Help with coils.. Always 0 resistance?!?!?! LOSING MY MIND!!!!!

[Markwesleyang]

Help please.. I'm begging here.

so i've been vaping on and off and have always gone back to analogs because my vape was always weak (this was on an ego/vivitank set up). Decided to make the jump and spring for a mech mod and RBA hoping that it would give me what i was looking for which is thick "lung filling" heavy feeling clouds.

it's been three days.

no matter what I do with my coils, I always get a reading of 0 ohms from my digital multimeter. I made microcoils with 0.28 kanthal at 13 wraps on a toothpick.. I made microcoils with 0.32 kanthal at 13 wrapls on a toothpick. I made a single coil, 6 wraps with 0.20 kanthal. No coils touching. I even twisted 0.20 kanthal around a pencil 5 times. Still 0 resistance. What am I doing wrong? All my microcoils looks perfect. I followed every single step. They look exactly how they're supposed to. No overlaps or anything.. Problem is.. I'm not even getting a reading of 0.1 ohms.. It's always 0. Nada. I'm losing my mind here.. Stretched out my microcoils so that the coils weren't touching after the first three attempts failed. Still 0 ohms. I just want to vape so bad.. The stress and frustration is making me chain smoke like crazy.

Please. Someone. Anyone. Help.

 

[jonny45378]

Sounds like its a problem with your ohms reader to me.

Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk 2

 

[30+Years]

Could the meter be bad?

 

[MorpheusPA]

Take about a foot of Kanthal, straight wire. Touch both sides of the wire with your ohm meter. If it reads zero, there's a problem with the meter.

Or, alternately, you may be using the wrong setting on the meter. Mine displays 0 if, for instance, I accidentally test low-resistance resistors on the megaohm setting, or any of the voltage settings.

 

[K-Omo]

What RBA are you using? It might be the 510 connector is short and isn't making contact to the ohm reader. If the 510 pin is adjustable try unscrewing it a bit and check your resistance. I have a few RBA that the 510 pin is too short and I dont get a reading...unless I adjust the pin.

 

[doots]

sounds like wrong setting or bad meter. maybe replace batt in it if you can. I have a meter that just will not read ohms correctly. its a 5 buck meter. lol I just use my pvs that seem much more accurate anyways.

 

[dripdaze]

It sounds like a metering problem for sure. If your meter has a continuity setting, do not use it. Some meters also have a setting for diode checks(the symbol looks like an arrow w/perpendicular line through it) do not use that either.

 

[Markwesleyang]

Wow. I wasn't expecting a reply this fast.. Much less five! Joining the forum was definitely a great idea thanks guys.

Regarding the setting being wrong, i've tried all the settings from 200 to 2M. Still 0.

This is also the second meter i've tried. Bought a new one, different brand. Still nothing.

And regarding the RBA being the problem, i've tried testing it with nothing attached, it doesn't give a reading. But with any kanthal, it gives a reading of 0.

I think i'll try what morpheus suggested and take a foot of kanthal to test. I am strongly starting to believe that maybe the two meters from different brands were duds after all. I just didn't think two duds in a row was possible. Will a foot of any kanthal definitely give me a reading? I was starting to think maybe there was something wrong with my kanthal!

Was about to rip my hair out. Thanks. Maybe i'll just go buy an ohms checker made for attys. are those any good?

 

[Markwesleyang]

My first meter was my dad's. Might be broken though. That one was from a supposedly reliable brand(wheeler?).

My second meter cost me all of 3 dollars (actually, closer to 2 with the exchange rate). Figures. welcome to the philippines )

 

[MorpheusPA]

Yes, a foot of Kanthal will definitely give you a reading.

Assuming you use your 28 gauge, your reading should be around 5. That'll vary by how close to a foot you are (one foot of exactly 28 gauge Kanthal should have a resistance of 5.44). You don't have to cut the Kanthal off the roll to measure it, either, just unroll and measure and re-roll the wire.

If you still get zero, pinch the leads as tightly to the wire as you can, it's possible they're making poor contact. Reseat the leads in the plugs on the multimeter and make absolutely sure the correct wires are in the right plugs.

Most multi-meters have three plugs. The black one is ground. One red one is for amperage only, and usually marked 10 A DC or some such. The other red for voltage and resistance, and marked V-Ohm-mA or something like that (mine says VΩmA).

I can't tell you how often I've tried to measure amps with the ohm plug and ohms with the amps plug.

 

[bacc.vap]

Not likely, but there is a possibility that you have non resistance wire.

 

[nodpaige]

Either u have non resistance wire or your meter is bad if u looked at the coil and everything is perfect. Put it on a device to see will it fire. Dont do it with the mech mod tho just in case something is wrong u dont want to mess up your mech mod.

 

[K-Omo]

I thought you were using an atty ohm checker...my bad.

Yes, ohm checkers for attys are great.

 

[Markwesleyang]

I bought the kanthal from a vape shop.. Would it be possible that they sold me resistance free wire?

Followed all the steps morpheus listed above and still.. Nada. On both meters. Which is unnerving. Don't really know if it's the wire or the meter. How can I tell between non resistance wire and regular kanthal?


I'll try looking for a new meter. Thanks for all the help guys! I can finally sleep now.

 

[bacc.vap]

I bought the kanthal from a vape shop.. Would it be possible that they sold me resistance free wire?

Followed all the steps morpheus listed above and still.. Nada. On both meters. Which is unnerving. Don't really know if it's the wire or the meter. How can I tell between non resistance wire and regular kanthal?


I'll try looking for a new meter. Thanks for all the help guys! I can finally sleep now.

Yeah, its possible they marked the wire wrong. First though, you need to make sure whether your meter is working or not. Did you check on another atomizer you know works, or you could check the resistance of a light bulb, should have one of those around, hopefully.

 

[chunkystan]

find a light bulb that you know is good ,if it is a screw type place one probe on the borne at the base of bulb & one on the side,if its a bayonette type place the probes on each of the two bornes on the base of the bulb.On the ohms setting you will have a reading ,if not its your meter.You can also do the same test with plug in wall heaters :a probe on the neutral & one on the phase of the plug,the heater is a resistance ,therefore there will be an ohms reading.

 

[K-Omo]

I bought the kanthal from a vape shop.. Would it be possible that they sold me resistance free wire?

Followed all the steps morpheus listed above and still.. Nada. On both meters. Which is unnerving. Don't really know if it's the wire or the meter. How can I tell between non resistance wire and regular kanthal?


I'll try looking for a new meter. Thanks for all the help guys! I can finally sleep now.

Just because you bought the wire from vape doesn't mean its correct....they may not know the difference. Let us know what helped.

 

[IceCreamMan]

I would make a ten wrap micro coil around a 3/32 drill bit with 28ga and try to fire it if you have a regulated mod.... Should yield 1.6ohms. Not heat=no resistance wire... If it glows the meter is the problem.

 

[fajuvo]

I did my first wrap last night with 28 gauge wire. It was stuck on 1.2 ohms wouldn't move meaning, I did the best I could possibly do and I did only 8 wraps, If I can do it you can brotha! I bought temco kanthal wire 100 ft for like 7 or 8 bucks from ebay.

edit I'm 100 days smoke free whoa!

 

[Hazewitch]

I agree with everyone above - either a bad meter(or replace batteries) and/or there is something going on quite wrong from the moment you begin the rebuild up to measuring on the meter. here are a few tips that have helped me tame this beast to my preferences:

1.) go really slow when building your coil - cannot stress enough how important this is. The first couple of times I began coiling I would always get 0Ω or worst(having my ego twist melt - literally). carefully planning it all out step by step will allow you to see all the facets and stages clearly to avoid mistakes.

2.) using the Ω meter AND another device to double check - I use my Vamo 3 to double check what the meter is displaying. sometimes they conflict, but in all I always use both to see where i made a mistake and to avoid it in the future.

3.) Youtube Tutorials - watch as many re-build tut's as possible, then stick to one that you like or admire and replicate it until you get the same results(then write down those same steps for future reference in case you forget). as an example, I was using Phil busardo's method for building single coil wraps. It didn't work for me, but when I used RIP Trippers' method, it worked so I keep that one and avoid all the rest to avoid confusion.

Kanthal calculator - although most purist hate this, I have found it extremely effective and informative to see how many wraps I need based on gauge,diameter,etc...try it out

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/new-members-forum/506159-kanthal-coil-calculator.html

and finally, once you have mastered this beast, create your own coil method. Think outside the box and make your own world...


good luck

Xavier