Need some advice about mechs

[sixstringer85]

Ok guys, so I've been vaping for about 6 months now, and did the usual ego to vv to mvp2 upgrades. I've been using my mvp with a nautilus mini for the last couple of months and have been loving it mostly. But I've always been fascinated by the whole rebuildable dripping side of things for a while now, watching hundreds of vids from how to build coils, to people showing off their clouds etc.
So, last week I took the plunge and ordered a real basic rda, an igo L. Seemed simple enough, and I knew it would be a good choice as I couldn't run dual coils on an mvp easily.
After building a few coils and getting to grips with it, I'm getting a bit frustrated with the limitations of my mvp. So now I'm looking at getting a cheap mechanical mod. I'm used to electronic variable voltage and wattage, and a little unsure of how to use a mech. I get the simplicity of it, but how do you control the power coming from the batteries to the rda? May seem like a really noob question, but can I run anything on a mechanical? Like my nautilus or a protank? Or are they just meant for rebuildables?
Am I right in saying that the power supplied to the rda will purely depend on my coil build?
If I run, for example a 1.3 ohm coil on a mechanical it will fire at 4ish volts, but if I build something in the sub ohm region, like 0.6 ohms it will fire at a higher voltage and so on?
Am I getting that right?

 

[Neolithium]

This is kind of a long youtube video, but gave me the nudge to move into mechanical mods:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaKUd0tnCQ8

Power supplied to your RDA will depend on your coil as well as your battery charge. Fresh 18650's for an example will mostly land in your mech at 4.2v and decrease from there, so as the battery voltage decreases, so does the vapor production (Slowly I might add, high end batteries in 18650 for 0.5ohm and above coils CAN last all day depending on your vaping style). You'll also NOT want to run your batteries dead, it'll affect their ability to charge and perform. Many people pull them when they are between 3.5 and 3.7v and put them back on the charger, I found this is the point where the vapor production kind of sucks anyway and you don't want to bother.

Someone will probably be along shortly with also all the requisite battery safety threads that you SHOULD read if you're going into unregulated mechanical devices, that is one of the single most important things to do Sure some of it can appear scary but if you check your coils, make sure you have no shorts, its' actually far simpler than it appears.

 

[GreenEyesDon'tLie]

A mechanical mod always outputs the voltage of the battery, from 4.2v fully charged tapering down to 3.7v when it needs charging. When you change the resistance of the build you affect the wattage (and amperage, keep this below what your batteries can handle). So with your example coils, the 1.3 would run at about 14 watts on a full battery, and the 0.6 would be about 30 watts.

It may be worth considering a higher-power VW mod as well, along the lines of a Sigelei 100/150. Plenty of power for RBAs while still being easy to control

Edit: Before getting into mechs go to http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blogs/baditude/6740-18-baditudes-blogs.html and read all of them related to batteries and Ohm's law. Thanks for the reminder Neolithium

 

[Danbrooks2k]

Get the Aspire CF SUB battery or CF SUB mod... its regulated and wont fire anything below 0.5 ohms and wont explode and blow your fingers off...'

The built in battery one is 35$ on fast tech, the mod that takes an 18650 is 26$ both are great... if you want to go below 0.5 ohms you will need a mech mod or one of the new high wattage box mods.

I have nimbus clone with a 0.5 ohm coil that works amazingly well on the CF SUB... but with an atlantis tank I rarely use it.

 

[HecticEnergy]

I'd suggest getting a regulated mod honestly. While you are running it you can still do the math (ohms law) and figure out where you should be at and verify with the device. When you get that down, if you need to you can get a mech.

If you want to blow clouds, you probably want a higher wattage mod like the 100+s on the market (segalli, iPV, etc). You can still get decent clouds on a 30w box mod, and they are quite a bit cheaper these days. a new iStick and MVP3 should be out by the end of the month that do 30 watts or more and I think they can be picked up for under $50 (probably around $35, but I'm hedging.. lol)

Mechs are cheap and small, which is great, but it takes a bit to get used to the battery drop off and knowing when its time to swap batteries.
You need to make sure you build on an ohm tester so you can verify there isn't a short in the atty or your coil as that could cause your battery to vent (could make for a very bad and expensive trip to the hospital).

Which ever you do, if you go with a mod with a replaceable battery make sure you buy authentic & high quality batteries with a continuous amp rating that will support what you plan to build.

Check out baditudes blogs on battery safety for more:
E-Cigarette Forum - Baditude - Blogs

 

[sixstringer85]

Thanks guys, I've been doing a little more research based on what you all have said, and I'm getting it now. Got an ohms law calculator app now on my phone, and that makes everything so clear now lol.

 

[HecticEnergy]

Thanks guys, I've been doing a little more research based on what you all have said, and I'm getting it now. Got an ohms law calculator app now on my phone, and that makes everything so clear now lol.

When your on the computer steam-engine.org is a good tool for checking ohms law and planning coils - but it is not a replacement for a good ohm reader, just takes some of the hassle out of figuring out how to get your target resistance.

Have fun, be safe and post pics!

 

[Withdrewandi]

I know how tempting making that jump to a mech is I made it I went from a MVP to a nemesis with a magma on it..... I did spend a lot of time researching and reading and then read and researched again..... As long as you do it safely with as much knowledge as you can muster you should be fine but make sure you read at least whats already mentioned in this thread get some proper equipment and enjoy your vape... We never want to hear of hospital visits from members

 

[logistixz]

And a good 'mech mod' for beginners IMO is the CF Mod from Aspire. Has built in short protection along with under voltage protection which will shut down the mod when voltage of the battery dips below 2.7 volts.

Looks like you're overseas but I grabbed one over here in the states for about $30USD

 

[sixstringer85]

I know how tempting making that jump to a mech is I made it I went from a MVP to a nemesis with a magma on it..... I did spend a lot of time researching and reading and then read and researched again..... As long as you do it safely with as much knowledge as you can muster you should be fine but make sure you read at least whats already mentioned in this thread get some proper equipment and enjoy your vape... We never want to hear of hospital visits from members

Yeah, i know how important it is to be safe. i think i will be ordering an ohm reader soon. At the minute i have an ohm checker built into the mvp2 and the coils i have built so far have been 1.3 and 1.4 ohm. I was aiming for a higher resistance as the mvp struggles to fire them well, but the only kanthal i had was 28ga which needed about 10 wraps on my 1/16 drill bit just to get it that high. the mvp takes an age to fire it up. i've got some 30ga kanthal on order, as ideally i want to build a higher resistance coil to cope better on the mvp. I love the simplicity of the rda though. i've found that some of my older juices that i have been enjoying taste completely different in the dripper compared to my clearos. Which is really cool. The flavour is so much cleaner (i'm using rayon wicks btw) recommended by my local vape shop. Not tried cotton yet, and i have never tried to build a coil around a silica wick yet. but from research i've done, the cotton/rayon wicks seemed to be what i wanted more. When im bored with a flavour (which happens quite often) all i gotta do is change the cotton out. easy!

 

[HecticEnergy]

Yeah, i know how important it is to be safe. i think i will be ordering an ohm reader soon. At the minute i have an ohm checker built into the mvp2 and the coils i have built so far have been 1.3 and 1.4 ohm. I was aiming for a higher resistance as the mvp struggles to fire them well, but the only kanthal i had was 28ga which needed about 10 wraps on my 1/16 drill bit just to get it that high. the mvp takes an age to fire it up. i've got some 30ga kanthal on order, as ideally i want to build a higher resistance coil to cope better on the mvp. I love the simplicity of the rda though. i've found that some of my older juices that i have been enjoying taste completely different in the dripper compared to my clearos. Which is really cool. The flavour is so much cleaner (i'm using rayon wicks btw) recommended by my local vape shop. Not tried cotton yet, and i have never tried to build a coil around a silica wick yet. but from research i've done, the cotton/rayon wicks seemed to be what i wanted more. When im bored with a flavour (which happens quite often) all i gotta do is change the cotton out. easy!

That MVP should be accurate enough for now - if you are firing a coil with the mvp, higher ohms with wattage cranked will make your coils respond better. maybe try a bigger inner diameter for your coils.

 

[sixstringer85]

This is kind of a long youtube video, but gave me the nudge to move into mechanical mods:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaKUd0tnCQ8

Power supplied to your RDA will depend on your coil as well as your battery charge. Fresh 18650's for an example will mostly land in your mech at 4.2v and decrease from there, so as the battery voltage decreases, so does the vapor production (Slowly I might add, high end batteries in 18650 for 0.5ohm and above coils CAN last all day depending on your vaping style). You'll also NOT want to run your batteries dead, it'll affect their ability to charge and perform. Many people pull them when they are between 3.5 and 3.7v and put them back on the charger, I found this is the point where the vapor production kind of sucks anyway and you don't want to bother.

Someone will probably be along shortly with also all the requisite battery safety threads that you SHOULD read if you're going into unregulated mechanical devices, that is one of the single most important things to do Sure some of it can appear scary but if you check your coils, make sure you have no shorts, its' actually far simpler than it appears.

yeah man i watched this vid last night. it was actually really useful. thanks

 

[sixstringer85]

That MVP should be accurate enough for now - if you are firing a coil with the mvp, higher ohms with wattage cranked will make your coils respond better. maybe try a bigger inner diameter for your coils.

yeah that's kinda the idea i'm gonna be going for i think. Will probably be trying to build a 1.8 ohm or higher when i get some thinner guage kanthal

 

[HecticEnergy]

yeah that's kinda the idea i'm gonna be going for i think. Will probably be trying to build a 1.8 ohm or higher when i get some thinner guage kanthal

my inner coil diameter (I only do compressed coils - micro/macro/etc):
28ga:
5/64: a bit small and organic cotton gets burnt up in there
3/32: was my standard build for quite a while
7/64: below 1.2 ohms the coil doesn't seem to have enough surface area to give off as much vapor as 3/32
1/8: a bit big - coils start to move around on you as you take the coil off the drillbit - probably would only give you enough surface area for air to hit if you built a really high ohm coil.

32ga: (its been a while - probably at least a few months - since I wrapped with 32, so the below is just going off of memory)
1/16: a bit small - really wide coil at around 1ohm - hard to wick (IMO) and cotton burns up
5/64: what I mainly built at
3/32: coils get wonky after removing drill bit

I started wrapping with 7/64 because I got some readyxwick and thats what they said to use - wicked with cotton and decided I liked it, so have been using that for the last few months.