Help! Temp control has gone crazy!

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MikeB

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It looks like you have your coil-legs wrapped around the screw, it's possible that they touch the housing that way. I always trap them underneath the screw on one side of the post and cut them off as short as possible.

Yes, the legs are wrapped around the screw in a sort of half-U and the tail is trimmed and tucked into the little prong. What exactly do you mean "touching the housing"? The prongs next to the screws?

And you just leave your legs straight and under just one side of the screw? How do you keep them from popping out as you tighten it? This SS316L is so springy.

Your coil also looks a little warped to be honest, are you sure there are no hotspots anywhere..? This is usually the case ime when the resistance some times drops but then goes back up to the old value again, especially after messing with it a little bit.

NO, I'm not sure of my coil at all. I always made tensioned micro coils with Kanthal. Building spaced coils with this springy SS316L, its very difficult to get it neat and tidy. Plus, with the length of the coil and the prongs, I have to bend the legs to get them under the screws.

Another thing you can check is if your number 6 is tight:

View attachment 603087

If you remove screw number one from your 510 connection the base-plate can be pulled out from the underside and you'll see a little nut (number 6 in metric if I remember correctly). It should be tight but not overtightened or your insulator (number 12) could break.

Good luck and keep us posted!

I'll check those internals...
 

MikeB

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Sorry to read you're having problems again. No, TC should not be this hard, I'm afraid you're just a bit unlucky
24664313681_c43e9e55b4_o.gif


Not sure if this will solve it for you, but a few things come to mind;

It looks like you have your coil-legs wrapped around the screw, it's possible that they touch the housing that way. I always trap them underneath the screw on one side of the post and cut them off as short as possible. Do you have a wire-cutter with a flat cutting side? I use 2 strands of 28g and have no need for the longer screws by the the way, twisted 26 might be a different story.

Your coil also looks a little warped to be honest, are you sure there are no hotspots anywhere..? This is usually the case ime when the resistance some times drops but then goes back up to the old value again, especially after messing with it a little bit.

Another thing you can check is if your number 6 is tight:

View attachment 603087

If you remove screw number one from your 510 connection the base-plate can be pulled out from the underside and you'll see a little nut (number 6 in metric if I remember correctly). It should be tight but not overtightened or your insulator (number 12) could break.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Not to impose, but if you have time a picture of your coil and what you do with the legs woukd really help.

Also, I feel like my coil is too big. 6 wraps or twisted 28ga SS316 around a 3mm rod is a big coil when spaced. As I said, it takes some manipulation to get the legs angled back toward the screws.

And what on earth are the prongs next to the screw for? I can't seem to make use of them and they just seem in the way. I'd be lying if I said I haven't thought about taking a hacksaw to them. Lol.
 

louiesquared

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NO, I'm not sure of my coil at all. I always made tensioned micro coils with Kanthal. Building spaced coils with this springy SS316L, its very difficult to get it neat and tidy. Plus, with the length of the coil and the prongs, I have to bend the legs to get them under the screws.

With SS316L you do not need to make spaced coils. I use contact coils in all of my TC mods with SS304 and SS316L.
 

Dubminer

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Wait... really??? I thought SS would conduct across any touching coils, thereby "shorting" the coil and dropping the resistance. The coils can touch?!?
Yes,i have used contact all the time in SS 316L. If it effected the resistance then it would do the same with Kanthal. Funny you mention that because today i built my first spaced,not worth the bother for me.Harder to build more noise and the same flavor.
 

louiesquared

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Wait... really??? I thought SS would conduct across any touching coils, thereby "shorting" the coil and dropping the resistance. The coils can touch?!?

Yes Sir. If you pulse the coils just like Kanthal it will form an oxide layer that will protect it from arcing.
 
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MikeB

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Yes Sir. If you pulse the coils just like Kanthal it will form an oxide layer that will protect it from arcing.

Wonderful! I didn't realize SS did that too. I thought was a properly of only kanthal. I'm making new coils tonight. I hate thesee wonky spaced ones.

So just flip over to watts mode and heat the coil until red?
 
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MikeB

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By the way, on the plus side (sort of), I'm getting where I don't care at all what temperature it's set at. I'm leaving the temp unlocked all the time.

Too hot? Turn it down. Too cool? Turn it up.

I guess in a way it doesn't matter at all what the temp reading is, as long as it's putting out a vape I like.

I just want it to be consistent so I can stop fiddling with it all day. 280f-470f all day is kinda rediculous.
 

Dubminer

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By the way, on the plus side (sort of), I'm getting where I don't care at all what temperature it's set at. I'm leaving the temp unlocked all the time.

Too hot? Turn it down. Too cool? Turn it up.

I guess in a way it doesn't matter at all what the temp reading is, as long as it's putting out a vape I like.

I just want it to be consistent so I can stop fiddling with it all day. 280f-470f all day is kinda rediculous.
You will get there,all i vape are several KF V5 clones,i never have any problems.I do use TC but i really do not see much benefit over power mode for MTL vaping.
 
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MikeB

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You will get there,all i vape are several KF V5 clones,i never have any problems.I do use TC but i really do not see much benefit over power mode for MTL vaping.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

What is your coil build, if you don't mind me asking? (Since you're also on a K5).

Also, what do you do with your coil legs? Do you use those little prongs at all?
 
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Dubminer

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Thanks for the vote of confidence.

What is your coil build, if you don't mind me asking? (Since you're also on a K5).

Also, what do you do with your coil legs? Do you use those little prongs at all?
I have two going at all times.One for the day and one for the evening.Day build kanthal a1 28 ga 2.5 mm id 7 wraps 1.7 ohm contact coil at 10 watts in power mode.Evening build SS 316L 28 GA 2.5 mm id 5 wraps .54 ohm contact coil normally at 430 F in TC. I do not use the prongs,well i go through the screw bend round so wire gets trapped on the other side of screw then pull through prongs.Tighten then trim off so wire is not in prongs just before entering prongs.
 

MikeB

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I have two going at all times.One for the day and one for the evening.Day build kanthal a1 28 ga 2.5 mm id 7 wraps 1.7 ohm contact coil at 10 watts in power mode.Evening build SS 316L 28 GA 2.5 mm id 5 wraps .54 ohm contact coil normally at 430 F in TC. I do not use the prongs,well i go through the screw bend round so wire gets trapped on the other side of screw then pull through prongs.Tighten then trim off so wire is not in prongs just before entering prongs.

So I built your style coil, though using 6 wraps instead of 5 because I want to experiment with higher ohms, since SS has such a narrow TCR. It came in at 6.5 ohms

I'm vaping at 515f and it's pushing about 15 watts. Even at 515f I'd say it's only a warm to very warm vape, though that's very subjective. At 430f it was extremely cool to cold vape. Is 430f a typo, or do you prefer a very cool vape? I'm just trying to determine if I did anything wrong, since I'm running it at near 100 degrees over yours.

It appears stable though. With a much smaller contact coil, it was much easier to secure the legs tight under the screws, and make sure no part of the coil or its legs are touching anything they shouldn't be.
 

Dubminer

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So I built your style coil, though using 6 wraps instead of 5 because I want to experiment with higher ohms, since SS has such a narrow TCR. It came in at 6.5 ohms

I'm vaping at 515f and it's pushing about 15 watts. Even at 515f I'd say it's only a warm to very warm vape, though that's very subjective. At 430f it was extremely cool to cold vape. Is 430f a typo, or do you prefer a very cool vape? I'm just trying to determine if I did anything wrong, since I'm running it at near 100 degrees over yours.

It appears stable though. With a much smaller contact coil, it was much easier to secure the legs tight under the screws, and make sure no part of the coil or its legs are touching anything they shouldn't be.
I use a DNA 75 device for TC. I have a 1 second boost at 35 watts. That gives me all the heat i need or maybe the throat hit i need. Try the same coil in power mode at around 16 watts. No idea if i like a cooler or warm vape, just like flavor and throat hit. I am glad you are now stable with ohms. TC is all personal preference,go for what temperature you like. I find higher temperatures give me less flavor.
 

MikeB

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I use a DNA 75 device for TC. I have a 1 second boost at 35 watts. That gives me all the heat i need or maybe the throat hit i need. Try the same coil in power mode at around 16 watts. No idea if i like a cooler or warm vape, just like flavor and throat hit. I am glad you are now stable with ohms. TC is all personal preference,go for what temperature you like. I find higher temperatures give me less flavor.

Good, we'll at least my higher temp is not sign of problems with my build, and my ohms appear to be holding steady even after a couple hours of use. This at least shows me that I am capable of building something stable with temp control.

From here I can experiment with different builds to see what I like, for preference sake, but at least I have a go-to that I know works. It really is all about neat and tidy, tight connections. That's easier to pull off with a small contact coil like this. I adjusted my airflow down and it's hitting to spot even better.

I really did like the mass of the last coil build, 28ga twisted though. It radiated heat very well, and made for an smooth comfortably warm vape. Only trouble is getting it stable.
 

Dubminer

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Good, we'll at least my higher temp is not sign of problems with my build, and my ohms appear to be holding steady even after a couple hours of use. This at least shows me that I am capable of building something stable with temp control.

From here I can experiment with different builds to see what I like, for preference sake, but at least I have a go-to that I know works. It really is all about neat and tidy, tight connections. That's easier to pull off with a small contact coil like this. I adjusted my airflow down and it's hitting to spot even better.

I really did like the mass of the last coil build, 28ga twisted though. It radiated heat very well, and made for an smooth comfortably warm vape. Only trouble is getting it stable.
I tried twisted, parallel, claptons etc. I think the KF V5 is more suited to simple builds.
 

Eskie

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Good, we'll at least my higher temp is not sign of problems with my build, and my ohms appear to be holding steady even after a couple hours of use. This at least shows me that I am capable of building something stable with temp control.

From here I can experiment with different builds to see what I like, for preference sake, but at least I have a go-to that I know works. It really is all about neat and tidy, tight connections. That's easier to pull off with a small contact coil like this. I adjusted my airflow down and it's hitting to spot even better.

I really did like the mass of the last coil build, 28ga twisted though. It radiated heat very well, and made for an smooth comfortably warm vape. Only trouble is getting it stable.

You're on a VT 75, right? One of the nice things about DNA boards is the software. Here's a graph from my DNA 200 which illustrates what happens with TC. This is a simple single coil ~.6 ohm 316L build
Efusion curve.JPG


I only have 3 parameters up. The wattage (30W, preheat punch of 35), the real time resistance, and the temp (350 here because I just wanted to throw up quick demo).

When I hit fire, the green line goes above 30 to 35 (preheat), the falls to 30 and tails off to ~14W. My resistance, in purple, goes from 0.61 to 0.711 ohm, which is all that the board is actually measuring. The red is the temp. Note it starts low, room temperature, almost immediately hits 350, and then remains it at 350F the whole time my finger is on the fire button.

If this were simply power, wattage mode, my wattage would be fixed at 30W and my temp would keep climbing the whole time i held the fire button down, getting progressively hotter over time.
 

MikeB

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You're on a VT 75, right? One of the nice things about DNA boards is the software. Here's a graph from my DNA 200 which illustrates what happens with TC. This is a simple single coil ~.6 ohm 316L build
View attachment 603201

I only have 3 parameters up. The wattage (30W, preheat punch of 35), the real time resistance, and the temp (350 here because I just wanted to throw up quick demo).

When I hit fire, the green line goes above 30 to 35 (preheat), the falls to 30 and tails off to ~14W. My resistance, in purple, goes from 0.61 to 0.711 ohm, which is all that the board is actually measuring. The red is the temp. Note it starts low, room temperature, almost immediately hits 350, and then remains it at 350F the whole time my finger is on the fire button.

If this were simply power, wattage mode, my wattage would be fixed at 30W and my temp would keep climbing the whole time i held the fire button down, getting progressively hotter over time.

DNA 75, now on a DNA 200 since the Therion came in.

Good. That's what my graph looks like when everything is working. When it's not, it's not a smooth curve like that. It's still a curve, but there's a lot of peaks and valleys.

So far so good on this new coil. From the device display, I have noticed it's recalculated the cold ohms a few times. It started at 0.65, then after a few hours dropped to 0.63, and now seems to have settled at 0.64. The whole time though, 510-520 degrees has "felt right", so performance wise it feels stable.

I even messed with it last night to see if I could screw it up. I hooked it up to the atomizer analyzer and poked at it and wiggled it with a screw driver. I put pressure on the screws, and gently tapped it on the table too. It held pretty steady, though the "raw ohms" reading never stops moving for me, as some have suggested it should. Every second it gives a new reading, but it's only the last digit that's fluctuating, for instance 0.675 -0.678 or so.
 
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