rebuilding atomizer. Help111

[darrynspall]

Hi folks. I'm trying to rebuild my atomizer so I can hopefully get a nice smoke. Fingers crossed but I'm still doubtful. Anyway ,when I keep putting in the new coil and try to test fire it- it says atomizer low (istick). I don't get it-what the hell is low? Does it mean -position of coil low, or coil resistance low? If that's the case- does that mean I need more coils? Before you ask- I don't know how thick my wire is. It came with a lemo drop as spare wire, but it doesn't say about thickness. But what's with this atomizer low business? Please tell me. Dazzer.

 

[Lord Cardigan]

I'd guess that it means the resistance of the coil is too low. Don't add coils. Rewrap with more wraps on the coil.

 

[Rat2chat2]

The tube mod I use to have said "low" when the battery needed charging. Are you sure the battery is fully charged? Sorry, wish I was more help. But I'm sure someone here will know about the istick's. Good luck to you.

 

[RamShot Rowdy]

Atomizer Low means the resistance of the atomizer is below what the iStick supports. For the 20 watt iStick, I think about 1.0 ohms is as low as it will fire. Screw the atomizer on the iStick and see what the resistance reading is on the screen.

 

[Rsunderl]

Hi darrynspall and welcome to the forum!

On the iStick, "Atomizer Low" means that the ohms of your coil are lower than the iStick will fire at, which is 1 ohm. You need to build a coil that is 1 ohm or higher. With the wire you have, that would mean starting with a longer length of wire.

Use an ohm meter when you build coils. They are pretty inexpensive and you will be able to build coils to the ohms you want as well as check for shorts in your coils.

You're pretty safe building coils for use on an iStick, because the electronice won't let you go too low (in ohms) on your coils - it just won't fire. However, if you start building coils for unregulated devices such as mech mods, you really want to study up on battery safety.

For info on batteries Baditude has several excellent blog posts on the subject. His blogs on battery safety are a must read before you venture into the world of sub-ohm vaping.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/for...ected-icr.html

Reliable sources for batteries:
Batteries-Chargers-Flashlights-Only The Best
Authentic AW Batteries - RTD Vapor
Illumn.com - Flashlights, Batteries, Carry Gear, Intelligent LED Lighting, and More!

Do not buy batteries from eBay or Amazon. Some of their third party sellers sell fakes.

... and finally, here's a link that explains things in pretty simple terms: Vaping Battery Safety & Ohms Law Illustrated and explained in very simple terms


Hope that helps and Happy Vaping!

 

[darrynspall]

Hi folks. I'm trying to rebuild my atomizer so I can hopefully get a nice smoke. Fingers crossed but I'm still doubtful. Anyway ,when I keep putting in the new coil and try to test fire it- it says atomizer low (istick). I don't get it-what the hell is low? Does it mean -position of coil low, or coil resistance low? If that's the case- does that mean I need more coils? Before you ask- I don't know how thick my wire is. It came with a lemo drop as spare wire, but it doesn't say about thickness. But what's with this atomizer low business? Please tell me. Dazzer.

I thank you all for your help. It's weird though because I got it working, but it's the same coil I was having problems with. At first it said atomizer low,but it wasn't touching the base, then I kind of prized it up higher a few times, then it began working o.k. Now it says 1.4 ohms. But why does adjusting it higher make a difference co the ohms? It beats me.Could I of changed something? It's happened before on a few other botches I tried. It worked after I prized it up a few times, but there was no short. I'd like to understand it so I'm not stabbing in the dark and can pronounce myself able and proficient to continue using rta's. It works quite well now but the first few times I had a bad taste once- poor smoke output- maybe my skills are improving- but I'm still dubious about them and am waiting for a nautalus mini to come from u.k. to see what that's like in comparison. My old pen ecigs seemed to be gentler vapour- but it was all taste when you take a long slow pull on it. Kind of a sweet taste in my head from the eliquid- which I can't taste from my istick set-up. Time will reveal all mysteries I guess.Take care all. Dazzer.

 

[itskohler]

Could have a bad connection on the POS/NEG poles you put your coil into. Also, heating the coil will raise the resistance a tad, just pushing you over the 1 ohm needed to fire.

 

[rhean]

As everyone's said, "low" generally means the resistance of your coil is too low. The istick won't fire anything below 1 ohms, and I'd wrap to somewhere around 1.2-1.3 so you have some leeway. To get the right resistance, you'll need a digital multimeter, or an ohm meter. Ohms meter is more convenient, as you can screw your atomizer on it, then start building.

Some reasons for the wonky measurements: You have to make sure that your coil is securely in the positive or negative posts. If it's loose, or if you overtightened so that one of the ends of your coil snapped, it'll give weird measurements. Also make sure your coil is not touching anything--not the posts, not the walls of the atomizer, not the base. Make sure the ends of the coil aren't protruding, touching anything.

btw, adding more coils will lower resistance, which is one reason why sub-ohmers often use multiple coils. The way that works: If one coil=1.2 ohms, adding two of the same coils=.6 ohms, adding 3=.4 ohms, adding 4= .3 ohms. You're reducing the resistance with each added coil, not increasing it.

Adding more wraps to the same coil will increase resistance.

EDIT: btw is this the 20w istick, or the 30w?

EDIT further: Your skills are improving lol! Get an ohm meter, though. It helps not building blind

 

[BlkWolfMidnight]

Howdy,

As I suggest this but all new folks to the coil building world learn oHm's law inside and out. Granted that you have an IStick and there is little danger of taxing your batteries to the failure point it is good to know why what is going on is happening.

The gauge of wire dictates what oHm/in or oHm/ft as you'll find it in the industry labeled. The higher the gauge wire the higher the resistance, the lower the gauge the lower the resistance. I guess one way to think about it is a highway, electrons are the cars on the road, the wider the road the more cars can pass easily through well same with thickness of wire. Resistance is the bottleneck that happens when you force those electrons to travel a smaller path. You have to remember that electricity will always push at the same volume regardless of the thickness of the wire. Yes more wraps will increase oHm's as your using more wire (Makes sense right) but as you'll find out researching oHm's law it will also increase amperage requirements to use this.

Secondly is hook up with someone locally that is well versed in building. A lot of things can go very wrong very quickly and it will result in bad things happening, take it from someone that has been around the block a few dozen times that 1 on 1 advice is the best you'll ever find. RBA's are not play things, these are serious pieces of equipment that you are creating a dead short (coil) on. A lot of care and focus needs to go in to the details so it does not destroy your mod or injure you in the process.

Floating oHm's are an issue of 2 things, either your wire is not crimped down properly to the post using the screws or the coils are badly done. Either one of these are bad things and need to be remediated. In the case of not making proper contact the voltage can arc and fuse the wire to your atomizer (Spark gap welding), as with the coils should some fuse together it will drastically decrease the oHm's quickly to possible battery failure. There is a ton of information here on ECF on proper coil building and RBA maintenance, you should read through it from top to bottom. Let us know if we can help with anything else.

Welcome to ECF

 

[Msand]

here is a website that will help in your coil building:

Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators

Also, I believe the wire that comes with the Lemo is 26gauge. if it is not 26 then it is 24.

 

[darrynspall]

here is a website that will help in your coil building:

Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators

Also, I believe the wire that comes with the Lemo is 26gauge. if it is not 26 then it is 24.

Thanks to everyone for the informative advice, by the way, interesting name and picture black wolf howling at the moon, like it!!! I enjoyed the analogy about the highway too. Great. Plodding on- going somewhere. I know my wire now too thanks.Best wishes to everyone. Dazzer (my nickname).