IGO-L Problem (Terrible taste)

[nahoku]

Couple things ...

1) You need to clean the IGO-L thoroughly... boiling works well. If you don't want to boil, at least use some good dish-washing soap and scrub it well... then rinse it equally well to get the soap out.

2) Get rid of the pin when you wrap your coils. Wrap the coils directly onto the wick. Wrap so the wire compresses the wick material slightly, but not too tightly. You want a little compression because you want your wire to always be in contact with the wick. If there's too much space between the wick and wire then you'll end up with hot wires that may not be easily seen but readily tasted. If you insist on using that rather large safety pin, then wrap tighter than you think you need to so that when you remove the pin there is still compression on the wick by the wire. You absolutely want compression on the wick and lack of it is probably causing the spitting juice you're experiencing.

3) You need to position the wick/coil so it sits near the deck. The air hole on the cap sits just above the rim of the well area in the base, so in order to have air pass right over the wick, the wick needs to sit low. Having the wick sitting low will also produce more/better vapor. Experiment by adjusting the height of the wick as needed for your vape quality.

4) The wick and wire need to break in... until then, the flavor may taste metallic until the wire gets coated. This can take a few dripping sessions so you have to be patient. You won't have a great vape right off the bat. One way to check if your wire is broken in is the check the color of the wire. If you see any silver color on your wire, then it's not broken in yet. When your wire is broken in, your wire will be black. If some coils are silver and some are black, then the coil is not heating evenly. Moving/spacing your coils out can normally remedy this.

5) Get rid of that bic type lighter and purchase a small torch or at least a decent butane lighter that outputs a blue gas flame. All you can expect from a bic is soot!

6) Don't give up!

Good luck!

 

[spacenoob]

Couple things ...

1) You need to clean the IGO-L thoroughly... boiling works well. If you don't want to boil, at least use some good dish-washing soap and scrub it well... then rinse it equally well to get the soap out.

2) Get rid of the pin when you wrap your coils. Wrap the coils directly onto the wick. Wrap so the wire compresses the wick material slightly, but not too tightly. You want a little compression because you want your wire to always be in contact with the wick. If there's too much space between the wick and wire then you'll end up with hot wires that may not be easily seen but readily tasted. If you insist on using that rather large safety pin, then wrap tighter than you think you need to so that when you remove the pin there is still compression on the wick by the wire. You absolutely want compression on the wick and lack of it is probably causing the spitting juice you're experiencing.

3) You need to position the wick/coil so it sits near the deck. The air hole on the cap sits just above the rim of the well area in the base, so in order to have air pass right over the wick, the wick needs to sit low. Having the wick sitting low will also produce more/better vapor. Experiment by adjusting the height of the wick as needed for your vape quality.

4) The wick and wire need to break in... until then, the flavor may taste metallic until the wire gets coated. This can take a few dripping sessions so you have to be patient. You won't have a great vape right off the bat. One way to check if your wire is broken in is the check the color of the wire. If you see any silver color on your wire, the it's not broken in yet. When your wire is broken in, your wire will be black. If some coils are silver and some are black, then the coil is not heating evenly. Moving/spacing your coils out can normally remedy this.

5) Get rid of that bic type lighter and purchase a small torch or at least a decent butane lighter that outputs a blue gas flame. All you can expect from a bic is soot!

6) Don't give up!

Good luck!

Wow!! This is a lot of great information. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. I appreciate it. My brain just expanded by at least 50%.

 

[spacenoob]

OK! So I boiled my IGO in water, and this time I didn't use my BIC lighter to heat the wire. I coiled directly onto my wick not too tight, not too loose (I didn't fold it over, just one layer), made sure it was right by where the hole would be (away from the posts) and prefired it. the "legs" didnt turn red, only the coil did. then i added liquid (not too much) and fired it - the smell wasnt terrible this time, so I put on the cap and added about 10 drops. It now tastes like nothing with a hint of my ejuice flavor, but it doesnt taste BAD This is a big step up!!

I'm gonna keep toot'n and see if it gets better with time.

Thanks everyone!

 

[spacenoob]

my favorite part about the RBA so far is that it's absolutely SILENT! I usually use a boge SR carto with a tank and its so loud that I get embarrassed when I use it in front of people (when it's quiet, like in a car or during a movie)

 

[CloudZ]

OK! So I boiled my IGO in water, and this time I didn't use my BIC lighter to heat the wire. I coiled directly onto my wick not too tight, not too loose (I didn't fold it over, just one layer), made sure it was right by where the hole would be (away from the posts) and prefired it. the "legs" didnt turn red, only the coil did. then i added liquid (not too much) and fired it - the smell wasnt terrible this time, so I put on the cap and added about 10 drops. It now tastes like nothing with a hint of my ejuice flavor, but it doesnt taste BAD This is a big step up!!

I'm gonna keep toot'n and see if it gets better with time.

Thanks everyone!

You really should try folding the silica over. 3.5mm is pretty chunky as it is, but it still may not allow enough juice to be held near the coil. For instance, on SLR (sub-ohm) coils, I need to use 3 strands of 2mm silica. Otherwise it burns, tastes weak, etc. Just not enough wicking.

You don't need to order cotton, you can buy it just about anywhere or you may have some on hand. Sterile cotton balls or the unrolled tip of of a swab works well. You can also buy packs of sterile cotton patches at a drugstore. Even 100% cotton yarn works, you just have to boil and dry it first.

Also, I noticed that you aren't posting resistances, so I assume you aren't using a multimeter to check coils before using them. This is an important safety step and it helps when learning about what performs well and why.

 

[Myk]

Is there any "rule of thumb" for this? I don't have a resistance guage.

Yeah, don't do it without a way to measure before firing.
Go buy a cheap multi-meter for $10-$20. Walmart has them, Radio Shack has them.

 

[holcombgl]

With 6 wraps on 3mm folded I would think the coil would be close to 2.4 ohms maybe a little more. I will measure it out to give you a estimate but it will only be a estimate I have some 3mm ekowool and 28awg wire but you really need to get a multimeter. Also some one sad silica could not keep up with micro coils I don't think that is true. I have had better luck with .8 dual micros on ecko wool then on organic cotton balls thanks to member statistic they gave me advice on my igo w build I have had everything working smoothly. The cotton burns to quickly unless you are going over 1.2 I would use something with better heat retention I have use ecko with .4 ohm and it wicked fine just found the vapor to hot and went through to much juice.

 

[CloudZ]

With 6 wraps on 3mm folded I would think the coil would be close to 2.4 ohms maybe a little more. I will measure it out to give you a estimate but it will only be a estimate I have some 3mm ekowool and 28awg wire but you really need to get a multimeter. Also some one sad silica could not keep up with micro coils I don't think that is true. I have had better luck with .8 dual micros on ecko wool then on organic cotton balls thanks to member statistic they gave me advice on my igo w build I have had everything working smoothly. The cotton burns to quickly unless you are going over 1.2 I would use something with better heat retention I have use ecko with .4 ohm and it wicked fine just found the vapor to hot and went through to much juice.

Yeah, ekowool seems to do well in micros but normal silica seems to have issues. I just assume that very few people actually use it due to its cost and availability.

Also, cotton does just fine in sub-ohm setups. It just has to fit perfectly in the coil after it expands. If it is too tight at all, it burns easy then. I've recently built some 0.7-0.8 ohm coils with cotton that vape like crazy for days without burning.

Ditto on the multimeter. 6 wraps of 28 gauge on 6mm of silica could be as low as 1.2 ohms. If I remember correctly, I was using tripled 2mm silica (6mm total) with 4 wraps of 28 and it came out to 0.8 ohms. 3 wicks together makes more of a round shape than 2, which makes more of an oval, which has a higher circumference to cross sectional area ratio. So approaching 2 ohms isn't out of the question. This is why a multimeter is needed, you just never know for sure when wrapping directly around a wick and there is no "rule of thumb" that it all that accurate. You can judge by experience, having wrapped dozens of coils, and its easier to guess if you wrap around a drill bit or something.

 

[spacenoob]

You really should try folding the silica over. 3.5mm is pretty chunky as it is, but it still may not allow enough juice to be held near the coil. For instance, on SLR (sub-ohm) coils, I need to use 3 strands of 2mm silica. Otherwise it burns, tastes weak, etc. Just not enough wicking.

I will try this soon.

Also, I noticed that you aren't posting resistances, so I assume you aren't using a multimeter to check coils before using them. This is an important safety step and it helps when learning about what performs well and why.

I can dig this. Any recommendations on a good multimeter that hooks right on my device? Id prefer to get one specifically made for atomizers.

ALSO, my coil seems to have "broken in" a bit. I just got some new flavors from Capella and WOW it tastes amazing. I'm super impressed by the vapor production and taste. I'm one of those few who cant stand throat hit (I actually don't use nicotine anymore) so I use a lot of VG which usually gunks up a carto pretty quickly, but now all I have to do is rebuild my atty. This is the happiest i've been with my ecig experience thus far. My only problem with it is that I have to drip more often than I would like to. I'm thinking maybe I'd be even happier with an RBA tank.

Thank you all for getting me to this point. I'm very happy and I greatly appreciate all your help.

 

[travanx]

3) You need to position the wick/coil so it sits near the deck. The air hole on the cap sits just above the rim of the well area in the base, so in order to have air pass right over the wick, the wick needs to sit low. Having the wick sitting low will also produce more/better vapor. Experiment by adjusting the height of the wick as needed for your vape quality.

Awesome! I have been messing around with this since I built my first wick. 32g Kanthal on 2mm silica wick with 4 wraps. I had this positioned too high compared to the hole it seems. So I just lowered this closer to the deck and wow what a huge difference. Just took a mechanical pencil and pushed down. I can't believe how finicky these things are.

 

[ktm7385]

This is a great thread. I just got my Igo's and this has been a big help. Much thanks to the OP and everyone who has chimed in.