Hi J (
@JJOOHHNN), thanks for the interest. Glad you caught that. By stabilizing the turn to turn relationship, balancing the rigidity to ensure effective oxidation and insulation by pulsing you can extend the life of wire.
First, two things compromise the wire significantly with time. High wire temperature as by excessive dry burn. This can erode the insulation but more importantly exceed the original oxidation (cool) temperature promoting warping. As distortion increases segments of the coil can overheat beyond the original insulation temp's and this causes premature surface erosion (rusting basically). You won't see the original gains in performance or temperature conductivity (efficiency). You'll get a hotter coil overall which feeds to the cycle (diffusion). Along with this these zones tend to accumulate more pigment accretion, requiring more dry burns of the coil…and there goes the ball game.
So the answer is impressive. I've had various t.m.c.'s in various styles of wind that have gone out beyond a year. Not what you want to use as they evidenced various degrees of distortion. Realistically some well made t.m.c.'s prudently but diligently dry burned at low temp's could go out months.
For a Protank head average single coil use is 4-6 weeks requiring a wet wash and dry burn at 7-10 days (assuming light dry burns in place every 2-4 days with Nextel, KGD or cotton wick replacement. Or about at least twice the life of a factory coil to stave off accretion). So depending on the juice chemistry you could go out beyond a month to 6-weeks. Cotton or KGD coils will see an average towards the lower side of 7 days. If you have a half dozen or so coils you'll see that much variation.This compares to a factory life average of 4-5 days or 25 days for the 5-pack. Even as t.m.c.'s are more consistent they're still not perfect. Juices and vaping style can affect even small variations more than others.
Both Aerotank Mini and Protank 3 are good, take the original (PT2) coils. I enjoy them. Still build them for myself and others. The advantage is you can probably find some of the original Protank's for about 10$!!! Love the form and that fantastic leather case. Protank 3 and Aero take the high slot coil which works a bit better including the Aero Mega which is my fav (not a subtank but not for off either with the right coil and power, over 15W). The newer factory coils have a very slightly larger air hole (perhaps a mm). Doesn't seem like much but it does help, even as I was skeptical. Don't forget to drill out the air holes to the maximum in either the standard bases or the AFC versions. Especially if you use ceramic wicking. You will get some extra duty from your pin vise from the jump there J.
Now for something completely different...
Last but not least, I love the Subtank series. Have tried and sampled a number of alternatives and it is a superbly crafted and balanced RTA concept. There is a dual coil (3-wire) twisted center lead wind
see above that works flawlessly with the factory OCC coil. Considerably easier to build than the PT with its tight fit. Rock solid termination and resistance. It's a bit drier than the PT heads but still can wet the base through the 510 if you let power get too low and over-saturate the wick (gunk up). I've used the coil out beyond two months. Practical use about a month as I prefer low levels of accretion. But really rock solid performance at 15W. And if you like the low end of power 12-15W you could get into a Subtank Nano as an alternative. These are also inexpensive now and a great value for the volume vaper (which I am). Lot's of juices and gear.
J thanks for looking in. The Protank will give you the skills to build dead on predictably
for any device. You
will understand how you got there and be able to repeat results. That's why I keep this thread alive. I strongly suspect there will be many who'll need it in the circumstances we may be facing soon.
My standing offer…if you get hung or require specialized help contact me. I'll do the best I can or put you in touch with another accomplished t.m.c. rebuilder. Any question, post here and some subscriber will answer or give me a nudge.
Best of luck to you J and Happy Holidays.
p.s. Still looking for pics for this reply. Check back.
