Suggestions for my next build

[sour green]

Hi,
I built my first rba last week with 28g Kanthal A-1, 3wraps, 400x400 ssmesh on a UD AGI rba + Drawtube. I made an awesome one in first try and tested out the ohm on my Darwin and it gave 0.7ohm. It fires great on a 18350 but it seems to lose power really quickly. After about 10 or so hits, it loses power to a point where it feels too weak to vape on. Although the battery can last much longer, I have to change out the battery much more often than necessary.

Questions:
For my next build, what do you suggest to get more power even after battery is somewhat drained?
Is there a certain ohm rating that is potentially dangerous? And is 0.7ohm dangerous? I'll be only using 18350.
And what does 2/3, 3/4, etc. wraps mean?

Thanks for the support.

 

[vapdivrr]

well depending on how you actually wrap a coil sometimes as you look at the coils on one side of the wick you may see 3 wraps and on the other side may only see 2 wraps, well this would be a 2/3 wrap.

 

[vapdivrr]

also what kind of batterys do you have? some batterys have better ratings for higher amp draw then others, i only use hi drain batterys and although i never have used 18350's my 18490 and 18650 will go quite a while at 0.7 Ω before feeling the loss. so a better battery may be the solution or just add one more wrap to the wick and try that, by adding a little more resistance you wont be using as much ampreg. as for the specific amp rating for different batterys, not sure, i have always had good luck with aw/imr's. i think the mnke batterys have a higher amp rating amonst some others but do not know if available in the 18350 size.

 

[pdib]

A small battery is a small battery. I gather you like to run at low resistance. So these two don't go together so good. The only way I know of to get more punch for less energy is to use the heat energy for all it is worth. Where's jasl90? Anyway, he does this thing to maximize energy value. With your wraps all bunched together, their heat gets hotter, increasing resistance, increasing hotter-ness, etc. Looks like this.

View attachment 203186

You can probably go up .1 or .2Ω in resistance and get the same feel as before, if you wrap tight like this. That should buy you an extra 5 minutes(?) (3 minutes? )

EDIT: VAP, I was typing when you posted. This wasn't in response to your post.

 

[pdib]

Oh, and if you do it like Super_X_Drifter, you can bump up, maybe .4-.5Ω. He does tight wraps, but on a really small diameter. Doesn't work so good with silica. Yes on cotton, ss mesh, hemp, nextel.

View attachment 203193View attachment 203194

 

[vapdivrr]

A small battery is a small battery. I gather you like to run at low resistance. So these two don't go together so good. The only way I know of to get more punch for less energy is to use the heat energy for all it is worth. Where's jasl90? Anyway, he does this thing to maximize energy value. With your wraps all bunched together, their heat gets hotter, increasing resistance, increasing hotter-ness, etc. Looks like this.

View attachment 203186

You can probably go up .1 or .2Ω in resistance and get the same feel as before, if you wrap tight like this. That should buy you an extra 5 minutes(?) (3 minutes? )

EDIT: VAP, I was typing when you posted. This wasn't in response to your post.

i gotcha. good point on the battery size. i recently got an 18500 tube and have definatly noticed a difference between that and an 18650 although at these resistances i am still able to vape pretty good for a few hours, so couldnt imagine an 18350.

 

[sour green]

Thank you all for your responses and pictures. They are very helpful. I really love how small my device is in 18350 (AMR) mode and it hits great but dies too fast I'm glad I posted because I was going to lower to 2 wraps because in my head I thought if battery voltage drops after 10 min it will still hit hard at lower ohms? I'll try increasing wraps, although right now in my 3 wrap (I can't see 2 or 4 wraps in any 360 degree view.. so is that just 3 wraps?) I have them very close together already.. looks like pictures above but only 3 wraps.

Anyways, rebuilding atomizers is fun, and definitely been the best vaping experience for me so far. I'm glad I dove in.. I would have never tried it if my Reo Grand VV was not stolen... it just seemed very exhausting and hard to rebuild but it's actually not at all.

 

[scrappy]

Are your batteries really old? My AW's last me at least an hour before it drops off slightly, then after another hour I change it out. I'm using a .7 ohm coil with SS in an igo-l and a natural. But it's rare I use 18530's, I like 18650's so much more.

 

[pdib]

Yep. Like scrappy and vap said, get yourself some new batteries, and get good ones. (those little 18350s are cheap enough) And just to be clear, the lower your resistance, the faster you drain your battery. Oh, and do try the smaller diameter; If you're wrapping an eighth now, doubling the wraps on a 1/16" wick will give you the same resistance and LOTS more kick. Its worth a try, believe me.

 

[sour green]

I don't know if it's old.. how long do they last? Anyways, I bought them about 6 months ago.

 

[pdib]

about six months



serious

 

[The Yeti]

I don't know if it's old.. how long do they last? Anyways, I bought them about 6 months ago.

About 300-500 charge cycles, so yeah about 6 months in your case.

 

[The Yeti]

Yep. Like scrappy and vap said, get yourself some new batteries, and get good ones. (those little 18350s are cheap enough) And just to be clear, the lower your resistance, the faster you drain your battery. Oh, and do try the smaller diameter; If you're wrapping an eighth now, doubling the wraps on a 1/16" wick will give you the same resistance and LOTS more kick. Its worth a try, believe me.

This is the first I'm hearing of this little trick. Sounds very interesting and I'm gonna give it a go tonight! Thanks pdib.

 

[pdib]

(cancellation). BLah blaH blah.


dis-post, unpost, no post.


Nothing to see here, move along please.

 

[jasl90]

Just to add my 2 cents... The mAh rating can be deceiving with these types of batteries... Rather than trying to find the highest mAh available for a given size you should be looking for the highest "C Rating".

For example, the 1600 mAh AW IMR 18650 battery will out last the 2000 mAh version. I don't recall their individual C rating off the top of my head but the 1600 version can deliver more than double the amps allowing it to deliver a greater percentage of it's useful charge before sagging.

This is also why the MNKE (1400 mAh) is so well loved... I think it can even out pace the AW 1600.

As far as 18350 batteries, I think the last tests I saw showed the AW IMR 18350 taking the prize...