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First RDA build, lots of problems. Help.

Hi everyone,
I’m hoping to get some help from the experts:
I recently got my first RDA, it’s a Tsunami 24. I did a lot of online research, watched hours of builds on YouTube, until I was pretty confident. I got a spool of 26g 316L ss wire and built dual coils with 3 mm ID and 9 wraps. The atty is reading 0.35 ohm on my Smoant Battlestar. I got both muji cotton and cellucotton for wicking and tried the cellucotton first. It was working pretty well for a couple hits in vw mode, but I put it in ss tc mode and burned the hell out of the wick and nearly choked myself to death. So I figured I’d give the muji a go. I wicked it up, dripped it, and this time, even in vw I was getting hardly any flavor and the coils were sizzling and giving off vapor way after I would stop firing. After a few hits my cotton started turning brown. I was super discouraged so I pulled the burnt wicks and went back to tanks for a couple weeks. Today I pulled out the Tsunami and tried wicking again, this time using more cotton, thinking a loose wicking could’ve been the problem last time. Unfortunately I’m getting the same problem coil stays hot way too long, no flavor and cotton browning under the coil. Trying between 30-45 Watts, pretty sure if I go any higher I’ll burn the shit out of it again.
I’ve got some kanthal a1 coming, hoping that I might have better luck with that, but it’s my understanding that ss is supposed to heat up and cool down faster than kanthal, so if I can’t get my ss coils to cool down, I’m probably not gonna do any better with kanthal.
If anyone has ideas or advice I’d appreciate it.

Pictures of today’s wicking with muji:

https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/INygV2Nt4QmdWRWAsK8VQN9GbnQqrm0Vn88T6n1rDVo
 

r055co

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Hi everyone,
I’m hoping to get some help from the experts:
I recently got my first RDA, it’s a Tsunami 24. I did a lot of online research, watched hours of builds on YouTube, until I was pretty confident. I got a spool of 26g 316L ss wire and built dual coils with 3 mm ID and 9 wraps. The atty is reading 0.35 ohm on my Smoant Battlestar. I got both muji cotton and cellucotton for wicking and tried the cellucotton first. It was working pretty well for a couple hits in vw mode, but I put it in ss tc mode and burned the hell out of the wick and nearly choked myself to death. So I figured I’d give the muji a go. I wicked it up, dripped it, and this time, even in vw I was getting hardly any flavor and the coils were sizzling and giving off vapor way after I would stop firing. After a few hits my cotton started turning brown. I was super discouraged so I pulled the burnt wicks and went back to tanks for a couple weeks. Today I pulled out the Tsunami and tried wicking again, this time using more cotton, thinking a loose wicking could’ve been the problem last time. Unfortunately I’m getting the same problem coil stays hot way too long, no flavor and cotton browning under the coil. Trying between 30-45 Watts, pretty sure if I go any higher I’ll burn the shit out of it again.
I’ve got some kanthal a1 coming, hoping that I might have better luck with that, but it’s my understanding that ss is supposed to heat up and cool down faster than kanthal, so if I can’t get my ss coils to cool down, I’m probably not gonna do any better with kanthal.
If anyone has ideas or advice I’d appreciate it.

Pictures of today’s wicking with muji:

https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/INygV2Nt4QmdWRWAsK8VQN9GbnQqrm0Vn88T6n1rDVo
Your wicking doesn't look too bad, I'd play around with the wicking a bit more though. What I would recommend though is to try parallel or twisted. Twisted is easy to make, check out YouTube on both, there's a bunch out there. This also includes watching different wicking methods.

Basically you need to try different builds and mess about a bit and you'll get the right build that suits you for one size does not fit all. Stick with it, you'll find your sweet spot.

Sent from my K88 using Tapatalk
 

KingPin!

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Do you have a resistance reader? Is the resistance stable on the build NikK if it jumps you’ll go from a nice vape to WTF was that!

Also make sure to set the resistance when the coil is a room temp on the mod I’m not sure if the battle star does live resistance reads or not
 

skt239

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I have a feeling this may be build related. If I remembers my tsunami, the cotton was snug on the legs. Are your legs lighting up on your coils?
 

r055co

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Yeah, tails are a factor, thin them out a bit.

Sent from my K88 using Tapatalk
 
Do you have a resistance reader? Is the resistance stable on the build NikK if it jumps you’ll go from a nice vape to WTF was that!

Also make sure to set the resistance when the coil is a room temp on the mod I’m not sure if the battle star does live resistance reads or not
Resistance is reading 0.35 ohms stable.
 
I have a feeling this may be build related. If I remembers my tsunami, the cotton was snug on the legs. Are your legs lighting up on your coils?
I took out the wicks and pulsed at low wattage, the coils are heating evenly from inside out. The legs don’t glow. But my cotton was touching the post, is that bad?
 

r055co

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additionally try out contact coils and you may need to use fatter gauge wire if using single wire or just try out parallel or twisted. That and 3mm di and 2.5mm di.

Basically you really do need to play around with different styles. As I mentioned earlier try parallel and twisted.

Use www.steam-engine.org to target the right ohms.

You'll find your sweet spot, may seem to be a bit of a hassle but trust me when I say once you find it it'll be DAMN!

One more thing, each atty/mod combination has it's own sweet spot.

Sent from my K88 using Tapatalk
 

skt239

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I took out the wicks and pulsed at low wattage, the coils are heating evenly from inside out. The legs don’t glow. But my cotton was touching the post, is that bad?
Nope not bad.
 
Ok. So I rewicked it staying fat through the coils, but thinned out the tails. It seems to be working a little better, the cotton doesn’t seem to be browning and the flavor’s a little better, but I’m still concerned at how long the coils are staying hot after I stop firing. Is this normal on an RDA? Also seems to be popping a lot when I fire it, does that mean I’m drowning it?
Also, anyone know what might have happened with the TC fiasco I mentioned in the OP? I’ve been afraid to try it again since that awful burnt hit.
 

Fudgey Finger

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Ok. So I rewicked it staying fat through the coils, but thinned out the tails. It seems to be working a little better, the cotton doesn’t seem to be browning and the flavor’s a little better, but I’m still concerned at how long the coils are staying hot after I stop firing. Is this normal on an RDA? Also seems to be popping a lot when I fire it, does that mean I’m drowning it?
Also, anyone know what might have happened with the TC fiasco I mentioned in the OP? I’ve been afraid to try it again since that awful burnt hit.
The tc thing could have been that the mods tc wattage was turned up too high. I'm not familiar with the battlestar, but all tc mods that I have used allow you to adjust the wattage for tc as well as the temperature. They usually come out of the box cranked way up. That's just my guess anyway.

Sent from my LGL64VL using Tapatalk
 
Thanks just caught that. Do you know if the battle star needs the resistance to be locked?
When I put the atty on it asks if it’s a new coil then reads the resistance. I’ve never seen the resistance displayed change after that unless I take the atty off and choose “new coil” again (even then, if it’s the same coil and temp, it reads the same). But I have seen claims from smoant that it constantly checks the resistance, and some complaints that this creates a barely audible constant ticking. I’ve never heard it though. So, I don’t know if it locks the resistance or not?
 
The tc thing could have been that the mods tc wattage was turned up too high. I'm not familiar with the battlestar, but all tc mods that I have used allow you to adjust the wattage for tc as well as the temperature. They usually come out of the box cranked way up. That's just my guess anyway.

Sent from my LGL64VL using Tapatalk
I think you could be right, the wattage was set to 100 in tc. Took me forever to figure out how to change it, too (hold down the fire and up button while in tc, if anyone’s wondering). I already took the coils off, but I’m gonna try it again tomorrow with a new build.
Thanks everyone for the help. I’ll probably be back tomorrow with new problems....
 

gbalkam

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The tc thing could have been that the mods tc wattage was turned up too high
Agreed.
Also, 9 wraps is to many. 6 wraps is ideal, 7 wraps is probably the max. More than 7 and the center of your wick cant draw juice fast enough to keep up with the heat. Hence the inside of your coil burns and turns brown. Try 6 wraps of your 26ga SS but use a single core clapton. Figuring you are using TC for flavor, and clapton will give you more flavor but fewer wraps will mean the wick will be able to supply juice to the coil. Mind your resistance though. You might have to do 6 wraps on a 3.5mm id core. 24mm deck will easily accommodate that.
 

Fudgey Finger

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Agreed.
Also, 9 wraps is to many. 6 wraps is ideal, 7 wraps is probably the max. More than 7 and the center of your wick cant draw juice fast enough to keep up with the heat. Hence the inside of your coil burns and turns brown. Try 6 wraps of your 26ga SS but use a single core clapton. Figuring you are using TC for flavor, and clapton will give you more flavor but fewer wraps will mean the wick will be able to supply juice to the coil. Mind your resistance though. You might have to do 6 wraps on a 3.5mm id core. 24mm deck will easily accommodate that.
9 wraps is fine at 30-45w. Especially if op gets the tc dialed in.

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VirginiaVaping

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everything looks pretty good, Try spacing out your coils just a little further. Just a suggestion, Vaping is all about trial an error. MY setup an likes will be dif. then yours.
 

gbalkam

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9 wraps is fine at 30-45w. Especially if op gets the tc dialed in.

Sent from my LGL64VL using Tapatalk
9 wraps dual coil will not give a proper vape at 40w. Unless you like a very cool vape. Medium vape would require at least 75w
http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?mat=ss316l&s=dp&r=0.33&hf=260&awg=26&id=3
Heat flux should be between 300 to 350 (to 400 if you like a very warm vape)
9 wraps = 0.33 ohm vs 6 wraps = 0.225 ohm and takes less power. (longer vape time)
Larger coils are more for cloud chaser builds where you drip before each pull anyway. Flavor works better on a smaller clapton (single core even)
As I stated, SS is more for TC mode, TC is for flavor builds.
Personally, I don't even bother with TC. I set the watts I like and vape away.
 
9 wraps dual coil will not give a proper vape at 40w. Unless you like a very cool vape. Medium vape would require at least 75w
http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?mat=ss316l&s=dp&r=0.33&hf=260&awg=26&id=3
Heat flux should be between 300 to 350 (to 400 if you like a very warm vape)
9 wraps = 0.33 ohm vs 6 wraps = 0.225 ohm and takes less power. (longer vape time)
Larger coils are more for cloud chaser builds where you drip before each pull anyway. Flavor works better on a smaller clapton (single core even)
As I stated, SS is more for TC mode, TC is for flavor builds.
Personally, I don't even bother with TC. I set the watts I like and vape away.
Thanks. That’s very helpful. Being new to building I get nervous about building too close to my mod’s lower resistance limit (0.1 ohm in vw), but what you say makes sense and my fears are likely unfounded. I don’t have enough confidence or patience to make my own Clapton wire, but yesterday I ordered a spool of fused Clapton (2x26/32) wire to try out. From what you’re saying about keeping to 6 or so wraps, Ill probably have to use it in single coil builds to keep from bottoming out on resistance. I guess I’ll go ahead and get some single core Clapton, too, so I can do dual coil builds. Do you think I should stick with 26 gauge core?
 

Fudgey Finger

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9 wraps dual coil will not give a proper vape at 40w. Unless you like a very cool vape. Medium vape would require at least 75w
http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?mat=ss316l&s=dp&r=0.33&hf=260&awg=26&id=3
Heat flux should be between 300 to 350 (to 400 if you like a very warm vape)
9 wraps = 0.33 ohm vs 6 wraps = 0.225 ohm and takes less power. (longer vape time)
Larger coils are more for cloud chaser builds where you drip before each pull anyway. Flavor works better on a smaller clapton (single core even)
As I stated, SS is more for TC mode, TC is for flavor builds.
Personally, I don't even bother with TC. I set the watts I like and vape away.
Agreed. I was just disagreeing with your previous post that op was burning his cotton because he had too many wraps. I wouldn't vape a 9 wrap coil and I wouldn't vape at 30-45 watts, but that's what op said he was running at in the op. Suggesting that the amount of wraps in his coil is the reason for the cotton burning doesn't help figure out what the op's problem is.

Sent from my LGL64VL using Tapatalk
 

gbalkam

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Agreed. I was just disagreeing with your previous post that op was burning his cotton because he had too many wraps. I wouldn't vape a 9 wrap coil and I wouldn't vape at 30-45 watts, but that's what op said he was running at in the op. Suggesting that the amount of wraps in his coil is the reason for the cotton burning doesn't help figure out what the op's problem is.

Sent from my LGL64VL using Tapatalk
Oh.. lol I was taking into consideration the heat / wattage required to vape a 9 wrap coil. I maybe should have added that in previous post. I build cloud coils as a hobby. Through trial and error, using various wires, I found more than 7 wraps to be to many. (except with high ga wires (7 wraps of 3strand parallel 32ga ss for example)). Basically 2x to 2.5x the ID of your core. Again, this is from aprox and trial and error. Never did find an actual site to explain the physics of cotton wicking properties. :)
 

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