Start here;
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ined-detail-single-dual-coil-atty-cartos.html
Excellent thread; answers a lot of questions, then raises a few more.
The basics of what I took away from that thread:
1) A dual coil (DC) atty/carto of a given resistance will contain two coils wired in parallel, each of which are twice the resistance (ohms) of the rated ohms of the atty/carto, and each of which will get half as hot as the coil in a single coil (SC) atty/carto of the same resistance (ohms).
Example: a 2.0 ohm DC will be wired with 2 x 4 ohm coils, which in parallel will draw 2.0 ohms, but each of which will heat up about half as much as would a single 2.0 ohm coil. More resistance, less heat. Although that suddenly seems backwards. But I don't think it is.
2) Single coil makes more sense to me than a dual coil for the simple reason that even in a tank, the lower coil will be a little more saturated than the upper coil. Without a tank, the upper coil is almost certain to run too dry much of the time.
***
Open question, and one that I'm going to post in that thread, but will ask here before I forget it:
A) It seems to me that as long as you can keep them surrounded by wet polyfill, or with proper wicking in a carto-less tank, would you not get more total vapor from two separate coils in a single carto than you would from a single coil, assuming each coil gets warm enough to reach the temperature at which a coil best vaporizes
juice.
B) If A) is true, and it's also true that each coil in a DC gets about 1/2 as warm as the coil in a SC at the same resistance and at the same voltage, would it not make sense to power the DC at twice the total watts of the SC, making each coil in the DC as warm as the single coil in the SC.
Example:
A) DC 2.0 ohm carto at 4V = 8 watts, each coil drawing 4 watts
B) SC 2.0 ohm carto at 4V = 8 watts, single coil drawing 8 watts. (Coil twice as warm as (A)?)
So, would this (C) give a better vape than (A)?:
C) DC 2.0 ohm carto at 5.6V = 15.68 watts/call it 16, each coil drawing 8 watts. Coils at same (higher) temperature as in (B) = better vape than (A)?
(Yes, this is about 2.85 amps. The ProVari can handle 3.5, so let's leave switch capacity out of it).
Brain ... hurts ... must ... stop ..... now ...
(And a gentle note to prospective respondants to my question; I am so very weary of snarkiness and put-downs, and would really appreciate as much civility as you can muster. I'm just asking a question to try to arrive at a scientifically sound answer. I'm not saying that I know much of anything for sure, so please bear that in mind if you choose to offer your opinion - TIA)