SS V Kanthal | TC V wattage: Thoughts?

[Waxxiii]

I've never bothered with TC but I thought it might be time to have a little tinker with it so I bought some 26awg SS wire. I went with SS because I can use it in wattage mode if I don't get on with TC. However, I'm wondering whether it s the best wire for TC if I do get on with it. What wire would you recommend for TC? I read a comment on a vape forum recently stating that Nickel should not be used. I didn't ask the poster to elaborate at the time but now I'm wondering what he meant. Any ideas?

I would also like to know how SS compares to Kanthal in wattage mode. What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Last but not least, temp v wattage. Why do people prefer one or the other. Once again, what are the advantages and disadvantages?

Thanks guys.

 

[RandyF]

I was a Ni user when it first came out, and for moths afterwards, while it can work very well, it is near impossible to use in a tank system since contact coils will not be consistent and spaced coils will be too large for tanks. A 13 wrap spaced 26g Ni coil in a Velocity works wonderfully, but I do not care for dripping.

I recently dove back into the TC arena with SS and I can say it works really well. The big advantage is you can now build TC coils (spaced) that will fit in tank systems. I am currently using a 6 wrap 26g SS coil in my Top Tank mini and it has been working great, though I am still working through what is ideal for me as to wattage vs temp vs coil size/diameter.

SS compared to Kanthal for me is still a work in progress, as I am still looking for that perfect SS set-up. I found it with Ni, so I know I will with SS, it just takes many trials and many errors.

As for why people prefer temp to wattage, safety. That is the only real reason to go down the TC road. There is a piece of mind feeling you get when you know (or hope to know) you are not over-heating your wire, and if your wick dries out your won't have to endure the nasty "burnt hit".

 

[IMFire3605]

I've never bothered with TC but I thought it might be time to have a little tinker with it so I bought some 26awg SS wire. I went with SS because I can use it in wattage mode if I don't get on with TC. However, I'm wondering whether it s the best wire for TC if I do get on with it. What wire would you recommend for TC? I read a comment on a vape forum recently stating that Nickel should not be used. I didn't ask the poster to elaborate at the time but now I'm wondering what he meant. Any ideas?

I would also like to know how SS compares to Kanthal in wattage mode. What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Last but not least, temp v wattage. Why do people prefer one or the other. Once again, what are the advantages and disadvantages?

Thanks guys.

To elaborate the difference between SS 316L and Ni200 Nickel, SS is a bit more resilient compared to the other materials available, think about how many atomizers are made of 316L SS, another factor is the fact that you can run it in both TC or standard power modes with little other effect other than to taste. Ni200 and Ti1 Titanium have their short falls, I run both in TC mode, which is the safest, Ni200 has a very very low melting point, and before that temp it begins to deteriorate and enter the vapor aerosol which can lead to Nickel poisoning. Titanium, get it to hot it creates a titanium dioxide layer that can enter the vapor stream as well, hint, they use titanium dioxide as a paint pigment and it is highly toxic as well. I have just begun to dabble with SS wire myself, flavor is a bit cleaner and crisper to me, especially on my lighter fruity flavors, though I still do prefer Kanthal and Nichrome80 on my standard dripper builds, I mainly use TC builds on my sub-ohm tanks/rtas, don't know why but TC seems to bring out the flavor I want in these tanks, my basic rta tanks like my Kayfuns still prefer Nichrome/Kanthal builds, to used to how I build those, my drippers I can tell when I need to drip instead of having to rely on a chip electronics to tell me I am getting dry. As with everything in vaping, it is to the end user's personal tastes as to how everything gets dialed in, "To their unique palette by their own experimenting".

hth a bit.

 

[Waxxiii]

I was a Ni user when it first came out, and for moths afterwards, while it can work very well, it is near impossible to use in a tank system since contact coils will not be consistent and spaced coils will be too large for tanks. A 13 wrap spaced 26g Ni coil in a Velocity works wonderfully, but I do not care for dripping.

I recently dove back into the TC arena with SS and I can say it works really well. The big advantage is you can now build TC coils (spaced) that will fit in tank systems. I am currently using a 6 wrap 26g SS coil in my Top Tank mini and it has been working great, though I am still working through what is ideal for me as to wattage vs temp vs coil size/diameter.

SS compared to Kanthal for me is still a work in progress, as I am still looking for that perfect SS set-up. I found it with Ni, so I know I will with SS, it just takes many trials and many errors.

As for why people prefer temp to wattage, safety. That is the only real reason to go down the TC road. There is a piece of mind feeling you get when you know (or hope to know) you are not over-heating your wire, and if your wick dries out your won't have to endure the nasty "burnt hit".

I am very new to rebuilding in general and am only just skimming the surface of my trial and erroring (of course that's a word ). That is specifically why I hadn't delved into the world of TC yet. I'm just discovering what coul builds and wicking methods works for me in my various RTA's and RDA's and that will obviously change if I start using a different wire and TC.

Regardless, I wanted to play about with it so I plan to prodiminantly stick to wattage mode and continue to work on my builds but I'll also play with TC on the side.

I appreciate your advice. Thank you.

 

[Waxxiii]

To elaborate the difference between SS 316L and Ni200 Nickel, SS is a bit more resilient compared to the other materials available, think about how many atomizers are made of 316L SS, another factor is the fact that you can run it in both TC or standard power modes with little other effect other than to taste. Ni200 and Ti1 Titanium have their short falls, I run both in TC mode, which is the safest, Ni200 has a very very low melting point, and before that temp it begins to deteriorate and enter the vapor aerosol which can lead to Nickel poisoning. Titanium, get it to hot it creates a titanium dioxide layer that can enter the vapor stream as well, hint, they use titanium dioxide as a paint pigment and it is highly toxic as well. I have just begun to dabble with SS wire myself, flavor is a bit cleaner and crisper to me, especially on my lighter fruity flavors, though I still do prefer Kanthal and Nichrome80 on my standard dripper builds, I mainly use TC builds on my sub-ohm tanks/rtas, don't know why but TC seems to bring out the flavor I want in these tanks, my basic rta tanks like my Kayfuns still prefer Nichrome/Kanthal builds, to used to how I build those, my drippers I can tell when I need to drip instead of having to rely on a chip electronics to tell me I am getting dry. As with everything in vaping, it is to the end user's personal tastes as to how everything gets dialed in, "To their unique palette by their own experimenting".

hth a bit.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I won't repeat everything I wrote in reply to the other poster but it's all relevant to this reply also.

 

[Saintskinny51792]

what device are you using?

 

[Rule62]

I've been using 316L ss in my mechanical REOs for the past 2-3 weeks. Pretty cool stuff. So far, I like it.

 

[Waxxiii]

what device are you using?

I use either the Smok R80 or Kbox 200 with the Aromamizer, Avocado or one of the few drippers I have.

 

[Saintskinny51792]

I would just build as you usually would using the SS wire, and wick it like you normally would too. Ive used Ni200, Titanium and SS 316/316L. I liked the vape I got with Ni200 at first, but I was worried about the possible harmful effects if accidently used in wattage mode... (I could see myself vaping for half a day then noticing my Temp control kicked off, then worrying about how much of what I may have inhaled.) I used my Sigelei Elite V2 for a couple months with the .2 ohm Nickel coils, and it was a damn nice vape, but my favorite part was not worrying about dry hits. anyway I bought some grade 1 Titanuim with my Istick TC120, but didnt like the taste... and then there was the risk of TiOxide if your coil got too hot, which also made me a bit nervous.

I finally found a shop in Grand Rapids that sold SS by the foot, so I bought 6' of ss316 and IM IN LOVE!!
I didnt get any off tastes, It was easy to build with, and the resistance was closer to Kanthal too, so you dont need 38 wraps to get to a .2 ohm coil or anything crazy like that. a dual 8/7 wrap build around a 2.5mm jug ohms out to 0.27 ohms. thats even high enough for my TC40w to power it.

probably best to start with your stock SS mode, start at around 420 Degrees F and work your way from there... in the future you can mess around with the TCR values to dial it in even further, You dont need to worry about that if you dont want to, but its nice to have the option... build and wick like you would any other coil, and if you dont like the vape, just push it back over to Wattage mode