More AGA-T2 questions + Nic ?

[boshans]

So after my third attempt at wrapping my new AGA-T2, I think I did a pretty decent job:

Some questions though...for some reason the Ohms on the thing keeps changing everytime I take it off and put it back onto my eVic. First time it was 1.8 ohm, which I think should be the most correct with that amount of wraps since I am use 32awg Kanthal. But then it jumped to 3.0, went to 2.4, 2.8, 2.0, 2.1. ...?

Anyway...this is my first time using mesh, and I was wondering about wattage a bit...how high can I go up to? Will there be a burnt taste using mesh if I go to the highest my eVic can go up to? I wanted to increase the wattage because I would think that would make the coils heat up faster, but I am not to sure about that. Also there doesn't have to be a hole in the center of the mesh when I roll it right? I don't think mine has a hole...well not visible anyway, I can stick a wire through it since I did do that to oxidize it, is a hole or no hole better for wicking with 500 mesh?

Also, I was thinking about putting a cotton wick in one of the other holes and wrapping a coil around that...should I not use two different wick types? Would it be better to just use another mesh piece? Also with cotton/silica, I don't really have to worry about hot spots right? I can't dry burn the cotton, so I don't have to keep pulsing to see where the coils are hotter or not?

I guess the main reason for this post is this...I used the search function but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for I guess. I have been vaping 12-15mg nicotine content juice, I vaped an entire 30mL bottle of HHV's Heavenly Tobacco 15mg nic in about 6 or 7 days, and have always felt fine using my eVods or Protanks, so I vape a lot of juice...so I filled up the AGA with Shadow from HHV also, and .......n, I didn't realize it was the juice at first, but I felt like crap! Felt like I was going to throw up and just weird feeling. Why the hell does the AGA with mesh make the nicotine so much more effective? It would just be because of the nicotine right? Like the mesh isn't getting vaporized to or some crap and because I am inhaling that it mad me feel like crap? Was worried about that, probably unfounded though. I probably vaped it for about...I don't know 4 hours or so, and the tank is about half empty already. I am using 500 mesh, is the mesh really that much more efficient? I mean it looks like I am getting about the same amount of vapor on the exhale with the AGA as I am my eVods, maybe a little bit more I guess on the AGA. Is it vaporizing more of the nicotine or something? It is making the vapor actually smaller in particle size so it hits you better? It obviously it eating up the juice a lot faster than my eVod...maybe I am getting a ton more vapor and I just can't tell.

If I wrap the mesh with more or less coils will that change how much nicotine I would be getting? I have 32 and 30 awg kanthal, should I use the 30 and make more wraps, would that change anything?

 

[Sniffle]

Ok, i am no expert but, i think i have enough experience to get you started in the right direction... and this is going to be a LOT of info because you asked a LOT of questions...

the coil:
you're ohms keep changing because you are having shorts between the coil and the mesh, when the coil is correct it will heat evenly across the entire coil and no parts of the mesh will glow at all and your ohms will be stable even for extended burns(this is before liquid is introduced.) if you already have liquid in the coil you can move the coil up and down a little to try and remove the shorts but it is basically a shot in the dark, it could make it worse. shorts happen during extended burns because the coil expands(sometimes unevenly) when it is heated. over time you get a buildup on the inside of the coil and this will stop(sometimes)

now mesh...
with 500 mesh the tighter the wick the better you are depending on capillary action to draw liquid up the wick. a hole is only necessary with more loosely woven meshes due to the fact that the capillary action is far reduced and the hole allows for gravitational flow when the mod is tipped. IF you dry burn while taking a draw and get a bad taste making a wick with a hole in the center to allow for tipping and gravitational flow could possibly fix this(you would have to experiment to find what works for you.) cotton along with the wick isnt required but if it works for you then go for it.

ohm/voltage/wattage...
umm, for what you are asking, basically when the coil is stable and no longer changing ohms, you can put the coil on any wattage you want. 14 watts and up tends to start burning the juice.


my suggestion for you to set this up correctly and have less trouble out of your evic, swap it to variable voltage initially, and put the voltage as low as you can get it, and fire the device dry, work out all hot spots and shorts in the coil(not required, up the voltage by small increments if necessary to make sure that it wont short out at higher temps,) and regularly check your resistance. once you check the resistance and it stops changing and the coil fires evenly consistently even for longer periods of time(length of typical draw +1-2 sec)

once this has completed remove the atomizer swap it to variable watts and reconnect the atomizer, the resistance should not have changed if it did you need to work on the coil some more. you should then set whatever watts you would typically use to get the flavor out of the juice you like.


TL;DR: you need to spend more time on your coil working out shorts, you will get faster as you get more experience these things are a headache to learn but once you truly master them they are amazing

 

[pdib]

↑ all good advice ↑ Xept resistance bouncing around (ohms changing) is a symptom of a loose connection. (usually, but not always, at the top nut: check both +/-) Sometimes, at the pos. connection, you think the nut is tight: but the wire is kinked a bit and the nut isn't really tightened down enough. Don't accidentally increase tension of wire to wick when you tighten the nut. (that would create a hot top leg)

 

[Sniffle]

ooh i learned something new today too!!! i like when i do that!

I should also add, with a rebuildable mod, you have entered into the world of experimentation. which means sometimes you have to play with it and learn from experimentation to get something that works for you personally... i could give you the specs of my rebuildable what i am vaping on and even a pic of it. you could then try to replicate it, not knowing the fact that it took me a day to work the coil out properly until i just told you.

experiment and have fun with your rebuildable mod, given time and enough headaches you will soon be spewing out clouds of vapor that would make the guys on the reviews jealous! just dont give up on it

 

[pdib]

Oh, yeah, and NO the wire between the pos. post and the wick should not glow at all (wet or dry). That is the "hot top leg". In the pic. the crease/fold in your mesh is exactly where too much tension on the top wrap can create a hot leg. Spin your wick so that fold is elsewhere (maybe in the area where the top wire isn't quite touching the wick yet). I don't fold. It creates a lump and uneven wire tension. If you do fold, crease it tight, between two fingernails.

 

[Sniffle]

my current setup has a fold, and my previous setup didnt have a fold(i'm still experimenting and learning myself) i can honestly say that working out the hot spots was quicker on the one without a fold... next wick i am not going to fold and see how it goes, and just so you can see my handiwork...

8/9 wraps 28 AWG Nichrome wire
100mm #500 mesh(no center hole)

on a provari i run 1.7Ohms @ 4.2V



the top half of the coil was where for the first half of the day i had added liquid as i needed a fix, and little later i came back drained the tank and burned the wick till i was dry to fix the rest of the coil, it now works quite well.

side note: i use a dental pick to work out my coils as it is metal i can actually adjust the coil while it is being fired, may not be the safest method out there but it works for me

 

[boshans]

I actually didn't have any hot spots on the coil,everything was glowing together nicely, that's why I kind of don't understand why the ohms are changing...well except the coil did glow from the post to the first bit of mesh, I thought it was supposed to do that so I didn't think it was a big deal lol. It doesn't glow with liquid on it/in the tank though, so would that still be a problem? I tried to make that fold reallly tight when I made it, took the other side of my pliers and went over it a million times...so you don't even have to fold it though? Every video I saw people were folding lol, thought you had to for some reason. What the hell even is the point of doing that? What size mesh do you find works best? I used about 40mm height and like...70 width...although I think on this wick I had to trim it a little because I couldn't roll it tight enough to fit in the damn hole.......ing rolling is a pain in the ..., i never understand how some of these videos all they do is roll it in their fingers and it somehow gets tight enough to fit in the hole. Here are some more pics:

Also I am really kind of...I don't know how to put it...amazed? at the damn nicotine I am getting from this...it is WAY to much even at 12mg lol. Why the .... do you get so much more nic from these genesis style rba's? Do you even get more nic or was I just feeling like crap for 20 minutes for some other reason lol. I'm pretty sure it had to be the nic, but it didn't make much sense to me because I chain vape much more then I did with the little bit I used the AGA so far.

 

[Sniffle]

i always chain vape when i swap to something new.. it's the nerves saying oh no you changed it so it's not as good! so of course because you chain vaped it you got more nic and thus felt like crap, give it a couple weeks your nerves will calm down and you wont vape as much or at least that's how it is for me... but you may be different this is a fun hobby to dump money into

and yes for some people they say the nic hits them harder and it quite possibly could be... i myself am thinking of dropping nic levels when i get closer to the bottom of my 450ml bottle of juice, the downside of buying in bulk is i don't want to waste it...

 

[boshans]

i always chain vape when i swap to something new.. it's the nerves saying oh no you changed it so it's not as good! so of course because you chain vaped it you got more nic and thus felt like crap, give it a couple weeks your nerves will calm down and you wont vape as much or at least that's how it is for me... but you may be different this is a fun hobby to dump money into

and yes for some people they say the nic hits them harder and it quite possibly could be... i myself am thinking of dropping nic levels when i get closer to the bottom of my 450ml bottle of juice, the downside of buying in bulk is i don't want to waste it...

I know what you mean about something new lol...but I am pretty sure I am vaping the same amount....I vaped an entire 30ml bottle of 15mg juice in like 6 or 7 days this past week...so I am vaping like...I don't know 4.5mils a day? actually putting it like that...i probably vaped ....in 2 mils in like two hours with the aga lol, maybe that's why...this damn mesh just eats up juice like ive never seen before. I guess that's why people are saying it gives you more nic, because it eats juice up! sigh, i just ordered like 200mls of 15mg juice also, gonna have to figure something out, or just let my body get used to it i guess.

 

[Sniffle]

or you could mix the same flavor/lower nic with the 15 mg in equal parts, you would effectively be vaping the avg of the two nics... thats how i dropped to 12mg, when i started at 24mg... it was like 24, 18, 12, 6, 0 in the available strengths... so i started mixing equal parts using a syringe to measure and combine them... i could be wrong but everything i know from working in the medical field says this should be correct.

 

[pdib]

So, the folding of the mesh edge is very popular and seems to work just fine. I just don't do it. If you don't fold, make sure the edge of the mesh is very clean. When I oxidized that edge before rolling, I could see the glowing frays; although a nice clean, purposeful cut with good large scissors usually leaves it pretty clean to begin with. With a 1/8" hole, I would tend to use 5" of 500 mesh. I have an AGA with a 5/32" hole, that gets 7" and could fit more. Here's the thing, tho. The more mesh you use, the more of a heat-sink effect you'll have; and the more issues with off flavor (from all that mesh). If I were starting with a fresh AGA, I wouldn't go above 1/8" on the hole (the existing would be fine, tho), and I'd roll 3-4" of 500 solid. Never fill the wick hole completely with your wick. Always leave some play between wick and hole. This is an important thoroughfare for juice.

rolling mesh: Once you've got a nice tube going, you'd be surprised how hard you can (need to) squeeze while you roll. Its a rollie-squeezie motion that does it. The closer you get to "hole-less" the harder you can squeeze. Some say to get the "hole" out of it while you are still rolling the first (center) part of your mesh. (before rolling the last two thirds of it). That works good; but I have no trouble compacting an already rolled tube into a solid.

 

[boshans]

So, the folding of the mesh edge is very popular and seems to work just fine. I just don't do it. If you don't fold, make sure the edge of the mesh is very clean. When I oxidized that edge before rolling, I could see the glowing frays; although a nice clean, purposeful cut with good large scissors usually leaves it pretty clean to begin with. With a 1/8" hole, I would tend to use 5" of 500 mesh. I have an AGA with a 5/32" hole, that gets 7" and could fit more. Here's the thing, tho. The more mesh you use, the more of a heat-sink effect you'll have; and the more issues with off flavor (from all that mesh). If I were starting with a fresh AGA, I wouldn't go above 1/8" on the hole (the existing would be fine, tho), and I'd roll 3-4" of 500 solid. Never fill the wick hole completely with your wick. Always leave some play between wick and hole. This is an important thoroughfare for juice.

rolling mesh: Once you've got a nice tube going, you'd be surprised how hard you can (need to) squeeze while you roll. Its a rollie-squeezie motion that does it. The closer you get to "hole-less" the harder you can squeeze. Some say to get the "hole" out of it while you are still rolling the first (center) part of your mesh. (before rolling the last two thirds of it). That works good; but I have no trouble compacting an already rolled tube into a solid.

The mesh hole on my aga is the stock size, i don't plan on making it any bigger, i doubt my drill would be able to get through that much of stainless steel. on the stock hole i used 70mm of 500 mesh...thats about 2.7 inches google says...so use more? i had to cut some off actually because i couldnt roll it tight enough to get in the damn hole with 70mm...i think ill try the getting the hole out of it before i roll the last two thirds of it, that might be easier...although the mesh itself seems to wick decently right now i guess...it did use half the liquid in the tank, although i think the flavor it a bit muted right now as compared to the first couple of hits i took from it. it was a really tight fit to get the mesh in the hole, it is probably to big for it, i had to turn it to get it down otherwise the fold got caught in the hole and would get it stuck.

also i have a big sheet of the mesh, and cut it myself, there was no fraying on the edges now that i think about it since i cut it with sharp scissors. when i burnt it i didnt see any of those little tiny pieces on the edge like i did with the stock mesh that came with it. so im not even gonna fold it next time.

 

[pdib]

having good clearance on the wick hole is more important than how much mesh you use. 2.7" sounds a'plenty. In fact, if on your next try, it's still tight in the hole, cut a little off to get the right fit, rather than shooting for some magic #". I was just giving you a mesh dimension by which to gauge your rolling skills. (You can get 3" into the stock hole.)

 

[boshans]

having good clearance on the wick hole is more important than how much mesh you use. 2.7" sounds a'plenty. In fact, if on your next try, it's still tight in the hole, cut a little off to get the right fit, rather than shooting for some magic #". I was just giving you a mesh dimension by which to gauge your rolling skills. (You can get 3" into the stock hole.)

Im guessing it being a little tight is why the flavor is a little muted when it is half full as opposed to when it was completely full right?

 

[pdib]

Flavor gets a bit muted in the Genisis world. Basically, mesh tightness is only about wicking, if your wick isn't going dry and your not getting burnt/metallic flavors you're good to go. A big ole' plug of ss mesh (or stone for that matter) is hanging into your tank of juice while the top end of it is being subjected to some serious heat. The bottom half of your tank is the 1/2-cooked part. Here's how I wick mine anymore. (Flavor kicks throughout, top to bottom)

View attachment 206317View attachment 206318View attachment 206319

Nextel XC-116 and I don't remember if this is my 26g wire @ .6Ω or my 28 @ .8
The wick is thinned out and only fills about 1/3 of the hole and only goes maybe 3/8" below the deck