Following all of the safety rules (low / sub ohm), vapor production is worse than my 2 ohm clearo.

[Cig-A-Hate]

Started with a joye-style battery with cartos. Moved on to a tank clearo with prebuilt coil heads on a cheap mech mod. I recently graduated to better (still cheap) mech mods and the OSB Engine. Here is where the trouble started. So, if this thread is in the wrong place, feel free to move it to the newbie section.

Here are the build specs.

• Battery: Sony VCT4
• Mods: EHPro GGTS & Chronus Clones
• Atty: OSB Engine Standard
• Wire: 24 & 32 ga Kanthal A1
• Wick: Organic, boiled & dried cotton with seeds removed.

When I fire the clearo (I have 1.8 and 2 ohm heads) on any of my mods, the K100, GGTS or Chronus clone, it sires right up. Great vapor production for what it is but it dry burns rather fast if you don't pulse the button to keep the wick primed.

When I build coils, I'm cheating like Tiger. I use the Coil Master jig and have built coils from 1.5 ohm single coil all the way down the .25 ohm dual coil. Making sure I never even approach my 28'ish amp limit for the battery. And I am using my build deck every step of the way making sure the resistance is the same after checking for hot spots and wicking.

Furthermore, the vape-safe charts I've seen mostly don't even address sub ohm. They all make it seem like anything below 1 ohm is terrible for vaping. But we all know better than that.

Here are some of the problems I am having. The OBS Engine takes FOREVER to warm up. At .25 ohms 4.2 volts on a fresh battery, I should be drawing 70 watts @ about 20 amps. I have a difficult time believing that I'm not pushing enough power to the atty. Even with a VV kick jacked all the way up to 5 volts is only going to give me 30 more watts.

My GGTS clone's firing button gets insanely hot before the atty even warms up; but only overheats when using the OBS Engine. The battery is NOT overheating though.

I can vape the clearo's all day on the GGTS and not have this issue. But I do seem to get dry hits MUCH more with the GGTS + clearo.

The Chronus clone is a champ. It can handle long hits on the Engine and never get warm. I can fire my clearos longer before having to prime the wick. Even then the vapor is still really low.

IDK. I was just expecting much heavier vapor production with the Engine. I've read all the suggestions. Different airflow positions. Wick using a ton of cotton, / use as little cotton as possible (and everything in between). Nothing seems to be helping produce the vapor I'm shooting for.

I've got a VV and VW kick; but I'm waiting on a kick sleeve for the Chronus. But the VV kick will only give me about 30 extra watts and the VW kick will drop me from 70 to 20 watts. But these friggin vape safe charts seem to put anything over about 8 watts out of the 'sweet spot' - I'm beginning to wonder if the charts are garbage or I'm a ..... who can't read a simple chart. I'm attaching 2 charts as a point of reference.

I humbly await your replies so I can start competing with the oil refinery smoke stacks

 

[classwife]

Moved you to New Members from Ask the Veterans

 

[KenD]

Just a couple of points.
1) the Sony vtc4 is a 20-23 amp battery, not 28. And that's when it's new and unused.
2) those charts are only really applicable to first generation clearos. They're not applicable to coils in general.
3) it's not recommended to use pre-built coil heads on mech mods. The positive and negative leads are usually only separated by a thin rubber grommit and the risk of a dead short is therefore too close.
4) you need to consider the coil mass when building coils for mechs. Check out your builds on steam-engine.org and pay particular note to the heat flux and heat capacity values.

Sent from my Thor E using Tapatalk

 

[suprtrkr]

Hi and welcome. I am assuming you are winding your .25Ω coils with the 24ga wire you mention. If so, that's the problem. The wire is too heavy (thick) to heat up quickly at 70W/20A; it is just inappropriate for a one-battery tube mech. The reason you aren't getting any vapor is the coil is not fully heated when you are taking your pull. Try a coil using 28ga wire and shoot for .5Ω instead; I'm sure you'll see better results, to include faster ramp time and better vapor. not to mention much better battery life. I have been a mekkie for years and I have found anything below .5ish ohms on a one battery tubes eats batteries. This is why you see the competition vapers: a) "purge" the mod by blowing into it before taking their hit, as they've looking to see when the coil finally heats up enough to make real vapor; and b) change batteries every few hits. Super-low ohms like that will run a battery off top voltage very quickly indeed.

And ditch the EHPro clone entirely, if you can't clean the button enough to get rid of the heating problem. A hot button is very bad news, indicating a poor connection. It might even be cutting your vapor down as you are adding resistance to the circuit through the button.

Welcome to the board.

 

[AzPlumber]

If your button on the GGTS is getting hot it is one of two things (maybe both). The switch assembly is dirty and needs cleaned or you are drawing more amps than the switch can handle.

 

[BrotherBob]

I humbly await your replies so I can start competing with the oil refinery smoke stacks

Welcome and glad you joined. Wish you luck with the competition.

 

[Baditude]

I am in agreement with KenD, Suprtrker, and AxPlumber.

Use a thinner wire, ie 28 gauge kanthal. This will decrease your coil mass and ramp up time to heat the coil. Drop your target coil resistance to 0.6 or 0.5 ohms.

If you can not correct the issue with the hot fire button, retire the mod. A mech that has a hot fire button or body is a dangerous mod. A Beginner's Guide to Your First Mechanical Mod

Many folks believe the Sony VTC4 is a 30 amp battery. It's not, its been bench tested to be a 23 amp battery (when new). Sony VTC4 2000mAh 18650 Retest Results...a great 23A 2100mAh battery

Battery Basics for Mods: The Definative Battery Guide for Vaping​