Some thoughts on control

[kjj]

I made a temperature probe to see just how hot the coil is while I'm vaping. Looks like 185F is typical by my probe. And it might not be the true temp, but if I'm thinking about a feedback loop, all I need to know is whatever the probe I'm using should be, yes? Oh, I should tell you, I made the probe out of one of those big outdoor grill meat thermometers that looks like a giant fork. Disassembled it and pulled the thermistor out of the fork. I know it's probably going to pop the thermistor by my sticking it down onto my carto coil, but I realized I have to measure the temperature quickly on each vape, so I could not find any tiny aluminum piece or whatnot to stick the thermistor in and still let it register the temp quickly enough.

185 F is probably in the right ballpark. I know I've seen mine glowing bright red, which means somewhere north of 555 C. Of course, they only do that when they are dry. During normal operation, they have to be somewhere in the vicinity of the boiling point of our solutions, which is likely to be fairly close to the boiling point of water.

 

[kjj]

I'm with Willy on this one. I don't agree with anything on here. You're still trying to power the same nichrome coil with different power sources, or with RF and lasers. Atty design need to take a huge step forward, before power sources in my opinion. You're also missing the big picture. MONEY!!! I for one am not going to shell out $500-$1000 dollars for a new power source, no matter how well it performs. Hell, I won't pay $229 for a Darwin, because it's still powering the same attys/cartos. I would happily give $30-$50 for a better atty any day of the week. Just my $.02

I guess I should point out that when I mentioned lasers, it wasn't about power delivery or heating, it was for optical pyrometry, and it was the least desirable of the 3 or 4 bad choices I could think of off the top of by head. And RF was an idea for a data link to communicate the temperature signal from the atomizer back to the controller, lest we replace our robust threaded 2 pin coaxial connectors for flimsy 4 pin DINs or something equally ghastly.

 

[wv2win]

I'm with Willy on this one. I don't agree with anything on here. You're still trying to power the same nichrome coil with different power sources, or with RF and lasers. Atty design need to take a huge step forward, before power sources in my opinion. You're also missing the big picture. MONEY!!! I for one am not going to shell out $500-$1000 dollars for a new power source, no matter how well it performs. Hell, I won't pay $229 for a Darwin, because it's still powering the same attys/cartos. I would happily give $30-$50 for a better atty any day of the week. Just my $.02

I agree with you that the "weak link" in the vaping world is the atomizer and improvements are needed. I was told at the Atlanta Vape Fest that one high-end PV maker is looking at ways to improve or possibly replace the atomizer.

But I would suggest you re-consider the Darwin. I only vaped on it for 4-5 hours and found the consistency outstanding. But many on here who have been vaping on it for weeks are stating that it revives old attys considerably. Absent a solution for the atomizer, the Darwin apperars to be a large leap forward in vaping technology.