Ohm reader reading in the 400-800s?

[Sir Pouncival]

I need some help troubleshooting my first build. My ohm reader is giving me a reading anywhere from 1.1 to 840. I screw the deck on and off a little and it will read 2.5 down to 1.1, and then jump back up to in the 400s or 800s when I screw it on just a bit more or less. It is very erratic. The reader reads the manufactured coils for my tanks just fine.

I am probably just doing something very simple very wrong here (PBCAK, or in this case, PBCAA: Problem Between Chair And Atomizer). I am making sure my coils are touching but not overlapped and that my wires are not touching anything else. I am no electrical engineer and while I have a basic understanding of electricity, my specialty is software, not hardware.

 

[Norrin]

sound like something is loose, try tightening your post first if it's not this I would strip and rebuild the atty to make sure everything is OK.

 

[Sir Pouncival]

Update: My coils were too close to the posts. On my fifth try, I finally got one to steadily read 1.1 ohms. The trick was making sure my coils were far away from the posts. I was putting them too close to the posts and although they were not touching them, apparently they still interfered with the resistance. Now, if some super smart electrical engineer type could tell me how and why, that would be awesome. I need to learn more about how this stuff works. This medium does not suit itself well to trial and error...

 

[Sir Pouncival]

My posts are not tighten-able. I have an Atty deck and a Zenith deck (both clones). My working coil was just a single coil. I went back and tried making two again and the issue returned.

 

[Norrin]

Post a pic of your set up it might help people find the problem.

 

[MattyTny]

What gauge wire are you using? I had issues with connectivity when I used 30 gauge kanthal after firing a coil to compress it. The screws would back out and the coil was not secure. This was due to me being concerned about screws cutting into the kanthal and not tightening enough. Also if you have wide posts like the zenith, the kanthal has a tendency to get caught on the side of the post screw. I had to hold the lead centered through the post as I screwed it down. If not the kanthal would make its way on the outside of the screw, not a secure connection.

I primarily use 28 gauge now.

 

[Sir Pouncival]

Here are the pics of the most recent coil build. Still reading 311.

 

[Sir Pouncival]

I am using 26 gauge kanthal wire.

 

[AzPlumber]

Some ohm readers will switch to thousandths when below one ohm.

 

[MattyTny]

Check the kanthal leads in the posts. I have a zenith and the kanthal has the tendency to get caught on the outside of the post screw instead of being trapped under the post screw. I mentioned it in my earlier post. Just hold the kanthal centered across the post hole as you tighten.

 

[pdib]

Some ohm readers will switch to thousandths when below one ohm.

yeah, what he said ↑.

If you're building a dual coil with 26g Kanthal, and each coil is ~4 or 5 wraps? Yeah, you could be at about 0.311 ohms.

Example of display readings:

• 3.00 Ohm Coil 3.00

• 0.30 Ohm Coil 300

• 0.03 Ohm Coil .030

 

[Sir Pouncival]

Some ohm readers will switch to thousandths when below one ohm.

My ohm meter was delivered without instructions. I went back to the site where I bought it and the fine print says it will display mOhms when below 1.00, so I've been chasing my tail when there wasn't an issue in the first place. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[SDGIANTSFAN]

I have a meter that reads to the thousandths as well...I was baffled and whenever showing a pic of a build and it is showing 299 people would say how the hell is that a 2.99 ohm build, when it was actually a .29 build.

I had to ask around as well, thought I had a faulty reader

 

[Mikey6]

I think I have the same meter and while it works fairly well, the 510 is a bit touchy. Maybe I could replace it with a spring loaded connector...hmm. My tugboat v2 barely threads on enough to get a solid reading. Mostly use the ipv2 now for building that before it goes on my hexohm v2 since that's a mod I don't want to fry.

 

[pdib]

I got an atty with a 510 length that was under spec. (4.17mm length). I filed down the lip of the 510 in the ohmmeter. Put a little blue/masking tape on the face of the box so a mis-swipe with the file would hit the tape first and alert me to change my angle of attack. Anyway, "fits any atty" now.