AGA-TD setup, what am I doing wrong?

[aeromech]

I just got my AGA-TD in the mail and had to set it up. Reviewed videos, pretty confident that I did it right. Used 30ga A1 round kanthal wire with the supplied stainless mesh. I have tried setting this thing up single and dual coil, I made the coils correctly for the resistance I want. I get 1.8 ohms on dual coil, fire it up and immediately get a low load warning. Using zmax v5 with 18650 battery 4000mah. I can get it set up but after the first fire, it goes low load on me.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I feel like I wasted $30 on disappointment. Let me know if any other info is required.

 

[Ryedan]

You didn't say if this was your first experience with Genisis type attys. I suspect you are getting shorts between the coil and the SS wick. eHuman has a great tutorial on how to set up the AGA-T. That's for one coil, but really it's the same process for two. Pay particular attention to pulsing out shorts. I would get each coil firing properly with no shorts first and then hook them both up.

HTH

 

[aeromech]

Yes, first experience with the Genesis style atomizers. I just don't understand the whole "I have 1.8ohms, oh wait no it's only 0.7ohms" thing. I will look into the link you posted, thanks for the reply.

 

[Sthur]

Sounds like you have a bad connection somewhere. If you jump from 1.8 to 0.7 that's seems your reading one coil then a bump and then your reading both.

Big thing is the zmax has a protection circuit that won't let it fire below 1.2 ohms total. That's why you get low load.

Try using 32 guage and more wraps to get 2.6 or above for each and 1.3 for dual coil or get a mech mod which doesn't gave a protection circuit.

 

[MoralFibre]

And try also each wick at a time - see if one has a short.

Or, perhaps just try one wick!

 

[Ryedan]

Yes, first experience with the Genesis style atomizers. I just don't understand the whole "I have 1.8ohms, oh wait no it's only 0.7ohms" thing. I will look into the link you posted, thanks for the reply.

What happens is when a short occurs between the wire and the wick, it effectively shortens the wire left in the circuit and that's why the resistance drops. It's really important to have the correct tension on the wire to the coil. Too tight and you'll have more shorts for no gain in performance. To loose and you'll lose contact with the juice and have dry wire areas. That's why I like making my coils on a drill bit (or any 'form' that's appropriate) and then insert the wick. I also find that thicker wire is easier to work with as it keeps it's form better than the thinner stuff. It is however lower in resistance per wire length.

 

[Peppie]

Might want to try dual micro coils with cotton wick, and take the steel mesh out of the equation.

 

[thax56]

Might want to try dual micro coils with cotton wick, and take the steel mesh out of the equation.

+1......once I went to cotton I can't imagine using anything else.

 

[suckiteasy]

i got the aga td couple weeks ago. went trough all the stainless steel mesh bul.... and now have it set up with micro coil and cotton. could not be working better. think rip trippers has a video about doing this.

 

[Kirkwood]

One thing that I did on an AGA TD was place 2 small brass washers between the top nut and the second one so you could attach the positives leads in between those. It helped me keep the wires from wanting to kick out when tightening. I actually have a picture of the setup, but I am computer challenged and can't upload them. It says the file is too big.

 

[aeromech]

Looks like I was winding my coils too tightly on the mesh wick. I just have to figure out how to get rid of the hot spot spanning from the top of the coil to the positive post. I will try making another coil tomorrow. Hopefully I can get it working. Thanks very much for the help everyone!

But, what is everyone using for cotton wick?

 

[MoralFibre]

I'm using cotton

 

[greeblesnort]

just got my aga-td in the mail today...set it up on a single mesh wick with a touch of cotton on the end and I must say it's definitely a better hit than the PT2 attys I've rewired. Running an 8 wrap 30g coil on 12W with a Vamo3 until my mechanicals get here.

As far as the cotton, I only had cotton yarn on hand, so I tore it down to wisps and then draped a few of those wisps over the end of the wick and then very carefully slid the wick into the coil. Only been running it for a few hours, but taste is decent and cloud is good.

 

[Annie56]

I ended up messing around with this again yesterday, and after a month of not-so-successful builds on it, i finally nailed it. Firecrackers!! Two coils set up on each side. I made microcoils, 12 wraps 28g Kanthal. I did my other Aga Td w 10 wrap microcoils 30 Kanthal. Wrapped on a 5/64 drill bit, all wraps touching. Connected the coils to the atty, lit them up. I ended up using those little pieces of mesh that come with the atty. Rolled them into firecracker wicks. i think i hit the wicks only once w my torch, after i rolled them. Threaded the wicks into the microcoils. test fired them a few times. Barely a hot spot in the bunch. Have 50/50 pgvg ry4 in one, and vg NamberJuice Caramelized Bananas in the other. They vape fantastic. Just cant lay them down, since the wicks are skinny.
Microcoils made this atty easy(finally!!)1.2 Ω on 28g, 1.7 Ω on the 30g one
Happy Holidays

 

[WarHawk-AVG]

Pre-condition burn the wicks, if you have a gas stove, hold the wicks with needle nose pliers put in the flame until the entire thing glows red, let cool, repeat 3x times...the wick needs to be completely jet black, otherwise you get shorts and they usually wont show up until you hit the fire button

I found a drill bit that will fit in the wick hole, wrap my coils around the drill bit, put drillbit in wick hole, tie down the ends on the posts, gently pull bits, check resistance, if good then do a 3-5x coil burn [glow red, let cool], then screw/push the wicks down thru the coils, once in place adjust the coils for even spacing...hits perfect every time.

Remember with dual coils you need each coil to be at double the end resistance...so one coil will be 4 ohms, the other one needs to be 4 ohms

RBA's are definitely a learning curve type atomizer...but once you nail it...BOY HOWDY do they hit awesome and the flavor is absolutely incredible

 

[enginapor]

I noticed you said you were using a 4000 mah battery... That seems like a wild claim for an 18650. What brand of batteries are you using? If you can't get AW (you can at RTDVapor.com), you can always use the Panasonic CGR18650CH. Those are a great high capacity battery and I've used them a lot and can vouch that they are quality batteries. I know this may not solve your problem, but battery safety/selection is key in vaping. I hope this helped. As a note, you should always watch out for battery sellers that make wild claims like 5000mah and things like that. The highest tested batteries that I know of that are actually legit are the 2900 mah panasonics. So if you see numbers that look a little high (or really high), you may want to rethink it and chose a better battery from a reputable vendor.