Choosing the correct nickel wire

[nemesis8733]

I just bought myself a sigelei 150 watt with temp control. I'm excited to get started, but this is my first temp control mod and I'm having trouble deciding exactly what I want to use for wire. More specifically, I'm wondering which gauge I want to buy. The low limit on ohms for this mod is 0.1 so I know I won't be super-sub ohming, which to my understanding basically rules out 24 gauge. So then the question becomes 26, 28, or 30 gauge. I almost always use 24 or 26 gauge kanthal wire, but I imagine there's a much different set of considerations when picking nickel wire compared to picking kanthal. Could someone possibly let me know what I should be considering when choosing nickel wire? All help is appreciated!

 

[JimScotty0]

I just bought myself a sigelei 150 watt with temp control. I'm excited to get started, but this is my first temp control mod and I'm having trouble deciding exactly what I want to use for wire. More specifically, I'm wondering which gauge I want to buy. The low limit on ohms for this mod is 0.1 so I know I won't be super-sub ohming, which to my understanding basically rules out 24 gauge. So then the question becomes 26, 28, or 30 gauge. I almost always use 24 or 26 gauge kanthal wire, but I imagine there's a much different set of considerations when picking nickel wire compared to picking kanthal. Could someone possibly let me know what I should be considering when choosing nickel wire? All help is appreciated!

Since you can't go below .1 ohms I would suggest 28ga for a single coil or even 30ga if you twist it with one or two strands of Kanthal A1 which would then give more of the vape that you would get with thicker Kanthal A1 that you are more used to having. 8-9 wraps on 2.5 or 3mm might be a good starting point.

 

[nemesis8733]

Since you can't go below .1 ohms I would suggest 28ga for a single coil or even 30ga if you twist it with one or two strands of Kanthal A1 which would then give more of the vape that you would get with thicker Kanthal A1 that you are more used to having. 8-9 wraps on 2.5 or 3mm might be a good starting point.

You're suggesting to wrap the nickel wire along with kanthal? Wouldn't that make the temp control work incorrectly?

 

[JimScotty0]

You're suggesting to wrap the nickel wire along with kanthal? Wouldn't that make the temp control work incorrectly?

No, it has no real effect on the TC since electricity follows the path of least resistance and the nickel is so much lower in resistance. The only negative is more wire mass to heat up so a slight preheat ramp up time. I have been twisting in all kinds of combinations for several months now. You will find others here on ECF posting the same thing.

 

[Croak]

Other than the resistance constraints, everything else that relates to wire gauge still basically holds true for Ni200. Thicker wire tends to make better, smoother flavor, at the cost of longer ramp up times and slower cool down times.

You sure your low limit is 0.1 ohms in TC mode with that S150? It's too freaking big for me, like all Sig/P4U dual battery mods, so I'm not all that up on it specs wise, but pretty sure it's a SX330 TC board, and that's quite capable of working down to .05 ohms in Joules mode.

 

[ah64ace]

Sigelei needs to correct their stats on the ohm range. I just got this same unit and had that question, too. What I found out is that the 0.1 to 3.0 ohm range is only for the power settings. In Joules (TC), the unit actually goes from 0.05 to 3.0 ohms. I have two Russian 91% tanks I put Ni200 coils in. Both are 28 Ga. and 3mm ID. The first was 10 wraps with unseperated coils and came out to .1 ohms. The second one I used a 8/32 screw (seperated coils) and wrapped 11/12 wraps and it came out to .19 ohms. Keep in mind that the legs are longer too. Yes, you can get that into a Russian 91% even with the small build deck it has. Both vape about the same. Huge clouds and great flavor. You just have to play with the temp and joules settings to find your sweet spot.

The first coil I used with the Sig was .08 ohms and worked fine.

 

[nemesis8733]

No, it has no real effect on the TC since electricity follows the path of least resistance and the nickel is so much lower in resistance. The only negative is more wire mass to heat up so a slight preheat ramp up time. I have been twisting in all kinds of combinations for several months now. You will find others here on ECF posting the same thing.

I had no clue this was the case lol. Very interesting. So are you saying to wrap a parallel coil with kanthal and ni200? Or are you suggest wrapping the wires into a helix....or something else I'm missing lol

 

[nemesis8733]

Other than the resistance constraints, everything else that relates to wire gauge still basically holds true for Ni200. Thicker wire tends to make better, smoother flavor, at the cost of longer ramp up times and slower cool down times.

You sure your low limit is 0.1 ohms in TC mode with that S150? It's too freaking big for me, like all Sig/P4U dual battery mods, so I'm not all that up on it specs wise, but pretty sure it's a SX330 TC board, and that's quite capable of working down to .05 ohms in Joules mode.

I'm coming from a sigelei 100 plus, which is basically the same size. I do believe it's an sx330 tc board, and I also remember seeing online that the board was capable of .05, but the range on the back of the box is .1 to 3 so I trusted sigeleis info and chalked the .05 up to you can't believe everything you see on the net lol. But if @ah64ace is correct about .1 referring to power mode and not joules, this is a very different Convo lol. If I can super subohm I'm thinking 26 gauge would probably be a good place to start. Thanks for info on the similarities to kanthal as well

 

[ah64ace]

Other than the resistance constraints, everything else that relates to wire gauge still basically holds true for Ni200. Thicker wire tends to make better, smoother flavor, at the cost of longer ramp up times and slower cool down times.

You sure your low limit is 0.1 ohms in TC mode with that S150? It's too freaking big for me, like all Sig/P4U dual battery mods, so I'm not all that up on it specs wise, but pretty sure it's a SX330 TC board, and that's quite capable of working down to .05 ohms in Joules mode.

From what I have found (on the web for what it's worth) is that the Sig 150 TC has the YiHi SX330V3SL chip. The difference in the V3SL and the SX330V4SL as in the iPV4S is the ability to use Titanium wire in the 4SL.

 

[JimScotty0]

I had no clue this was the case lol. Very interesting. So are you saying to wrap a parallel coil with kanthal and ni200? Or are you suggest wrapping the wires into a helix....or something else I'm missing lol

I am talking about a full tight twist.

 

[GeorgeS]

I just bought myself a sigelei 150 watt with temp control. I'm excited to get started, but this is my first temp control mod and I'm having trouble deciding exactly what I want to use for wire. More specifically, I'm wondering which gauge I want to buy. The low limit on ohms for this mod is 0.1 so I know I won't be super-sub ohming, which to my understanding basically rules out 24 gauge. So then the question becomes 26, 28, or 30 gauge. I almost always use 24 or 26 gauge kanthal wire, but I imagine there's a much different set of considerations when picking nickel wire compared to picking kanthal. Could someone possibly let me know what I should be considering when choosing nickel wire? All help is appreciated!

Smaller the wire, the higher the resistance.

Considerations: some mods have a "published" upper limit for TC at 0.3 ohms, however some users (myself included) have used coils in TC that are higher than that. The space on your 'build deck' for enough winding's to reach your 'target' resistance. Lastly, the surface area of your coil on the wick, generally many figure more is better.

To small of a gauge and you'll have a hard time with weak Ni coil deforming while attempting to wick it, along with not as much coil surface area on the wick for vaporizing. To large of a gauge and you may have difficulty hitting your target minimum resistance.

Many are fairly happy with 26AWG to 30AWG. Most of my Ni coils are in 28AWG, 2.5-3mm ID with 6-10 wraps. Again it depends on the room on the 'build deck'. The Anyvape RTA requires some creative coil winding while a Lemo2 has a bunch of room.

YMMV.

 

[TheotherSteveS]

Smaller the wire, the higher the resistance.

Considerations: some mods have a "published" upper limit for TC at 0.3 ohms, however some users (myself included) have used coils in TC that are higher than that. The space on your 'build deck' for enough winding's to reach your 'target' resistance. Lastly, the surface area of your coil on the wick, generally many figure more is better.

To small of a gauge and you'll have a hard time with weak Ni coil deforming while attempting to wick it, along with not as much coil surface area on the wick for vaporizing. To large of a gauge and you may have difficulty hitting your target minimum resistance.

Many are fairly happy with 26AWG to 30AWG. Most of my Ni coils are in 28AWG, 2.5-3mm ID with 6-10 wraps. Again it depends on the room on the 'build deck'. The Anyvape RTA requires some creative coil winding while a Lemo2 has a bunch of room.

YMMV.

I think you mixed up guage and thickness which might confuse!! High guage - low thickness - high resistance!

 

[GeorgeS]

I think you mixed up guage and thickness which might confuse!! High guage - low thickness - high resistance!

"The smaller the wire the higher the resistance"

No mix up, in my mind "smaller gauge" automatically means a higher/larger AWG number (IE:32AWG is smaller than 30 and "triple ought" 000 is larger than "double ought" 00.)

Then again those of us that work in the electrical/electronics industry think different than normal folks.

 

[TheotherSteveS]

"The smaller the wire the higher the resistance"

No mix up, in my mind "smaller gauge" automatically means a higher/larger AWG number (IE:32AWG is smaller than 30 and "triple ought" 000 is larger than "double ought" 00.)

Then again those of us that work in the electrical/electronics industry think different than normal folks.

wasnt trying to be smart ... and it is clear you know what you are talking about. I just thought for some less experienced it might be a bit confusing. No offence meant!!