help me understand safe coil building please.

[RubenAlonzo]

Tomorrow my CoilMaster V3 kit arrives along with my new AMMIT rta and I wish to start building my own coils. The kit comes with 24 gauge and some cotton, I also have some 26 gauge and cotton I purchased from Amazon that should arrive by Wednesday next week.

Ok, having said all that, at what resistance should I be aiming to build my coils? I am not a "Cloud Chaser" at all, my Smok AL85 produces a copious amount regardless of the wattage, though I normally vape at 30 watts. I also an familiar with Steam Engine website and have it bookmarked and I bought the android Vape Tool Pro app for my phone.

When I vape, my mod displays the wattage, amps, omhs, and resistance. How would I go about making a safe (I certainly do not wish to brick my mod, as it was a gift from my wife) coil for my AL85, and at what wattage should i then be vaping it? I do have the Samsung 2500 mah, 20A 18650 batteries, three of them to be precise, so this is my power source.

Should I be aiming to build for a resistance of say, .6xx Ohms? if so, what would be a good wattage to run for this coil? Do you recommend i build with the 24 gauge kanthal included in the kit or wait for the 26 gauge?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[bwh79]

It's not so much about coil resistance, as it is about battery discharge. With a mechanical or unregulated device, this is largely dictated by the build but in a regulated device, it's dictated by the wattage setting.

I do have the Samsung 2500 mah, 20A 18650 batteries, three of them to be precise, so this is my power source.

The general rule of thumb for 20A batteries in a regulated device is 60 watts per battery. Since the AL85 uses one battery at a time, that means 60 watts. Any higher, and you risk pulling more than 20 amps out of the battery when it has low charge.

The amps shown on the device are (probably) showing output amps delivered to the atomizer, and not input amps drawn from the battery (which is unfortunate, since that's the one that really matters.)

 

[Gramdogg]

Second that, any ohm is fine on APV's. It will say atty low or short circuit protection if something is wrong.

 

[Eskie]

What juice and nic concentration are you vaping? And do you like your BB and a big cloud style of vaping? In that mod with a single coil Ammit anything for 0.5 ohm up will give you good performance. Are you planning to try TC as well? If you ordered that 26G in SS you have the option of either power/wattage or TC.

Steam Engine is a great help for a quick calculation. Of course always double check the resistance of the coil on your mod to be sure you've got what you built for. Any big deviation can be caused from a loose/bad connection, to miscounting the number of wraps you made (yes, I'm not too proud I can't admit it has happened to me).

 

[CMD-Ky]

Consider taking a look at steamengine.org.

 

[RainSong]

You can pretty much feel free to try anything you like, if it works, great, if not you can pull it out and try again, so don't be afraid to just get in there and try. Watch some of the videos on beginning coil building and wicking on YouTube. I found building basic microcoils pretty easy, wicking was a little trickier but after a few trials and errors I can now change a wick in just a few minutes. As far as wattage, I was really concerned about that too as coils you build don't have those helpful guides on the side. Just start it out low and keep moving it up until you like what you're getting from it. Good luck and have fun!

 

[BrotherBob]

Tomorrow my CoilMaster V3 kit arrives along with my new AMMIT RTA and I wish to start building my own coils. The kit comes with 24 gauge and some cotton, I also have some 26 gauge and cotton I purchased from Amazon that should arrive by Wednesday next week.
Ok, having said all that, at what resistance should I be aiming to build my coils? I am not a "Cloud Chaser" at all, my Smok AL85 produces a copious amount regardless of the wattage, though I normally vape at 30 watts. I also an familiar with Steam Engine website and have it bookmarked and I bought the android Vape Tool Pro app for my phone.
When I vape, my mod displays the wattage, amps, omhs, and resistance. How would I go about making a safe (I certainly do not wish to brick my mod, as it was a gift from my wife) coil for my AL85, and at what wattage should i then be vaping it? I do have the Samsung 2500 mah, 20A 18650 batteries, three of them to be precise, so this is my power source.
Should I be aiming to build for a resistance of say, .6xx Ohms? if so, what would be a good wattage to run for this coil? Do you recommend i build with the 24 gauge kanthal included in the kit or wait for the 26 gauge?
Any help would be appreciated.

Welcome and glad you joined. The coil ID, wick material and type of tank/atomizer are among additional factors you may wish to consider when building a coil. Could read:
Wrapping Building Coils 101 For Beginners

 

[suprtrkr]

Hi and welcome. You don't mention what kind of wire you have coming, but I am assuming Kanthal A1. I personally find 30 watts to be a bit steep if I am coiled in the .6 range; although it works just fine coiled .5. Nothing unsafe, but that wattage will heat Kanthal to a higher temp than I like and can, with some juices, ruin the flavor profile. I would probably want to be in the 25 watt range at that resistance on Kanthal wire. I normally vape in the 28-30 watt range with .5 coils at work, and about 45-50 with .3ish coils at home. You have a regulated mod, so as long as you don't exceed the 60 watts mentioned above, you shouldn't be able to do much unsafe.

When you look at steam engine, pay attention to the "heat flux" box, far right below "results" on the coil wrapping page. it will show you the heat your coil will produce at various wattages (in milliwatts per millimeter squared of coil surface). Once you find a heat flux you like-- vape not too cool or hot, good flavor-- remember it and then set you mod as instructed for any coil you care to build.

Finally, in the mid to high subohm range, I find 28 gauge wire to be the most useful all around. I use 26 or 24 for seriously low ohms or massive-- I'm talking 12-15 wraps-- coils if I want to build one.

Good luck. Using a regulated mod you should be safe. Do buy a good ohmmeter when you can get one. I like a separate check on the ohms before firing rather than just using the mod; and the meter makes a nice build stand. And feel free to ask more questions.

 

[RubenAlonzo]

Hi and welcome. You don't mention what kind of wire you have coming, but I am assuming Kanthal A1. I personally find 30 watts to be a bit steep if I am coiled in the .6 range; although it works just fine coiled .5. Nothing unsafe, but that wattage will heat Kanthal to a higher temp than I like and can, with some juices, ruin the flavor profile. I would probably want to be in the 25 watt range at that resistance on Kanthal wire. I normally vape in the 28-30 watt range with .5 coils at work, and about 45-50 with .3ish coils at home. You have a regulated mod, so as long as you don't exceed the 60 watts mentioned above, you shouldn't be able to do much unsafe.

When you look at steam engine, pay attention to the "heat flux" box, far right below "results" on the coil wrapping page. it will show you the heat your coil will produce at various wattages (in milliwatts per millimeter squared of coil surface). Once you find a heat flux you like-- vape not too cool or hot, good flavor-- remember it and then set you mod as instructed for any coil you care to build.

Finally, in the mid to high subohm range, I find 28 gauge wire to be the most useful all around. I use 26 or 24 for seriously low ohms or massive-- I'm talking 12-15 wraps-- coils if I want to build one.

Good luck. Using a regulated mod you should be safe. Do buy a good ohmmeter when you can get one. I like a separate check on the ohms before firing rather than just using the mod; and the meter makes a nice build stand. And feel free to ask more questions.

Thanks so much for all the advice. I managed to 5 wrap myself a coil and it comes in at. 695 ohm and I'm vaping at 20 watts. Absolutely perfect, honestly I thought the wattage would be a little low but the AL85 vapes just fine.

I'm going to continue to practice my coils and am getting better at where the sweet spot it for me. I suspect i should have purchased the 28 gauge instead of the 26 but I can always get some later as I perfect my coils.

I need to work on my wicking skills and that is a little trickier to be honest than coiling, at least for me.

Again thank you all for the advice and links as well as explaining to me the ins and outs. I learn something new every day.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

 

[RainSong]

Thanks so much for all the advice. I managed to 5 wrap myself a coil and it comes in at. 695 ohm and I'm vaping at 20 watts. Absolutely perfect, honestly I thought the wattage would be a little low but the AL85 vapes just fine.

I'm going to continue to practice my coils and am getting better at where the sweet spot it for me. I suspect i should have purchased the 28 gauge instead of the 26 but I can always get some later as I perfect my coils.

I need to work on my wicking skills and that is a little trickier to be honest than coiling, at least for me.

Again thank you all for the advice and links as well as explaining to me the ins and outs. I learn something new every day.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

I'm going to like because you got it working for you and just guess that a resistance of 695 ohms was a typing error

 

[RubenAlonzo]

0.695 actually, 5 wraps, 4 full wraps, 2.5 diameter on Kanthal A1 rounded 26 gauge.

is that right? I use the CM Jig to build it and tested it on the Tab II Mini with my Ammit RTA screwed in.

 

[Eskie]

I need to work on my wicking skills and that is a little trickier to be honest than coiling, at least for me.

Again thank you all for the advice and links as well as explaining to me the ins and outs. I learn something new every day.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

Yup, the coil is the easy part. The wicking is the art to it. I found YT a good resource to watch different wicking techniques, some of which can be tank dependent. After a few rewicks it will feel more natural.

 

[suprtrkr]

Thanks so much for all the advice. I managed to 5 wrap myself a coil and it comes in at. 695 ohm and I'm vaping at 20 watts. Absolutely perfect, honestly I thought the wattage would be a little low but the AL85 vapes just fine.

I'm going to continue to practice my coils and am getting better at where the sweet spot it for me. I suspect i should have purchased the 28 gauge instead of the 26 but I can always get some later as I perfect my coils.

I need to work on my wicking skills and that is a little trickier to be honest than coiling, at least for me.

Again thank you all for the advice and links as well as explaining to me the ins and outs. I learn something new every day.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

Well done. I can agree wicking can be difficult until you get the hang of it. You may wish to try some rayon instead of cotton. I use it exclusively, and I find it to be cleaner tasting and much less sensitive to wick volume than cotton.

 

[mcclintock]

Always turn off the mod when touching the wire or wicking while the atty is on it. I've accidently hit fire when wicking (catches fire), and somehow I was pulling the wire through a post and managed to ground the pliers and hit fire at once, on a mech no less, that 1/8" bit of wire lit up like a light bulb. Good thing I dropped it on the table instead of my lap.

 

[Vap3dz]

Coils are a Deal only on unregulated and mechanical mods. On a VW it Doesnt matter what coil u Build since its a Variable wattage device. I dont know how Others work but my rx 2/3 self regulates the max wattage output with the formula W(max)=V^2/R. Normally the min-Résistance value that a mod can have is written on the box or u can find it online. It all depends on how u like to vape and what liquid u vape. If u Go for MTL Then u'll Need a higher resistance ( between 0.8 and 1,5 ohm or more), Low wattage and tight airflow, while for DL u have to Go with a smaller resistance (0.2-0.8ohm) and higher wattage. The First Method uses fewer eliquid but blows smaller clouds ( u generally use a 50/50 to max 70/30 liquid with high nic Levels) the Second uses Tons of liquid with massive clouds ( 70/30 to 100% VG and Low nic). Its up to you. For the resistance itself i use the 6 wraps rule of thumb because 6 wraps is generally the perfect lenght between the Posts for me. If i Need higher resistance i use a smaller wire if i Need it lower i use a thicker wire. But in the end u are the one vaping ur build so only u know Whats best for u.
Hope ive been helpful
Vape on

 

[RubenAlonzo]

Always turn off the mod when touching the wire or wicking while the atty is on it. I've accidently hit fire when wicking (catches fire), and somehow I was pulling the wire through a post and managed to ground the pliers and hit fire at once, on a mech no less, that 1/8" bit of wire lit up like a light bulb. Good thing I dropped it on the table instead of my lap.

I build my coils on the Tab II mini, never on the mod itself, im too chicken for that. Thank you for the tip!