goofy ohm readings?

[anavidfan]

Hello, been doing real good for a few weeks, now Im getting some odd readings. Ive been fine tuning my setup and have come down to a final setup. I cut my kanthal to just a tad over 2 inches for a resistance of 2.2-2.6 ohms then I twist my wires with sterling silver for the non-resistance. I tested after and still same resistance reading. I wrap my wick and attach to my atty and take a reading again and same reading.

This morning I took my atty apart to rinse and dry burn, I was ready to do a dry burn and check it again to be sure, like I always do and got a real high reading of 5.6. I touch it and it starts to jump all over from 4 to higher than 8. Has this happened to anyone else. I know that sometimes after using the same wick and coil for a few days/weeks that the resistance goes up, but this was a new wick and coil from last night. Could I have damaged the wicks when I rinsed the wick? maybe I pinched it too much when I was drying it? I did a new set up and used the same pre made wires I make with same matierials and every thing and was getting the real high readings, with the only difference being that I tried a thicker wick. I took it off and did another and everything was the same. I have 2 different multimeters, one like this one

and one like this one

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated, Im perplexed

 

[BuzzKilla]

loose/bad connection between resistance and no-resistance wire?

 

[anavidfan]

thats what if figured but they are really really tight, I twist them tightly and then take the sterling and wrap it over perfectly tight, so I think, but Im thinking that after I rinsed it that maybe I pushed it and maybe crunched it , its so odd. Thanks, I will work on the twists.

 

[BuzzKilla]

be sure to keep it clean too, i may be wrong but the oil residue on your fingers may add to the ohm irregularities.

its a long shot, but just thought i would cover every possibility.

when i used no-resistance wire, i would twist with needle-nose pliers...

 

[dsy5]

be sure to keep it clean too, i may be wrong but the oil residue on your fingers may add to the ohm irregularities.

its a long shot, but just thought i would cover every possibility.

when i used no-resistance wire, i would twist with needle-nose pliers...

I would tend to agree with the looseness issue. When I add NR to my Kanthal or NiChrome I use a small electrical ferrule and crimp them together - you can find 1 mm silver ferrules in a hobby shop dealing with necklace and wirst band making. They are not as small as the electrical ones I use, but many people on the forum have used them successfully. I get mine from work and they are used on 24 ga wire (less than .5mm).

 

[anavidfan]

thank you I will try the crimp beads and try to clean my hands better. I use pliers to twist them together.

 

[gaijinrocker]

Hello,

Did u resolve the problem ?

 

[gaijinrocker]

Hello,

Did u resolve the problem ?

 

[anavidfan]

Yes I did, wow forgot about this. It turned out it was the multimeter I was using, combined with loose twists. I was using sterling silver which was delicate and thinner than the 32 kanthal I was using. Found some 32 nickel wire and it seems to be working out better for me. Using the same gauge wires makes for easier more even twists and the nickel is stronger so I can make tighter twists and not worry about the wire breaking. I hope that helps others out. I also felt bad about using sterling silver and throwing it away.