Rebuilding Kanger T3 coils

[Snicks]

Well only been vaping for about a month now and when I started I bought 4 T3's. Last week I noticed they were not tasting the same as they did. Loss of flavor and a slight burnt taste. I was having to turn down the volts to make it possible to vape.

I know I can buy new atomizers for the T3 and ProTank but if I have to change them every month then I'm not sure I'm willing to make the investment. I mean its only $5-$6 bucks a month but I would have to order them offline and why bother when I can rebuild the coils myself?

So I watched a few videos and sat down to do my first coil last night. The process is simple and I knocked it out in about 10 minutes. I think my coil came out really good. I used 5 wraps. My multimeter told me it was 2.9 ohms. A little higher than I wanted but whatever.

Now here is where my dilemma is:

I used 3mm silica and I of course had to add a flavor wick on top of it. It's the flavor wick that is giving me a hard time. Use too much and it mutes the flavor, too little and juice leaks into the draw tube.

I tried using 2 strands from the 3mm silica, flavor was muted, tried one strand and got juice in my mouth...I'm now trying one strand plus I pulled apart the second and used part of that to add another 'thinner' strand. This seems better but I'm not quite satisfied.

For those that rebuild their T3's and ProTanks; how much wick do you use for a flavor wick? What has worked best for you? I'm at work now so I can't tinker but I'd love to get some input from you guys that make your own coils.

Thanks!

 

[UncleChimney]

I Use This Method For My Bottom Coils And Usual Don't Need A Flavor Wick. You Can Play Around With It A Lot To Get The Perfect About. It's Actually Extremely Easy.

 

[crxess]

Before rebuilding, I usually get several months by rinsing every few tanks and dry burning the main wick every 3-4 tanks. only takes a few minutes to service.
Pull the post and remove the flavor wicks to dry burn the coil clean.

 

[cedric212]

Sound like too much wicking material thus chocking the flow of eliquid causing dry hit/muted flavor. Have you tried using only 1 strand of 3mm?

 

[Snicks]

Sound like too much wicking material thus chocking the flow of eliquid causing dry hit/muted flavor. Have you tried using only 1 strand of 3mm?

If I use just one strand then it leaks into the draw tube.

infact these T3's seem to leak into the tube on a regular basis but finding the balance has been hard. If I just left the coil in there without a flavor wick it will leak like a mother I bet.

Right now its the best its been since I rebuilt it. I took it apart and flatened the flavor wick a bit over the coil and now I'm getting more flavor with only slight leakage once out of 20 pulls or so.

I plan to make some more coils today and will experiment more.

If I could push the center tube down further on top of the coil/wick I think using less wick would work but it seems that the center post only goes in so far and if there isn't enough wick then I get a mouthful of juice. Thankfully it doesn't taste too bad but it does give me a buzz lol.

 

[Snicks]

Wouldn't that burn the wick in the coil though?

 

[cedric212]

Have you tried inverting the silicone cover to improve wicking? If you're getting good flavor and only slight leakage (maybe due to condensation), then that's probably about as good as it'll get (no gurgling or muted flavor). To increase flavor and decrease leakage, I would (1) increase the voltage or wattage if using VV/VW or (2) lowing the resistance (2.9ohm is kinda high...prefer <2.2ohm) by using less coils or make the coils tigher together which will heat up faster. Essentially, you're increasing the rate of how fast the eliquid being vaporized to avoid leakage due to too much eliquid being fed to the heating coil. If it still gurgles or leaks when idle, then you need to go back and increase the amount of wicking...just a lot of trial and error to find the right balance.

I would also recommend giving cotton wicks a try, they soak up eliquid faster and expands more than silica which will give you more leeway when rebuilding heads.

 

[Snicks]

Have you tried inverting the silicone cover to improve wicking?QUOTE]


What do you mean by "inverting the silicone cover"?

 

[cedric212]

What do you mean by "inverting the silicone cover"?

The silicone grommet sitting on top of the center post top prevents the eliquid leaking into the inner tube, but this also play a part in constricting the flow if the tank and base are screwed too tightly. Once you invert this piece, try fluffing out the exposed wick ends to minimize gaps and prevent leakage.

 

[Snicks]

I dont have one of those on my T3. In fact i just looked at all of my T3's and none of them have that. I've only been rebuilding the coil on one. Now Im a bit ...... as it seems the store I bought them from either removed them or something. hmmmm

 

[cedric212]

That's odd...I haven't seen any vender that even sells that specific grommet (only seen the one used to separate the wires being sold). But this silicon grommet is necessary to seal the gap between the two tubes which may explain your issue with leakage (the pressure of the eliquid pushing the eliquid into the interspace between the tubes then floods into the inner tube). Definitely go back to your local B&M and have the issue resolved. In the mean time, if you have plummer's tape (telfon tape), maybe you can use that as a temporary fix.

 

[Snicks]

Yeah I'm going to hit up my local store and see what gives. Maybe they got a batch that were missing them.

That said I have 2 ProTanks and a Kanger MT BCC (it has that little rubber sleave ) to get me by while I wait to fix the T3's.

All my T3's are now in stand by position. I also just ordered 5 Kanger T3 Bottom Coil Head/Base Assemblies so I will have spare parts.

I'll talk to the store tomorrow as well.

 

[cedric212]

Did you order the T3S head/base conversion for T3 like this one? If yes, then it's a good choice since Kanger stopped manufacturing T3s. If not, then this is something you might want to keep in mind when purchase replacement heads in the future.

 

[Snicks]

No I didn't. And thats okay as I only spent $14 after shipping for 5 of them. I picked up the standard T3 head/base; but instead of 1.8ohm I bought the 2.2ohm versions.

I might pick up a couple of those though just to try them out. To be honest I didn't even think of buying those updated ones. Maybe I'll buy one tonight just to see how much better it is.


And on a good note I re-coiled that T3 again earlier and it came out perfect. tested at 2ohm and I used the rubber seal from that MT BCC clearo which fit perfectly. Now my T3 is hitting good. tons of vape, good flavor and no leaking.

 

[cedric212]

Wow, congrats on your successful rebuild! With some practice, you should be able to churn out heads at rates of 30-60s/head. Even though the replacement head cost less, there's not much of a need to get one if you're planing to rebuild (perhaps wait for the Protank mini for your next purchase).

Personally, I prefer the LR coils, the one I'm currently using is 3/2 coiled around cotton (~1.5ohm), hits like a train on my mech.