quick question on sub ohm vaping

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Rusty_Shackleford

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Jan 13, 2013
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Been watching youtube vids & learning all I can on sub ohm builds & think I am ready to attempt it.

I am looking to order a rebuildable atty & looking at a 4 quad design.

My question is, can I simply just use 1-4 coils or do I need to use all 4 posts? Example, am I able to use a quad coil atty as a dual coil or must all 4 posts be engaged for it to function properly. Thanks :)
 
Okay, second question first... The coils need to match in wire gauge and resistance to distribute the energy evenly between them. You might consider Chapters 1,2,3 and 5 here: Volume I - DC : All About Circuits to get an understanding of the circuits. Your coils are the resistors.
Now the first question: It depends is the simple answer. But why?
Each atomizer has different design goals. Some, like the squid are optimized for single coils, while others like the IGO W6 are optimized for quad coils. It has to do with how airflow moves over the coils and the mechanics of the build deck. For what you want to do, quad coils the W6 is likely the best solution (four airholes and four negative posts). That doesn't mean you can't do a quad coil on, for instance, a Patriot. With the Patriot you have to put the airholes between the coils (after drilling them out to get enough airflow).
Here's what I will suggest. Get a simple, cheap dual coil atty and build a single coil on it. You can always tape off the second airhole (temporarily) and learn to a) build good coils. b) gain experience on coil geometry (how the coil wicks juice and produces vapor) c) gain experience in resistance and wire size. Once you have a nice coil, build two of them and take the tape off the second airhole. Adjust the build to optimize dual coils for you. Then you can build two more coils and experiment with quad coils. You'll learn the tradeoffs first-hand and do it in a safe, fun and rewarding way.
Vape Safe, Vape On.
 

Tbev

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You can do whatever you want with it. 1,2,4 is pretty much the standard you can do 3 if you want tho. With a dripper, or any atty really you want to pay attention to Airflow, if an has been built for quads running a single coil in it is probably not going to get the best vape out of it BC you want your coils to be close to the intake of air, in the path of air, and you also don't want air coming in anywhere there isn't a coil in its path, like if you have a cap with 2 holes in it and one coil the air coming in on the side with no air will take your flavor away and make for an airy vape.

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I know, bad form to reply to my own comment. I wanted to add this from another thread I'm following:

In vaping there are variables. Many of those will affect the quality and quantity of the vape. I'm going to summarize the main variables that can be engineered. The one variable that comes first is the vaper. Individuals have different preferences and capabilities. These parameters allow a vaper to customize their experience within equipment to get the vape quality they want.

1. Surface area. The larger the surface area the more juice is in contact with the heating element and the greater the volume of vapor produced. The downside of surface area is its mass which determines the time energy must be applied to heat the coil. Thus a 32ga round coil will heat faster than a 22ga coil of the same resistance because there is less mass to heat up.

2. Resistance. V^2 / R = W (voltage squared divided by resistance equals watts) and watts are heat energy. The more heat the faster the liquid is vaporized and the warmer the vapor produced is, up to the point of 'frying' it. The downside of high-energy systems is short battery life. I know some really experienced sub-ohm builders who build down to 60 milliohms, but they change batteries as often as I used to change my 510 stick batteries (several times a day).

3. Wicking. Wick characteristics matter. The more rapidly a liquid can travel through by capillary and thermal gradient the more juice is available to be vaporized. Steel mesh is great for high heat, but it doesn't support high juice flow, cotton gives great flow but isn't very tolerant of high heat, silica and Eckowool are middle ground materials and have their own issues (they tend to clog resulting in dry hits).

4. Voltage. Voltage is potential, the higher the potential the faster the current can heat the coil, hence a given coil will heat faster on a fresh battery at 4.2 volts than it will on a "dead" battery at 3.7 volts. Long ago we used to 'stack' batteries to increase the voltage but at the currents we use this was a more dangerous practice and is not recommended anymore.

5. Airflow. Airflow is another determinant of vapor density. Too little airflow and the vapor burns at the surface of the coil, too much airflow and the vapor density drops to the point of sucking air. Getting the balance right yields a vapor that has the characteristics that bring out the flavor/vapor/throat hit of a particular set of juices. Most of us have RDA's drilled out to balance airflow for the builds we put on them, some need big holes 1/8" (or larger), others work best with a couple of #54's.

6. Juice characteristic. Different flavors taste better at different temperatures and densities. The mix ratio of PG/VG also has a lot to do with vaporization temperature of the juice. The components of the flavor also affect the vaporization temperature and there are some components that are not very heat tolerant and will 'caramelize'. As a rule-of-thumb darker juices will caramelize more than clear ones, but as with most ROTs YMMV.

Those of us who wind our own coils look to optimize these parameters to provide a satisfying vape. Any one of us can talk about builds that fried a particular juice (and not all of them are sub-ohm ), and ones that failed to produce the vapor temperature density and flavor we were expecting.

Vaping is a science and an art. Blowing clouds is a part of it (the fun part), but it's really about finding that balance between vapor density, temperature and taste that makes a juice come alive. That being said, it is not something to jump into without experience. At a minimum you need to be able to understand battery safety, build characteristics (above), and the characteristics of the mod and atomizer (voltage drop, current path, heat transfer) being used. If these things are not in your repertoire of knowledge, keep reading the forums and ask questions.
 

blueGrassTubb

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If you're asking whether you can use different sized coils for a sub-Ω setup, I'd wager you aren't as ready as you think, especially if you're looking to do a 4 coil setup first.

I'm not trying to be antagonistic here, either.

Try a single coil setup, then dual. If you don't find what you're looking for, go quad. But move in progression, don't try and build your dream coil the very first time.
 

Rusty_Shackleford

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Thnx for everyone's replies. I did not think I could mix different sized coils nor really had any intention to. Just wanted to make sure if I accidentally got my wires mixed up, how careful I would need to be.

Far as the question to why it is because I want to start out with a single coil & progress up to quad coil but not wanting to buy 3 diffrent attys. I wanted to just not use 3 negative posts on a quad coil design & just put a single in, then when i am ready move to dual coil without having to buy another atty.

Basically im trying to avoid buying a ton of attys & just have 1 quad to practice all sort of combos on to figure out what I want then go out and buy attys with the knowledge of what I enjoy. Instead of just buying atty after atty to find out what I like.
 

blueGrassTubb

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Thnx for everyone's replies. I did not think I could mix different sized coils nor really had any intention to. Just wanted to make sure if I accidentally got my wires mixed up, how careful I would need to be.

Far as the question to why it is because I want to start out with a single coil & progress up to quad coil but not wanting to buy 3 diffrent attys. I wanted to just not use 3 negative posts on a quad coil design & just put a single in, then when i am ready move to dual coil without having to buy another atty.

Basically im trying to avoid buying a ton of attys & just have 1 quad to practice all sort of combos on to figure out what I want then go out and buy attys with the knowledge of what I enjoy. Instead of just buying atty after atty to find out what I like.

You're trying to skin too many cats at a time.

You won't find any drippers that will play the single, dual, and quad coil roles you want. And even if you CAN build one that way, it wouldn't do a very good job.

For instance, the Igo-W6 is advertised as a dual or quad coil dripper, but as soon as you take a look, it's TERRIBLE as a dual coil dripper.

Start small.

Get an Igo-L and drill out the top cap. You can get one for less than $10. Then get an Igo-W and drill out the top cap. You can get one for less than $15.
 

BobC

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Agree with most of the previous posters, I wouldn't jump to a quad coil build as my first foray into sub-ohm building, for one, you may not even like it, most don't.
Start with a three post dripper, building a single 5-7 wrap 28awg coil, see how you like it. Then try 26awg, and evaluate the difference.
Then try 28awg dual with various coil positioning, then 26awg.
Taste is subjective, and face it, that's why there's so many varying build characteristics discussed here on ECF, to each their own.
Instead of just blindly jumping in, see for yourself what you like.

One other note, test & re-test each build, your face will thank you for being careful
 

Froth

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You're trying to skin too many cats at a time.

You won't find any drippers that will play the single, dual, and quad coil roles you want. And even if you CAN build one that way, it wouldn't do a very good job.

For instance, the Igo-W6 is advertised as a dual or quad coil dripper, but as soon as you take a look, it's TERRIBLE as a dual coil dripper.

Start small.

Get an Igo-L and drill out the top cap. You can get one for less than $10. Then get an Igo-W and drill out the top cap. You can get one for less than $15.
Fantastic advice, I highly recommend that most/all people start their dripping experience with something like an IGO-W, they're usually available at any decent B&M shop for ~$20 or less and they work very very well with minimal modifications. When you graduate into wanting something a little different there are DOZENS of top caps out there that work with the IGO-W and give a complete new look. Very versatile "starter" RDA. I've been using RDA's for about six months and I still use my IGO-W almost every day.
 
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CloudZ

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If I were you, I'd pick a 3 post (dual coil) RDA to start which has airflow control options for a single or dual coil build. There are plenty of options out there for this now. Get some 28 gauge kanthal and build a mildly sub-ohm single coil with it (around 0.8 ohms). If you want to go bigger, use the same wire to build something like a 0.6 ohm dual coil. Just make sure your batteries are high quality and rated for 10 amps continuous or more (preferably more, again there are several options out there now).

Quad coil RDA's are more difficult to build and can be more dangerous, simply because they need to be run at very low resistance for good performance and you'll have lots of wire on the deck (more chances for unintentional shorts). A well-built dual coil should give you all the flavor and vapor you need and then some. My :2c:
 

havok333

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Fantastic advice, I highly recommend that most/all people start their dripping experience with something like an IGO-W, they're usually available at any decent B&M shop for ~$20 or less and they work very very well with minimal modifications. When you graduate into wanting something a little different there are DOZENS of top caps out there that work with the IGO-W and give a complete new look. Very versatile "starter" RDA. I've been using RDA's for about six months and I still use my IGO-W almost every day.

+1 on the IGO-W! Cheap, works very well, and great aftermarket caps can be purchased later on if you want.

One trick for building single coils on IGO-W, only drill out one of the holes. That tiny stock hole is irrelevant if the other side is drilled out to a usable size. When you move on to duals, you can drill the stock hole at that time.

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