VHO Helios Question

[Richard75]

So I've been tinkering with my Helios I just got yesterday, and have some questions. I've done rebuildable drippers before, but this is my first attempt at a dual coil. The Helios is capable of quad coils... however, I'm sticking with dual at the moment. Anyway, I haven't been getting the vapor one would expect from a dual coil, and I believe the reason is that I just don't know how the air holes are supposed to line up! My coils are pristine... looped silica with the loop wedged underneath the coil itself, both coils together are giving me a nice resistance of 1.2 or so. The atomizer has two large air holes close to each other on each side that are adjustable.

I've drawn up a little diagram that would make Renoir proud. The two plus represent the split positive post on the Helios, and the negatives are (surprise surprise!) the grounds. The squiggle-things are my coils, and the arrow represent the airholes, which are also a direct mirror image on the other side, so I only felt it necessary to do it on one. The a, b and c are the various placements I've experimented with.



So my question is, obviously option (b) would be best for my current setup, yes? And if I were to do a quad coil someday, obviously the placement would have to be (a), but so far that placement has been terrible on the dual coils. I experimented with (c) a bit, but it was the same experience as (a), I'm just listing all the viable options. Like I said, I've never done dual coils before, and it so far isn't any different from a single coil (as far as vapor, flavor and throat hit goes... my head swims with nicotine after a few vapes, but that's it).

Perhaps someone that has a Helios, or someone familiar with dual to quad coils, could enlighten me? How are you setting up the air holes?

 

[acee]

Dual coil or not, the air holes should always be lined up right in front of the coil. The holes on the helios are opposite ends of the cap from one another, so when you build your dual coil, line both those holes so both are right in front of each coil.

 

[vapo jam]

for dual coils, you should place the holes at (b). for quad coils, i've mostly been placing the holes at (c) because i think the coils end up a little closer to the negative posts than the center; i usually try to line up the divider between the holes with the posts.

that being said, i haven't quite gotten quad coils to perform very well yet... i've been running 4x 2.4ohm coils (for 0.6ohm overall), but think i might need to go lower to get the coils to fire up properly.

 

[Richard75]

for dual coils, you should place the holes at (b). for quad coils, i've mostly been placing the holes at (c) because i think the coils end up a little closer to the negative posts than the center; i usually try to line up the divider between the holes with the posts.

that being said, i haven't quite gotten quad coils to perform very well yet... i've been running 4x 2.4ohm coils (for 0.6ohm overall), but think i might need to go lower to get the coils to fire up properly.

The quad build is really intimidating me... for no good reason other than it's four effing coils. haha

I've seen some videos online where people slot their airholes so it's just one massive oval, and place it at (c). I can just picture myself demolishing my new toy trying this, so I will not be trying it, but at least we know the general placement is agreed upon.

I think I just have to toy with how I place the coils... do you place them completely horizontal, or at angles? I've been doing it horizontal, and tucking the extra silica underneath the coil. I'm not getting bad vapor production out of it, just not what I'd expect from dual coils, or a high end dripper. I'm not running high ohms; my last build was 1.1. To give you an idea, I'm getting more vapor out of a ERA clone with a single coil at about 1.5 ohms. Everything is the same: silica, Kanthal, e-liquid, and the coils measure perfect and fire perfect, which is why I believe my airflow is what's a little off.

But anyway, thank you for your advice! I feel better now that I know how someone else is doing it.

 

[vapo jam]

based on my (admittedly very little) experience with it, i think the helios is specifically designed for vertical coils:

i have a nimbus with dual-coils and airholes drilled out to 3/16". the helios top cap fits on the nimbus base, and the draw is actually lighter than that of my modified nimbus top cap, but the nimbus with the helios top cap doesn't produce nearly as much vapor as just the nimbus.

upon closer inspection, though, i noticed that the airholes on the helios top cap are significantly higher than the airholes on the nimbus top cap. knowing that the air flow needs to be right on top of the coils to maximize vapor production, i personally can't think of any reason that they'd be so high other than for the purpose of building vertical coils.

like i said above, though, at this point i've only attempted one build on my helios, which hasn't performed particularly well, so at the moment i can't honestly say that this is any more than speculation on my part.

ETA: just looked at this again, and i'm pretty sure my airholes aren't drilled out to 3/16 (which i believe is ridiculously large...). i don't quite remember how much i drilled them out, but i think it's probably a lot closer to 3/32"

 

[Titan2043]

I dont always build quad coils on my Helios, but when i do I build them in series, along the width of the holes on the positive and negative posts, and I line up the holes on the cap at the point in your diagram that is designated as 'a'. Quad coils on this atty can be pretty awesome, i prefer 28 gauge wire and a 3/4 wrap per coil, which brings it out to about .3 ohms, its still a hot vape though. If you are pretty confident in your builds you can run a single piece of silica for two coils, the silica being folded either once or twice over. Next time I build a quad on this beast ill post a few pics, they usually come out pretty good, vape like a freaking exploded steam engine, which is pretty awesome too, the downside is that even in the .4 ohm area and up your looking at a fairly warm vape even with all the airholes open. If you really want to go nuts with it you can always build a quad and throw your nimbus top cap on there (it fits, im sure) but i wouldnt reccommend that lol.
-Titan 2043

 

[Richard75]

based on my (admittedly very little) experience with it, i think the helios is specifically designed for vertical coils

I don't think that's necessary... I've been studying the airholes a bit, wiring up coils and nudging them around. The way it seems, we just have to build our coils a bit higher. I mean, when you're finished connecting to the posts, just give it a nudge up from either one side (for a diagonal coil) or both sides for a horizontal. The airholes are spot on eye level for the little holes on the posts you run the wires through. So, if your coils go slightly underneath that "line", the air passes overhead and does diddly. However, if your coils are just a nudge above the line, air should pass right onto them and solve our problem.

This is my hypothesis, at least. I'll report back after some experimenting.

 

[vapo jam]

i'm definitely interested in hearing about your results. i think i might try a dual-coil next, just to compare it more or less directly to my numbus. like i said above, it feels like the draw (with all airholes full open) is looser than the nimbus, so i'm curious to see if i can get more vapor production out of an equivalent dual-coil helios build.

 

[Jimi D.]

I got my Helios today. Built a quad with .5 mm ribbon kanthal. I thought my Trident hit hard. This Helios is badass !!

 

[vapo jam]

how many wraps? what's your resistance? could you post pics of the set-up, pretty please?

 

[Jimi D.]

how many wraps? what's your resistance? could you post pics of the set-up, pretty please?

My pleasure 4 wraps .2 ohm I'm using the Sony SE US18650VTC3 batteries. 2 strands of 2.5 mm silica.

 

[vapo jam]

My pleasure 4 wraps .2 ohm I'm using the Sony SE US18650VTC3 batteries. 2 strands of 2.5 mm silica.

View attachment 237361

that, my friend, is a thing of beauty. i'm going to have to order some .5mm ribbon and try it out myself.


just an update on my experimentation - i ripped apart my 32 gauge .5ohm quad coil, and just finished building a dual coil to try to compare it to my nimbus. relevant specs are:

helios -
.4 ohms
4/3 wraps 28 gauge kanthal
3mm ekowool, 1 fold
stock body

nimbus -
.5 ohms
4/3 wraps bakero (somewhere around .8mm ribbon)
3mm silica, 1 fold
airholes drilled out to 3/32"

the bakero didn't quite fit in the posts of the helios, and i didn't have ekowool when i built the nimbus, but i figured it should be close enough. to get to the point:

i vaped both on the exact same mod (sentinel m16) using the exact same juice (grant's vanilla custard 6mg) and the exact same battery (aw imr 18650 with about 3.9v left) back to back without recharging. i was a little surprised by the results - the helios absolutely destroyed it. i thought my nimbus was a fog machine, but wow. all i can say is i'm a believer. i can't even imagine how much vapor jimi d. is sitting in right now...

 

[vapo jam]

oh - one more quick comment in response to the original post: i put the helios air holes at point (b), full open.

 

[Richard75]

i vaped both on the exact same mod (sentinel m16) using the exact same juice (grant's vanilla custard 6mg) and the exact same battery (aw imr 18650 with about 3.9v left) back to back without recharging. i was a little surprised by the results - the helios absolutely destroyed it. i thought my nimbus was a fog machine, but wow. all i can say is i'm a believer. i can't even imagine how much vapor jimi d. is sitting in right now...

Very nice! I did some experimenting myself, and just now almost coughed my lungs out. I prefer a tight draw, but as per your setup, I opened up one complete airhole and did a complete lung inhale (which I'm not used to), and holy cow! The coughing was followed only by obscenities. And I'm only using a dual coil at about 1.2 ohms.

I think the trick to mastering this thing might be the coil size. I doubled up my silica (4 strands this time), and while it's still got that new coil taste (I blame the damn silica), the clouds this is blowing are amazing. So, for my personal experience, nice beefy wick and coils are better than the smaller ones I'm used to. And I'd say a direct lung inhale really makes this thing shine. Luckily it's still working well with my preferred tight draw/mouth inhale. But that lung inhale... it's like being hit in the face by Audrey Tautou. It knocks you over, but you're absolutely in love. I can't wait to get this thing going with sub ohms.

Now I'm off to the craft store to see what else I can find for wicks, since I'm starting to really dislike silica. I'd love to try this with a mesh wick, but it seems impractical due to the height at which the coils need to be.

 

[Jimi D.]

Very nice! I did some experimenting myself, and just now almost coughed my lungs out. I prefer a tight draw, but as per your setup, I opened up one complete airhole and did a complete lung inhale (which I'm not used to), and holy cow! The coughing was followed only by obscenities. And I'm only using a dual coil at about 1.2 ohms.

I think the trick to mastering this thing might be the coil size. I doubled up my silica (4 strands this time), and while it's still got that new coil taste (I blame the damn silica), the clouds this is blowing are amazing. So, for my personal experience, nice beefy wick and coils are better than the smaller ones I'm used to. And I'd say a direct lung inhale really makes this thing shine. Luckily it's still working well with my preferred tight draw/mouth inhale. But that lung inhale... it's like being hit in the face by Audrey Tautou. It knocks you over, but you're absolutely in love. I can't wait to get this thing going with sub ohms.

Now I'm off to the craft store to see what else I can find for wicks, since I'm starting to really dislike silica. I'd love to try this with a mesh wick, but it seems impractical due to the height at which the coils need to be.

I've learned the hard way with my regular strength nic levels and lung hits. When I first vaped my Trident I nearly coughed up a lung. The Filipinos vape 50/50 3-6 mg. I use 50/50 6 mg, and get the same satisfaction as with my regular 18 mg in a single coil drip atty on one of my VV's. I actually need to lower the nic from 6 mg to something lower on my Helios. I'm getting ripped from 6 mg with quads

 

[Jimi D.]

I'm gonna play this weekend for bigger clouds

 

[vapo jam]

I think the trick to mastering this thing might be the coil size.

this is definitely true - fatter wicks will hold more juice, and be able to deliver it to the coils more quickly. end result is more vapor. i'm new to it, but so far i really like ekowool, 3mm ekowool seems to be thicker than 3mm silica, and so far it seems to wick better as well.

I'd say a direct lung inhale really makes this thing shine.

also true, your lungs can draw in a lot more vapor than just your mouth. if you've seen any of the youtube videos of the filipinos blowing out massive clouds, pay attention to how they take a puff - usually they take a good 10-15 second drag, completely filling up their lungs before exhaling.

 

[vapo jam]

I've learned the hard way with my regular strength nic levels and lung hits. When I first vaped my Trident I nearly coughed up a lung. The Filipinos vape 50/50 3-6 mg. I use 50/50 6 mg, and get the same satisfaction as with my regular 18 mg in a single coil drip atty on one of my VV's. I actually need to lower the nic from 6 mg to something lower on my Helios. I'm getting ripped from 6 mg with quads

+10 to this. i also used 18mg juice on carto's and clearo's on vv devices, and was very hesitant to go all the way down to the 6mg that the guy at the local shop recommended when i bought my nimbus. i quickly learned why he recommended it; 6mg on a sub-ohm coil (especially dual- or quad-coil) actually feels like it delivers more nicotine than 18mg in a carto tank. as in, i don't get over-nic'ed with 18 in a carto, but it does happen occasionally with 6 in my nimbus (and now my helios as well ).

 

[Jimi D.]

+10 to this. i also used 18mg juice on carto's and clearo's on vv devices, and was very hesitant to go all the way down to the 6mg that the guy at the local shop recommended when i bought my nimbus. i quickly learned why he recommended it; 6mg on a sub-ohm coil (especially dual- or quad-coil) actually feels like it delivers more nicotine than 18mg in a carto tank. as in, i don't get over-nic'ed with 18 in a carto, but it does happen occasionally with 6 in my nimbus (and now my helios as well ).

I may have to go lower than 6 mg. I'm getting ripped from these clouds. Also find a drip tip with a larger hole. It makes a huge difference for bigger vapor production.

 

[vapo jam]

at first glance, you don't look filipino, but after seeing those clouds i would definitely believe you if you said you were