New Coil Builders

[WayneL]

This is a great topic!
I have recently been looking into getting a mech squonk as my first mech.
I am very confused by the steam engine when it comes to wires and "mod setting" at the bottom. I understand ohms law and where I want to build to as I am currently running a 24awg kanthal parallel spaced in my rta and a twisted in my rda both .25-.3.
I am curious about different wire types and the heat they would produce. Steam says ss dual 28awg at .3 mod should be 26watts and 2.6v. What would that be like on a mech. Hot?
That would only pull 12amps or so. The same situation only changing to the thicker wire is at 4v
So I guess my question would be how to select the wire and guage to be a good adv set up since any equation doesn't always depict the same outcome it seems

 

[Punk In Drublic]

This is a great topic!
I have recently been looking into getting a mech squonk as my first mech.
I am very confused by the steam engine when it comes to wires and "mod setting" at the bottom. I understand ohms law and where I want to build to as I am currently running a 24awg kanthal parallel spaced in my rta and a twisted in my rda both .25-.3.
I am curious about different wire types and the heat they would produce. Steam says ss dual 28awg at .3 mod should be 26watts and 2.6v. What would that be like on a mech. Hot?
That would only pull 12amps or so. The same situation only changing to the thicker wire is at 4v
So I guess my question would be how to select the wire and guage to be a good adv set up since any equation doesn't always depict the same outcome it seems

Steam Engine is just a guide and should not be taken as gospel. Although the calculations behind Steam are correct, they do not represent what really goes on with vaping. Example: Steam can never factor in airflow which is a huge influence.

Heat Flux within Steam is a measurement of radiant heat across the surface area of the coil. It is calculated as 1 watt / coil surface area.

When using the Coil Wizard tool, you set your target resistance based on the metal you wish to use and Steam will give you a number of wraps that closely represents that target resistance. It is rarely exact. A Heat Flux estimate will be provided with the wattage on the left, voltage on the right. Voltage may not represent a mech, for it could be too high or too low. You then adjust the Heat Flux to set your preferred voltage. The little flame icon represents how hot, or cool the vape is “suppose” to be. Remember, air flow is not factored in!

Example: 24 awg Kanthal, 3mm ID with a 0.5 ohm goal equates to 5 wraps. At 23 watts, or 3.4 volts, the Heat Flux will be 200mW/mm². 3.4 volts may not be your preferred voltage when using a mech, so adjust the Heat Flux until you reach a preferred voltage. 3.7 volts is probably a better choice which yields a Heat Flux of 240mW/mm².

Keep in mind with SS, as it heats its resistance rises. With a fix voltage device like a mech, this means the output will decrease through out your duration of vape. Some people enjoy this, some do not. The Heat Flux within Steam does not factor this in for Stainless Steel or any metal whose TCR value will influence the output of a fixed voltage source.

Kanthal and Ni80 pretty much retain their resistance when heated, so the output is more consistent.

 

[VANTA]

With lots of new coilologists (builders ) trying out RTAs or RDAs for the first time - I figured a thread dedicated to helping the newbie builders and not so newbie builders may be a good thing.

Not sure on the what wire would give you the best result?

Think wraps are something you get from Subway?

Not sure what the a clapton coil actually is?

Ask away!

Brilliant thread! great idea.

 

[AngeNZ]

This is a great topic!
I have recently been looking into getting a mech squonk as my first mech.
I am very confused by the steam engine when it comes to wires and "mod setting" at the bottom. I understand ohms law and where I want to build to as I am currently running a 24awg kanthal parallel spaced in my rta and a twisted in my rda both .25-.3.
I am curious about different wire types and the heat they would produce. Steam says ss dual 28awg at .3 mod should be 26watts and 2.6v. What would that be like on a mech. Hot?
That would only pull 12amps or so. The same situation only changing to the thicker wire is at 4v
So I guess my question would be how to select the wire and guage to be a good adv set up since any equation doesn't always depict the same outcome it seems

I always use the Wire Wizard at steam engine.

I usually know roughly what resistance I want to end up with for a mech/unregulated mod - But I find it easier to use this wizard to decide on how many wraps, coil id, wire type and so on.

I use the Heat Capacity mJ/K as a guide. The larger number it is, the more heat required to ramp my coil, and the longer it takes to cool down.

Since I prefer a cool vape with a fast ramp up, this let's me figure out what coil will work best for me in an unregulated.

 

[WayneL]

That's a cool calculator. So you say higher number is longer ramp time. What is high tho. 170's high or under 100. I understand that the ramp is where my batteries will last or not last correct? Which is why I was looking at changing wires. Get a nice cool cloudy vape without carrying batteries instead of a juice bottle

 

[Punk In Drublic]

That's a cool calculator. So you say higher number is longer ramp time. What is high tho. 170's high or under 100. I understand that the ramp is where my batteries will last or not last correct? Which is why I was looking at changing wires. Get a nice cool cloudy vape without carrying batteries instead of a juice bottle

Ramp up is a term used to describe how long it takes a coil to heat up. Heat Capacity within Steam is a calculation of the metals Specific Heat Capacity x the coils mass. The higher the value means more power (or energy) is needed to raise that coils temperature by a given amount within a given duration. But power, temperature and duration are not given by Steam.

Also note the higher the Heat Capacity the longer it takes for that coil to cool as well.

Heat Capacity is not a measurement of battery run time – but if looking to achieve the longest run time, you can use Heat Capacity as a guide. If using a regulated device, lower Heat Capacity = less power is needed = longer lasting battery. A fix voltage device is a little more complex for the coils resistance dictates the applied power.

Heat Capacity is more of a preference – some like to achieve a lower value, some a higher value.

 

[Red Beard]

Hi folks, haven't been here in a while and I'm glad to see this great thread. I have a bit of a head scratcher and looking for answers, so it figures I would land back here once again. I recently bought some wire. Supposed to be Kanthal K1 Alien 0.3*0.8 +32 but I'm not sure. Based on this pic and description I'm hoping to get some best guesses from you as to what it may be. To me it doesn't look like any Alien wire I've seen before. Anyway, I wrapped a coil at 5 wraps, ohms out to 0.48, 4.2v, 8.8a in a Zeus single coil deck on the Aegis X at 37w. The vape is ok once it gets hot but it takes quite a bit of time to ramp up. Once it's there it's fine but it soon gets too hot. I hope you'll look at this pic and see what you think. Thanks!

 

[Punk In Drublic]

Hi folks, haven't been here in a while and I'm glad to see this great thread. I have a bit of a head scratcher and looking for answers, so it figures I would land back here once again. I recently bought some wire. Supposed to be Kanthal K1 Alien 0.3*0.8 +32 but I'm not sure. Based on this pic and description I'm hoping to get some best guesses from you as to what it may be. To me it doesn't look like any Alien wire I've seen before. Anyway, I wrapped a coil at 5 wraps, ohms out to 0.48, 4.2v, 8.8a in a Zeus single coil deck on the Aegis X at 37w. The vape is ok once it gets hot but it takes quite a bit of time to ramp up. Once it's there it's fine but it soon gets too hot. I hope you'll look at this pic and see what you think. Thanks! View attachment 867161

I wouldn’t refer to that as an Alien wire. There are companies that will just throw a popular name onto a premade wire or coil for the sake of marketing.

But your problem is the coil is of high mass. The greater the mass of a coil, the more power is required to heat that coil up within a desired time. Also the greater the mass, the more the coil retains heat and the longer it takes to cool down. The metals properties also contributes to this.

Try not to focus on the coils resistance - with a regulated device this is an arbitrary number for unlike a mechanical mod where resistance dictates the power output, on a regulated you are in control of the power. A 1 ohm coil made out of 28 gauge will be vastly different than a 1 ohm coil made out of 24 gauge. The resistance is the same, but the greater mass of the 24 gauge will require a lot more power.

With Clapton, Aliens and their many variants, you are dealing with multiple wires. You have to take into account the gauges of each individual wire and their contribution to the coils overall mass. A Clapton with a 24 awg core and a 32 gauge wrap will be higher in mass than a Clapton of 24 gauge core and a 40 gauge wrap should a coil of the same number of winding be made. Simple example!

If you prefer to vape at lower wattages, you need to look at lower mass coils. If interested in Clapton type coils, look for cores and wraps that are made with higher gauges. Example: A Ni80 Fused Clapton made with 3x 28 gauge cores and a 40 gauge with the same 5 wraps, 3mm ID coil as yours would be more suited to vape at ~35 watts (+/- a few watts)

 

[Don29palms]

Hi folks, haven't been here in a while and I'm glad to see this great thread. I have a bit of a head scratcher and looking for answers, so it figures I would land back here once again. I recently bought some wire. Supposed to be Kanthal K1 Alien 0.3*0.8 +32 but I'm not sure. Based on this pic and description I'm hoping to get some best guesses from you as to what it may be. To me it doesn't look like any Alien wire I've seen before. Anyway, I wrapped a coil at 5 wraps, ohms out to 0.48, 4.2v, 8.8a in a Zeus single coil deck on the Aegis X at 37w. The vape is ok once it gets hot but it takes quite a bit of time to ramp up. Once it's there it's fine but it soon gets too hot. I hope you'll look at this pic and see what you think. Thanks! View attachment 867161

That is definitely NOT alien wire. It has no characteristics of alien wire. It is a flat wire core clapton wire. The best use for that wire would be in an RDA with lots of airflow. The small chamber of an RTA will generate alot of heat. Just because a company labels something doesn't mean that's what it is.