Precise Strata RDA Build Thread

[pAth77]

This thread is long overdue, but it's better late than never. I hope Nach doesn't mind me starting this up since this build is essentially his Ophion coil, but I think that people are getting a bit antsy to get their Stratas performing optimally. The coil that I make varies slightly from Nach's, but it is relatively simple to make. It is essentially identical to building a microcoil. I am using 26g kanthal, 7 wraps around a thick paper clip (measuring 0.035" in diameter). I torched the coil after wrapping.



Once the coil has cooled, stretch it out a bit and then attach it to the positive post. Do not stretch it out too much at first because you want the length of the coil to fit perfectly around the periphery, and it is easier to stretch the coil further rather than to compress it.



Once you have the coil attached to the positive post, slowly stretch the coil out to the proper length and attach it to the ground post.



Here is the coil lit up:



Pack the center with your wicking material of choice; I use organic cotton wick. I have been getting better performance from loosely packed wick versus a tightly packed wick. I have not been stuffing the wick all the way down to the base because I like it to act as a reservoir for juice. The height of the wick should not pass the base of the helix portion of the positive post.



Now fill it up with juice, let it soak, and vape away!!!

 

[Riverboat]

Thanks pAth77........... What is the ohm reading of that coil using your build specs (wire type/# wraps) ?
I am looking to build that coil and want the ohms to be around 2+ ohms since I will be using it with a Kick2....

 

[basilray]

Hey Path,

Are you only using one of the side posts? It looks like you are, so I'm curious as to what kind of resistance you're ending with.

Here's my 2nd and current build that I whipped up last night:

-Twisted 30awg
-Dual coils from one continuous run of wire - 0.3ohm
-"Spread coils" wrapped over 2mm hollow Ekowool over a 16awg needle (pretty sure it's 16awg...could have been 18 - lol)
-Ends of Ekowool down into the reservoir, leaving some air space underneath the coil
-Holds a TON of juice and wicks really well
-Strong TH when freshly dripped

 

[pAth77]

Thanks pAth77........... What is the ohm reading of that coil using your build specs (wire type/# wraps) ?
I am looking to build that coil and want the ohms to be around 2+ ohms since I will be using it with a Kick2....

In the coil pictured above, I used 26g Kanthal, 7 wraps around a 0.035" paper clip. I don't have a multimeter, but the resistance I calculated for that coil is in the 0.45 ohm range. That is quite a bit lower than I am used to (I generally vape around 0.9 ohms), but it actually vapes almost on par with my standard coils. I have yet to rebuild at a higher resistance because I am getting such great performance out of this current coil. I have been using this coil for almost a week now, and I have just been pulling out the wick, dry burning, and then installing a new wick. I will rebuild sometime this week, and I will shoot to make a coil that is closer to my standard resistance. I will repost my results.

Hey Path,

Are you only using one of the side posts? It looks like you are, so I'm curious as to what kind of resistance you're ending with.

Here's my 2nd and current build that I whipped up last night:

-Twisted 30awg
-Dual coils from one continuous run of wire - 0.3ohm
-"Spread coils" wrapped over 2mm hollow Ekowool over a 16awg needle (pretty sure it's 16awg...could have been 18 - lol)
-Ends of Ekowool down into the reservoir, leaving some air space underneath the coil
-Holds a TON of juice and wicks really well
-Strong TH when freshly dripped

I have it built as a single coil so yes, I am only using one of the ground screws. One of Nach's previous posts in the original Strata thread shows a different RDA set up as a dual coil Ophion, and there is no reason why you couldn't do the same on the Strata. I have just always preferred single coils so that is where I started for this build.

EDIT: I built an identical coil for my brother's Strata last night, and he just metered it. The coil came out to 0.8 ohms so that explains why it vapes similarly to my standard KF coils.

RE-EDIT: Apparently, my brother forgot to take into account the resistance of the leads, which was 0.3 ohms. So the resistance of our coils is 0.5 ohms, which is pretty much on par with my manual calculations.

 

[Tinben]

My first build has been horrible. No flavor or vapor. But this is my first RDA so I am going at it blind. I read 1.5 ohms.
Tomorrow night I am going to try for 1 ohm. But kinda scared to go too low. I am using a 18350 battery and don't wanna push it.

 

[Cucco]

My first build has been horrible. No flavor or vapor. But this is my first RDA so I am going at it blind. I read 1.5 ohms.
Tomorrow night I am going to try for 1 ohm. But kinda scared to go too low. I am using a 18350 battery and don't wanna push it.

Sorry to hear, your first build didn't go so good. Tomorrow, is another day.

Hey guys, what are the 'low' limits of ohms with a 350, and a 490/500?

 

[jamesd1628]

I'm wondering in general what ohms people use for their homemade coils. I usually shoot for 1.5 ohms with my other attys (Kayfuns, Squape, Spheroid). If I set the Strata at 1.5 ohms, it does not perform to the level of the others (well, at least in vapor production; throat hit and taste are still excellent). However, if I bump the Strata down to around 1.1/1.2, it performs about the same as the others at 1.5. I'm wondering whether the air flow in the Strata serves to cool the coil in a way that lessens vapor production. Since the air is coming from all directions in the Strata, it may just naturally reqire lower ohms to get similar vapor production. Currently, I have a single coil build of 1.15 ohms and it's performing really well - great vapor, taste and throat hit. Just kind of rambling here . . . .

 

[snork]

I'm wondering in general what ohms people use for their homemade coils. I usually shoot for 1.5 ohms with my other attys (Kayfuns, Squape, Spheroid). If I set the Strata at 1.5 ohms, it does not perform to the level of the others (well, at least in vapor production; throat hit and taste are still excellent). However, if I bump the Strata down to around 1.1/1.2, it performs about the same as the others at 1.5. I'm wondering whether the air flow in the Strata serves to cool the coil in a way that lessens vapor production. Since the air is coming from all directions in the Strata, it may just naturally reqire lower ohms to get similar vapor production. Currently, I have a single coil build of 1.15 ohms and it's performing really well - great vapor, taste and throat hit. Just kind of rambling here . . . .

Interesting observations, and you may be on to something. One of the results from beta testing was the rhodium (or palladium, can't remember now) plated brass center post. The original beta units were equipped with stainless steel posts and David discovered/decided that it wasn't conductive enough. We didn't get a chance to see the results of the change until we got the release units and it surely makes a difference. As we are seeing the Strata is a different animal in so many ways, not the least of which is coils don't even have to be coils, ohms may need to be rethunk also.

 

[snork]

Hey Path,

Are you only using one of the side posts? It looks like you are, so I'm curious as to what kind of resistance you're ending with.

Here's my 2nd and current build that I whipped up last night:

-Twisted 30awg
-Dual coils from one continuous run of wire - 0.3ohm
-"Spread coils" wrapped over 2mm hollow Ekowool over a 16awg needle (pretty sure it's 16awg...could have been 18 - lol)
-Ends of Ekowool down into the reservoir, leaving some air space underneath the coil
-Holds a TON of juice and wicks really well
-Strong TH when freshly dripped

That looks similar to what I made this morning, though mine is 28 gauge non-twisted .4 ohms. It's great!
When you say continuous strand of wire, are you saying you trapped the middle of it in the opposing negative post?

 

[jamesd1628]

Another thought on wicking/packing the juice well. I am using cotton for the wick. In my current setup, I make one end of the wick just long enough to reach the bottom of the well and lay flat over to the side of the well opposite the coil. I then put in a loose piece of the filler material that I use for my Spheroid (Serra maybe?). I.e., the filler sits on top of the cotton at the bottom, on the side of the well opposite the coil. I don't pack in the filler, I just use a piece small enough to loosely fill the void above the cotton. The other end of the cotton wick just goes into the well below the coil, with some separation between the coil itself and the cotton (no filler on this side, as I don't want to get those little irritating strands onto the coil and burn them). With this configuration, it holds a ton of juice and wicks really well.

Edit: For some reason, in my experience packing a bunch of cotton into the well doesn't seem to wick nearly as well. When the cotton bends, it seems to lose some of its wicking ability. It might work just as well if I used loose cotton as the filler material rather than the Serra stuff, but I haven't tried that.

 

[Nach]

I'm mainly waiting for my Simplicity 18650 to arrive before I can test further builds. It's been on order for 5 weeks now.

 

[basilray]

That looks similar to what I made this morning, though mine is 28 gauge non-twisted .4 ohms. It's great!
When you say continuous strand of wire, are you saying you trapped the middle of it in the opposing negative post?

I wrapped the first coil, then attached the negative, and trapped it under the center positive post, then directly created the 2nd coil and attached that. No cuts, one continuous piece of wire from end to end.

 

[snork]

I wrapped the first coil, then attached the negative, and trapped it under the center positive post, then directly created the 2nd coil and attached that. No cuts, one continuous piece of wire from end to end.

Ah, so like this?

 

[Nach]

Sorry to hear, your first build didn't go so good. Tomorrow, is another day.

Hey guys, what are the 'low' limits of ohms with a 350, and a 490/500?

Most 350's = 6.6A
Most 490/500's = 8A

The new purple jacketed Efest batteries will be as follows:

350's = 10.5A
500's = 15A
650's = 35A

 

[jamesd1628]

I like that. Seems it would make it a lot easier to do dual coils. I'll have to give this one a shot. I get easily irritated when trying to set up dual coils with two separate strands of wire.

Ah, so like this?

 

[Vcoupe]

Ok well I received mine yesterday and this is what I have found after 2 test builds..
1. The lower the coil on the deck the more vapor. Why? The channels (4 holes) in the bottom of the top cap obviously control the air flow so if you seat the coil higher, the air has less flow to "pull" the vapor. You can in twist the top cap to counter where your coil sits.

2. Clean it well. Use an ultra sonic cleaner to get in the small channels.

3. The coil length is limited by the tiny chamber inside the cap so id personally use 28-30 guage kanthal when building micro coils unless you want a super sub ohm build.

4. Don't over wick fill the wells. You end up wasting your juice. Have tails that reach the wells but don't pack them.

5. .... Ill post pictures up ASAP. I'm waiting on some materials to play with. If those of you were expecting a fog machine, then this may disappoint, but by the looks of it, it is dead easy to drill the holes out larger if need be, or you can just enjoy as is, I don't find it too tight at the most open position.


over all... I think it's very cool. I like it. My only gripe is that the center pin of the atty is not adjustable and even with the supplied brass pin for my 18650 P+ I have rattle.

 

[basilray]

Ah, so like this?

Exactly!





Sent from my Windows Phone, because iPhone can suck it...

 

[Tinben]

Ok, I am going looney. I took strata apart and cut Ophion style coil down to one ohm. Cut some cotton out. Plenty of juice but started getting hot button and burnt taste.
Somebody has got to help a brotha out and tell me exactly what to do. I want to use my 18350 and strata as my EDC vape.
Right now I am having better luck with my Ego and 1.5 atty.

 

[Nach]

You have to make sure that the wire doesn't short out on the inside walls of the top cap. My money says it's touching!

 

[Tinben]

It's expected. I'm still learnin. I am going to play around with it Saturday or one night this week if I get time. Kids keep me busy.