Just picked up a tsunami rda and i am running it with a single coil on my 75 watt coolfire 4 at 30 watts. I had my buddy build a simple coil on it, and it works fine. i am wanting to try to build one on my own. What size wire should i use, and what OHMs should i be looking for? I am just trying to keep things simple and safe. any positive input would be greatly appreciated.
New to building, need some advice
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What resistance you build your coils at is entirely up to you, depending on how you like to vape. Use steamengine.org to help you decide what gauge wire you should use. I build my dual coils at 1.0 ohm, 28AWG Kanthal, with a 3mm ID on a dripper (usually a Velocity) with 9 wraps. I vape at anywhere from 45W to 70W, depending on the juice I'm using. It's what I like. You'll probably want to experiment with different builds to see what your happy place is. You can find a LOT more information on building in the "Rebuildable Atomizer" forum.
Use Coil wrapping to work out what coils you can build - look at the 'heat flux' figure, and try and keep it at around 150-170mW/mm².
1) Major safety precaution - check the specs on the mod you will be using for the lowest resistance (ohms) it will fire, this will be your only major limitation on regulated mod, for a mechanical it gets a little more dicey as the coil and the battery you use work in tandem, which then you use "Ohm's Law" which has many formulas, but I use this one with my mechs (Voltage/Resistance=Amps), and most 18650 "High Drain" batteries fall in the 20amp Continuous Discharge Rating category, so keeping below the battery's CDR is key, though on a single battery mech it is suggested 0.25ohms lowest, dual battery series 0.5ohms lowest, dual battery parallel about 0.14 or 0.15 lowest.
2) Wire size is all dependent and subjective to you, lower number gauge wire is thicker, more resilient, stronger, and has lower resistance, downside it takes longer or more power to ramp up to heat, and it takes a longer time to cool down. Higher gauge wire is thinner, more fragile, less resilient, but has higher resistance, ramps up to heat with less power needed, and cools down quicker. I keep on hand 4 gauges of wire at all times, 32awg, 28awg, 26awg, and 24awg. 24awg I use the least, solely in my RDAs when I am looking for a powerful, large diameter, low resistance build for cloud chasing, 26awg is my second most used wire solely in drippers again, but also my sub-ohm RTA tanks, but I use it for its balance of good thickness, decent resistance, and dependability in my drippers on smaller diameter higher resistance flavor builds. 28awg is my most used gauge wire, I use this in my Kayfuns and mouth to lung RTAs, due to its higher resistance still over 24 and 26, it fits nicely in all my Kayfuns and is strong enough to keep up with the abuse as my Kayfun class tanks are my main all day vapes I need a wire that ramps up and cools down quick with these, so 28 fits the bill nicely. 32awg I keep on hand to rebuild my old Protank coil heads, but its second role I use it the most in is to make clapton wire, 26awg core wire wrapped with an outer shell of 32awg makes a perfect clapton wire for me.
These are just examples.
3) Types of wire - there are many out there, myself I use Nichrome 80 mostly these days over Kanthal A1, beginning to learn to build I would suggest Kanthal first NiChrome80 second, both are allows, NiCh80 is softer with lower resistance than Kanthal so it fires and cools down quicker, Kanthal is forgiving on beginners, a little harder material wise but can be dry fired hotter than Nichrome80 YMMV. Stainless steel wire, I have been experimenting with this of late, lower resistance, and can be used in dual roles (standard power output or temperature control mode) which makes a very flexible wire to get to learn to use as well as gives a cleaner taste to your vape. Nickel (Ni200) and Titanium (Ti1) are exotics that can only be used in temp control mode on a TC mod, they have no other use to a beginner so stay away from them in the beginning, especially if you do not have a mod that does temp control.
4) Practice and run simulations as well as build up your tool kit, which will require a resistance meter (ohm meter), optional but suggested a digital multi-meter (can read resistance as well as voltage and conductivity), set of jewlers screw drivers, pair of needle nose pliers, pair of flush wire cutters or small fine diagonal cutter, pair of tweezers (ceramic tipped tweezers highly suggested), or a building kit like the "Coil Master Toolkit" that should have all the basic tools you need, then arm yourself with the below website for several good calculator tools to use
Steam Engine main page
Two best tools on that site are the "Ohm's Law" calculator as well as the coil simulator/builder apps
2) Wire size is all dependent and subjective to you, lower number gauge wire is thicker, more resilient, stronger, and has lower resistance, downside it takes longer or more power to ramp up to heat, and it takes a longer time to cool down. Higher gauge wire is thinner, more fragile, less resilient, but has higher resistance, ramps up to heat with less power needed, and cools down quicker. I keep on hand 4 gauges of wire at all times, 32awg, 28awg, 26awg, and 24awg. 24awg I use the least, solely in my RDAs when I am looking for a powerful, large diameter, low resistance build for cloud chasing, 26awg is my second most used wire solely in drippers again, but also my sub-ohm RTA tanks, but I use it for its balance of good thickness, decent resistance, and dependability in my drippers on smaller diameter higher resistance flavor builds. 28awg is my most used gauge wire, I use this in my Kayfuns and mouth to lung RTAs, due to its higher resistance still over 24 and 26, it fits nicely in all my Kayfuns and is strong enough to keep up with the abuse as my Kayfun class tanks are my main all day vapes I need a wire that ramps up and cools down quick with these, so 28 fits the bill nicely. 32awg I keep on hand to rebuild my old Protank coil heads, but its second role I use it the most in is to make clapton wire, 26awg core wire wrapped with an outer shell of 32awg makes a perfect clapton wire for me.
These are just examples.
3) Types of wire - there are many out there, myself I use Nichrome 80 mostly these days over Kanthal A1, beginning to learn to build I would suggest Kanthal first NiChrome80 second, both are allows, NiCh80 is softer with lower resistance than Kanthal so it fires and cools down quicker, Kanthal is forgiving on beginners, a little harder material wise but can be dry fired hotter than Nichrome80 YMMV. Stainless steel wire, I have been experimenting with this of late, lower resistance, and can be used in dual roles (standard power output or temperature control mode) which makes a very flexible wire to get to learn to use as well as gives a cleaner taste to your vape. Nickel (Ni200) and Titanium (Ti1) are exotics that can only be used in temp control mode on a TC mod, they have no other use to a beginner so stay away from them in the beginning, especially if you do not have a mod that does temp control.
4) Practice and run simulations as well as build up your tool kit, which will require a resistance meter (ohm meter), optional but suggested a digital multi-meter (can read resistance as well as voltage and conductivity), set of jewlers screw drivers, pair of needle nose pliers, pair of flush wire cutters or small fine diagonal cutter, pair of tweezers (ceramic tipped tweezers highly suggested), or a building kit like the "Coil Master Toolkit" that should have all the basic tools you need, then arm yourself with the below website for several good calculator tools to use
Steam Engine main page
Two best tools on that site are the "Ohm's Law" calculator as well as the coil simulator/builder apps
Awesome info! i appreciate all the help. i've been taking notes down!
On a 75w mod, you probably want to stick to 26g or higher. 24 would be ok, but keep the wrap number low, like 3-5. That said, you can build some pretty wicked coils with 26ga and some 28,30 and 0.5x0.1mm flat kanthal. Your minimum resistance is 0.1 ohm. So I would shoot for 0.2 to 0.14 which allows a little wiggle room, after all if the build is below 0.1 you just wasted a bunch of wire. Remember.. dual coils = resistance divided by 2. SO 2 coils, 0.24ohm each = 0.12ohm total
Also keep in mind, that although you can build as low as 0.1 ohm, your have a 75w box.. the more wire you use, the longer it takes to heat. Which of course is why i recommend the higher gauge wires. A good example would be a 6 wrap of 28ga is going to give a better vape than 2 wraps of 24ga. Play around with the coil builder app, it will save you a lot of wire.
A very important factor, when building on a Tsunami, is wicking. Notice the 4 air pipes in the deck? This is basically unusable space. You might prefer a 1.5mm or 2.0m core due to the cotton ends taking less space in your deck, you want a clear area between those pipes and your coil. The less wick in the way of the pipes, the better your vape will be.
When you want to step up your coil building, I recommend a TwistedMesses. 3 posts, 2 holes in the positive (center) which are side by side, and 1 hole in each negative (which are like.... -...+.+...-) which allows you to play with fancier set ups, such as a quad coil. Again, with that mod, keep your wire ga at 26+, it is more about wire surface area and ramp up speed, than thickness or low ohms.
By the way, you can do a quad coil on a Tsunami, but you are very limited by those air pipes. If you do try it.. wick 2 coils at the side of the pipes, and wick 2 coils behind the coil into the center. Tsunami is a great atty for dual coils though. That airflow goes directly across your coils (which is exactly what you want)
Also keep in mind, that although you can build as low as 0.1 ohm, your have a 75w box.. the more wire you use, the longer it takes to heat. Which of course is why i recommend the higher gauge wires. A good example would be a 6 wrap of 28ga is going to give a better vape than 2 wraps of 24ga. Play around with the coil builder app, it will save you a lot of wire.
A very important factor, when building on a Tsunami, is wicking. Notice the 4 air pipes in the deck? This is basically unusable space. You might prefer a 1.5mm or 2.0m core due to the cotton ends taking less space in your deck, you want a clear area between those pipes and your coil. The less wick in the way of the pipes, the better your vape will be.
When you want to step up your coil building, I recommend a TwistedMesses. 3 posts, 2 holes in the positive (center) which are side by side, and 1 hole in each negative (which are like.... -...+.+...-) which allows you to play with fancier set ups, such as a quad coil. Again, with that mod, keep your wire ga at 26+, it is more about wire surface area and ramp up speed, than thickness or low ohms.
By the way, you can do a quad coil on a Tsunami, but you are very limited by those air pipes. If you do try it.. wick 2 coils at the side of the pipes, and wick 2 coils behind the coil into the center. Tsunami is a great atty for dual coils though. That airflow goes directly across your coils (which is exactly what you want)
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Information Resources for Your First RBA
- An essential read and referrance guide for someone new to rebuilding coils. Includes a multitude of useful links on battery safety, mod safety, coil meters, coil building, and the differences in the three types of RBA's.
Ohhh he gonna have fun with Claptons. I highly recommend building on a cheap ohm reader and keeping your mod in another room. It's harder to grab that way when the urge to throw something across the room hits. 
With that mod, you will want no more than a 26ga single core or 28ga dual core for clapton, or 3x30ga if ya wanna get fancy. And you will want to wrap with prob 30ga, but 32 or flat 0.1x0.5 would be even better. Remember to breath, and have something separate to vape on while you build. (ps.. 3 or 4 fishing swivels linked together and screwed to a board or clamped in place make a good anchor for your wire, while you turn the other end to wrap the core.) OH, and build the wire so it slopes down slightly toward your working end (the end where the drill is..) its MUCH easier. The angle helps keep your wraps close as you feed the wrapping wire along the core wires. Think of it like walking up hill..the slope counters your forward momentum.
With that mod, you will want no more than a 26ga single core or 28ga dual core for clapton, or 3x30ga if ya wanna get fancy. And you will want to wrap with prob 30ga, but 32 or flat 0.1x0.5 would be even better. Remember to breath, and have something separate to vape on while you build. (ps.. 3 or 4 fishing swivels linked together and screwed to a board or clamped in place make a good anchor for your wire, while you turn the other end to wrap the core.) OH, and build the wire so it slopes down slightly toward your working end (the end where the drill is..) its MUCH easier. The angle helps keep your wraps close as you feed the wrapping wire along the core wires. Think of it like walking up hill..the slope counters your forward momentum.
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Absolutely love my Twisted Messes Squared (v2) RDA. When I got it, I was like, WOW, the airflow, but by tightening down that airflow to around 1.5 "squares," the flavor. It's unreal. Still flows like a champ.
I have 3 now, 6 spare bases, and I'm going to buy around 10 with 20 spare bases for the vapocalypse.
yeah, i have 4 rda. TM is my 2nd fav, my TEMPLE (mutantx 4. clone) is first though.
Tsunami is 3rd, and freakshow 4th, but i do find the freakshow to be pretty decent for flavor builds. It all depends on what you want from your vape. I want big, thick (that's what she said) vapor production. So a flavor chaser might reverse my order of preference.
I should have thought of that, since the pin on the mod is + as well. lol.
Snap up a few more RDA over the next year. I am sure they are not going to file for a PMTA.
I'm in Nova Scotia, we are pretty much at the head of the charge of the vaping brigade. First into battle as always! Go the Highlanders!!!
Its a nice switch from dragging behind, like several years ago on Sunday shopping. We set those gov't cats on the right path. Threatened to neuter them if they didn't stop pooping on our carpet. Its amazing what business threatening to pull contributions and people picketing the mayors office will do.
Guys.. just vape on. The more vapers there are, the more votes the gov't has to account for.
Ahhh... my bad. I didn't look at your location. Love Canada!
Thanks for the greatest game on ice, or Earth for that matter.
From the rest of your post, I see you use a regulated mod. I was going to ask if using a net 2 ohms helped you conserve battery charge. It still might but I use an unregulated mod and that also might create a difference too. I'm using two coils that net me ~ 1.2 ohms, vertical. They are parallels in 28 awg wrapped 3 mm ID.
Until you can understand more about battery safety, sub ohming, try remaining with a coil or coils that get you a total of .60 ohms or above. This is a minimum that ECF suggests for new builders, or it was for a while. I have gone as low as .40 ohms with a single coil build. This kind of stirred a sense of needing to be more cautious in me. The battery I used became sapped out rather quickly & needed charged. Not saying you cannot sub ohm but please take your time and care in getting there, and in doing so.
Inmho, the kick one gets from sub-ohm is negated by needing to continually charge batteries, also the higher risk of something going boom.
Adding: Please understand, I'm not trying to scare you away from sub ohm if that is what you want to do. I do desire to offer you a word of caution, though. Don't like seeing anyone get hurt.
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