"Popping" and weird smell? What did I do wrong?

[Dyjaklo]

I recently bought a Magneto and Sony US18650VTC4 2100mah 30A batteries, as well as the Igo-L RDA. I built a diamond coil, like in rip tripper's video, but halved the number of wraps (so 2 on each side instead of 4), to lower the resistance. The resistance came out to be around 0.7-0.8 ohms, tested using a multimeter. I did all the math, finding out how much current it would pull at 4.2V and 3.7V, making sure I wasn't overshooting 30A. Afterwards, I threaded through boiled cotton, and saturated the wick with unflavored 50/50 pg/vg I made with PG from essential depot, and VG from rite aid. I just mixed the same amount of pg with vg together and dripped it onto the atomizer.

Upon vaping, I noticed it was a pretty warm vape. After a couple times, while I was vaping, it suddenly got hot and "popped" in my mouth! Also, the smell was a burning smell, and it tasted weird too. I've vaped my friend's vape before (how I got started) and I could french inhale that and be fine. French inhaling this however gave a strong burning/stinging sensation, like I was breathing in smoke. What am I doing wrong? Is it the juice, or did I build the RDA wrong, or what happened?

 

[Chimney34]

Sounds like the build to me but I'm not an expert so here's a free bump! I'm sure someone will come along with the help you need.

 

[Subdivisions]

Burn it with the top off and look to see if any of the coils are glowing. Sounds like you have some hot spots going on. If that's the case then check your wicking and make sure it's making good contact inside the coils. Also maybe try not doing such a tough build to start with. Get 1 coil working first before you go onto bigger things

 

[Dyjaklo]

When I burn it with the top off and the cotton wick in, it doesn't glow at all, but still produces vapor. Still has the burning smell to it though. I will work on a different coil, see if it will make a difference in taste/smell too, don't want this thing to explode in my face or somethin :S

What can I do to prevent hotspots, space out wick evenly, make sure coils are tight and even?

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Everything has a breaking in period. Are you sure there was enough saturation on the wicking with the ejuice?

 

[SirSteve]

Not to knock cotton, but it will burn easily. If you have any black spots on your cotton wick, it has probably gotten burned and would account for at least some of the smell and taste. I also would start with one coil, maybe try some silica wick. As for hotspots, on a wick like SS mesh you can dry burn it and move the coils around, not so much with cotton as it tends to burn.

Popping isn't unusuall, it is what happens when juice hits a hot coil. I have actually had coils catch fire by putting a drop or two on them with no wick, interesting sight. Here is hoping someone with more experience with cotton and your setup comes along and gets you going.

 

[boneshark187]

never ever let cotton get dry. It will burn and catch fire...it's not like silica you cannot dry burn cotton.

Always make sure that cotton is wet with liquid.

Once it's been burned the bad taste will never leave, reload up some new cotton wicks.

 

[bikerbeagle]

It is probable that you either used too much cotton, choking your wicking through your coils ...OR you used too little cotton and there's simply not enough juice absorption rate to keep up. Either way, it produces the same result - no juicy juicy = burnt cotton.

 

[Dyjaklo]

Thanks everyone for the help! I was just bit scared because I thought the thing was about to explode on me and I stopped vaping it immediately. Also, I'll try using all the advice given in this thread to make a new coil and wick it properly.

 

[edyle]

I think subohming is dangerous enough without putting cotton next to a hot coil.

And with what I'm hearing about the variable voltage supplies using PWM (higher voltage pulsing) to achieve an average I'd be worried you might be hitting a higher peak current than you think from your calculations.

 

[stylezuk]

Pretty much the same as others already stated start off with a simple build single coil as this will help with getting used to how much cotton need and also the basic fundamentals and after you have a build your happy with then you can just double the amount of raps and make a dual coil slightly harder to get it even but when get one running right it's pucka, good luck on venture and always safety first

 

[Dyjaklo]

I think subohming is dangerous enough without putting cotton next to a hot coil.

And with what I'm hearing about the variable voltage supplies using PWM (higher voltage pulsing) to achieve an average I'd be worried you might be hitting a higher peak current than you think from your calculations.

so you're saying cotton wick shouldn't be used with a subohm setup?

 

[supertrunker]

You can use cotton for any build as long as you keep it wet. I'd reckon your best bet is to start with something like this to begin with.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...271-micro-coils-increase-vapor-flavor-th.html

T

 

[Skauth]

The burnt taste is most likely an issue of wicking. Too much cotton (especially where it meets the coils) equals choking of the juice flow. Too little and, well that one's obvious.

However, I would dissemble it and clean every part of the atty thoroughly, then recoil. I got an Igo W and it had a persistently awful taste until I washed it completely. Machine oils or somesuch.

The harsh throat hit could be a symptom of the wicking problems, but also it may be airflow. If you have not modified the airhole on your cap you may want to try a standard resistance build, as 0.7ohms requires significant airflow for optimum vape.

Good luck and keep trying. The payoff is well worth it.

 

[Bunnykiller]

sounds like you went way to low on the # of turns for your coil. When you do 2 (dual) coils, you want each coil to be 2X the value you are expecting... for example, you want 1 ohm total load, you need 2 2ohm coils in parallel so in effect, you made even lower ohm coils than the video and that even went lower when you did 2 in parallel. you were probably pulling 5-6 A ( just a rough guess) and 24 W thats HOT!

 

[Skauth]

P. S. I wanted to say that in my experience, cotton is a quality wicking material even at subohm levels. It's just a matter of the amount, and the tightness against the coil. Remember it expands when saturated. You want the saturated wick to contact the coil completely, but not so tightly that it causes drastic compression of the cotton. This is especially trickyin the type of coils you are attempting. I would start simpler and work your way up to it if these are your first builds. It doesn't take too long.

 

[Dyjaklo]

Thanks supertrunker for the link, it helped me understand a bit more about using microcoils.

this is the setup I currently have on, and it is vaping MUCH better no more burning, tastes slightly sweet (unflavored). Metered it to 1.2-1.3 ohms. I cleaned it out with dishsoap and hot water, thanks Skauth. I also used alot less cotton imo, it was REALLY thin but was not hard to pull through the coils, and I felt when it was saturated it touched the coil surface fine. Bunnykiller, the diamond coil I made was a single coil, with 4 sections of 2 wraps, in a diamond shape like in Rip Tripper's video.

The next question I have is about when I'm vaping, it is warm. Suddenly, I feel I am sucking in cold air. Also when testing the coil before wicking it, I notice that if I fire it for more than 1-2 seconds, sometimes the coils stop glowing. Then restart glowing again. Is this it shorting out?