Dual coils and wattage
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I'm not real clear on the question.
When you list resistances do you mean 'total' for both coils together, or for each coil?
Note that running a pair of 2 Ohm coils in parallel would give you a total resistance of 1 Ohm.
With a fresh battery @ 4.2v, that'd give you 8.82 watts 'per coil' (17.64 watts total). This set-up would draw 4.2 amps.
The primary advantage to going dual coil is that you can spread the watts/power out over more coil-to liquid surface area, and you can do so with less 'lag time' for all that wire to heat up. I.E. A 28 wrap coil of AWG 28 on a 1/16" jig would give you around 4 Ohms in a single coil, and that could take quite some time to 'heat up' to a good 8ish watt vape temperature. If you split that into two 2 Ohm coils, for a 1 Ohm total resistance, then you'd see all that wire heat up to close to 9 watts per coil much faster.
Note: many VV/VW APV units can't take atties lower than 1.5ish Ohms. For those you'd need two 3 Ohm coils, and you'd have to rely on upping the voltage/wattage setting to get them hotter. Most will top out around from 12 to 15 watts (6 to 7.5 watts per coil) due to safety current limits in the devices.
A good deal of your 'performance' will have to do with air flow, the type coils you are building, and of course, your chosen wick material. You only need get the wire hot enough to make vapor...where all the sub-ohm craze comes into play is getting the lag time down from when you push the button to when you get optimal vape at a warmth of your liking. If you're using a small platform with small air holes and a tight draw...you probably won't want as much 'heat'. If you have a giant platform with great big air holes and you want massive lung hits and rich clouds, you might find yourself wanting some pretty hot coils (up to 10 watts each). It's all subjective though...and up to your personal tastes.
Note, the more coils you add...the faster you'll go through liquid and battery charge. Be careful, and read up on the limits of your PV and battery. Use an Ohm's Law calculator and a multimeter to stay well within it's current limits (amps)! If you sub-ohm consider retiring the battery from service sooner than you normally would. Check the voltage of the battery often...don't let it go below 3.5v before you recharge it.
When you list resistances do you mean 'total' for both coils together, or for each coil?
Note that running a pair of 2 Ohm coils in parallel would give you a total resistance of 1 Ohm.
With a fresh battery @ 4.2v, that'd give you 8.82 watts 'per coil' (17.64 watts total). This set-up would draw 4.2 amps.
The primary advantage to going dual coil is that you can spread the watts/power out over more coil-to liquid surface area, and you can do so with less 'lag time' for all that wire to heat up. I.E. A 28 wrap coil of AWG 28 on a 1/16" jig would give you around 4 Ohms in a single coil, and that could take quite some time to 'heat up' to a good 8ish watt vape temperature. If you split that into two 2 Ohm coils, for a 1 Ohm total resistance, then you'd see all that wire heat up to close to 9 watts per coil much faster.
Note: many VV/VW APV units can't take atties lower than 1.5ish Ohms. For those you'd need two 3 Ohm coils, and you'd have to rely on upping the voltage/wattage setting to get them hotter. Most will top out around from 12 to 15 watts (6 to 7.5 watts per coil) due to safety current limits in the devices.
A good deal of your 'performance' will have to do with air flow, the type coils you are building, and of course, your chosen wick material. You only need get the wire hot enough to make vapor...where all the sub-ohm craze comes into play is getting the lag time down from when you push the button to when you get optimal vape at a warmth of your liking. If you're using a small platform with small air holes and a tight draw...you probably won't want as much 'heat'. If you have a giant platform with great big air holes and you want massive lung hits and rich clouds, you might find yourself wanting some pretty hot coils (up to 10 watts each). It's all subjective though...and up to your personal tastes.
Note, the more coils you add...the faster you'll go through liquid and battery charge. Be careful, and read up on the limits of your PV and battery. Use an Ohm's Law calculator and a multimeter to stay well within it's current limits (amps)! If you sub-ohm consider retiring the battery from service sooner than you normally would. Check the voltage of the battery often...don't let it go below 3.5v before you recharge it.
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Sorry for the confusion, those resistance values will be what the mod would see.
Actually let's add more data, we are to use varying gauges of resistance wire so that each element would roughly be the same length regardless of resistance, for example, 32ga for the 0.9, 35ga for 1.8 and 38ga for 3.6 would all yield roughly 1.5" per coil. With the figures from the OP remaining the same and everything else being equal, do you guys think there will be any discernible difference?
This is more of a mental exercise as I'm not even a regular vaper (I'm helping my father-in-law quit smoking).
If I understand the question properly:
Will a 3 Ohm coil vape the same at 8 watts as a 2 Ohm coil at 8 watts?
The answer would be 'maybe'. It would be quite close. Assuming you used different gauges of wire to get those resistances with a similar number of wraps it should indeed be very close to the same experience.
Will there be a difference between a 1.5 Ohm coil and a 3 Ohm coil without a variable PV (or set to different voltages/powers)? Absolutely. The flavor of the liquid could be different. The temperature of the vapor will be different. The amount of vapor produced with the same length of draw will be different.
To simplify your quest, watch your father-in-law smoke.
What flavor does he smoke? (lights, full, filterless, etc)
Does he do pipes and cigars or just cigarettes?
How often does he smoke?
Does he pull deep straight lung hits or does it look more like a mouth puff, then into the lungs after he lowers the cigarette?
Does he play around with the smoke in his mouth?
Does he get his nose into the action much? (watch for smoke from the nose on both inhale and exhale)
From there we can kind of get an idea as to some toppers that might fit his needs.
The fine attributes on how the coil is built and what wire is used will be secondary to matching up his draw style with a topper to match it.
If you've gotten him a variable voltage or variable wattage PV, then a single coil topper at around 2.5 Ohms will give him a rather large RANGE in what he can do with the temperature of his vapor.
Moving into multiple coil builds...well, that's a whole new discussion as to who would need it, and why they want it.
If he doesn't have a variable PV, then he'll just need to try some different resistances to get a feel for what he prefers.
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I think I got my answer. Thank you!
I got him a Vamo V5 clone and the Eternity, so far he's been satisfied with the 2.4 ohm coil that came with the atomizer, he seems to go up and down on the wattage throughout the day with no obvious patterns, so I think he's still experimenting. I'm not really going to build him a sub-ohm dual coil dripper since I've never seen him use more than 8.5 watts with his current setp, like I said purely a mental exercise, I was just curious if the subtle differences in coil resistance would be ampliefied in a dual coil setup..
Thanks for all the great info.
An epic megathread on this very question...
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/346216-watts-do-not-matter-its-all-about-wire-temp-read.html
Ohm's law and dual coils:
www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/general-e-smoking-discussion/501604-dual-coils-explained.html
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/346216-watts-do-not-matter-its-all-about-wire-temp-read.html
Ohm's law and dual coils:
www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/general-e-smoking-discussion/501604-dual-coils-explained.html
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Experience of a single coil vs dual coil won't be amplified at same power outputs. I stick around 9watts with single coil cartomizers, but I'll pack as much heat into a dual coil..cartomizers can't really take much more than 12watts in my experience..but a RBA..well...I can't wait for DNA30's to become available, so I don't have to use a mech and deciohms to get the adequate heat for them.
I can definitely understand that but until we get a vv/vw/vt mod, watts, I feel, is the closest we have of getting a consistent experience, compensating to some degree for varying coil resistance.
That's pretty much what the thread says.
Watts is a proxy. It isn't a bad proxy, but you should be aware that it is a proxy.
The actual vaporisation process is physically far too complex to characterise in a single measurement.
Watts is a proxy. It isn't a bad proxy, but you should be aware that it is a proxy.
The actual vaporisation process is physically far too complex to characterise in a single measurement.
The latter URL was supposed to be this one, sorry about that: www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/general-e-smoking-discussion/501604-dual-coils-explained.html
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