AGA T2 issue with positive post (SVD mod)

[Liquidzmoke]

I got my AGA T2 Genesis rba in the mail 3 days ago. I was able to get a pretty much perfect 1.3ohm coil going and it's vaping very clean and flavor and vapor production are pretty much awesome at 11w. The issue I'm having is that, no matter if I use regular Kanthal wire (I only have 32awg wire) or Kanthal A-1 ribbon (0.05mm x 0.1mm), I get a short the moment I snugly tighten the positive post nut. If I tighten the nut so it's barely touching the wire or ribbon, I can sometimes see little sparks on the positive connection, and it doesn't stay connected for long.

I'm of the opinion that terminal connections like these should work if the wire is tightly connected, but everytime I do that, the SVD acts like it's shorting (displays ohm and power button turns red and stays red for like 5 seconds, but no power to the coil). Sometimes it does it when not completely snug either, but adjusting the positive post connection usually makes it fire up again.

My wick is ss 400 and wicking is great. I'm using the ribbon currently at 5 wraps and everything seems perfect... just don't know what to think about that positive post issue.

As an attempt to fix it, I modded it using the spring/washer method, as shown in the pics. Seemed to work great for awhile, then no power again... jiggled the positive connection/washer, and it's working...Anyone else have an issue like this?

 

[steeledragon78]

couple questions to ask, is your mesh oxidized or raw? are any of the other connections loose? are you building dry vs wet? (anything in the tank) and finally is your wick touching the bottom?

ive got 4 aga t2's and never seen something like this. ive had hot legs when the top nut was loose. when you say shorts are you refering to the positive leg getting red without any of the coils firing?

 

[Liquidzmoke]

couple questions to ask, is your mesh oxidized or raw? are any of the other connections loose? are you building dry vs wet? (anything in the tank) and finally is your wick touching the bottom?

ive got 4 aga t2's and never seen something like this. ive had hot legs when the top nut was loose. when you say shorts are you refering to the positive leg getting red without any of the coils firing?

Thanks for the reply... I'm on my 4th wick in 3 days bc of experimenting and practicing. This wick I'm using now was flamed prior to rolling and oxidized 5x with torch and water, and 4x with torch and juice (at this time it's working and has for a day now, so I'm convinced it's oxidized enough). No other connections are loose, and I've taken the whole thing apart and rebuilt it a couple times to be sure. When I built dry when I first got the RBA, I used the drill bit method to produce a coil and the first time it didn't even fire up... My SVD just did the whole "power button glows red and display shows the coil ohms" thing... I assume that means it's performing a short protection? After awhile, I was able to get it right, and it glowed nice and evenly for 3-4 bumps of low wattage, but then randomly and without any conditions changing (to my knowledge), it gave no power and the power button glowed red and turning it off and on, taking the battery out and back in, and removing the tank and replacing it did not fix the issue. I've also tried building with the tank somewhat filled, and didn't notice a measurable difference in issues encountered. What does seem to fix it is backing the top positive screw out about a quarter turn or so... weird. You would think a tight connection would be a good thing. The wick is down to about where the silicone gasket starts, but not touching the bottom of the tank.

I did have top leg hotspot issues when I used 32ga K-wire, and also issues with other hotspots I couldn't get rid of as well. They say ribbon Kanthal is more difficult to use, but I have found that (for me at least) it's easier to get an evenly heated coil, and less top leg hotspots too. Since I can't tighten the top nut on the wire, I can't really bend the wick closer to the post and secure it with the nut because then no power goes to the coil (red light on the mod, etc.). I am using the spring and washer pos post method, and it seems to work well. I did get one red power button issue while vaping today, and fixed it by pushing down a bit on the washer and spring and releasing it back onto the K-ribbon. Fixed it.

There doesn't seem to be any obvious design/manufacturing flaws on the RBA, and the pos post is insulated well with the 2 silicone grommets... I just don't understand where the issue is with this.

Could it possibly be that my SVD is just not cooperating very well with this RBA, or overly sensitive and giving a "false positive" for shorts? I never had this happen with my iClear 30's or Protank... If I had another mod lying around I could use it to see if it's the SVD or the tank/post/coil.

It's vaping like a champ now, but I'm constantly wondering if it will vape or "red light" when I push the power button... not the confidence you need when you're out for the day with no tools.

 

[Baditude]

Your ribbon coil looks well-spaced and neat, but if you still have those ends still out on both + and - ends, I'd trim those up to their posts as close as possible. You seem to be functioning now, but if you continue having issues, I'd make a higher resistance coil (2.0 ohm) and see if your SVD likes that better. I'm not sure what the lower limit for the SVD is in firing on a low ohm coil.

 

[Liquidzmoke]

Your ribbon coil looks well-spaced and neat, but if you still have those ends still out on both + and - ends, I'd trim those up to their posts as close as possible. You seem to be functioning now, but if you continue having issues, I'd make a higher resistance coil (2.0 ohm) and see if your SVD likes that better. I'm not sure what the lower limit for the SVD is in firing on a low ohm coil.

Thanks for the reply... It seems to be working with what I have setup ATM. When this coil hits the dust, I'll make another and report back with either a success or finding what is wrong or the same story...

BTW... with my ribbon and or my wire stated above... what is the best way (coil wrap number, etc) to get a coil to 2.0?

 

[Izan]

Pro tip:

Build wick and coil with the AGA off of the battery device.

DO not tighten, torque,twist,force,press,or pull anything while it is attached to your battery.

The floating centre post of the AGA WILL move when attached to or removed from a device, to compensate:
Attach AGA to your battery device of choice (Snugly, but NOT tight), adjust lower centre post nut to hold centre post in that position.

Remove the AGA from the device and wick and coil. If you notice the post moving and want it "still". add a 510-510 to compress the centre post while you build.

It requires you gently, attach and remove the AGA a few times, but it's worth it for how easy it becomes.

Have fun
I

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The wire you have/purchased has a rated resistance in Ω per unit of measure. (mm,cm,mtr,inch,foot,yard) use Maths.
Use your multimeter to measure the wire BEFORE you wrap it.

 

[lmp9002002]

I can tell you exactly what is happening. The SVD doesn't fire below 1.2 ohm, 1.3 if it's feeling moody. The red flash is due to low resistance. When that top nut is loose, its making a higher resistance connection to your coil- making it closer to 1.3. When you snug it down, the high resistance of that bad connection is gone, making the device see the coil for what it really is, which is below 1.3 ohm. Tighten that sucker down and put it on a mech, i bet it will work fine. If you'll only be using it on an SVD you'll need to build a higher resistance coil. Always keep your connections nice and tight- those sparks your seeing are not a good thing. It can cause carbon buildup, or potentially pop your coil since it's on a digital device. digital devices dont like to see quick changes in resistance, which is what happens with a bad connection.

Thanks for the reply... It seems to be working with what I have setup ATM. When this coil hits the dust, I'll make another and report back with either a success or finding what is wrong or the same story...


BTW... with my ribbon and or my wire stated above... what is the best way (coil wrap number, etc) to get a coil to 2.0?

It's tough to get enough wraps in an AGA-T with ribbon wire to get a high enough resistance coil to fire on a digital device. From my experience, 6 wraps of .5 ribbon (same as what you described that you have) comes to about 1.7ohm. So if you could fit 6 wraps you should be good (but you might not be able to, there's not a ton of room vertically in the AGA-T), the SVD will fire anything over 1.3. I think you said you had 30ga as well? 5-6 wraps of that should do you just fine as well, and will be easier to fit than the ribbon.

 

[Liquidzmoke]

I can tell you exactly what is happening. The SVD doesn't fire below 1.2 ohm, 1.3 if it's feeling moody. The red flash is due to low resistance. When that top nut is loose, its making a higher resistance connection to your coil- making it closer to 1.3. When you snug it down, the high resistance of that bad connection is gone, making the device see the coil for what it really is, which is below 1.3 ohm. Tighten that sucker down and put it on a mech, i bet it will work fine. If you'll only be using it on an SVD you'll need to build a higher resistance coil. Always keep your connections nice and tight- those sparks your seeing are not a good thing. It can cause carbon buildup, or potentially pop your coil since it's on a digital device. digital devices dont like to see quick changes in resistance, which is what happens with a bad connection.




It's tough to get enough wraps in an AGA-T with ribbon wire to get a high enough resistance coil to fire on a digital device. From my experience, 6 wraps of .5 ribbon (same as what you described that you have) comes to about 1.7ohm. So if you could fit 6 wraps you should be good (but you might not be able to, there's not a ton of room vertically in the AGA-T), the SVD will fire anything over 1.3. I think you said you had 30ga as well? 5-6 wraps of that should do you just fine as well, and will be easier to fit than the ribbon.

Thanks!! That's exactly what the issue was! I read somewhere that digitals had a limit of 1ohm, so I couldn't understand why my SVD wouldn't fire with 1.2 or even 1.3, so I thought it was maybe a short protection. Knowing this helps....

I wrapped the .5 ribbon 7x and now have a 2.0 coil that's heating nicely. The K-wire I have is 32ga, and I have yet to make a coil using the wire that tastes anything but metallic and harsh. No problems with taste (even with the first vape) with the ribbon, but the wire just tastes nasty (even used the same wick with both too).