Terrible time with AGA-T+

[xanderxman]

I have tried to wrap a coil 5 times now and I get the same horrible results.

Here is the setup. I am using 30ga Kanthal and I have a properly oxidized wick. That part was pretty simple. I am using a 3/32" drill bit in the wick hole to wrap the coil. I drop the bit in and do a 5/6 wrap and it reads about 1.8 - 2.0 ohms. So far so good. All the coils light fairly evenly and I see no hot spots. I drop the wick into the coil and dry fire to check that everything is still good. All coils light bright red. Let's fill the tank.

Here is my problem. I let the wick sit and bring the juice up to the coil. When I fire it I get a very sad vapor cloud. I mean VERY sad. And the juice is pooling up at the bottom of the wick rather than vaporizing. I see what looks like fireworks when I fire it. Little bits of juice shoot off like little rockets. I can't get a good pull and the juice continues to pool up inside the air chamber around the bottom of the wick.

What in the world am I doing wrong? I hope that was descriptive enough to get some insight.

 

[vapdivrr]

I have tried to wrap a coil 5 times now and I get the same horrible results.

Here is the setup. I am using 30ga Kanthal and I have a properly oxidized wick. That part was pretty simple. I am using a 3/32" drill bit in the wick hole to wrap the coil. I drop the bit in and do a 5/6 wrap and it reads about 1.8 - 2.0 ohms. So far so good. All the coils light fairly evenly and I see no hot spots. I drop the wick into the coil and dry fire to check that everything is still good. All coils light bright red. Let's fill the tank.

Here is my problem. I let the wick sit and bring the juice up to the coil. When I fire it I get a very sad vapor cloud. I mean VERY sad. And the juice is pooling up at the bottom of the wick rather than vaporizing. I see what looks like fireworks when I fire it. Little bits of juice shoot off like little rockets. I can't get a good pull and the juice continues to pool up inside the air chamber around the bottom of the wick.

What in the world am I doing wrong? I hope that was descriptive enough to get some insight.

what device are you using and how many volts? also what type of wick are you using and how did you configure it? also is your fill plug in or out?

 

[xanderxman]

I am using it on a ProVari at anywhere from 3.5 - 4.0V. I am using 400 SS mesh. I rolled it using a paperclip, so it is a small straw bascially. I replaced the fill plug once I filled the tank.

 

[Thrasher]

sounds like a dry wick. rolled too tight and/or overoxidized. like vap said what about the fill plug, i leave mine out. also make sure the grain of the mesh is running top to bottom of the wick for maximum capillary action

make sure to tilt and fire a few times to soak the wick good. also the very first tank should be about 3/4 full to let the air escape from the mesh

 

[xanderxman]

I thought the wick was dry at first, but the fact that juice pools up inside the air chamber makes me think it is something else. After 5 minutes of trying to get it to work I had to use a paper towel to absorb the excess juice. It seems to be wicking fine. Or maybe I don't fully understand the SS wicks yet.

Thanks for the responses so far. Please keep them coming.

 

[tonyorion]

There are a few more questions that need to be asked: what ratio of PG/VG juice are you using and what mesh SS? This is important because high VG juices require a finer mesh than say a 70/30 ratio, and it sounds as if you are not getting proper wicking. If you carbonize your wick with VG, you will see the same type of "fireworks" which is telling me that your juice is not being distributed evenly throughout the wick. Fine tuning like playing with the air hole size and plugging/not plugging the fill hole come down to a matter of personal taste.

 

[xanderxman]

I am using 50/50 PG/VG juice with 400 mesh SS.

 

[Thrasher]

and plugging/not plugging the fill hole come down to a matter of personal taste.

not always true there are many that do not work correctly with the fill plug in, as the juice is vaporized it is physically pulling more juice up the wick removing material from the tank and causing a vacuum to form within the tank, same effect like when they shoot air into a vial with a syringe before pulling the liquid out.

 

[vapdivrr]

it might be that the coils are to loose, this will vaporize everything maybe to quickly or maybe not even vaporizing at all. maybe try to loosen up the wick so that the coils are just a little bit tighter. i dont use the drill bit method so i do not know exactly the ins and outs. maybe worth a try.

 

[xanderxman]

So how do you wrap your coils vapdivrr? I would like to try an alternative if it could help.

 

[FogHawg]

I'm a noob, but if this were happening to me I'd suspect a way too loose coil too, w/the vacuum of the draw sucking up more & more unburnt juice...*watching*

 

[FogHawg]

how well does the wick fit the hole?

 

[vapdivrr]

So how do you wrap your coils vapdivrr? I would like to try an alternative if it could help.

well when i used to vape ss mesh wicks i just hand wrapped the wick while the wick was in the device. i just inserted the wick and then just wrapped the wire around freehand. first you connect the wire to negative, then wrap. i just learned that way, so when the drill bit method came out i never really tried it to where i had good results from it. i did give it a go a few times but just thought it was to time consuming and the results were not any better. i always liked a slightly tighter coil then the drill bit method gives you. and now that i am vaping ceramic, the tighter the better, for ceramic wicks need to be as tight as possible. also with ss mesh wicks you can hand wrap the wick first, then insert into wick hole, this works good as well. as for your current issue if you havent sussed it out yet, take out your wick, i am guessing that it should slide right out from coils, then just roll it so it loosens up just a little bit, then slide back into coils, maybe this little extra tightness might work. these devices are so tempermental sometimes and issues can be so many different things. good luck

 

[slin]

I had similar problems when I stated using RBA. First time, the coil was too lose. Second time, SS wick was little too tight in wick hole. Hope you found your problem. Good luck..

 

[eHuman]

Read my blog, your problems are operator errors that can be fixed and avoided.

 

[vapdivrr]

Read my blog, your problems are operator errors that can be fixed and avoided.

what a relief, they probably were thinking that they bought a bad device. lol

 

[mudshovel]

Turn the device to wrap the wick to get the proper tension. Its how I got mine working. There is a video on youtube of Zen wraping a coil and getting it running. Don't freak out when you can't wrap one in 15 seconds like he can. And on the center post, wrap it counterclockwise. Give it a try..

 

[xanderxman]

Thanks for all the help folks. I am planning another wrapping session tonight. Hope it goes better.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I have tried to wrap a coil 5 times now and I get the same horrible results.

Here is the setup. I am using 30ga Kanthal and I have a properly oxidized wick. That part was pretty simple. I am using a 3/32" drill bit in the wick hole to wrap the coil. I drop the bit in and do a 5/6 wrap and it reads about 1.8 - 2.0 ohms. So far so good. All the coils light fairly evenly and I see no hot spots. I drop the wick into the coil and dry fire to check that everything is still good. All coils light bright red. Let's fill the tank.

Here is my problem. I let the wick sit and bring the juice up to the coil. When I fire it I get a very sad vapor cloud. I mean VERY sad. And the juice is pooling up at the bottom of the wick rather than vaporizing. I see what looks like fireworks when I fire it. Little bits of juice shoot off like little rockets. I can't get a good pull and the juice continues to pool up inside the air chamber around the bottom of the wick.

What in the world am I doing wrong? I hope that was descriptive enough to get some insight.

What PG/VG ratio juice?

Can you tip the device diagonally and see if the juice makes it to the end of the wick?

 

[peejoe]

i have the same problem on my AGA T2. i have a poor vapor. i do a drill bit method. wrapped it 4 - 5. and i get 1.5 ohms. in 3.7 volts. 32 ga / 400 ss mesh
my question is should be the coil touching the ss mesh or let it loose?