Can't seem to get the hang of dual coils!

[Arnie H]

OK, spent several hours trying to dual coil my genesis devices. I am aiming at 3.4 ohms for each coil which should yield 1.7 ohms. I must be doing something wrong, cuz I just can't seem to get the hang of it. I can do regular single coils and U-wicks (which is what I ended up doing) no problem, but one of several things happen when using two seperate pieces of kanthal wire around two seperate wicks:

1. I get a weird resistance reading like 0.6 ohms on 9 wraps of 32 guage kanthal (which should be well over 3 ohms on a 3 mm wick), and may indicate something metal is contacting/touching the coil(s), or the coils are crossed wrapped somewhere.

2. The wire of one of the coils pops at the positive post/terminal. Even at 5 watts of power.

3. One coil will glow nicely, but the other one just barely, after pulsing, and I'm afraid to push the power up for fear of the wire popping.

Could it be something I am doing at the terminals? There are two negative terminals and I usually wrap the coil a the coil around a full turn before tightening the terminal screws. But there is only one positive post/terminal, so both pieces of wire would be touching each underneath the screw if wrapped around it. Is this where I am going wrong? Could it be that simple? Thanks for any help.

 

[stumpfreeman]

What device are you using??

 

[Arnie H]

Kraken and Prometheus clones.

 

[Thrasher]

are you connecting them at once or trying one first then the other?

heres a video that has helped several people set up dual coils in a genesis. it is for the steam turbine but will work for anything built the same way.

 

[Ryedan]

And if you want a look at RiP Trippers doing it with cotton (no chance of shorts), here it is:

 

[Arnie H]

are you connecting them at once or trying one first then the other?

Thanks for the Vids. Someone on facebook suggested doing one coil at a time. I tried that but didn't have much success. More practice and learning is likely in order. Sooner or later I'll probably get it. Maybe. Hopefully. Until then, I am pretty happy with my single coil U wicks.

 

[Thrasher]

yea im sure rip has some good videos as well on the tube, i just cant make it past the first 30 seconds of any of them without wanting to punch kittens.

 

[Arnie H]

I think some vapers have a natural aptitude for coil building, others for DIY'ing E-juice, others for modding, etc. I've never been great with coil building, its been a long slow process for me. I don't like working in tiny confined spaces and am not a nitty gritty electronics person. But practice, and more practice, and I find I am getting better. Same thing with computers. Was always good with programming, but in terms of working with the hardware inside, it has always had me kinda baffled. Chips and solder, and all that.

 

[Ryedan]

Thanks for the Vids. Someone on facebook suggested doing one coil at a time. I tried that but didn't have much success. More practice and learning is likely in order. Sooner or later I'll probably get it. Maybe. Hopefully. Until then, I am pretty happy with my single coil U wicks.

I've used a AGA-T a lot, but never done a dual coil Geni. I can not imagine working through the elimination of shorts, pulsing them out, with two coils hooked up at once.

Best of luck with it

 

[Thrasher]

heres the rub.
on top of everything else out there.
genesis with mesh probably has the highest learning curve and the most amount of things that can go wrong. then for dual wicks its X2.

when i first started i watched some vids, built some drippers and said pff this cant be that hard.
got my geni in the mail and around 10 ft of kanthal later it sat in a drawer lol, a week or two later I said no way - there is too many people doing this every day for it to be that freaking hard. made the same assumption when i started trying dual coils lol

what im getting at is once you understand the variables it still comes down to hands on time, as you go and adjust and figure out other things you could do it gets easier and easier, the more you do it over and over the simpler it will become, until you can pop it together in 15 minutes. 2 years later i sometimes sit and think why was this so hard back then. keep at it and if you dont give up and keep learning it will start to fall together and next thing you know when that hthing is pounding out massive clouds is "yeeeaaaa that was worth it"

the vid i posted is good because she goes through the same problems anyone ekse would and breaks it down in simple english kinda makes it better when someone else who knows what to do still has the same issues

 

[Ryedan]

heres the rub.
on top of everything else out there.
genesis with mesh probably has the highest learning curve and the most amount of things that can go wrong. then for dual wicks its X2.

when i first started i watched some vids, built some drippers and said pff this cant be that hard.
got my geni in the mail and around 10 ft of kanthal later it sat in a drawer lol, a week or two later I said no way - there is too many people doing this every day for it to be that freaking hard. made the same assumption when i started trying dual coils lol

what im getting at is once you understand the variables it still comes down to hands on time, as you go and adjust and figure out other things you could do it gets easier and easier, the more you do it over and over the simpler it will become, until you can pop it together in 15 minutes. 2 years later i sometimes sit and think why was this so hard back then. keep at it and if you dont give up and keep learning it will start to fall together and next thing you know when that hthing is pounding out massive clouds is "yeeeaaaa that was worth it"

the vid i posted is good because she goes through the same problems anyone ekse would and breaks it down in simple english kinda makes it better when someone else who knows what to do still has the same issues

And to top it all off, I doubt any two of us set it up exactly the same way. So many variables ... but like you said when it comes together it's a very nice system. I've gotta say though, my AGA-T is not seeing much love lately. The Trident and Rocket have overtaken it. I think I'm going to experiment with a cotton dripper setup on it sometime and see what that's all about.

Actually, there's the second negative connection hole plus the filler hole in the deck that looks like it may well suit a second wick. Hmm, maybe I'll be trying this sooner rather than later

 

[Arnie H]

heres the rub.
on top of everything else out there.
genesis with mesh probably has the highest learning curve and the most amount of things that can go wrong. then for dual wicks its X2.

Yeah, I tried the pre-installed SS mesh dual coils, was nice, a bit more intense, but nothing to write home about. Of course this is probably because I hadn't made my own yet. I did notice alot more issues with mesh as opposed to cotton/silica. Because it is metal, could there be some conductivity issues going on?

Not saying I am giving up entirely, but I think my RBA phase is over with. Both the Kraken and Prometheus clones feature adjustable airflow, but even at the tiniest/fractional settings, the air flow is just way too airy for me. My mini Vivi Nova's and mini Davide's are working just fine and I must say (never thought I would), I like em and am satified with them. Plus I have experience rebuilding the coils in them. I'm holding onto my AGI, because I do like the somewhat tighter draw of its single airhole and it is a dripper as well. Perhaps someone knows of a genesis or RDA with a very, very, tight draw. A 22 mm device that would look good on a nemesis or two-tone mod.

 

[SissySpike]

just a thought is one of the wick holes further away from the center post than the other? I was sure people were just saying genys were so good cause they did not want to admit they wasted their money. That was back when there were like 3 models available. Keep at it it will fall into place and one day you will wonder why you had so much trouble.

 

[Sucker_dad]

yea im sure rip has some good videos as well on the tube, i just cant make it past the first 30 seconds of any of them without wanting to punch kittens.

I have a hard time watching his videos as well. Just a little full of himself IMO.

 

[K_Tech]

I have two Genesis devices (RSST and AGI) and an AIOS clone that I use mesh with.

One thing I've found is that no matter how well you oxidize the mesh, if you wrap ONE loop of your coil just a little too tight, it's gonna short to the mesh. The RSST is a nice Genesis to begin with because of the insulated wick hole.

Using a single strand of cotton wrapped around the wick under the coil area, for me, almost 100% eliminates the shorting issue.

I don't have a Kraken, but I've read that some of the Kraken clones have an issue with an internal short:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-warning-kraken-clone-has-internal-short.html

the vid i posted is good because she goes through the same problems anyone ekse would and breaks it down in simple english kinda makes it better when someone else who knows what to do still has the same issues

Not to mention Karen is just so darn pretty.

I have a hard time watching his videos as well. Just a little full of himself IMO.

But you gotta admire his enthusiasm!

 

[Arnie H]

My particular Kraken clone, was working fine with my single U wick, it is most likely user error on my part trying to set up dual coils. Using silica/cotton does seem to remove alot of the issues with a wick material which is itself a conductor of electricity.

 

[gdeach]

Is it possible that you have a reversed polarity somehow? Negative coils are Pos. and the positive is acting as the Negative.
I'm not familiar with the device your talking about....at all....but lots of things work on negative DC voltage. Some telecom equipment, some welding machines ect....

 

[Arnie H]

Is it possible that you have a reversed polarity somehow? Negative coils are Pos. and the positive is acting as the Negative.
I'm not familiar with the device your talking about....at all....but lots of things work on negative DC voltage. Some telecom equipment, some welding machines ect....

I don't think so. Not certain. What I can say is that both devices have an easily distinguishable positive post, which is in the center and raised up about a centimeter above the deck. In either device, the two negative terminals are screws which, when tightened sit flush against the deck. When wrapping vertical coils, I will secure the negative wire first, then wrap my way up and finish on the positive post.