Temperature vaping question

[okstalmn.94]

Good morning fellow ECF'ers,
I bought a Kanger topbox mini a couple of weeks ago, and I am still getting used to it.
I started with a Kanger Top EVOD, and decided to upgrade to a bigger, and hopefully, better unit. When I originally put the topbox together, filled it with juice, and started using it, I was using the Clapton coil that came with it. I liked the feeling of the Clapton coil as it produced good flavor, warmth, etc. I used the Clapton in wattage mode, starting at 28w and working my way up to 35w.
Now that I have changed out the coil, I chose to use the stainless steel coil. I am attempting to use the stainless steel coil in temperature mode, but I am not sure I have the correct settings. I am using the "ss" temperature setting, have the temperature set at 400 degrees ... but when I press the "fire" button, only 50% of the time, do I get any kind of vapor. It is hard to tell if I get vapor because there is no heat or warmth, and I see any vapor after I stop drawing on it, inhale, and then exhale. Only then do I see that I did draw some vapor. The other 50% of the time, I only get air, no vapor, not even when I exhale. I can use the stainless steel coil in wattage mode, and when I draw on it, I do get the same warmth as with the Clapton, but I also get a slight "head rush" when I inhale the vapor. I did not get the "head rush" when using the Clapton coil.
Do I need to bump up the temperature, when in temperature mode?
What is the best way to use the temperature control setting on the TopBox mini to get the vapor experience that I want?
I am going to do some Googling to see what I can find, but I thought that I would start here as you guys are very helpful.

Thanks

 

[stols001]

I don't own that device. What is your ramp up wattage set to? You don't want to go any higher than 420 max (F) from what I've heard and some TC is more accurate than others, so you may want to continue to err on the side of caution.

If you like exotic wires (and many folks do) you might want to try one where the inner core is SS, but you still get the "richness" of an exotic wire (more surface area means more mass to heat up and produce vapor than a single coil). You can certainly try tweaking your build, e.g. using a thicker SS wire to compensate for the amount of "mass" in your former coil. I'm not sure why you are getting vapor intermittently however, it may be due to the settings on the mod, or something else. I'd play around with your settings and builds a bit more.

I'm going to leave the rest to others more familiar to your device and etc. Best of luck,

Anna

 

[Beamslider]

Are you using a compact or spaced coil? Temperature control works better with a spaced coil and doesn't work to well usually with a compact coil.

It is important that the ohm reading of the coil be taken at room temperature for first reading on the coil. Also the wattage on the mod should be set in the range that the coil would normally use, a little on the high end of the range. Then start out at 380 to 400F and gradually increase the temp until it seems right.

 

[okstalmn.94]

Thank you for your replies!
I am unsure if this is a compact or spaced coil. I am using the coils that came with the Top Tank Mini (Clapton, Stainless Steel, etc). I have not thought about rebuilding coils yet. I am not sure that I have the time or patience to dedicate to it.
Does it hurt to use the stainless steel coil in wattage mode and not in temperature mode?
What about juice and battery consumption? Would either mode make a difference (one using more than the other)?

 

[Beamslider]

You can use stainless steel coils in wattage mode without issue. Difference in juice or battery usage will be minimal or not noticeable.

Are you sure the coil itself is SS? The Kanger coils are confusing. They have kanthal coils that are SSOCC coils. The ones with SS coils inside have a red SS on the top corner of the coil box.

Since you have toptank mini, consider getting the Kanger RBA and making your own coils. Better taste and less expensive.

 

[Beamslider]

Here are the boxes with the SS316L coils in them. Actually the SS is on the bottom corner of some of them instead of the top. Also the ring on the bottom is slightly different in color. The SS316L coil is pink and the Kanthal one is red. Kanger has confused a lot of people with that. The SSOCC means the outer shell is SS not the coil itself

And this is the Kanthal coil box. Doesn't have the SS in red on it.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

Temperature Control Explained | E-Cigarette Forum

With that device (designed ca. 2015), temp control is going to be a bit primitive.

Use the SSOC Stainless coils only. Those are safe to use in either wattage or TC mode. The Nickel coils are only for TC use and can be dangerous in wattage mode.

Make sure your tank has the SS coil in.

In wattage mode, press the + button to get to max Watts.

Set the mod to SS in temp mode.

Unscrew the tank and press the fire button to clear the last read coil resistance from memory.

With the tank and coil at room temperature, attach the tank and press the fire button (while in SS temp mode). You should be prompted new/same coil. Select new.

Don't worry if resistance is off by 0.5 Ohms or so from the package specs. Kanger's kinda famous for that.

Select your starting temp. Most people have a comfort range of somewhere between 380° F and 480° F. Start low, take a few drags and modify temperature until it tastes right.

My own experience with various well-made, properly set up TC mods is that anything below 430 is tepid and anything above 460 is harsh. YMMV.

The cotton in those coils begins scorching at about 450° F. However, the actual temp of the juice as it's vaporizing never gets there unless you're insanely high on the temp setting or the mod's TC logic is badly done by the maker. Bad things can start happening to the juice and vapor above 450. A lot more on that in this thread started by @mikepetro.

New studies find carcinogens in vg and pg at high temps, even in tootle puffers

Yours is an older mod. Its temp control is a little primitive. There is going to be about a second or so ramp up time before the mod thinks it's at the right temp. So you might want to try one or two 1-second pulses to warm up the coil.

 

[okstalmn.94]

Thank you all for your replies, they are very helpful, especially Coastal Cowboy!
I am still curious, why does using wattage mode provide me with more of a quick hit, and a "head rush" vs using temperature mode, where the draw feels lighter and more like drawing in flavored air?

Thanks again all!

 

[BrotherBob]

I am still curious, why does using wattage mode provide me with more of a quick hit, and a "head rush" vs using temperature mode, where the draw feels lighter and more like drawing in flavored air?

Welcome and glad you joined.
Your perception of wattage vs TC may be correct. Mod chip set/design among other characteristics may enter in to you "feels". Since vaping is totally scalable, the choice you have can be overwhelming. The main thing to remember is, part of vaping is all about you the vaper, being in control and the freedom to fix/tailor any aspect you feel you need to improve upon.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

Thank you all for your replies, they are very helpful, especially Coastal Cowboy!
I am still curious, why does using wattage mode provide me with more of a quick hit, and a "head rush" vs using temperature mode, where the draw feels lighter and more like drawing in flavored air?

Thanks again all!

At least part of that is the speed of the processor. Or, lack thereof in that older device.

With wattage mode, all the chip needs is a millisecond or two to provide the voltage needed to supply the current. In TC mode, the processor is reading resistance, calculating temperature and then getting around to adjusting voltage. That's also a good reason to give your mod a few ramp up pulses before actually taking a drag.

The other part is that your mod may not be doing TC correctly. It may have too low of a temperature coefficient, and the mod may think the coil is at 440 F when it's actually at a tepid 320 or something.

I don't know if your device allows you to modify the coefficient or not, but if it does you might try bumping the TCR up some and seeing how it vapes. Look in the menus or in the device's manual. If you can't find it, your probably stuck and better off in wattage mode until you can get a newer device with a better TC implementation.

 

[mcclintock]

Any poor contact in the connectors etc. will be interpreted by the mod in TC as a large increase in temperature and will cause the TC to kick in. Also power setting is essential for TC to work correctly and I don't think the Kanger has it (it can end up like alternating between flooring the accelerator and slamming on the brakes).

 

[chellie]

Thank you all for your replies, they are very helpful, especially Coastal Cowboy!
I am still curious, why does using wattage mode provide me with more of a quick hit, and a "head rush" vs using temperature mode, where the draw feels lighter and more like drawing in flavored air?

Thanks again all!

I use the same setup and pretty much just use wattage mode.

 

[madstabber]

The only thing I can think of is maybe your starting wattage is too low. You should have it around 40 watts if your temp is set at 400. The wattage you set is basically like a preheat. I didn’t see what you have it set at, maybe I missed it but if you have it at say 20 watts and temp at 400 it won’t hit hard or fast. The other thing is maybe the ss setting on your mod might have the wrong tcr for the type of stainless wire is in your coil. If you can change the tcr number try setting it at 92 and try it. If no good try going up around 2 or 3 trying it each time until you get to 110. That’s basically the range for all the stainless types. I’m not familiar with your setup so I don’t know if you can change your tcr numbers so that might not even be an option for you. Best of luck and I hope you get this problem solved.