Learning about wattage - HELP

[Raiane]

I there! I'm a beginner on Vapes - actually I've start to used it for a few months ago. My first device was an eLeaf, iJust Start. Currently I did an upgrade to Innokin Cool Fire IV Storm Edition and I was using the pre-made coils wich came with, 0.5 ohms to use between 20-35wats.

Now I have a RBA coil (iSub RBA from Innokin) and it's being a bit difficult to me to build it. When I start, the pre-made coils had the advice about wats, but the RBA haven't (of course) and I'm a bit lost about it.

I already had changed the juice and all, but it still tasting like burned (and it is!). I'm changing the wattage, putting new coils, new cottons, but it just still tasting like it's burned - and always!

Could somebody help, pleeeeeeease? I'm begging for help, because I really want to learn it, but it's a bit frustrating. It was soooooo good and nice and was tasting sooooo sweet with the pre-made coils, but I was feeling me like a fool using pre-made coils on the Cool Fire...

This is my set up:
Device: Innokin Cool Fire 4 - Storm Edition
Coil: iSub RBA from Innokin
Wire: Kanthal A1 26ga
Cotton: Cotton Bacon
The wire has 5 wraps: 4 full rounded wrap and 1 half wrap (I think it's right, on 5 total).
Ohms: With 5 wraps, it's worthing between 0.86-0.91 ohms (depending of the wattage).
(Currently I'm using the Lost Fog e-juice - Streek, 0.3 strength - and it's tasting like nothing but burned).

Thank you since now!! xx

 

[djsvapour]

26 awg is perfect.

I wouldn't trust my builds to work over 20w. If you can wick like a god, maybe 30w is possible.

 

[Raiane]

26 awg is perfect.

I wouldn't trust my builds to work over 20w. If you can wick like a god, maybe 30w is possible.

The problem is: When I worth it above 18w, it does taste like burned. I really don't know why. I already did a lot of new coils, and it's always happening. I already put more and less cotton to try if this is the problem, I already changed the wattage for more and for less... When I put less than 17w, it almost doesn't worth. But when I put more then 18w, it taste like burned or, even, just like nothing... I'm really frustrated with it.

 

[Hitmetwice]

Wicking is truly an art form. Some of us just for the life of us cannot get it right.

Always start out at a crazy low wattage when breaking in a new coil/wick/juice etc. inch up the power every few vapes leaving a little time in between for the wick to catch up.

Once it starts to taste a little burnt turn the power down a bit, use it there for a while. If it does not provide a satisfying vape you need to start over.

If you liked the performance of the drop in coils shoot for a resistance as close to those as you can get.

Winding wire is easy peasy, it's the wicking that can take hours of practice to get just right.
It does need to be "just right" or real real close.

Cotton never worked well for me, I found Rayon to be easier to work with and produced much better results "for me".

Keep trying or go back to prebuilt coils.
Having a back-up device will keep you vaping while you're working to wick the other one properly.
I needed a lot of vape/nic. while I was learning to wick.
It can be very frustrating at times and then all of a sudden
ba da boom ba da bing it's working great and you've got no idea what you did differently. At least that's what I found. Good luck, Cheers.

 

[Raiane]

Wicking is truly an art form. Some of us just for the life of us cannot get it right.

Always start out at a crazy low wattage when breaking in a new coil/wick/juice etc. inch up the power every few vapes leaving a little time in between for the wick to catch up.

Once it starts to taste a little burnt turn the power down a bit, use it there for a while. If it does not provide a satisfying vape you need to start over.

If you liked the performance of the drop in coils shoot for a resistance as close to those as you can get.

Winding wire is easy peasy, it's the wicking that can take hours of practice to get just right.
It does need to be "just right" or real real close.

Cotton never worked well for me, I found Rayon to be easier to work with and produced much better results "for me".

Keep trying or go back to prebuilt coils.
Having a back-up device will keep you vaping while you're working to wick the other one properly.
I needed a lot of vape/nic. while I was learning to wick.
It can be very frustrating at times and then all of a sudden
ba da boom ba da bing it's working great and you've got no idea what you did differently. At least that's what I found. Good luck, Cheers.

Yes, I'm seeing it. Maybe I could have made a few mistakes because I was very excited about my first RBA and I wasn't so careful about the wattage of the first hit, but now I'm just finishing like lost because I really don't know how many wattage I should keep. Sometimes it really doesn't worth because haven't a good taste, or the cloud is like nothing, or taste like burned, and sometimes - like anytime when I don't know what happened - it just taste very good and, so, I keep the same wattage, but than the burned taste come back - and so there I go to do a new coil and start alllll again lol...

 

[daviedog]

When both coil legs are north, you have a 1/2 wrap in your build.

North/South, full wrap.
Changes in wattage should not change coil resistance. .86-.91 your readings. Be Sure your coils are attached securely.

Coil should glow center to out. Legs should Not glow. Massage/Strum your coil till you observe the above.

Good chance you are having hot spots.
Prime/start low as others have advised..

 

[zoiDman]

...

Could somebody help, pleeeeeeease? I'm begging for help, because I really want to learn it, but it's a bit frustrating. It was soooooo good and nice and was tasting sooooo sweet with the pre-made coils, but I was feeling me like a fool using pre-made coils on the Cool Fire...

...

Hi Raiane. Welcome to the ECF.

Many of these RBA Sections that were made to Replace a Tank's Pre-Made Coil Head can be Difficult to build if you are New. They can be Unforgiving if the Cotton Wicking isn't perfect. And can even give people who are Veterans to RBA's some fits.

A New build Tasting Burnt is usually the Result of 2 Things. Or Both.

Too Much Cotton or Cotton that is Packed Too Tightly.
A Coil Wire that wasn't Dry Burned before the Cotton was put in it.

Since you are New to rebuilding, I would Suggest that you get something like a Kanger TopTank Mini and learn your Building Techniques on it's RBA Section. It's an Easy RBA to Build on. And Much More Forgiving of the way it is Wicked.

 

[OlderNDirt]

Once you have your coils installed and working as @daviedog pointed out, you should be good with that coil. You should be able to re-wick that coil. Remove old wick, dry burn and re-check the coil, and re-wick with changes (more or less cotton, longer or shorter tails, etc.).

 

[Raiane]

Hi guys!!

I'm very grateful for the help. I'm not in home now, so I'm not abble to change it now. But just to let you know, now I'm running on 37w, 0.91ohms (new coil again lol) and the burned taste is weak. I start this coil on 15w and was going up 1.5w each time. I can felt a weak burned sensation (not taste), but it hasn't anymore the heavy taste that was before, and a little bit sweety - even far away from the juice's real taste.

Again, thank you very much and I'll let you know how it is after that I do the setup again.

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

Simple answer I'd bet on: hot spots

Everything you've stating points to this.. and hot spots can make a terrible experience with instant burnt taste. I'd be willing to guess that should you take your wick gently enough, you'd see where the coil is burning.

Since you're using Khantal, take the cotton out, heat your coil (never go red hot), just pulse until you see where the coil starts glowing.

It should be glowing softly from the middle. If not, you need to look up videos about strumming and adjusting your coil until it gets there.

Once you have it working right, adjust your wattage as it shouldn't be instant glow, you want a nice slow glow that will spread the heat as much across the coil as possible. (You can adjust this once you're finish and using it, usually 5 watts at a time until you get the warmth you enjoy.)

Then wick gently, prime it, pulse and watch to see of the evaporation is balanced across the coil.

 

[Raiane]

Simple answer I'd bet on: hot spots

Everything you've stating points to this.. and hot spots can make a terrible experience with instant burnt taste. I'd be willing to guess that should you take your wick gently enough, you'd see where the coil is burning.

Since you're using Khantal, take the cotton out, heat your coil (never go red hot), just pulse until you see where the coil starts glowing.

It should be glowing softly from the middle. If not, you need to look up videos about strumming and adjusting your coil until it gets there.

Once you have it working right, adjust your wattage as it shouldn't be instant glow, you want a nice slow glow that will spread the heat as much across the coil as possible. (You can adjust this once you're finish and using it, usually 5 watts at a time until you get the warmth you enjoy.)

Then wick gently, prime it, pulse and watch to see of the evaporation is balanced across the coil.

I'll try it now. I assume that I'm a bit afraid lol I never had did it before, you know, without cotton or the tank lol

It looks like it will just explode on my face lol

But the coil is burning right, I think. From center to the extremities, and not so fast. I'll just try to adjust a good point and put a new cotton...

 

[zoiDman]

I'll try it now. I assume that I'm a bit afraid lol I never had did it before, you know, without cotton or the tank lol

It looks like it will just explode on my face lol

...

It's Really OK to do this. Think of it like Looking into your Toaster without a piece of Bread in it.

And Hey, for the Entire Time I have been a Member here on the ECF, I have Only heard of 7 Dying from doing it. And I really think that 2 of them were just Seriously Hurt.

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

I'll try it now. I assume that I'm a bit afraid lol I never had did it before, you know, without cotton or the tank lol

It looks like it will just explode on my face lol

But the coil is burning right, I think. From center to the extremities, and not so fast. I'll just try to adjust a good point and put a new cotton...

No worries, the whole thing about vaping is a coil that heats up, so since you're using a regulated mod, the chances of something truly bad happening is near impossible unless it was seriously defective.

Now that you've seen that the coil is heating up correctly, wick it, and prime it.. trigger and watch how that goes... the liquid should be bouncing off that coil (boiling) evenly, (and hence creating the vapor). Play with your wattage at this point, thi should provide you with the answer.. if, while you're priming it directly, it's all good, no burning, (smell or visual), that it's not going too fast to boil the liquid, then you can establish the next step, which is the wicking itself.

Cotton Bacon is a fine wick, which I use myself with no issues, you just need to pull the right amount, normally it should be about the thickness of the coil (at least that what I go for), making sure it's aligned (the grain), then roll between your hands gently, then twisted to squeeze it just enough for it to temporarily be small enough to be passed inside the coil, then untwisted and moved back and forth a bit to "fill" the coil (and getting it between the wraps). The tips of the cotton should be cut very neatly (sharp edges for the fibers) and only long enough to be placed and have these tips dipping in the liquid (via the feed).

Because it's a straight through wick type RBA, one thing that can work with the wicking is that once it's in, the tips cut and just right... get a needle (or wire) and pass it right through it in the middle to create a little hole/tunnel. As long as you do it right and don't cause leaking, this can improve wicking like crazy.

Because you are using a iSub RBA, note that this appears to be a fairly small coil (had to look it up as I'm not familiar with all devices out there, but have similar), so it's not going to be the best for a warm vape nor clouds. You might want to go for a vertical build with such a RBA, possibly consider temperature control.

The smaller the coil the faster it tends to heat up... I haven't worked with Khantal for a while, mostly NI and SS, but as SS is fairly similar in behavior, I know that the smaller the coil, the harder it is to balance it just right as it ramps up fairly fast. That's why that taking the time and watching it bubble and spit before closing your tank up is a good learning experience.

You could also try getting some 28 gauge and see if that might work easier for you. You'd be amazed what trying a different gauge or metal can do and finding the "one" that you really like and works great for you, can take a few tries.

 

[Raiane]

Simple answer I'd bet on: hot spots

Everything you've stating points to this.. and hot spots can make a terrible experience with instant burnt taste. I'd be willing to guess that should you take your wick gently enough, you'd see where the coil is burning.

Since you're using Khantal, take the cotton out, heat your coil (never go red hot), just pulse until you see where the coil starts glowing.

It should be glowing softly from the middle. If not, you need to look up videos about strumming and adjusting your coil until it gets there.

Once you have it working right, adjust your wattage as it shouldn't be instant glow, you want a nice slow glow that will spread the heat as much across the coil as possible. (You can adjust this once you're finish and using it, usually 5 watts at a time until you get the warmth you enjoy.)

Then wick gently, prime it, pulse and watch to see of the evaporation is balanced across the coil.

It's Really OK to do this. Think of it like Looking into your Toaster without a piece of Bread in it.

And Hey, for the Entire Time I have been a Member here on the ECF, I have Only heard of 7 Dying from doing it. And I really think that 2 of them were just Seriously Hurt.

JESUS CHRIST!!!

God bless you, it really works!

Without the cotton, I could see that it takes like 1,5~2 seconds to glow on 27w. I did a new coil and my device is showing 1.04ohms.

So I put back the entire tank and, now, it's running on 36w without burned taste. I'd started on 26w and going up 1-1,5w each time. The flavour isn't the best. It still a bit far away from the real juice's taste, but now it's sweet and it's being even more sweet and flavoured as I'm going up on the wattage.

And put me on the list of who didn't get hurt by it, thanks God lol I just hope that I've never need do it again lol

And, really, thank you very very much

xx

 

[Raiane]

When both coil legs are north, you have a 1/2 wrap in your build.

North/South, full wrap.
Changes in wattage should not change coil resistance. .86-.91 your readings. Be Sure your coils are attached securely.

Coil should glow center to out. Legs should Not glow. Massage/Strum your coil till you observe the above.

Good chance you are having hot spots.
Prime/start low as others have advised..

I'd checked it without the coil head and it's looking right. The coil is glowing from middle and the legs aren't doing it. I didn't know that, so I read a bit about just because of you and I'm very grateful for!

 

[djsvapour]

Wicking is truly an art form. Some of us just for the life of us cannot get it right.

Indeed. If I hear a rumor that somebody is getting 45 watts from a straightforward subtank, I'm instantly aiming for about 22.5 watts.

 

[Raiane]

Once you have your coils installed and working as @daviedog pointed out, you should be good with that coil. You should be able to re-wick that coil. Remove old wick, dry burn and re-check the coil, and re-wick with changes (more or less cotton, longer or shorter tails, etc.).

I think that the problem was that I wasn't doing the "dry burn". I'm a beginner on it and I really don't know what exactly means "dry burn", but I burn the coil without cotton (I think this is it) as I was adviced on this forum and, now, it's working very well. Thank you!!!

 

[Imfallen_Angel]

I think that the problem was that I wasn't doing the "dry burn". I'm a beginner on it and I really don't know what exactly means "dry burn", but I burn the coil without cotton (I think this is it) as I was adviced on this forum and, now, it's working very well. Thank you!!!

The dry burn thing is to ensure that the coil is balanced, with experience you shouldn't even need to do it, and should you decide to try temperature control with NI or TI, you cannot dry burn those metals at all.

But with Khantal and SS, I always recommend a bit of "glowing the coils", just barely enough to see it happen in the dark as this also burn off a layer of oils and such that the wire might have.

Well, I'm very glad that it's working for you.. just have fun. practice and more practice....

Next step.. try doing vertical coils with that RBA!

 

[zoiDman]

JESUS CHRIST!!!

God bless you, it really works!

Without the cotton, I could see that it takes like 1,5~2 seconds to glow on 27w. I did a new coil and my device is showing 1.04ohms.

So I put back the entire tank and, now, it's running on 36w without burned taste. I'd started on 26w and going up 1-1,5w each time. The flavour isn't the best. It still a bit far away from the real juice's taste, but now it's sweet and it's being even more sweet and flavoured as I'm going up on the wattage.

And put me on the list of who didn't get hurt by it, thanks God lol I just hope that I've never need do it again lol

And, really, thank you very very much

xx

Doing what you did is called "Dry Burning" a Coil. And I think it is a Critical Step when mounting New Coil.

Dry Burning Cleans the Coil of Machining and or Hand Oils. And allows you to see that the Coil is Heating Evenly from the Center Out.

I would Never mount a New Coil without Dry Burning 1st. I like to do the Dry Burn at 15 Watts or so.

 

[daviedog]

I'd checked it without the coil head and it's looking right. The coil is glowing from middle and the legs aren't doing it. I didn't know that, so I read a bit about just because of you and I'm very grateful for!

You're most kind.
The first time is the scariest. Gets easier.
Everyone on this thread is Proud of you..