I've recently made the investment into buying my first setup and am starting to experience problems with coil longevity. I'm using a RX200 w/ a Uwell Crown and all of my coils are lasting just under two days at most, I've gone through 7 in under a week.
I bought 5 1.2's with my Uwell Crown, and tried out the three that came with the tank itself first, all have lasted under 2 days (I'm down to my last 2). The 1.2's seem to be lasting less than the other 3 that came with the tank. My question to the community is:
what are some good tips to make my coils last as long as possible?
My priming technique is as follows:
- Drip 4 drops into each cotton hole.
- Drip a drop onto the cotton in the middle so that all sides are damp.
- Allow the coil to saturate in the tank for 10-20 minutes.
- Build up the wattage from the lowest the coil is rated for, take 3 puffs, let sit 5-10 minutes, turn up the wattage by 1-2, repeat until I get to my desired wattage.
It's not the cotton that has been giving me problems either, it's the metal within the coils. I find that the metal in the center of the coil is turning black over time and in turn making black specs in the cotton but not damaging the cotton itself.
I have been using juices such as Smax's Pony on Acid, The Lost Fog's Baie Cream, Tradition Juice's Lola, Cosmic Fog's Church, and other high VG juices.
A lot of variables go into the longevity of a coil and its wicking, the last part the juices you listed are the biggest killers.
1) Thicker (higher VG) ratio. VG is naturally sweet, very slow to wick, and other issues. Sugar crystalizes, slower wicking speed you run into cooking drier and less damp wicking
2) Sweet liquids. Sweeter the liquid the quicker a pre-fab coil will get crystalizing and caramelizing on the coils and in the wicking. This will slow and block wicking entirely the longer you use these liquids.
3) Darker and colored liquids. The food colorings in liquids do not vaporize off real well, so will crystalize and collect on the coil and in the wicking.
4) Ending wattage at the coil, hotter the coil gets and is not cooled down by adequate air flow, this will scorch and breakdown the wicking in contact with the coil wire itself. This will leech into the remaining wicking and eventually leech into the liquid chamber.
Do not expect to get a week or two or three weeks usage out of any coil, even if you hear from buddies or read about people that get these long usage rates. Your personal liquids you use, what wattage you feel is your sweet spot, how you have your airflow open or choked down, there are literally dozens of variables subjective to the end user that affect coil longevity. Many experienced vapors learn taste cues and other factors to tell them when things are not kosher and when to back things down, some even go the extra mile to soak and clean coil heads in vodka or everclear to cleanse out goo and other nasty build up to get a few more hours to days of usage. If you are in the 65plus watts club, you are going to destroy coils, even people that rebuild their own atomizers/tanks and rebuild coils/rewick from a couple days to daily, to 3 to 4 times a day. Read, assess, adapt, and overcome, four principles in life I learned from my time in the military and use in daily life.
My Kayfun RTA tanks for example 1, I run unflavored 50/50 12mg in these at low 8 to 12 watts. Rebuild once a month, rewick once a week. I can tell a rewick is due when the flavor gets sweeter and sweeter (carbon on the coil and in the wick inside the coil) and takes longer for the coil to heat up (carbon on coil insulating the wire from the wick). Running my tobacco flavors (colored, sweet, other impurities), 50/50 to 70VG/30PG rewicking 2 to 3 times a week.
My RDA drippers, I run various liquids through these, rewick daily, rebuild once a week. 50 to 80watts, thick VG liquids, mostly sweet fruity flavors.
