Brick and mortar store for kanthal wire? and other wire questions

[jakart]

Hey all, I just built my first coil with the little bit of wire that came with my rda. Wanted to try another but I'm not sure where to find the wire. I thought a hardware store would have it but I didn't see any at Home Depot.

Was also wondering what the change will be if I make a dual coil setup. I made a single coil to keep it simple the first time but it was so easy (and fun!) I want to try two.

Also: I have a hybrid so I can't check the ohms. Any recommendations for safety and vapor production as far as wire size and number of coils goes? I don't know what kind of wire I used, but I made ten turns around a 1/16" screwdriver. Works great. Battery is 4.2 V.

 

[bigrf85]

as far as checking ohms you can always use a multimeter to check the ohms it really is important to know what kind of stress you are putting on your battery for safety reasons.

as far as adding another coil to your build it will half the resistance. say you have two 1ohm coils in it your final resistance will be .5ohms so a multimeter is a definite must for building your own coils if only to stay safe.

 

[jakart]

Ah I see. Didn't know about multimeters, I'm pretty new to learning about the electrical stuff. The guy at the shop implied that since I couldn't remove the atomizer I couldn't use on ohm meter at all cause he had one that the atomizer screws onto. With a multimeter I just attach it to the two ends of the coil?

 

[Johnny Phatsaqs]

I've found wire pricing at my local stores to be ludicrous. I understand needing to make a profit, but $20 for a 30' piece of 28g??

I ordered direct from Temco. 100' roll of 28 gauge kanthal $7.75, free shipping.

 

[v1k1ng1001]

I've found wire pricing at my local stores to be ludicrous. I understand needing to make a profit, but $20 for a 30' piece of 28g??

I ordered direct from Temco. 100' roll of 28 gauge kanthal $7.75, free shipping.

Same here. Temco has a storefront on Amazon and on Ebay.

 

[rmk_kelly]

$20 bucks...that's insane. I got 30' of 30ga wire for $12 at my local shop. That's still a lot higher than Temco...but it's much better than $20 if you need wire immediately.

 

[Johnny Phatsaqs]

$20 bucks...that's insane. I got 30' of 30ga wire for $12 at my local shop. That's still a lot higher than Temco...but it's much better than $20 if you need wire immediately.

I agree, it is insane. Luckily the guy was cool and gave me a about 15-20' to get me through till my order arrives. It's good to get to know the people and treat them well. He rolled it up nicely and said, "That should get you through, thanks for being a loyal customer."

That's how you do business.

 

[rmk_kelly]

I agree, it is insane. Luckily the guy was cool and gave me a about 15-20' to get me through till my order arrives. It's good to get to know the people and treat them well. He rolled it up nicely and said, "That should get you through, thanks for being a loyal customer."

That's how you do business.

That's cool that they did that! My shop gives punch cards. For ever 10 liquids you buy (15ml) you get one free.

 

[itskohler]

You can buy 100ft for 7 bucks on eBay...

 

[Johnny Phatsaqs]

That's cool that they did that! My shop gives punch cards. For ever 10 liquids you buy (15ml) you get one free.

Mine gives out two different cards. One for 30, one for 15. Buy 6 get one on 30mils, buy 8 get one on 15mil

 

[rmk_kelly]

Mine gives out two different cards. One for 30, one for 15. Buy 6 get one on 30mils, buy 8 get one on 15mil

okay...I am now jealous! lol

 

[daviedog]

Get a decent DMM, you should read the enclosed instructions for in intro to ohms law.
Buy high quality imr batts..

 

[Oiisu]

The local shop where I have bought wire sells 5' for $5 plus a few cotton balls, at least it was enough to try coil building out and see if I could do it or liked it. Just got 50' for 4.40 in the mail the other day

 

[bigrf85]

as far as using a multimeter to check you can attach one side of a multimeter like this
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-Auto-Ranging-Digital-Multimeter-MS8232B/202571334
red or black doesnt matter to the battery positive pin of the atty and the other lead to the body of the atty to get a ohm reading

 

[smacuser]

For what it's worth, I found this: Calculate the Length of an Atomizer Coil (Ohms/Watts options)

PV Web Apps




P. S. Typing in large blocks of words is hard to read.

 

[Cool-breeze]

Ah I see. Didn't know about multimeters, I'm pretty new to learning about the electrical stuff. The guy at the shop implied that since I couldn't remove the atomizer I couldn't use on ohm meter at all cause he had one that the atomizer screws onto. With a multimeter I just attach it to the two ends of the coil?

Jakart welcome to vaping and rebuilding! As you've noticed from the others posts you can buy some various kanthal wire all over the net. I tend to use amazon but it's pretty cheap as mine as also 7 ish for 100 ft. The multimeter you can find at Home Depot or Lowes for 15-30 or more if you want a bunch of options not related to vaping. What the guy at that shop had (from your description) was an ohm checker/ reader. Pros and cons the ohm checker can be useful because the rda/rba screws into it which holds it steady making for an easier time reading your resistance and it doubles as something nice to hold the rda while you build. A multimeter has two prongs and getting those two prongs to make solid connection can be a pain until you find your routine but a multimeter can also let you check your battery life if you have a device that won't do that for you. Specifically useful if you venture into mechs as it's much easier to over drain a battery. Also you can check a devices output or internal resistance if you so desire. I wouldn't mind having both but if it's either or, a multimeter is much more useful IMO. Btw it NEEDS to be a digital multimeter (dmm for short).