AGI in genesis mode tastes disgusting

[jhelliwell]

Hi all,

My learning curve with the AGI is nearly complete, I can now get a really good build with mesh and kanthal with lots of vapour production and excellent flavour, great wicking, and no hot spots. I use 400 mesh (oxidised), 32AWG kanthal, 5/4 wraps working out at 2.1ohms, and I set that at 7 to 8watts depending and vape away, very happy indeed.

But that's where the trouble starts. Every single time with this particular rba, after the first 15 minutes it all goes downhill. It starts to taste like .... I imagine it's the taste a coil would produce if there was a hot spot bad enough for the top wrap to be glowing super-hot and none of the wraps below were glowing at all. But look there were no hot spots on my test dry fire attempts. None at all, it was all glowing fairly evenly.

[edit]more info - my mesh is precut by my vendor into 1.75 x 1.5 inch rectangles, and I roll that into a pretty solid wick, and roll it up to be slightly smaller than snug. It is easily moved vertically in the wick hole and my coil is wrapped just snug enough to hold the wick up off the floor of the tank, so that it doesn't short. This thing wicks great, on a non-inhale test fire it spits and fizzles and produces a nice plume of vapour

I wonder what I'm doing wrong? Maybe mesh isn't for me(?) - In the meantime, the next time I rebuild it I'm gonna try a silica rope sleeve over the mesh see if that fixes it.

 

[emus]

AGI with spring mod is my favorite single coil 22 mm glass tank device.
I use dual cotton wicks and horizontal single coil.
My coil is about 1.5 mm from air hole.
Twisted 30GA, 3/32", 1.2 ohms.
Decent vapor quality for large chamber 22 mm topper.

 

[vapdivrr]

Hi all,

My learning curve with the AGI is nearly complete, I can now get a really good build with mesh and kanthal with lots of vapour production and excellent flavour, great wicking, and no hot spots. I use 400 mesh (oxidised), 32AWG kanthal, 5/4 wraps working out at 2.1ohms, and I set that at 7 to 8watts depending and vape away, very happy indeed.

But that's where the trouble starts. Every single time with this particular RBA, after the first 15 minutes it all goes downhill. It starts to taste like .... I imagine it's the taste a coil would produce if there was a hot spot bad enough for the top wrap to be glowing super-hot and none of the wraps below were glowing at all. But look there were no hot spots on my test dry fire attempts. None at all, it was all glowing fairly evenly.

[edit]more info - my mesh is precut by my vendor into 1.75 x 1.5 inch rectangles, and I roll that into a pretty solid wick, and roll it up to be slightly smaller than snug. It is easily moved vertically in the wick hole and my coil is wrapped just snug enough to hold the wick up off the floor of the tank, so that it doesn't short. This thing wicks great, on a non-inhale test fire it spits and fizzles and produces a nice plume of vapour

I wonder what I'm doing wrong? Maybe mesh isn't for me(?) - In the meantime, the next time I rebuild it I'm gonna try a silica rope sleeve over the mesh see if that fixes it.

it does seem to me that you are indeed getting some kind of hot spots. a lot of time it does happen where when the coil is first checked (dry) it looks good, but once the wire is heated for a longer period of time (especially thinner 32g wire) it can and will expand or contract. this will then (if its not a perfect coil) create a hot spot. i have heard of this quite a bit with 32g wire, because it is thin it can move or pull away from the wick as it heats. you can do this to check, your coil is fine, its dry heats up evenly, then you add liquid and after 15 minutes it tastes like as_. now tilt the atty so juice isn't touching the wick, fire the coils until they dry and watch the coils, any hotspots now? if so you need to take a little more time initially. also try 30g wire, also possibly oxidize the wick slightly more. perfect tension on the wick is the biggest key. initially when dry testing the coil, start out at low voltages, if it looks ok then move up in voltage a little more, once again if it looks good move a little higher, ultimately move to a voltage that you will be vaping at once you put juice in. also the spring in the agi has to go, its to flimsy and creates a hi voltage drop. its an easy fix if you haven't done it already, there are utube videos on the fix. good luck. also a perfect coil when you add juice into the tank really shouldn't spit and sputter juice everywhere, it should come off the coil evenly and outwards, not straight up in a stream. usually a sputtering fizzling coil is from a hotspot or inproper tension on the wick. good luck

 

[jhelliwell]

That was an incredibly helpful response. You've given me a few ideas to try, and It makes complete sense that the coil has expanded away from the mesh creating a hot spot. I'll dry fire the coil to verify it, and modify my next build accordingly.

Many thanks

 

[vapdivrr]

That was an incredibly helpful response. You've given me a few ideas to try, and It makes complete sense that the coil has expanded away from the mesh creating a hot spot. I'll dry fire the coil to verify it, and modify my next build accordingly.

Many thanks

no problem, hope it helps. if still using the 32g wire, I would do the wraps slightly tighter then what you mentioned. it is all about the tension and takes a little time to get just right. I personally like a slightly tighter wrap then a looser one. also its the top wrap that usually gives problems. except for the top wrap the others can be slightly tighter, but the top one cant be too tight. yes, 32g does move around and requires a more perfect tension then thicker gauges.