what I need to re-wick/coil my t3's?

[ElectricalSocket]

Vaptor's comment is not rubbish. How exactly does the heated wire magically stay hot ONLY at the coil? It's RESISTANCE wire. The entire wire heats up. The heads actually come from the factory with NR wire welded onto the nichrome wire.

If you've used only R wire and never burned a grommet, that's great and I believe you. Potentially inhaling burning silicone is not something I'm willingly to do though. Just like inhaling microscopic pieces of glass fiber is a risk I'm not willing to take. I'll smoke before I use silica wicks. I don't need some weird respiratory disease in 20 years.

If we stop and listen to different experiences and opinions, maybe we'll all learn something. I'll admit, my first reaction to people saying 'use one kind of wire' was "they're wrong!". I shut my ego up for a minute though, and had a not-so-amazing revelation. Some manufacturers are obviously using a high-temp silicone, while others are not. Simple explanation for different experiences. So you see, neither side is "wrong".

In my opinion, the best and proper way to do it is using a wire welder and R/NR wire.

The easiest way would be using just resistance wire and hoping the silicone is high-temp.

I personally wouldn't place my health into the hands of a Chinese factory.

 

[JeremyR]

Funny thing is I've dry burned the living crap out of this coil like 20 times grommet like new. Im talking 20+ second dbs. Maybe it's just the way I've wrapped my coil. I wrap it first around something of appropriate size, and thread my wicks in, kinda tedious but worth it. and now that I think about, in the prewrap stage I put a slight kink at the bottom of the coil to the legs so they are straight. Same thing that stops hot legs in a genny.

 

[auTONYmous]

Ok, in the spirit of being open-minded, I've changed my post. While I personally have used nichrome with success, I admit I have never used kanthal, nor am I an expert (and I hope I didn't come off as such), and I'll leave it at that.

I guess with all things e-cigs, YMMV.

 

[AnsonJames]

Vaptor's comment is not rubbish. How exactly does the heated wire magically stay hot ONLY at the coil? It's RESISTANCE wire. The entire wire heats up. The heads actually come from the factory with NR wire welded onto the nichrome wire.

If you've used only R wire and never burned a grommet, that's great and I believe you. Potentially inhaling burning silicone is not something I'm willingly to do though. Just like inhaling microscopic pieces of glass fiber is a risk I'm not willing to take. I'll smoke before I use silica wicks. I don't need some weird respiratory disease in 20 years.

If we stop and listen to different experiences and opinions, maybe we'll all learn something. I'll admit, my first reaction to people saying 'use one kind of wire' was "they're wrong!". I shut my ego up for a minute though, and had a not-so-amazing revelation. Some manufacturers are obviously using a high-temp silicone, while others are not. Simple explanation for different experiences. So you see, neither side is "wrong".

In my opinion, the best and proper way to do it is using a wire welder and R/NR wire.

The easiest way would be using just resistance wire and hoping the silicone is high-temp.

Actually saying neither side is wrong - is wrong.
The wire heats up at the coil, not at the contact. The "legs" will warm up because of heat transfer but they won't get burning hot. Check all of the tutorials on Youtube, nobody uses no resistance wire for clearos - ever.

The only time no resistance wire is required is for atty's like the Odysseus, the Killer/Dripper and the Chinese clones, that's because the contact points are far away from the coil. If the wires are too long then the resistance of the coil will be very high, that's the only reason.

I personally wouldn't place my health into the hands of a Chinese factory.

If that's the case you may have problems because 99.99% of all atty's and clearo's/carto's come from China.
I've rebuilt hundreds of heads, no resistance wire isn't required.

 

[ElectricalSocket]

I'm not going to get into an ego-stroking pissing match with you. Humble yourself.

You saying I'm wrong doesn't make you right. What I said was 'different people have different experiences based on different variables', and that my friend is a FACT. Are you calling me a liar? Do you think I just made up this burning grommet issue? I'm not the only one who has had issues with it.

Nobody uses NR wire for clearos? How about the manufacturers?

A CE5/Stardust coil and a Protank coil....do you see the weld? If they could save one penny, they would. They add NR wire for a REASON, and no, it's not to change the ohms. They want people to buy their product instead of listening to people complain about a 'burning rubber' or 'burning plastic' taste. They aren't totally incompetent.

Not an impressive example, but this is after less than 3ml in a "CE5". I threw a couple in the trash that were burned all the way down the side.

I understand your point on the length affecting the ohms, but that isn't what we're talking about. We're talking about the resistance wire burning the silicone grommet, regardless of length.

You PERSONALLY may not have issues with it, I'm not calling you a liar. Don't call me a liar for sharing MY experience. Obviously the grommet material, wire material, wire gauge, and wire ohms makes a difference between burning and "hundreds" of rebuilt coils with no problems.

You don't have to agree with me. I'm sharing this for the OP and anyone else who wants to look at all their options, pros & cons. Peace

 

[AnsonJames]

I guess you better tell everyone that ever rebuilt a coil they've had it all wrong the whole time.

Here's a few coil rebuilding videos;

How to rebuild and rewick a coil for the vivi nova tank - YouTube
Rebuilding the coil in the Vision Stardust V2 or Ego CE5+ Clearomizer (Electronic Cigarette) - YouTube


Here's a Phil Busardo rebuild;
A PBusardo Tutorial - Vivi Nova Cleaning & Rebuilding - YouTube
One by Fazed;
Kanger T3 rebuild tutorial - YouTube
A couple by Todd from UKV
Kanger T3 Rebuild - YouTube
Rewick and coil a Kanger M3 - YouTube



Edit
In fairness I've found a video or two that mention using NR wire in their rebuilds - I've still not received a burnt hit from any coils I've made without NR

whatever works for you but in the mean while - I stand corrected.

 

[AnsonJames]

ElectricalSocket,

How do you join your wires - do you use a welder?

 

[AnsonJames]

Double post.

 

[ElectricalSocket]

Edit: I was going to delete this, but it took long enough to type on my phone so I think I'll keep it. No hard feelings though!

You seem personally offended but this isn't about you or me. This is about the fact that some people have issues with the grommet and some don't. I'm sure there are others who have seen the scorch marks on their grommet and just really don't care. Well, I do care. I'm not quitting smoking so I can have OTHER lung problems in 20 years. I'm too young for that mess, and so are you! If you're able to recoil without burning it though, more power to ya. If it works, it works!

I honestly started smoking again until I could figure out the wire welder. I've almost got it finished. I wanted to learn how to solder correctly and had to learn a little bit about basic electronics before starting (I'm not OCD I swear lol). In the meantime, I just got my Protank and found out how easy it is to replace the wick with cotton. So, I'm happy to be off the nasties again. When I do get the welder finished I'm going to use that, just for peace of mind.

I think it's good that some people are having success with using only resistance wire, because like I said, they must be using better quality grommets now. Just like there are finally better tank materials being used. I got into all of this about 5 months ago when the clearo section was mainly "my tank melted!", "get rid of burning taste?", "why leaking!?", and all that fun stuff.

China china china...*shakes finger*. They're starting to do better though. Which is why we should all raise hell and ACT if the regulations coming up make it harder or impossible to get nic. Even those from outside the U.S. because it could set a precedent. Not now! Not when the products are getting so much better! whhhyyyyyyyyyy yyyyyyyyyyyy ok I'm done. Have a good weekend

 

[ElectricalSocket]

..............

 

[AnsonJames]

Well,
I have to admit the more I've thought about using the NR wire method, the more it actually makes sense.

Although I haven't had any issues with just using Kanthal I think that minimising any possible contamination and health risk is a very good idea.

Sorry for being a keyboard warrior instead of considering the method - I'm getting old and curmudgeonly!

 

[bunnomatic]

wow, do this, no, do that, do it this way. no, do it that way. I almost had myself ready to try rebuilding a coil but now I think I'll stick to replacing the head until I can figure this all out!

 

[spider362]

If you are trying to rebuild a T3 head forget about the NR wire, there's not enough room inside the head and it's not necessary anyway.

The original doesn't have NR wire, so why would you need it?

 

[JeremyR]

Just do it! It's not gonna kill you just try with an old one nothing to loose. Just getting it together is the challenge. Make sure you are not shorting out. Shoot for over 2 ohms, mine run at 2.2-2.4 the hotter the more chance of
Scorching. But also it seems one its burnt in it Doesn't continue unless you go hotter. Dry burning schorches it the most.

 

[dvo352]

I recoiled mine recently with 2mm silica and 4 loops of kanthal wire... but its burning really hot. It doesn't taste burnt, and thevapor is great but its getting really hot after a couple of pulls. anyone know what the issue could be?

 

[spider362]

Need more info...

Did you measure the resistance after you installed the new coil?
If so, what was it?
If not, exactly what wire did you use? Kanthal or Nichrome?
What gauge?
What battery are you using?
If it's a VV device then what voltage setting?
If it's a VW device then what wattage setting?

 

[dvo352]

I used kanthal wire at 28 awg and I have an ego-t battery. No variable voltage and I didn't measure the resistance (next thing I'll have to buy).

I really hope its not something harmful to my lungs cause I've been using it anyway.

 

[spider362]

28 awg wire is larger than 32 awg so the resistance for the same number of coils will be lower which will result in a hotter coil for the same voltage.

For reference:
28 awg is about 5.5 ohms per foot
32 awg is about 13.6 ohms per foot

As for a multimeter,
Go to Harbor Freight and get one of their cheap multimeters, usually under $5, but some times you can find them free.
When using a multimeter to check ohms, first set the meter to the lowest ohm range, usually 200 ohms, touch the leads together and write down the reading on the meter. This is the internal resistance of the meter plus the resistance of the leads.
Then measure the resistance of the device under test.
Subtract the value you wrote down earlier from the current reading and this will be the actual resistance of the device.

For example, while touching the leads together you get a reading of 0.6 ohms (write this down).
While testing the device you get a reading of 2.8 ohms.
Subtract the 0.6 ohms from the 2.8 ohms and the actual resistance of the device you are testing is 2.2 ohms.

 

[dvo352]

Ahhh thanks. So I gotta wrap it like 6 times to get the a little less resistance everyone else is getting at 3 coils... thats gonna be tough.

And I'll definitely check out harbor freight.

 

[spider362]

Actually 6 coils will give you more resistance since you'll be using more wire.

The best thing to do is wait until you get the multimeter so you can see what the actual resistance is for various number of coils.