Something is up...

[TreVader]

I've been using 26ga Kanthal A1 to wrap microcoils for awhile now.... and a few days ago I went to a place where all they had was 28ga... which is fine i've used that 100x before. So I go to wrap a dual 4 wrap micro (exactly the same as I did w/ 26ga, minus one wrap) and finish, set it up and as soon as it light up it fries... primed and everything. Crazy thing was even after one coil melted the other did too! Normally when that happens, the increased resistance from losing one coil is enough to at least have the second one fire w/o just popping. Anyway so I figure oh well, guess ill have to do the same as w/ the 26ga. I wrap another, this time the exact same setup, 5 wraps, that worked great before.... and it fries (albeit slower than the last time). At this point i'm like ....... this is not right. The resistance on this wire is WAY too low for 28ga.

Anybody ever run into crazy low resistance 28ga kanthal?

at this point, i'm just gonna throw it all out because I prefer not to wrap anything longer than 6 loops anyway and i have no idea what the resistance of this wire is per inch.

 

[chadh4x]

Sounds dangerous. Sure the coils were not shorted?

Tapatalk S4

 

[TreVader]

yeah they were good. It happened repeatedly, and when i got one coil working it was just torching my wicks. Heating up waaaay too much. There is a guy I know who claims he uses 3 wrap coils on silica.... i don't think this is possible on 28ga, maybe 30 or 32. anybody use 3 wrap coils (around two 3mm silica bands, for ID reference)?

 

[t2ak]

did you measure the resistance before firing?

4 wraps of 28g evenly spaced (non-micro coil) comes out at around 0.94 @ 5.12 ohms/ft minus the legs.... dual coil that and its 0.47.. being a micro coil thats going to be much lower since the coils are touching. this was all calculated assuming all dimensions were perfect.

 

[TreVader]

I never measure resistance.... if the battery gets hot, i make the coil longer. I've built coils that by all rights should've blown my MNKEs, but never did. Stuff like quad 4 wrap micros on 26ga kanthal. That was a dope setup but i roasted the wicks one day and.... sigh... i don't want to talk about it.

 

[Cjax]

Are you sure it was kanthal and not NiChrome? I think that stuff is lower ohms/inch.

 

[crxess]

I never measure resistance.... if the battery gets hot, i make the coil longer. I've built coils that by all rights should've blown my MNKEs, but never did. Stuff like quad 4 wrap micros on 26ga kanthal. That was a dope setup but i roasted the wicks one day and.... sigh... i don't want to talk about it.

...........

 

[Susan W.]

Doesn't sound like this is a good way to check resistance.....

I never measure resistance.... if the battery gets hot, i make the coil longer. I've built coils that by all rights should've blown my MNKEs, but never did. Stuff like quad 4 wrap micros on 26ga kanthal. That was a dope setup but i roasted the wicks one day and.... sigh... i don't want to talk about it.

 

[xtwosm0kesx]

I never measure resistance.... if the battery gets hot, i make the coil longer. I've built coils that by all rights should've blown my MNKEs, but never did. Stuff like quad 4 wrap micros on 26ga kanthal. That was a dope setup but i roasted the wicks one day and.... sigh... i don't want to talk about it.

If you're going to practice insanely bad judgement, please don't pass on poor information to newer members.

I'm referring to your earlier post telling a member they didn't need a resistance meter.

 

[BuzzKilla]

drum roll

and the Darwin award goes to....

 

[Ronald3638]

Sound like it's not kanthal A1. If it's nichrome the resistance is much lower, I use nichrome to design heaters in my job. The smallest gauge we use is 25 gauge which is only 2.029 ohms per foot at 25°C. 28 gauge would be higher but not by much.

Go to Harbor freight and pick up a multimeter you can get one for as little as $5.00 with a coupon.

 

[t2ak]

Sound like it's not kanthal A1. If it's nichrome the resistance is much lower, I use nichrome to design heaters in my job. The smallest gauge we use is 25 gauge which is only 2.029 ohms per foot at 25°C. 28 gauge would be higher but not by much.

Go to Harbor freight and pick up a multimeter you can get one for as little as $5.00 with a coupon.

FYI he is too skilled for a multimeter..

 

[BuzzKilla]

Multi-meters are too mainstream....

 

[Revelene]

Well, resistance is not calculated by the amount of wraps... it is the total length of wire. Always check, double check, and triple check your resistance. Sounds to me like you need to watch a few videos and learn the process of coil building. If you continue the way you are doing it you could easily be one of the people on the news that gets harmed by a battery going thermal.

 

[ScandaLeX]

FYI he is too skilled for a multimeter..

Not too bright for one either......go figure.
I saw his other postings....all I could do was SMDH!

 

[t2ak]

Well, resistance is not calculated by the amount of wraps... it is the total length of wire. Always check, double check, and triple check your resistance.

true.. but not entirely.
more wraps = longer wire. same thing, i know.

in micro coils, you now have each coil touching each other therefore lowering the total resistance by giving the electrons more surface area to pass through. i really dont feel like calculating out what the resistance drop would be per coil but it should drop the resistance somewhere around a 1/4 of what it would be if the coils were equally spaced out. all this depends on how much surface area contact you can achieve with the coils.

I don't know if this will help it make sense..

Electricity flows along the wire and across the coil with micros. Giving the electrons a larger volume to flow through. Lowering the resistance.

Sounds to me like you need to watch a few videos and learn the process of coil building. If you continue the way you are doing it you could easily be one of the people on the news that gets harmed by a battery going thermal.

i just hope that if something goes wrong and someone hurts themselves or someone else, that the story doesnt end up in the hands of the media. surefire (pun intended) way to ruin it for the rest of the class just because someone was careless when 98% of the community are using safe practices.

 

[ScandaLeX]

i just hope that if something goes wrong and someone hurts themselves or someone else, that the story doesn't end up in the hands of the media. surefire (pun intended) way to ruin it for the rest of the class just because someone was careless when 98% of the community are using safe practices.

Don't forget the same 98% is trying in vain to help the other percent avoid a catastrophe.
What's the saying.....you can lead a horse to water.....

 

[arilen]

You are wrong on micro coils resistance . The oxidation works as a insulator. The wire is the same resistance straight as it is coiled, of you don't believe me wrap one and see. I have checked my wire before wrapping it then after it was the same.

 

[arilen]

My micro coil meters out at 1.8 ohms on my vamo and my multimeter. Go read the thread about microcoils for better vapor and th. It is full of good info to back me up.

 

[dr g]

Whether or not you believe you are doing something dangerous, measuring coil resistance is important for checking your work and calibrating your expectations.