hey guys, with the
smok x cube 2, in tc mode, do you have to pay to upgrade to ss ? and then with ss can you build your own coils or do you have to use premade ones ? just wondering cause ive been reading alot of stuff around which confuses me
Sorry, I missed this.
From what I understand, it defaults to no TC mode, and a $2.99 firmware update to TC. Then .99 for Stainless steel, and .99 for Titanium.
Now, As far as what stainless steel, I have no idea. Here's the lowdown on how TC works.
At the time of this post, most mods use Nichrome or Kanthal. Those are alloys. An alloy is essentially a mixture of different metals to meet a particular use. Kanthal, for example, is a mixture of Iron, Chromium, and Aluminum. Originally, Kanthal was made by one company, for resistance wires, but since then, other companies have gotten in on the business, and there are several companies that make it. Each company changes the percentage of the metals slightly. Because of that, the same kanthal can be slightly different from one brand to the next... each having a slightly different consistency and properties.
Now, Temperature control uses no thermometer so to speak. What it does, is it measures how hot the coil is by how much resistance it gives at a certain voltage/wattage. To get an accurate reading, it has to have a consistent level of resistance from one wire to the next. That is where NI-200 and Titanium come into play. NI-200 is pure Nickel, Titanium is...well.. Titanium. There is not enough other metals to really make a difference in the resistance rating. So, a .1 ohm coil in NI-200 should perform the same no matter what company gives you the NI-200 wire... they all should be pure nickel.
Now, as far as stainless steel goes, that goes back to being an alloy. There is a wide variety of grades of stainless. The only thing it shares in common with Ni-200 and Titanium, is it's low resistance. Since I haven't toyed around with TC yet, I don't know how different grades of SS work.
Now, when you buy a TC device, most made at the moment assume you are using Ni-200. It has the settings for the Ni-200 pre-programmed in. IT checks the resistance of the coil, and uses that as a baseline as to how the resistances and settings should be for that coil. Technically, you could "fake" a different wire type by changing the temperature settings. For example, I have heard of people using Titanium in a NI-200 mod, but they have to lower the temperature settings. Most mods can use a different wire, but the settings won't be as consistent as one that has the settings and behavior of that wire programmed in.
Now that you have an idea of what is going on, you should be able to figure out a lot more. You can use standard RBA's/drippers, etc on a TC mod, since the resistance in the atomizer will be negligible.
My prediction, is they'll come out with a dual media type coil.. maybe something like a clapton coil. Where the clapton coil heats something like Titanium, and it would use the titanium as a gauge as to how hot the other wire is. But that probably requires a sophisticated deck and coil.