run a clapton on a mech is 0.55Ω PER COIL. There will still be noticeable ramp time but it won't take a week to start performing. And like Nickstive said, ramp time is highly dependent upon wrap wire gauge, with +34ga being nearly instant compared to 32ga and lower taking a second or more. Lower resistance on a mech will cut down ramp time...with a 20A battery you could build down to a 0.22Ω and still be within continuous discharge spec.

When you get more wire try: 32 or 34 on 24ga, 2mm diameter, 5/4 wraps for 0.5-0.55Ω per coil depending on wrap gauge.

2mm diameter with a clapton? You are able to get it to hold its shape?

How about the parallel coil questions i have.

 

[Braaapp]

Yes, 24ga is pretty malleable compared to higher gauges and not very springy. For the parallels I'd say it's the same problem, resistance too high for a mech. I'm running a dual parallel 26ga build right now in a mech and it performs well with less than 1 second ramp time. Parallel 26ga KA1, 6/5 wraps on 3mm, 0.4Ω per coil. It really puts out the clouds.

 

[Mden89]

Yes, 24ga is pretty malleable compared to higher gauges and not very springy. For the parallels I'd say it's the same problem, resistance too high for a mech. I'm running a dual parallel 26ga build right now in a mech and it performs well with less than 1 second ramp time. Parallel 26ga KA1, 6/5 wraps on 3mm, 0.4Ω per coil. It really puts out the clouds.

Im using 26ga not 24

 

[Nickstive]

Im using 26ga not 24

26g kanthal is still pretty easy to work with. Straightening the wire makes it easier to do a parallel build with and if you torch it before you wrap it, the wire gets much less springy

 

[Mden89]

26g kanthal is still pretty easy to work with. Straightening the wire makes it easier to do a parallel build with and if you torch it before you wrap it, the wire gets much less springy

Yeah i think its still a thin gauge. Definitely not think by my standards anyway. Didnt think it would slow down a clapton current that bad

 

[Nickstive]

Yeah i think its still a thin gauge. Definitely not think by my standards anyway. Didnt think it would slow down a clapton current that bad

When I started building 26 gauge seemed pretty thin to me lol.

Claptons work so well because the outside wire creates juice channels and increases the surface area of the wire. The larger the outside wire is, the bigger the channels. Also, because 26g has a larger diameter, it takes much longer for the heat from the core to get to the outside, which is why you're seeing suck a long ramp up time

 

[Mden89]

When I started building 26 gauge seemed pretty thin to me lol.

Claptons work so well because the outside wire creates juice channels and increases the surface area of the wire. The larger the outside wire is, the bigger the channels. Also, because 26g has a larger diameter, it takes much longer for the heat from the core to get to the outside, which is why you're seeing suck a long ramp up time

Yeah i definitely get it now. Im still wondering why my dual parallel build is taking a while though

 

[Nickstive]

What's the inner diameter of your parallel build?

 

[SLIPPY_EEL]

No but I have a dual 18650 mechanicalmod en route. With two Sony VTC4s and a bit lower resistance build I think I can do it right

which Mech?

 

[Uncletattoowhat]

I use Nichrome80 for my claptons. My current build is a fused clapton using (2) 26ga nichrome80 wrapped in 34ga nichrome 80. Dual coils, 6 wraps around 2.5mm jig is putting it right around 0.2ohms and at ~85w on my Sigelei 150w (~4.0v), it ramps up very quickly. Nichrome is cheap on eBay/Amazon.

 

[Mden89]

which Mech?

Cherry bomberrrrrrr