AGA-T2 Dualy FN-2000 w/ .08 ribbon

[Shasta McNasty]

Hello again all,
Over the weekend I finally got my RBA in and got to work manipulating and milling it to my desired specs. I have it completely set up as planned and figured it would give me a lot more vapor than what I'm currently getting. I do plan on taking it to some of my local gurus later this week, but if I can avoid wasting the gas and/or the embarrassment of not knowing how to set up my RBA properly I would rather. I am currently trying to run an AGA-T2 with dual .8mm x .1mm coils in series with FN-2000 ceramic wicks on a ProVari 2.5 with 18650 batteries. The wicks were cleaned and torched (for good measures, they were bran spank'in new), soaked for 24 hours in a VG/Distilled water solution and then slowly broken in at low voltages with my coils oxidized before full assembly; normal operating range is something like 1.5 ohms. I also drilled out my air holes (I drilled a second) slightly larger than original size for more intake... maybe too much, but a fix for a later date.

My vapor is very minimal and if I keep on the button too long, or try to vape too much I get that all too familiar burnt-metallic taste. Even with a single coil I get the same results. I have also tried it with 32g Kanthal, all my wire is A1, and got the same results! My common enemy here seems to be the FN-2000 ceramic wick, I just don't think i can get it to keep up... very frustrating right now. Does anyone have any tricks to try, or suggestion on a different type of wick that would suit me better? I've heard some about something about a "Nexus" wick, can someone enlighten me a little on this stuff?

Here are some pics, any advice would be greatly appreciated.


*Also, I seem to HAVE to play by the rule of 2 with my ohms. If my coils read 1.5 I have to run 3.5; lower and I get nothing with the top on the AGA, higher and I instantly get the distinct burnt-metallic flavor we all love.

 

[steved5600]

That is a fantastic Idea. Guess that is the same stuff they use on vacuum sealers for food. Where did you find the heating band and what is it called.

 

[steved5600]

Oh one question. Is there a down side. It occurred to me that it may take a while for the element to heat up. Do you press on the fire button a little before you take a drag.

 

[steved5600]

I also have an AGA T and silica does not work well with it. I used #400 SS mesh and did a coaxial wick one small inside the larger one. I used Cig paper to seperate the wick from the heater wire for the first burn which was a dry burn. No short that way.

 

[Hello World]

AGA-T2 with dual .8mm x .1mm coils in series with FN-2000 ceramic wicks on a ProVari 2.5 with 18650 batteries.

...

My vapor is very minimal and if I keep on the button too long, or try to vape too much I get that all too familiar burnt-metallic taste. Even with a single coil I get the same results. I have also tried it with 32g Kanthal, all my wire is A1, and got the same results! My common enemy here seems to be the FN-2000 ceramic wick, I just don't think i can get it to keep up... very frustrating right now. Does anyone have any tricks to try, or suggestion on a different type of wick that would suit me better?

Your burnt taste is caused by loose coils. See both links below:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ing-porous-ceramic-wicks-360.html#post9380786

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ing-porous-ceramic-wicks-360.html#post9381570

There may also be other technical issues with having the mid-point of the wire spanning across both wicks. It may have to be "S" curved or another solution if one even exists.

You could do them in parallel using 32ga wire, but you'll still need a mechanical as the draw exceeds the limits of regulated electronic mods. 36ga would too easily burn through the wire.

If you are looking for the more vapor out of your Provari, consider a single ceramic wick @ 28ga wire 1.3Ω - 1.5Ω. Higher resistance wraps ... and it'll take too long for the coils to heat up. If you go below 1.2Ω and above 3.7 volts, you'll hit the 3.5 amp limit of your Provari.

 

[Tintreach]

Take a pic of the coils lit up. Also use a vom meter on the top of the AGA and measure each coil individually. You might have a coil running lower than the other then it will just burn mostly of that coil.

Remember, electrons follow the path of least resistance

 

[Unforeseen]

Moved to Assorted PV Topics - Rebuildable Atomizer Systems

 

[pdib]

That's a new one. It takes quite the contortionist to have a giant hot leg in the middle of the coil. Ba-dum.

I think your middle wrap isn't making good contact with your wick. Ba-dum'taaaah.

So, in all seriousness. You can't be having a big ol' honkin' section of your resistance wire floating in the air like that. Also, that's right in the middle of your length of wire; the hottest section. Also, you are having some severe lag time with a wire (ribbon) that long. Basically, all the stuff on the wick is not getting hot enough to vaporize the juice, while the "tightrope" section is glowing like the red .... of a baboon. Looks very cool, tho.

 

[-brandon-]

Here's how I run my dual wick/coil in the AGA-T2. The short of it is I use discreet coils for each wick, with both using the the positive (center) pole and each wick using separate negative connections on their respective sides. I've actually done it with both ceramic and stainless wicks - both setup at 0.8Ω on mechanical mods producing huge flavorful vapor.

Ceramic

SS

 

[jasl90]

That's a new one. It takes quite the contortionist to have a giant hot leg in the middle of the coil. Ba-dum.

I think your middle wrap isn't making good contact with your wick. Ba-dum'taaaah.

So, in all seriousness. You can't be having a big ol' honkin' section of your resistance wire floating in the air like that. Also, that's right in the middle of your length of wire; the hottest section. Also, you are having some severe lag time with a wire (ribbon) that long. Basically, all the stuff on the wick is not getting hot enough to vaporize the juice, while the "tightrope" section is glowing like the red .... of a baboon. Looks very cool, tho.

I 2nd what pdib said... I can't imagine how bad the metallic throat burn must be...

 

[Shasta McNasty]

It's a real gnarly throat burn, I can say that much after all I've tried. I know my wires aren't loose; I do the drill both method and get them even tighter by pushing and probing. I guess my next trial will have to deal with getting some 28g and trying parallels. I broke one of my ceramic wicks last night tinkering, so I ended up popping some as mesh back in and getting some better results... But still getting hat burnt taste, even on a single coil. I'm sure many of you have been able to gather that I am still green to a lot of this, but damn. No one in town has wire right now either so I have to wait for more mail.

Another question: Which mech mod would support a dual coil such as what I'm looking for? All the ones at my local shops only seem to be single. Keep in mind that if I dump $ on a mech I probably wont be milling and drilling it.

 

[-brandon-]

The problem with your setup is that big "bridge" across the top that touches nothing. That section is going to heat up and have nothing to vaporize. That is the source of the "real gnarly throat burn".

 

[Hello World]

It's a real gnarly throat burn, I can say that much after all I've tried. I know my wires aren't loose; I do the drill both method and get them even tighter by pushing and probing. I guess my next trial will have to deal with getting some 28g and trying parallels.

Keep in mind with such a parallel setup you'll probably require very high-drain batteries.

Panasonic 18650 2900mAh NCR18650PD Hybrid Li-ion (High Drain) or MNKE IMR18650 3.7v Li-MN (High Drain)

Another question: Which mech mod would support a dual coil such as what I'm looking for? All the ones at my local shops only seem to be single. Keep in mind that if I dump $ on a mech I probably wont be milling and drilling it.

A mechanical mod is the portion your setup that contains the battery and handle it's inside of. The Genny RBA is what you installed your wick and coil into which would be mounted via a 150 connection to a mechanical mod. See here for one of the more popular mechanical mods: The Natural Mechanical Mod by SMOKtech

 

[Shasta McNasty]

I've always only exclusively used the Panasonic high drain batts. I'd like to thank everyone for advice and input, very helpful. I got rid of the bridge, and have switched to regular 32g a1 kanthal I got from a new freind, it's right where I want it for now. Never stop improving.

 

[pdib]

Now you could do like Kingdm did, when he found out the dual wick "tightrope" wasn't gonna work. He built a bridge out of no resistance wire.

still gonna be an awful lot of wire, tho; lots of lag time.

 

[Satava]

I'd just run a true dual coil with 32 gauge. About 7 wraps should put you at 2.4 ohms on each coil for a 1.2 ohm final if in parallel.

 

[Rmcgloth]

Just curious, but what would happen if you the ribbon made contact with the positive post in the bridge section, and the negatives were both on the deck. You would be running parallel instead of series, so you would have to add wraps to get into provari range. It could be an easy way to make sure the lengths were equal. Just a thought.