No dangers but it'll take very long for the coil to glow
Considering an OBS Engine Nano for first RTA
- Thread starter aktorsyl
- Start date
No danger
The lower your resistance the more wattage you will need to achieve the relevant voltage
As a rule of thumb i like to look at the mech equivalent (ignoring volt drop)
Regardless of the ohms and wattage i start at 3.5 volt then work my way up (if needed) to 4.2 volt . . . Simple builds rarely need more but nothing is stopping you from increasing voltage, especially with large mass coils (clapton/alien)
Have fun
Edit : thats if you are sub ohming (0.1 - 0.6ish) if your ohms are higher than 1.0 you will need much higher voltage for a satisfactory vape (assuming DLH)
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Alright, need some advice from you guys. The Nano arrived today. Read up (and watched) on wicking, etc. My coil is level, glows evenly, has no hot legs, and sits pretty high up (the top of the coil is juuuust below the top of the posts. The prebuilt coil that came with it clocks in at 0.23 ohms (rather lower than others have reported on the prebuilt coil).
The cotton was fluffed, and cut so that it just brushes the wicking holes. Wet the cotton to check, and it's just-just into the holes (barely).
So on to testing. Played with the airflow, and the wattage. Tested all the way between 30W and 55W. And obviously I must've done something wrong, because... NOT a lot of flavour at all, and serious serious spitback. In fact, if you draw (without pressing the fire button), after a second liquid actually ends up in your mouth. At first I thought it was condensation, so I stuck some paper towel down the chimney to make sure it was dry before trying again - but again, spitback galore. If I keep my draws at about half a second, I avoid spitback - but 0.5 second draws are a bit anticlimactic. Still generates tons of vapour with that short a draw, funnily enough. But compared to the Ijust S where you could easily do a 4-second draw with no pops or spitback.. I'm pretty sure that's user error somewhere
Either way though, there is still almost zero flavour.
I suspect the problem must be with the wicking.. I'm just not sure how exactly. My wick looks pretty identical to the others out there.
Any pointers?
The cotton was fluffed, and cut so that it just brushes the wicking holes. Wet the cotton to check, and it's just-just into the holes (barely).
So on to testing. Played with the airflow, and the wattage. Tested all the way between 30W and 55W. And obviously I must've done something wrong, because... NOT a lot of flavour at all, and serious serious spitback. In fact, if you draw (without pressing the fire button), after a second liquid actually ends up in your mouth. At first I thought it was condensation, so I stuck some paper towel down the chimney to make sure it was dry before trying again - but again, spitback galore. If I keep my draws at about half a second, I avoid spitback - but 0.5 second draws are a bit anticlimactic. Still generates tons of vapour with that short a draw, funnily enough. But compared to the Ijust S where you could easily do a 4-second draw with no pops or spitback.. I'm pretty sure that's user error somewhere
Either way though, there is still almost zero flavour.
I suspect the problem must be with the wicking.. I'm just not sure how exactly. My wick looks pretty identical to the others out there.
Any pointers?
Forgot to mention - before the attempt above, I had my wick longer at first and tucked it into the wicking holes quite a bit (they weren't touching the bottom of the deck below it, but they were kinda hanging in the middle.. after that attempt (which had the same results as above) I cut the wick shorter to just brush the wicking holes. But nada.
Bring your coil down in line with the post holes without trimming the wick, let the wicks peek through the juice holes. Just make sure that there is enough wick to fill the juice holes but not too much that it's tight.
Sounds like your deck is flooding. Either not enough wick or it's not covering the holes properly. Your wicks sound about right, perhaps a tad short, are they fully plugging the holes? If there is a gap somewhere the juice will flood and the spitback will happen
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Hmm. They might be too thin. I'll re-wick and make it thicker without trimming the "triangles" at the tips as big as before, and then fold/tuck that into the wicking holes. Seems there are 2 schools of thought - the one half of reviewers say they should just rest on top of the wicking holes, the other half say that the cotton should actually go in there.
I'd say mine go in there, about halfway to the deck, you can see the very edge sticking out underneath it. I don't trim mine at all in the triangles, but I do fluff the edges out a bit. But make sure the wicks cover the entire opening.
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Thanks guys - re-wicked, made the cotton a bit thicker and crammed it into the wicking holes (well, not crammed.. it's loose enough to not form a complete plug). It doesn't reach the bottom of the "lower" deck/juicewell, rather it just slightly sticks out from under the top part of the deck, through the holes.
Much better this time around. It does make a weird muffled popping sound that resembles a desert war (seriously, it's a LOT of pops.. I don't hear that in any of the review videos), but there's no spitback whatsoever. No dry hits either unless I hit it for longer than 4 seconds (and my puffs are usually only 2 seconds, so that's fine).
Flavour seems better. Not actually 100% sure, I've got Oatz in here and I might have overdone it earlier, will probably judge flavour better when I switch later. Vapour seems to be much increased.
EDIT: Found a sweet spot at 45W (on 0.24 ohms). This tank is a thirsty one..
EDIT2: Do you guys usually wet the wick before or after tucking it into the wicking holes?
EDIT3: Eh, scratch all of the above, it started spitting again. Will try even more wick this evening. Thicker, not longer.
Much better this time around. It does make a weird muffled popping sound that resembles a desert war (seriously, it's a LOT of pops.. I don't hear that in any of the review videos), but there's no spitback whatsoever. No dry hits either unless I hit it for longer than 4 seconds (and my puffs are usually only 2 seconds, so that's fine).
Flavour seems better. Not actually 100% sure, I've got Oatz in here and I might have overdone it earlier, will probably judge flavour better when I switch later. Vapour seems to be much increased.
EDIT: Found a sweet spot at 45W (on 0.24 ohms). This tank is a thirsty one..
EDIT2: Do you guys usually wet the wick before or after tucking it into the wicking holes?
EDIT3: Eh, scratch all of the above, it started spitting again. Will try even more wick this evening. Thicker, not longer.
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Interesting, a pity you are having some trouble. You want those holes to be completely plugged, with a very slight small spot for the air to escape on the side. But if there is a noticeable gap the juice will flood and you will get that spitback.
Don't worry about the popping. That's normal. Mine pops like a popcorn machine but it's still awesome
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Yeah.. the problem however is that I already put all the cotton down that hole (without trimming it thinner) and there's still gaps. Not evident, but they must be there because the spitback still happens. And it can't be that the cotton is too thin, it almost barely pulls through the coil at the moment.. it's pretty tight inside that coil (which is 3mm ID, as I recall).
Hmm interesting. If you can't see the gaps it should be alright. If possible maybe you can post a photo here?
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I'll post one this evening after the next re-wick. There are no gaps when the cotton is dry, the moment it gets wet it starts to do funny things.
I need to rewick tonight as well. If you still don't come right let me know, I will take some pics of my wicking tonight as well.
Ah that would be great, yes please. Especially showing how long you cut the wick. At the moment I cut it roundabout where the outer edge of the base is.
I do about the same. I put my scissor on the edge so that it is a straight cut, then move it slightly outside a tad more and cut them flat there.
Right so I just rewicked mine now. It really took me 5 mins. Here are them photos. It's from my phone so I apologize if the quality isn't the best Hehe the last photo is just for effect. 6 second puff and you can see the bubbles are the top. Great flavor right off the bat
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Caveman, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks for the visual aid!
I did mine pretty much exactly like yours now. Got a piece of cotton that pulled through the coil with some serious tension, but not to the point where it pulls the coil, the posts, the deck itself, its grandmother and the UN security council with it off to the side. Cut the wicks juuuust a bit further out than the deck edge. Fluffed the cotton. Tucked it all into the juice holes. Checked the bottom of the deck, and they protrude about 30% (guesstimate).
Then I dripped juice onto the cotton to let it soak. Pulsed the coil a couple of times. Rejuiced the cotton. Tank went on, juice into the tank, and onto the mod we go.
And.. well, it's better. Slightly. Still some abnormal popping (if outside it would almost scare birds out of trees.. those pops are LOUD), but unsure if there's actual spitback. I know, I know, that sounds strange.. but it's very low nic juice, so it's a bit harder to detect spitback on these. After taking 2 or 3 puffs I feel like I inhaled water, so not sure if it's psychosomatic or whether it actually means I'm getting more droplets in the vape. I upped the wattage. It popped more&louder. I upped it some more, figuring the juice is possibly boiling instead of vapourising, and needs more heat. At 55W.. hahaha those pops. Hot damn. The local police asked me to stop shooting AK's in the backyard. Texan republicans knocked on my door to welcome me into the NRA. North Korea asked for my notes.
SO I toned the wattage back down to about 45W. Any lower and the vape is as cold as last week's turkey salad, any higher and it's as hot as... nah, sorry, I ran out of metaphors. But it's too hot Resistance is futile sits at 0.24 ohm.
One of my vaping friends asked me to explain what I mean by "popping". Hm. Well, it's not the sizzling sound (that you usually want to hear), that's there too... but on top of that, there are 3 to 4 loud pops. Like those bubble wrap things? Just much lower in pitch. The more wattage I push through, the more regular and louder they get. On a 2 second puff, I usually get about 4 of them, mostly starting after 1 second (so basically when the coil heats up).
To re-iterate, the coil glows evenly (from the inside out, no hot legs).
But we're making progress. To all of you, thanks again for all the advice! Really appreciate it. I think we're closer to finding out what's behind the notorious Pops of 2017.
PS: I have a nasty habit of using waaay too much metaphor and hyperbole when I write something. Sometimes I even get letters about it.
EDIT (PS 2): Not sure if it's related, but juice consumption is about 4x that of the iJust S. Is that normal? (Not a problem if it is, just want to make sure). Emptying a tank in about 90 puffs at an average of 1.8s per puff.
And, PS3: All the juices I'm testing with are 70 vg / 30 pg.
I did mine pretty much exactly like yours now. Got a piece of cotton that pulled through the coil with some serious tension, but not to the point where it pulls the coil, the posts, the deck itself, its grandmother and the UN security council with it off to the side. Cut the wicks juuuust a bit further out than the deck edge. Fluffed the cotton. Tucked it all into the juice holes. Checked the bottom of the deck, and they protrude about 30% (guesstimate).
Then I dripped juice onto the cotton to let it soak. Pulsed the coil a couple of times. Rejuiced the cotton. Tank went on, juice into the tank, and onto the mod we go.
And.. well, it's better. Slightly. Still some abnormal popping (if outside it would almost scare birds out of trees.. those pops are LOUD), but unsure if there's actual spitback. I know, I know, that sounds strange.. but it's very low nic juice, so it's a bit harder to detect spitback on these. After taking 2 or 3 puffs I feel like I inhaled water, so not sure if it's psychosomatic or whether it actually means I'm getting more droplets in the vape. I upped the wattage. It popped more&louder. I upped it some more, figuring the juice is possibly boiling instead of vapourising, and needs more heat. At 55W.. hahaha those pops. Hot damn. The local police asked me to stop shooting AK's in the backyard. Texan republicans knocked on my door to welcome me into the NRA. North Korea asked for my notes.
SO I toned the wattage back down to about 45W. Any lower and the vape is as cold as last week's turkey salad, any higher and it's as hot as... nah, sorry, I ran out of metaphors. But it's too hot
Resistance is futile sits at 0.24 ohm.One of my vaping friends asked me to explain what I mean by "popping". Hm. Well, it's not the sizzling sound (that you usually want to hear), that's there too... but on top of that, there are 3 to 4 loud pops. Like those bubble wrap things? Just much lower in pitch. The more wattage I push through, the more regular and louder they get. On a 2 second puff, I usually get about 4 of them, mostly starting after 1 second (so basically when the coil heats up).
To re-iterate, the coil glows evenly (from the inside out, no hot legs).
But we're making progress. To all of you, thanks again for all the advice! Really appreciate it. I think we're closer to finding out what's behind the notorious Pops of 2017.
PS: I have a nasty habit of using waaay too much metaphor and hyperbole when I write something. Sometimes I even get letters about it.
EDIT (PS 2): Not sure if it's related, but juice consumption is about 4x that of the iJust S. Is that normal? (Not a problem if it is, just want to make sure). Emptying a tank in about 90 puffs at an average of 1.8s per puff.
And, PS3: All the juices I'm testing with are 70 vg / 30 pg.
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Caveman, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks for the visual aid!
I did mine pretty much exactly like yours now. Got a piece of cotton that pulled through the coil with some serious tension, but not to the point where it pulls the coil, the posts, the deck itself, its grandmother and the UN security council with it off to the side. Cut the wicks juuuust a bit further out than the deck edge. Fluffed the cotton. Tucked it all into the juice holes. Checked the bottom of the deck, and they protrude about 30% (guesstimate).
Then I dripped juice onto the cotton to let it soak. Pulsed the coil a couple of times. Rejuiced the cotton. Tank went on, juice into the tank, and onto the mod we go.
And.. well, it's better. Slightly. Still some abnormal popping (if outside it would almost scare birds out of trees.. those pops are LOUD), but unsure if there's actual spitback. I know, I know, that sounds strange.. but it's very low nic juice, so it's a bit harder to detect spitback on these. After taking 2 or 3 puffs I feel like I inhaled water, so not sure if it's psychosomatic or whether it actually means I'm getting more droplets in the vape. I upped the wattage. It popped more&louder. I upped it some more, figuring the juice is possibly boiling instead of vapourising, and needs more heat. At 55W.. hahaha those pops. Hot damn. The local police asked me to stop shooting AK's in the backyard. Texan republicans knocked on my door to welcome me into the NRA. North Korea asked for my notes.
SO I toned the wattage back down to about 45W. Any lower and the vape is as cold as last week's turkey salad, any higher and it's as hot as... nah, sorry, I ran out of metaphors. But it's too hotResistance is futile sits at 0.24 ohm.
One of my vaping friends asked me to explain what I mean by "popping". Hm. Well, it's not the sizzling sound (that you usually want to hear), that's there too... but on top of that, there are 3 to 4 loud pops. Like those bubble wrap things? Just much lower in pitch. The more wattage I push through, the more regular and louder they get. On a 2 second puff, I usually get about 4 of them, mostly starting after 1 second (so basically when the coil heats up).
To re-iterate, the coil glows evenly (from the inside out, no hot legs).
But we're making progress. To all of you, thanks again for all the advice! Really appreciate it. I think we're closer to finding out what's behind the notorious Pops of 2017.
PS: I have a nasty habit of using waaay too much metaphor and hyperbole when I write something. Sometimes I even get letters about it.
EDIT (PS 2): Not sure if it's related, but juice consumption is about 4x that of the iJust S. Is that normal? (Not a problem if it is, just want to make sure). Emptying a tank in about 90 puffs at an average of 1.8s per puff.
And, PS3: All the juices I'm testing with are 70 vg / 30 pg.
Resistance Lol I dig the metaphors. Mine pops like someone eating a bag of pop rocks. I haven't noticed it affecting anything though and ages ago on some video the dude said it means it's wicking well. Don't quote me on that. My cotton isn't quite as tight as you describe though.
The juice consumption is not what one would call light. I can kill a whole tank in 10 mins easy. One thing to note though, make sure your coils are tight. Check if your screws have come a bit undone, that tends to happen while the coil beds in. The other thing with these coils is they can take some time to heat up, especially at low wattage. Mine takes a few puffs and purges before its at a good temp for me. Stupid question, have you tried unscrewing the tank and putting it back on. Mine read at 0.2 at first and then when I removed it and put it back it hit 0.35
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The popping is down to 3 pops per 2 second puff, so the bag of pop rocks are running empty, it seems. Maybe the wick needs to break in or something, i don't know. Pretty sure there's no spitback, so it's probably fine. Still feel like I'm inhaling liquid though, never had that with the iJust so not completely sure what's going on there, but I'll play around with it a bit.
The flavour is pretty muted at the moment, although it does get a bit better at higher watts. At about 50W+ on the 0.23 ohm coil it starts to taste like something. No dry hits at all (even with that prize-winning amount of cotton I got in there), so that's good. I'd test chain-vaping to see if the wick keeps up, but I don't want to have an olympic swimming pool worth of liquid in my lungs (or the sensation of that, anyway).
The ohms are pretty steady at 0.23.. after multiple rewicking exercises and tank screwing/unscrewing sessions, it pretty much doesn't budge from there. I'm kinda tempted to build an 0.6 ohm coil from normal kanthal (spaced) and see what happens with the popping then, but I'll do that once this current wick is klaar. I'm not rewicking this thing again tonight
(Yup, the coil does take awhile to heat up.. I usually fire for a second before I puff. I noticed some people also fire and blow for half a second, and then puff.)
For flavour, I want to experiment with the concept of plugging the small airhole (behind the coil) with cotton, apparently that works wonders. Just not sure how the hell a piece of cotton is going to stay in there.
Think I might have a better middle ground now. Re-wicked again tonight to test something.. made the cotton just a little thinner inside the coil, but tucked them into the holes about the same amount as last time. Almost no pops now, and flavour is better. However..
This time, I also used a separate small ball of cotton to plug the small airhole behind the coil (hope it doesn't touch the posts, although it probably won't short out anything if it does). Now the only incoming airflow is right next to the coil itself. I plugged it in there as best I could (I worked it in there good & proper with tweezers), and it's pretty tight - but we'll see if it stays put.
Funny thing I noticed is that the CoilMaster ohm reader jumps between 0.24 and 0.26 for no good reason. Screws are tight so not sure why it's doing that. The Predator measures it at a stable 0.23 ohm. I found that my wattage of earlier was probably unnecessary - I'm getting a good vape from it at 35W now.
This time, I also used a separate small ball of cotton to plug the small airhole behind the coil (hope it doesn't touch the posts, although it probably won't short out anything if it does). Now the only incoming airflow is right next to the coil itself. I plugged it in there as best I could (I worked it in there good & proper with tweezers), and it's pretty tight - but we'll see if it stays put.
Funny thing I noticed is that the CoilMaster ohm reader jumps between 0.24 and 0.26 for no good reason. Screws are tight so not sure why it's doing that. The Predator measures it at a stable 0.23 ohm. I found that my wattage of earlier was probably unnecessary - I'm getting a good vape from it at 35W now.
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I also plug the small airhole. My cotton i cut very short then fluff it out and it just make it into the juice hole. For me this works.
Sorry about photo but think you will understand
I normally open the cap where you pour in juice. Stick one off my coil master rod inside so i have leverage and then just turn the glass
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