Noob: Am I doing this right? [Aspire Cleito]

[PurpleDragon]

My Bellus is a cheapy $13USD clone from fasttech, and it looks just the same as photos of the original, it just has no logos on it (which I think is far more fair to the makers of the original) and my single-coil adapter is some kind of white squishy silicone-type deal with a metal half-moon for the top, and the 'nipples' fit into the holes perfectly well.

It sounds like you've an eye for quality and you've certainly picked up a lot about coil-building and general tank maintenance, to be sure.

When you say the resistance is fluctuating, by how much are we talking about here - and are you building coils for Wattage (Power) Mode and not Temperature Control? (TC is a lot more sensitive to variations in resistance)

Have you ensured that the screw at the bottom in the 510 connector is tight?

You're correct, I may be a relative noobie, but I am learning FAST. I have ordered tons of stuff, building coils, making my own juice, practicing wicking, watching videos etc. because I want to be able to get my perfect vape and order all the stuff I will need before august. Basically I build the coil with a .4 target ohm, I've used 22,24 & 26 gauge Kanthal. At first I generally get the .4 but it fluctuates all over the place when I put the plug in, then after putting the top on it usually just goes to .0 or sometimes settles at .9. Then I check and check, might land at ..6 which would be OK but then sometimes I puff on it and the battery drops out. In power mode yes. My half moon is ceramic not metal, and I do have logos. Wismec Presa 100W mod.

 

[Continuity]

I take it that building on the Cleito is giving stable resistances, but you were saying that your wicks were 'burning out' after putting only a few ml of juice through them?

If so, this sounds to me like a wicking issue - what are you using as wicking material, and have you experimented with using it at different tighnesses in the coil, and different densities?

If you're using good wicking material, you might be getting 'dry hits' from 'choking off' the wicks by making them too tight, which would cause especially a thick, high VG juice to not flow properly to feed the wick adequately.

You can use less cotton, less densely, use more PG in your juice and you should always 'prime' your new wicks and coils by saturating them with juice and always start vaping them at low power and gradually work the power up over your first tank or so of juice as you 'break in' the new wick/coil.

Unless you're using Cotton Bacon, or certain Rayon/Cellucottons, it's common for the first few vapes on a freshly-built coil to taste a bit... err... 'cottony', but that soon passes.

 

[PurpleDragon]

Incidentally - TC = Temperature Control, SS = Stainless Steel (mostly in relation to coils, SS316/L = different grades of SS, TC/(Ni-SS-Ti) = Temperature Control(Nickel-Stainless Steel-Titanium), TCR = enables you to set a manual number for the type or grade of wire (instead of using the presets), VW = Variable Wattage (Power) Mode, Bypass = acts like a mech - just dumps all available battery power into the coil.

I like single-coil RTAs, I've found more and more these days - asides from the Bellus (which I'm using in single-coil mode with the airflow shut right down), I also bought an SXK Wine which is a very nice looking, very forgiving to build single-coil 5ml RTA and I've got a Taifun GT2 V2 on its way to me which is an old-skool single-coil 5ml MTL tank which is also quite easy to build on once you've got it dialled in.

What kind of vaper are you - do you know yet? Are you more of a MTL (mouth-to-lung, like smoking a cigarette) or a DTL (direct-to-lung, like huffing paint thinner) vaper?

I'm presuming that you want single-coil more because they're a bit easier to build and setup rather than the different vape quality they give than a dual-coil?

I will check out those tanks, thanks for the info. I am MTL and prefer lighter clouds since I frequently vape in public, enjoy a nice "mouth feel" (i've been adding a bit of Smooth to all my mixes). Yes, I want the single coil for quick setup, I wont have the time for all this building on a daily basis. I've got my Cleito working pretty well now except it leaks a lot. I don't really want to get into the whole TC thing but think I might try SS instead of Kanthal and stay in power mode.

 

[Continuity]

Once you're humming along building coils etc., it's not an everyday thing - most of the time, especially if you use thick wire, the coils can last for months, and all you have to do is occasionally take the old cotton out and rewick some new wick in. Takes but a minute or two.

I'll bet that your Cleito is leaking though the airholes at the bottom? If that's the case, it'll undoubtedly be a wicking problem - once you get your wicks perfect, the leaking should stop.

If you like that kind of tank (MTL) then the (clone) Taifun GT2 that I've got on order ($12USD from Fasttech) sounds like it might be right up your alley - 5ml liquid, glass tank, metal surround, single-coil and a reputation for being one of the best MTL 'flavour' tanks ever made.

It's a beauty, ain't it?

 

[90VG]

I had a mod that did that (wild resistance changes). Bad connection on the 510 or the ground. Wasn't the tank. Had to take the mod apart and re-solder the connections, then it worked great. It was a Kanger Subtank 50 watt mod. Some of the RTA build decks are so touchy, if the coil is to high, when you put the top on it shorts out, or a tiny little piece of wire hits the sides.

Build as short and close to the air hole (I don't have your mod) as possible, but it can't touch anything. I use subtank minis and TFV4 exclusively, all with the RBA deck. Coils never burn out for me, they get gunked up. I vape a lot of juice (25-30 ml a day), so I can get about a week out of a coil before new coil or just burn and rewick. That's using 2 mods, so 3-4 days a coil. (You can laugh now)

Also, you have to really tighten those little screws down to hold the wire. What I do is put coil in, tighten, cut wires then heat it up to a very dark red (not that hot). Blow on it to cool it. Tighten screws again. Check resistance. Put cap on, check resistance. Should barely change. Fill up juice, check resistance, hit it.

I make the same coil every time, 24 g 7 wraps 3.5mm diameter ~.8 ohms. I can usually tell if something is wrong pretty quickly looking at resistance. I vape 18-25 watts, anything more is too much for that setup. If I need more power, I do the same thing with twisted 26g wire. Then 40 watts is fine.

0.8 ohms is still sub ohm. And it's a good vape...