Kayfun + Istick = Dry Hits!

[Deatach]

Hi all!

I've been lurking here for a few months without posting, great forum! I recently got a Kayfun Lite + clone and an eleaf istick. before that my go to setup was the nautilus mini with the Aspire CF VV 3.3 -4.8v. I have been trying to get the best setup for the Kayfun but am getting burnt taste every few hits on the istick. a few priming pulls with the air hole covered sorts it out but a few hits later and the dry hits are back. I've tried silica with a 2.4 ohm coil using the little bit of wire that came with the clone (from fasttech), 28 1A kanthal microcoil 2.4 ohm, and 1.8ohm with both Ko Gen Do Japanese cotton and plain old cotton wool. I'm pretty sure my coils are OK, they are neat and glowing from the middle when fired, no hot legs, about 1mm over the hole. Ive tried using less cotton, more cotton etc, Tried all kinds of volatge/wattage settiings. No matter what I've tried, I get muted flavour and frequent dry hits.

I switched the Kayfun with 1.8 coil and cotton wick onto the Aspire battery, flavour has improved and I am hardly getting any dry hits. I've seen VarosVapor's video which shows that the istick uses Pulse Amplitude Modulation and cant step down voltage. I'm guessing that this is what is causing the dry hits / burnt taste. Has anyone had similar experiences? Any ideas how to solve the dry hits and muted flavour?

 

[Thrasher]

Well just guessing but since you mention the not being able to step down I would instantly believe the coil is just running too hot, best you could do in that case is try to build a low ohm micro better suited to handle it.
I have not used this device but this same problem is what I disliked about the dna chips.

When properly built to handle a specific wattage the kayfun will run at what ever power you want. But in my personal experience you cannot overdrive them if not set up to handle it.

 

[Deatach]

Well just guessing but since you mention the not being able to step down I would instantly believe the coil is just running too hot, best you could do in that case is try to build a low ohm micro better suited to handle it.
I have not used this device but this same problem is what I disliked about the dna chips.

When properly built to handle a specific wattage the kayfun will run at what ever power you want. But in my personal experience you cannot overdrive them if not set up to handle it.

Cheers Ill try build a lower ohm coil and see if that helps. what ohm should i aim for?

 

[djsvapour]

There is usually no issue with using a Kayfun on an iStick. The reason why it works with less burned taste on your Aspire is because "on paper" the Aspire will be less powerful. Essentially, if your Kayfun build isn't working great, even the lowest setting on the iStick will be problematic.

If you are convinced your coils are good, then it must be the shape/placement of thickness of your cotton wool. I have never made a successful Silica build on a Kayfun, even following videos and trying various set-ups.

 

[DingerCPA]

Welcome Deatach!

I struggled and struggled with my kayfun (clones) most of last summer. I had been building 1.5-2.0 ohm coils with 30g kanthal wrapped around a 1/16" drill bit. A little cotton, more cotton, more airflow, less airflow never seemed to matter. I could take 2 or 3 puffs and then WHAMMO - burn city. I was only running about 8-9W on any given device.

I decided to try a larger bit (I think 1/8") and VOILA! No more burning, even with the same resistances and power settings. I seems to me that the bigger diameter coil helps me reduce "choking", and liquid is flowing more easily.

Now that I think I've conquered the wicking issues, I'm going to try building them a little lower (1.2ohms or even lower) since I have devices that can push a little harder.

Good Luck

 

[DingerCPA]

There is usually no issue with using a Kayfun on an iStick. The reason why it works with less burned taste on your Aspire is because "on paper" the Aspire will be less powerful. Essentially, if your Kayfun build isn't working great, even the lowest setting on the iStick will be problematic.

If you are convinced your coils are good, then it must be the shape/placement of thickness of your cotton wool. I have never made a successful Silica build on a Kayfun, even following videos and trying various set-ups.

Oooh, glad you're here djs Do you have any concerns about overheating the kf deck and melting the insulator? I thought I'd come across a thread a long time ago suggesting it wasn't wise to build below 1ohm on those because of the potential for melting that insulator... Besides the wicking issues, that's what's kept me from building too low in the past....

 

[Thrasher]

Do have to say I missed the silica bit, .

personally I run 2 x 3mm strands in a 1 ohm coil, the fatter the silica wick the better. Then put the chimney tube on and trim the silica sticking out to the same height and stuff it in the wells
this is how I run my light for well over a year now.

Even on the svoe mesto site the setup video shows the guy using tripled 2mm in their build

 

[DavidOck]

If you're running an Istick 20.... they run hot, using mean, not RMS, regulation. So you may just need to set it around 2 watts less than your other batteries. Which MAY help, but may not, since it can't actually fire at anything lower than the current battery voltage. (The 30 and 50 watt versions have fixed those issues.) So a higher value coil may help for use on the 20, since you need a higher voltage to hit the same watts.

Try different air flow adjustments on the KF. Too much air can lead to harshness.

 

[Deatach]

Cheers guys,
Im pretty sure my cottons not too thick as it vapes fine on the aspire battery. Once i swap the Kayfun onto the Istick it's back to Dry Hit City again! I'll play around with it some more over the next few days and update the thread when I sort it out.

 

[dhood]

I have three Kayfuns (two Lite Plus' and a Nano). I generally run my coils at 1.0 to 1.3 ohms. That's 28 gauge Kanthal with either 6 or 7 turns on a 2.5mm screwdriver. I usually run them around 14 watts regardless of the resistance. Seems to work well. I'm not sure what voltage that works out to. Too early in the morning for math.

 

[djsvapour]

Oooh, glad you're here djs Do you have any concerns about overheating the kf deck and melting the insulator? I thought I'd come across a thread a long time ago suggesting it wasn't wise to build below 1ohm on those because of the potential for melting that insulator... Besides the wicking issues, that's what's kept me from building too low in the past....

Yep. I read similar. I don't know from reading posts on forums if anyone has had trouble, but anything 1.2-1.7 does me fine anyway.

I was considering using my new wire (arrived today) for something around 1.0ohm, but I think I'll chicken out and do an extra wrap or two.

 

[djsvapour]

I have three Kayfuns (two Lite Plus' and a Nano). I generally run my coils at 1.0 to 1.3 ohms. That's 28 gauge Kanthal with either 6 or 7 turns on a 2.5mm screwdriver. I usually run them around 14 watts regardless of the resistance. Seems to work well. I'm not sure what voltage that works out to. Too early in the morning for math.

That's good to read. I was planning on a slightly lower build today using a 2.5mm Kuro Coiler, with one gauge down (0.3mm).

 

[Light Seeker]

That's good to read. I was planning on a slightly lower build today using a 2.5mm Kuro Coiler, with one gauge down (0.3mm).

May want to try a slightly bigger ID just for giggles... Like 2.8

I don't have the KFL, but three v4s. I initially started with 2mm ID coils and cotton, anywhere from 1.0Ω-1.8Ω, that gave me occasional dry hits, especially when chain vaping.

So I went to rayon, that gave me much less dry hits, but still occurred. But taste was quite a bit better.

Then I increased the coil to 2.8, BAM! No more dry hits, much more taste.

15 watts is about the limit, anything more and I can start tasting the wick starting to burn. And not sure if it makes any difference, but I do tensioned coils.

 

[djsvapour]

May want to try a slightly bigger ID just for giggles... Like 2.8

I don't have the KFL, but three v4s. I initially started with 2mm ID coils and cotton, anywhere from 1.0Ω-1.8Ω, that gave me occasional dry hits, especially when chain vaping.

OK... I can choose between 2.5 or 3.0. I'll go with the 3.0mm one then. It's all good.

 

[tj99959]

I use a KF3.1 instead of the Light +, so there are subtle differences.

I run a 1.25 ohm coil at 8 watts for the best flavor. That's 3.15v ............. see where the problem is with many of the newer PVs?
(and yes, it would deliver more than enough dry hits/burnt hits at 4.2v)