Sigelei Zmax V3 & RSST RBA problem

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LeoRex

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Considering 28 gauge Kanthal is only 5.27 ohms/foot, I would say it is most likely literally too low of resistance.

This....

I use 28g in my RSST (ss mesh)... a 4 wrap puts me around 0.9 ohms.... OK on my mech, well below the 1.2 ohm floor of my Vamo. The min for the ZMax is, what, 1.5? That would need at least 7/6 wraps of 28g... that's a lot of coil for a RBA, unless you are trying microcoils (which would be REALLY hard to pull off with a ceramic wick).

Do you have anything in a higher gauge, like 30? With 30g wire, a 4/3 or 5/4 wrap would put you in the 1.5-1.8 range.
 

LeoRex

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Yeah, go with higher resistance wire... even 30 might be good. Wire is pretty inexpensive, you might want to have 28, 30 and 32 on hand. On an RBA, coils tend to be 3 to 5 wraps... with 28, that's the sub-ohm/low 1's... 30 will be in the middle 1's and with 32, you'll be up around 2 ohms.

Even with 6 wraps, you might not hit the floor of the ZMax... You are really close to 1.5 ohms at that point (just guessing based on the wire and size of the wick).

Now, I don't know much about the ZMax, but what does it say with nothing attached? Just asking since the RSST has an adjustable center post... if not adjusted right, it won't be making contact with the center post on the ZMax. But it all depends on what it says... I know my Vamo will read resistances at least down to 0.7 ohms (even though it won't fire down there), and with nothing attached, I get 9.9 ohms.
 

Bern Diesel

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I had a Zmax mini and used to run into the same problem. Although Zmax's will fire a carto at 1.1 ohms I had to wrap my Richman pretty high to get it to fire. I used 30 gauge wire, I think 8 or 9 wrap micoroil at 1.8 ohms. It was the frustration of getting it to fire combined with the constant misfires that caused me to get into mechanicals. For some reason it also wouldn't read anything below 1.8 on an rba but would read cartos down to 1.1 ohms. Although I can't stand them either, a Provari will fire an rba down to 0.9 ohms. I would recommend a mech mod for any RBA, but you can definately get an RBA firing on a Zmax with 30 gauge kanthal.
 
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