How hard should I be pushing this thing?

[betterBquietnow]

Hey ya'll:

Just got my first rba set up -- DID clone with a pyrex tube i got from IBTanked.

I built my wick and coil with the included mesh and wire that came with the dud. No idea what the stats on these are, although i know its nichrome wire.

Coil clocks in at 1.1 ohm and its wicking okay (i have nothing to compare it to, but no dry hits yet)

Question: I have a ohm/volt/watt chart that suggests not going over 10watts b/c you risk melting nichrome. Firsly, is kanthal less susceptible to this? Secondly, I know people push their rba's to crazy high wattages, but I am unsure how many watts i can safely drive through this thing. I've currently got the provari set to 3.2 volts (9.3 watts, 2.9 amps with the 1.1ohm coil) and the flavor is okay but nothing mind bending. I drove it to 3.7 (12.4watts, 3.36 amps) and got better vapor production (obviously) but a metallic taste to the flavor

I know that there is a bit of a break in period, so maybe part of that is happening, but are there some general rules as to how many watts you should drive through a nichrome coil (other than amperage limit on the provari?)

I wanna see what this thing can do, just dont wanna blow out the coil and start THAT process over again, at least not tonight

 

[Rule62]

As long as you have a nice, evenly heating coil, when you set it up, and your wick is working well, you won't blow your coil, as long as the wick is wet, unlessw you push it to some ridiculously high wattage. Just let the flavor of the juice dictate your settings. Some people seem to be more interested in how big a vapor cloud they can blow. I'm personally not one of them. For me, the determining factor is the flavor of the juice.

 

[CountSmackula]

Agreed. For me, flavor is priority one. Throat hit second, and vapor a distant third.
I have to stealth vape at work, so zero vapor is a bonus in that situation.

As long as you have a nice, evenly heating coil, when you set it up, and your wick is working well, you won't blow your coil, as long as the wick is wet, unlessw you push it to some ridiculously high wattage. Just let the flavor of the juice dictate your settings. Some people seem to be more interested in how big a vapor cloud they can blow. I'm personally not one of them. For me, the determining factor is the flavor of the juice.

 

[betterBquietnow]

Sounds good people, thanks for the help...

Knowing I was okay, I messed with some different voltages and found the juice I'm vaping seems happiest at around 9 watts -- really starting to get some nice flavor, i think the coil/wick breaking in is the culprit there

Broke down and ordered 100ft of Kanthal and some mesh from themeshcompany.com ... im pretty sold on the rba concept, it would be great to not have to buy new carts/attys all the time and to never have to use a vivi nova again

 

[MrKV]

Just FYI, novas can be rebuilt also.

 

[Rule62]

Sounds good people, thanks for the help...

Knowing I was okay, I messed with some different voltages and found the juice I'm vaping seems happiest at around 9 watts -- really starting to get some nice flavor, i think the coil/wick breaking in is the culprit there

Broke down and ordered 100ft of Kanthal and some mesh from themeshcompany.com ... im pretty sold on the rba concept, it would be great to not have to buy new carts/attys all the time and to never have to use a vivi nova again

For me, a wick and coil isn't well broken in until I've vaped about 2 tank fulls through it. As for wattage, prior to using Genesis types, I was a confirmed CE2 user. I usually found my sweet spot to be somewhere between 6.5 and 7.0 watts. For whatever reason, with Genesis types, I find it to be somewhere between 8.0 and 9.0 watts, depending on the juice.