wire, resistance, and power supply 101 questions

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dezyner

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gotta ask, i'm sure i've read the answer, but maybe not just understood the breakdown in quick easy terms.
the lower the gauge, the thicker the wire? 30 gauge is bigger than 32 gauge, etc?
the lower the gauge, the lower the resistance? 1 inch of 30 has less resistance than 1 inch 32?
the lower the resistance, the lower the gauge, the quicker and hotter it is? 30 g vapes hotter and quciker than 32 g?

as always, thanks.
 

Statistic

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gotta ask, i'm sure i've read the answer, but maybe not just understood the breakdown in quick easy terms
No worries, we've all read answers to questions we didn't know we had at the time, then forgot where that answer was :p Plus this is a damn confusing hobby, at first ;)

the lower the gauge, the thicker the wire? 30 gauge is bigger than 32 gauge, etc?
Yes
the lower the gauge, the lower the resistance? 1 inch of 30 has less resistance than 1 inch 32?
Yes
the lower the resistance, the lower the gauge, the quicker and hotter it is? 30 g vapes hotter and quciker than 32 g?
Assuming you are applying the same exact voltage to each, yes
 

bikini_kill

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the lower the resistance, the lower the gauge, the quicker and hotter it is? 30 g vapes hotter and quciker than 32 g?
Yes, for a given length of wire.

It's worthwhile to note that you can make a, say, 1.2 ohm coil out of 28 gauge, 30 gauge, 32 gauge, etc., but the 34 gauge coil will have fewer wraps than the 32 gauge, which will have fewer wraps than the 28 gauge, etc. So if you want a coil with a lot of wraps (for maximum wick contact), you might choose to go with a larger wire, whereas if you have a very small space to work with, you might want to go for a smaller, higher resistance wire that won't require as many wraps to give you your desired resistance.
 

dezyner

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thanks guys, i pretty much get it, just trying to control variables now. so surface contact, voltage, coil numbers, length and gauge, hot vs cool vape, etc, are what I'm trying to work out my "preference" settings now. it's just math, and variables. playing around now that I have the time and equipment. at first this was a definite stop the analog gig, so the need to have "dependable" plug and play equipment and information was there, now that I am past that with equipment and supplies, much vape mail and money later, time to refine the experience. thanks, I thought I "got it" for the most part, just wanted to touch base and ask where I knew someone here would know. everybody puts their opinions in debate form out there, so a basic 101 question thing made sense to me. thank you, appreciate it.
 

Statistic

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I would have to disagree with the last statement saying "30g vapes hotter and quicker then 32g" imo a thinner wire will heat up faster then a thicker wire, also a thicker wire at the coil has more surface area thus it is cooler to that area of the wick.

Yeah I am no wiz at electronics, I can't back up my answer with electrical knowledge.. I based my answer on experience with 32g, 30g, double stranded 32g coils and 26g. A .8ohm 26g coil definitely puts warmer vapor into my head much quicker than a double stranded 32g coil of the same resistance. And a single strand 32g coil? Fuggedaboutit. Sure you can get great vapes from 32g by wrapping more coils. I admit I was thinking in mech terms :vapor:

Does higher gauge heat up hotter and quicker? Possibly but if so it doesn't have as much surface area to dissipate that heat into juice.

The (subjective) answer I should have given is "I don't know but it does heat up better and better" lol ;)
 

holy_handgrenade

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I'd have to step in and correct a few assumptions. Surface area means nothing here. Voltage x Resistance = Watts. Watts are your heat rating. So, lower resistance at a set voltage = more heat. Going further with laws of electricity, lower resistance = faster battery drain. So, the lower your resistance, the more voltage your battery is "dumping" into the coil. So taking all this into account, yes, your thicker wire will heat up faster and to a higher temperature than a thinner wire at the same voltage.
 

vapdivrr

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not so guys, the more resistance of a wire the hotter that wire will be, so if you have a 1 inch piece of 28g vs a 1 inch piece of 32g, the 32g wire will be hotter & quicker. also its the amps that actually drain the battery not the voltage. a low resistance coil, lets say a 1 ohm at 4 volts will drain the battery faster then a 2 ohm coil at 6v, but I believe this is only true with a mechanical mod.
 

dezyner

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lol. see, i even said "101". now i'm back to confused, and here's my goofy logic. lower resistance wire, means lower ohm coils. when i dump x amount of current into a 32 gauge i get x amount of vapor. if i dump the same current into a 30 gauge, with more coils to get the same resistance, more liquid touching more coils means more vapor? surface area meaning nothing just doesn't make sense to me, and yes, I know that's because I don't know anything, but I am trying to learn and get past that. more surface area contact means more access to more liquid being vaporized doesn't it? i'm working on the premise that more resistance means it takes more voltage to get the wire hot, not less. told yah I was confused. am I even more whacked than my wife thinks already?
anybody got an easy explanation in less than 1000 posts or less than 1000 words, that won't require learning rocket science? yes, i know i need schooled.
there's got to be a chart....a picture being worth a thousand words...

sorry, but i did say 101. lol
 

Rader2146

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I'd have to step in and correct a few assumptions. Surface area means nothing here. Voltage x Resistance = Watts. Watts are your heat rating. So, lower resistance at a set voltage = more heat. Going further with laws of electricity, lower resistance = faster battery drain. So, the lower your resistance, the more voltage your battery is "dumping" into the coil. So taking all this into account, yes, your thicker wire will heat up faster and to a higher temperature than a thinner wire at the same voltage.

When you start talking about heat....surface area means everything. You cant vape 32 watts on 32g wire....but I do it everyday on 26g. ;)
 

vapdivrr

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lol. see, i even said "101". now i'm back to confused, and here's my goofy logic. lower resistance wire, means lower ohm coils. when i dump x amount of current into a 32 gauge i get x amount of vapor. if i dump the same current into a 30 gauge, with more coils to get the same resistance, more liquid touching more coils means more vapor? surface area meaning nothing just doesn't make sense to me, and yes, I know that's because I don't know anything, but I am trying to learn and get past that. more surface area contact means more access to more liquid being vaporized doesn't it? i'm working on the premise that more resistance means it takes more voltage to get the wire hot, not less. told yah I was confused. am I even more whacked than my wife thinks already?
anybody got an easy explanation in less than 1000 posts or less than 1000 words, that won't require learning rocket science? yes, i know i need schooled.
there's got to be a chart....a picture being worth a thousand words...

sorry, but i did say 101. lol

I know it is a lot for sure, am im not an electrical engineer by any means but all I can say is I have been vaping these gennys for a long time and have done hundreds of coils at many different resistances and these are just my experiences, on my particular devices, with my particular juices. thin wire, higher resistances, this is because of the space inside this thin wire, electrons and such are having a hard time within this wire, there banging around hitting each other, also less of them are making it to the end of this wire so more voltage is required to replace them and get the job done, all this adds up to more heat within this wire. this is totally the opposite with a thicker wire. now one thing is for sure, a thicker wire produces a better flavor, imo this is due to a slightly cooler wire, which doesn't burn the juice as much, and more surface area to a specific section of the wick. lower resistances(thicker & shorter wire) requires less voltage but more amps. coverage of the wick is important, and maybe more wraps equals more flavor, so if you compare 6 wraps of 32g, which might be well over 2 ohms, to 3 wraps of 28g, which is under 1-ohm, you might say that the first example has to be better, and produce more vapor. this imo, is possibly a stand-off. remember the 28g is a thicker wire, it is, wrap for wrap covering more space at the wick and is slightly cooler, and doesn't need all that voltage to run it, but the thinner wire has more wraps, so is it producing more vapor? I don't think so, but this is why experimenting is the fun of it. some like thin wire, some like thick wire. also you can obtain low resistances with more wraps by using even a thicker wire. I have down to 26g, so I can get 4 to 5 wraps on a wick and still be under 1-ohm of resistance. basically it boils down to what is your sweet spot? how many watts do you prefer? take me for example, I vape on average in the 16 watt range, to get to 16 watts you can do low res or hi res to get to the same watts, example/ a 2 ohm coil of 32g at 5.7v. or a 0.8 ohm coil of 28g at 3.6v, both will equal about 16 watts but one will have 5 wraps and the other will have 3 wraps, for me I would prefer the 3 wraps of thicker wire to the other. just because the 32g has 5 wraps really doesn't mean it produces more vapor because although it may have more wraps the wire is thinner and is only touching the wick in smaller points, where as a thicker wire is covering a larger part of the wick. now in a similar comparison, lets use 26g instead of 28g, now I can possibly equal the number of wraps, now which has more flavor and vapor? everyone is different and is up to you to decide. and yes, your premise about the more resistance means more voltage is correct, but voltage isn't the deciding factor that makes flavor and vapor, imo wire thickness and wire temperature and overall power (watts) is more of the deciding factor. I know this is true because you can have more vapor and flavor at lower volts. (probably more then 1000 words) sorry, but this is what these threads are all about
 

Rader2146

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Think we need to get away from the "1 inch of this and 1 inch of that" stuff.

Watts is probably the simplest measurement to use. Resistance, voltage, and amperage really dont matter because they are all variable components of the watts equation.

10 watts on 32g will heat quicker than 10 watts on 28g. 28g has more mass so it takes longer to heat from temp A to temp B.


Surface area and temperature of the vape are complex topics. It all depends on wicking performance, airflow, wire gauge, and watts. But in general, improving wicking performance will have MUCH greater payoffs than increasing surface area.
 

vapdivrr

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Think we need to get away from the "1 inch of this and 1 inch of that" stuff.

Watts is probably the simplest measurement to use. Resistance, voltage, and amperage really dont matter because they are all variable components of the watts equation.

10 watts on 32g will heat quicker than 10 watts on 28g. 28g has more mass so it takes longer to heat from temp A to temp B.


Surface area and temperature of the vape are complex topics. It all depends on wicking performance, airflow, wire gauge, and watts. But in general, improving wicking performance will have MUCH greater payoffs than increasing surface area.

very good points, I originally chimed in because I disagreed with the last points of the OP , your points sures this up.
 

vapdivrr

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Yes, for a given length of wire.

It's worthwhile to note that you can make a, say, 1.2 ohm coil out of 28 gauge, 30 gauge, 32 gauge, etc., but the 34 gauge coil will have fewer wraps than the 32 gauge, which will have fewer wraps than the 28 gauge, etc. So if you want a coil with a lot of wraps (for maximum wick contact), you might choose to go with a larger wire, whereas if you have a very small space to work with, you might want to go for a smaller, higher resistance wire that won't require as many wraps to give you your desired resistance.

never mind my brother is messing with me
 
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dezyner

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cool. thanks for the 101 breakdowns. right now i'm playing with 32g and 30g, silica and ss mesh, hemp, cotton, in and on cheap rbas, well relatively cheap, nothing high end yet, i don't want to trash decent stuff. first, trying to find my own sweet spot, but it's a process of elimination more than a formula, but i do dig a good formula when i can find one. i am picking up on some of my ignorance where they are present. gotta control the variables before you can begin the elimination process. kudos on the info. appreciative as always. have a great weekend. cheers.
 
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