Necessary To Pulse Fire Fresh Coils?

[Stratm69]

So I did an amazing job on a fresh new micro coil and wick for my RDA, "it's perfect!" I said, then continued to juice it up and take a vape. All of a sudden I think to myself "DOH!"... I forgot to pulse fire my coils before wicking...

I didn't want to pull everything back apart, ruin my awesome wick, and make a big mess.

So I started at 10 watts and slowly worked my way up to 45 watts in 5 watt increments, while taking vapes in between.

I gotta say, my coils are firing great with big flavor and vapor, I honestly can't tell a difference between this method and pulse firing. My hits actually feel a a little bit smoother, but that could just be in my head?

Never does a coil burn "cherried" in a vaping/inhaling scenerio, so i'm wondering if when a person pulse fires their coils in order to "prep" them, does that shorten the lifespan of the coil in anyway? Because aren't you burning off that shiny, protective outer layer of the kanthal, thus making the coil appear brown and tarnished?

Subtank and Atlantis coils have never come pre-pulsed fired or "prepped". People just pop those suckers in and fire away.

 

[Stratm69]

I can see pulse firing for huge, twisted style coils such as staggered-claptons and etc, that would be essential to get them firing properly otherwise they would never heat up. But for 4-7 wrap micro coils, is it really necessary?

 

[bwh79]

Because aren't you burning off that shiny, protective outer layer of the kanthal, thus making the coil appear brown and tarnished?

The way I understand it, the only thing you're "burning off" is possible contaminants (machine oil, etc.) that may be left behind on the wire. What you're doing is building up a protective outer layer of (aluminum oxide, I think?) which insulates the wire and prevents the coil from shorting to itself in a contact/micro-coil situation. That said, no, I don't think it's "necessary." Plenty of people torch their coils or dry-burn them prior to wicking, and plenty of people don't. I don't think there is a "right way" or a "wrong way" (well, I guess there are plenty of "wrong ways" to make a coil, but I don't think that "not dry-burning it" is necessarily one of them.)

 

[RandyF]

To this point you have always pulse fired, correct? I'm sure you have seen how uneven a single contact coil can be, usually the outside wraps glow first until you even it out, and that is just one coil. Add a second coil and the need to pulse them rises to make sure they will fire evenly together. I wouldn't say it is ever really a must, it will even out on its own eventually...usually, but there will always be those builds you can't get to pulse right. I would rather know before I wick it and want to use it.

 

[Alien Traveler]

Dry burn cleans wire and (for kanthal and nichrom) creates thicker oxide layer. Also helpful for checking for hot spots. But it's up to you, not strict rules. I like to dry burn.

 

[yuseffuhler]

If you're doing a contact micro coil, dry burning definitely helps with making sure there are no hot spots and it heats evenly. Second the cleaning part. Like @Alien Traveler said, there's no rules! (Rips off shirt)

 

[Stratm69]

Thanks for the info everyone!

 

[RavenZ]

I pulse fire ever coil to make sure I have no hot spots & to make sure they are firing together as well as if you need to adjust the coils themselves before wicking.

 

[Vatigu]

Yup dry firing a fresh coil is more of a diagnostic step sort of like throwing it an an ohm reader to verify resistance. The coil will potentially work just fine but if you have any hotspots or hot legs(or in the case of skipping an ohm reader a short) you'll find out about them the hard way either with burned wick (or a sploding battery in the case of a mech if you skip the ohm reader).

 

[pwheeler]

I always pulse a new coil. I run duals and I do it primarily to see how even it burns, checking for hot spots and hot legs and doing any corrections before wicking. I guess you could say it might burn off any contaminants, also. If you don't do it and you are wicked up and you just start using it, you may end up with a nasty, burning taste, in which case you will get to tear the wicks out and pulse it anyway to see what's going on. Easier just to do it first.

 

[bluecat]

I never pulse a new coil. I only do dry burns.

 

[DaveSignal]

I always fire them first. And make sure they are heating together evenly and exactly the same way. Sometimes, I need to scratch one a bit or slightly tighten a screw. But I always get them perfect. And then wick it. I am pretty good at wrapping coils, so there is very good chance I would get it right without doing this prepartory step. But that chance changes to 100% if I verify it and adjust it before wicking.

 

[sonicbomb]

9/10 a coil will not light evenly without some heating and pinching. The amount varies, but I always get some nasty vapors coming off a fresh coil that I want in the atmosphere, not in my lungs or wicking.

 

[dhood]

I've inadvertently wicked and prepped a tank without checking once or twice. It didn't harm anything and the coils performed fine. As long as you checked and got a proper ohm reading before setting it up then you know you don't have a short. If there is juice present, the coils never get red-hot anyway so hot spots will probably even themselves out. I do my coils on a Kuro Coiler so mine are pretty even to start with. I don't remember the last time I used my ceramic tweezers to adjust the coils. I just strum them with a screwdriver and they pretty much work first time.

 

[Belhade]

I pulse fire new coils to test the heatup, and to burn off contaminants (skin oils mostly)

 

[Wolfenstark]

Sometimes I get a hot leg or an uneven glow and a test glow lets me see this and give the coils a strum and their good to go.