The "science" behind the twisted coil?

[Escapereality]

I just recently tried out using a twisted coil w/ 32 gauge wire on my iHybrid for the first time, and I liked it so much I decided to try it on my ZAP also. Vapor, flavor production, and throat hit all seem improved (especially flavor/vapor). Also it seemed easier to get the coil running smoothly compared to my traditional wrap.

What is the reasoning for this? Why did someone decide to try this?


Edit...by twisted coil I mean twisting the entire coil you're wrapping on your genesis style wick.

 

[jazzbo]

Twisted coil?

 

[Berylanna]

I have certainly seen demos where they suggest you twist the parts of the wire that are NOT coiled, i.e. the ends, as a substitute for dipping it in tin or some other way to put NR wire on the ends -- it is so that resistance is very low on the parts of the wire that are touching rubber, metal, sleeving etc and only the coil itself is high-resistance.

That would be to make it twice as easy for the electricity to get through those parts so that only the coil itself will get red-hot, so we vape juice and not atty parts.

If you twist the whole thing, that should be more like making the entire coil out of lower-resistance wire, like 28 or something (too busy to do the math here) and NOT twisting the ends. If I wanted that I'd just order the 28 and twist the ends.

 

[jazzbo]

Ah...twisting the ends. Now I see. Indeed, such a thing would lower the resistance in the "legs," theoretically by half. I use no res wire for legs, but can see the possibilities, especially if you're in a hurry and need a big, juicy vape stat!

 

[nnote]

On my did clone, at my top coil I leave the wire long enough that after the top coil is wound and the wire goes to the post, I bring the wire back around the post and twist it around the top wire back to the SS wick. Eliminates the hot top wire. Usually need an extra wrap though to make up for the lost ohms in that little spot.

 

[spraintz]

I think what the OP is talking about is the idea of twisting 2 strands 32g together to make 1 twisted wire then using that twisted wir to make yer coil.

The idea is that the 2 strands of 32g twisted together will sorta resemble to resistance of a 28g wire (thicker, double wire will have lower resistance), I think, to help answer the OP question, the reason that it works so well is that there is more surface area on the "twisted wires" for vaporizing juice. Also, twisted shaped of the wires prolly helps juice wick from the wick to the wires a lil better....even if just slightly. Another thing, because the wire is twisted, technically there are less bits of coil actually touching the wick and that prolly is helping make the initial build easier.

I have not considered trying this as I have not seen the need............great ........now you got me thinkin about it and prolly will just for fun

 

[Escapereality]

I think what the OP is talking about is the idea of twisting 2 strands 32g together to make 1 twisted wire then using that twisted wir to make yer coil.

The idea is that the 2 strands of 32g twisted together will sorta resemble to resistance of a 28g wire (thicker, double wire will have lower resistance), I think, to help answer the OP question, the reason that it works so well is that there is more surface area on the "twisted wires" for vaporizing juice. Also, twisted shaped of the wires prolly helps juice wick from the wick to the wires a lil better....even if just slightly. Another thing, because the wire is twisted, technically there are less bits of coil actually touching the wick and that prolly is helping make the initial build easier.

I have not considered trying this as I have not seen the need............great ........now you got me thinkin about it and prolly will just for fun

Spraintz---same here I did not really see the need, especially with my ZAP. However I decided to give it a go on my iHybrid just to see what all the fuss was about. I did a 3/4 wrap of 32 gauge kanthal. For me at least it really did produce a lot more vapor from the get go, and in turn flavor was enhanced as well. I'd recommend at least giving it a shot the next time you swap a coil---I think you'll really like it.

How to twist wire for twisted wire coils - YouTube

Nice demonstration of how to twist the wire.

 

[spraintz]

HAHA, I just did a twisted coil on my DUD just for fun (yes, I get bored easily...). Gotta say, it is pretty dang good! I really didn't expect it to work that well.

Got some 100' of 30g and 100' of 28g on the way, it'll be nice to see the comparisons.

 

[silversx]

i did twisted wire coil on my fatty v2 and it was pretty good.. i wrapped a 6/7 coil instead of the normal 3/4 and the resistance was 1.3ohm.. normally on a 1.3 ohm single strand i would vape at 3.5v but twisted i upped the voltage because it takes a long time for the coil to heat up ..

is this something you guys experienced too? do you up the power/voltage even at low ohms on twisted?

 

[spraintz]

I ended up with a 4/5 wrap of twisted 32g and got a dead even 1ohm on my DUD. I've only tried it on my mechanical mods (Legacy mini and GP PAPS) and it is a friggin vapor choo choo..

 

[Turbo]

Just a word of caution when twisting coils; you essentially cut the resistance in half. So... say you have a 1ohm coil (single) using a certain gague/certain # of wraps. If you replicate that w/ a twisted coil, you'll have roughly .5ohms!

They do work well just realize that before twisting.

 

[LucentShadow]

I started doing this a few days ago with some 36 gauge nichrome 80 that wasn't very useful because of it's high resistance. When tightly twisted, it almost looks like a single wire, and came out almost exactly the same resistance as 33 gauge is. That's almost perfect for my purposes.

It has vaped well, and hasn't increased in resistance due to oxidation of the contact points as I feared it would. It does seem to collect a bit more charred solids on the wire, but that's probably an optical illusion due to the different shape.

I'd probably still prefer to just have 33 gauge, though... But, at least I can use the 100' of 36 gauge up, now.

 

[namuch]

Ok, so I've been through everything from 28ga to 36ga kanthal and nichrome wire on my genny's. I've found my "happy place" as far as ease of setup, reliability, and taste to be the 30ga kanthal. However, it seems that I get a little bit sharper flavor and better hit from the smaller gauge wire, even though it is way more temperamental to set up a working coil with it.

Would doing a twist with some 36ga wire, yield the better flavor and hit of the smaller gauge stuff, with the easier setup of the larger gauge wire? Anyone with experience comparing that yet?

I'm likely gonna experiment with that tomorrow anyway, but it'd be nice if anyone has already done a comparison to give some opinions....


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[iamtumus]

twisting wire makes a dual coil, creating 2 coils in series which halves the resistance.
This causes a few things a) higher watts b) more coil surface area against wick.
Both of those things increase vapor production, make the vapor denser, make it warmer, and those things make the vape better imo.

 

[anavidfan]

may I ask a silly question, but how is it that the twisted coils which are obviously touching each other dont short out? I mean when youre doing a regular wrap arent you not supposed to let your coils touch? Im sure the twisted coils work, but it seems contradictory. When I wrap my wick Im always so paranoid not to let them touch cause I thought that would lead to a short.

 

[LucentShadow]

may I ask a silly question, but how is it that the twisted coils which are obviously touching each other dont short out? I mean when youre doing a regular wrap arent you not supposed to let your coils touch? Im sure the twisted coils work, but it seems contradictory. When I wrap my wick Im always so paranoid not to let them touch cause I thought that would lead to a short.

They do short to each other, evenly across the entire length of the wire. This, in effect, makes them fairly equivalent to a single wire of half of the resistance as the two individual strands.

Basically, in electrical work, it's similar to the choice of using a single solid copper wire or a multi-stranded copper wire composed of smaller diameter wires. They both perform similarly, but have a few minor differences. Solid is mechanically stronger, stranded is mechanically more flexible, etc...

Main point is, if all you have on hand is something like 36 gauge, which makes for short coils, twisting two of those together will make a new twisted wire that's very close to 33 gauge, which allows for more coil surface area for the same resistance, and generally performs better.

 

[anavidfan]

Oh, that makes sense now. thank you for the clarification.

 

[LucidAce]

They do short to each other, evenly across the entire length of the wire. This, in effect, makes them fairly equivalent to a single wire of half of the resistance as the two individual strands.

Basically, in electrical work, it's similar to the choice of using a single solid copper wire or a multi-stranded copper wire composed of smaller diameter wires. They both perform similarly, but have a few minor differences. Solid is mechanically stronger, stranded is mechanically more flexible, etc...

Main point is, if all you have on hand is something like 36 gauge, which makes for short coils, twisting two of those together will make a new twisted wire that's very close to 33 gauge, which allows for more coil surface area for the same resistance, and generally performs better.

Is there any difference, electrically, between having dual coils in the traditional sense, and a twisted dual coil?

 

[spraintz]

By the numbers, I think the total end resistance will be the same. Vapor production and hit will be vastly different IMO with a true dual coil/wick setup tho.

BTW, my 28g and 30g A-1 came in and I replaced my twisted 32g 5/4 wrap with a single wire 30g 5/4 wrap on my DuD.......resistance came in at a rock solid 1.1ohms and to me hit far more efficiently and produced waaaay more vapor and hit than the twisted coil.

The twisted coil will work in a pinch or if you are wanting to see if you like the performance of a low-resistance wire but my vote is for a single wire.

 

[LucidAce]

By the numbers, I think the total end resistance will be the same. Vapor production and hit will be vastly different IMO with a true dual coil/wick setup tho.

BTW, my 28g and 30g A-1 came in and I replaced my twisted 32g 5/4 wrap with a single wire 30g 5/4 wrap on my DuD.......resistance came in at a rock solid 1.1ohms and to me hit far more efficiently and produced waaaay more vapor and hit than the twisted coil.

The twisted coil will work in a pinch or if you are wanting to see if you like the performance of a low-resistance wire but my vote is for a single wire.

Yeah, I've now got 28, 30, 32, and 34 so I'm pretty set for finding a wire with the resistance I want I guess this was more of an intellectual curiosity thing and/or, like you said, knowing what my options really are if I find myself with only 34 or 36 lying around.