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JD1

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OK you subohm enthusiasts...this is for you.

Yeti has sent me his Kayfun Lite complaining he gets dry hits and burning juice. I've done the following..

A) Checked to be sure all his pieces were snugged up and O-rings present and undamaged. Check.
B) Checked resistance. 0.8 ohms on both Provari and multimeter and also confirmed by Yeti. Check.
C) Checked to be sure there was no blockage in airhole/passage. Check.
D) Checked that the channel geometries were similar/same as mine. Check.
E) Checked to be sure he had sufficient clearance between the airhole and bottom of his coil. Check.
F) Checked to be sure he didn't pinch the wicks. Was slightly tight but not bad. Length went to deck (looped at ends). Check.
G) Checked to be sure his coil glowed up. It did...all at the same time. Check.
F) Pulled Yeti's wick and I put in a new cotton ball wick. It burned immeditely.
G) Pulled the cotton ball wick and put in a silica wick. It burned immediately.

Clearly, the coil Yeti has is heating up way too much and it's burning the juice. It feels very hot in the mouthpiece and it sizzles like a Sunday steak. Doesn't matter if it is on his fancy mechs or my cheesy constant voltage eGo batts. I have limited experience with subohm as I use regulated mods almost exclusively. So I am asking our subohm friends to give me their opinions. I have mine but I am going to refrain from saying them so as not to introduce any bias.

Here is Yeti's coil specs...

4 wraps
28 ga Kanthal
Space between each wrap clearly visible
2.5 mm inside diameter
Angled on the Kayfun
Very short legs
When in isolation (without a wick) the coils glow quickly and brightly and evenly at the same time.

I welcome your subohm opinions. :)

I agree with Donna. That thing shouldn't burn up even if it's .5 ohms. It's the vaporizing of the liquid that cools things down of course, which means good airflow is critical. You mentioned that you checked that though. Still I wonder what it would do if you mounted just the base, wet the wick good and fired it while blowing on it a little.

I'd also suggest replacing that coil with one of yours and see what happens.
 

Bronze

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I agree with Donna. That thing shouldn't burn up even if it's .5 ohms. It's the vaporizing of the liquid that cools things down of course, which means good airflow is critical. You mentioned that you checked that though. Still I wonder what it would do if you mounted just the base, wet the wick good and fired it while blowing on it a little.

I'd also suggest replacing that coil with one of yours and see what happens.

I did mount the base only and it fired alright. But I can't taste it that way. What experiment are you thinking of?

I will rewick/recoil tomorrow when I have more energy. I just wanted to get the folks input tonight.
 

Bronze

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@Bronze. Quick question. Is the draw tight? It sure sounds like a airflow issue. Perhaps air hole is blocked with gunk or old juice?

No Paul, it is not tight at all. I also inspected the coil placement and there is adequate clearance above the hole. I guess I was leaning toward too much air and all that extra oxygen was making the coil glow hotter. But I don't think it's that either.

So let me throw this out there. The ID on the coil is 2.5mm. I can't think of why that should make a difference but this is a rather large ID for a subohm coil.

Any thoughts here?
 

JD1

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I did mount the base only and it fired alright. But I can't taste it that way. What experiment are you thinking of?........

I was just thinking that if it didn't burn up the wick in the open air, then that might point to airflow problems.

If you do rewick and try again, make sure the wick is wet, (use dripping if you don't want to fill the tank), and try firing for a second with a pull of about three seconds. (I'm thinking if that works, it might point to slow wicking in that big wick itself.)

I'm also starting to think the large diameter coil might be part of the problem (as you seem to wonder). Todd (of the reviews) often wraps around some folded silica and his coils come out fairly big, but they're also well spaced out and therefore pulling juice from a larger wick area. They're sometimes above 1 ohm, but sometimes dip down below 1 ohm and seem to work ok.

Anyways, here's hoping you find something that works. :vapor:
 
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Bronze

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Recoiled using 30ga Kanthal, 10-wrap microcoil, silica wick, 2.0 ohms. Works fine on my Provari. Same set up as I use. Yeti's Kayfun Lite works just fine. We just need to get a subohm coil that he can use. He uses mechs and that's what he prefers. His wick/coil looked perfectly fine. Yeti didn't fall off a turnip truck. He knows what he's doing visa vie rebuilds. I should of had him send me some of his 28ga. I have only 30ga.
 

odogg_mia

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Hello everyone,
New to the KF Lite but not to RBA's. I wanted to know how to treat my cotton once I've bought it and am ready to use, do I boil it and dry it, get a special brand like an all organic, etc...? Any help would be great :) I'm sure I can get the wrap down, I'm just use to SS Mesh and 32g 4 wraps on my RBA's.
 

The Yeti

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Thanks again to Bronze for all the work he's putting into my KFL!

Bronze: at what voltage are you vaping that 2.0 ohm coil that's "working fine" on your Provari?

A couple salient points -

The coil I sent him was a rather sloppy, free-hand-wrapped-over-folded-silica coil. I usually do micros these days, but thought I'd give the silica "bunny ears" method one last go before shipping it off to Bronze.

I have the exact same dry hit issues with the free-hand wrapped silica coils as well as micro+cotton, it's just a bit less problematic with the silica.

I prefer to vape at 1.0 ohm or lower (currently vaping a .7 ohm coil on my DID at this very moment, with a cotton "diaper" it's vaping perfectly). I know there are folks in this very thread having success with sub-ohm on the KFL, but if I have to go a bit over 1 ohm to get the KFL to work consistently, so be it.
 

Bronze

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Thanks again to Bronze for all the work he's putting into my KFL!

Bronze: at what voltage are you vaping that 2.0 ohm coil that's "working fine" on your Provari?

A couple salient points -

The coil I sent him was a rather sloppy, free-hand-wrapped-over-folded-silica coil. I usually do micros these days, but thought I'd give the silica "bunny ears" method one last go before shipping it off to Bronze.

I have the exact same dry hit issues with the free-hand wrapped silica coils as well as micro+cotton, it's just a bit less problematic with the silica.

I prefer to vape at 1.0 ohm or lower (currently vaping a .7 ohm coil on my DID at this very moment, with a cotton "diaper" it's vaping perfectly). I know there are folks in this very thread having success with sub-ohm on the KFL, but if I have to go a bit over 1 ohm to get the KFL to work consistently, so be it.

I have it set at 3.6 volts Yeti. But everyone will like it differently. I have an APB out for Vaperdivr. He is a subohm geek. BTW, you may think the coil/wick you had in there was sloppy but it appeared perfectly fine from a functional standpoint. It definitely heats up big time and that's why it is burning your juice. I'm thinking the ID was too wide. But again, I think Diver can guide us through it.
 
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