Become a Patron!

new to RDA , What coil/wire should i use?

Hello everyone

ive recently purchased a heavy taste poseidon 1, and am new to the whole rebuilding nature of things, so far i've heard that Koh gen do cottons are good and am looking for ideas on what coil i should use. kanthal?nichrome?and what gauge?
i have a eleaf istick 50W VW/VV

it'll be much appreciated if i could get some ideas to start RDA-ing

Thank you!!
 

OBDave

VU Donator
Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
You're going to want to start with Kanthal, I'd recommend 26g to start, or if you're feeling spendy get a roll of that and a roll of 24g. I like rayon, but I've heard good things about Japanese cotton as well, so you probably won't go wrong there.

An ohm meter is an absolute must, to check your coils against the on-board meter on the iStick before you plug it in. I'd start shooting for a coil/coils in the 1 ohm resistance range, once you get comfortable in your build abilities you may want to drop to 0.8, 0.6, 0.4...but start with higher resistance, you can always crank the wattage to deliver power and drop as you learn.

That Poseidon looks pretty complex from a quick search of teh Googles - I'd shoot for two 2.0 ohm coils (1.0 ohm total resistance after dividing the resistance by number of coils) to start. You might also consider a simpler 4-hole atty like a Plume Veil to get started with basic dual coil builds - clones can be had in the $10 range.

I like lightningvapes.com for wire, ohm meters, and batteries - super fast and cheap with free shipping. Others will probably chime in with their favorites as well...
 
You're going to want to start with Kanthal, I'd recommend 26g to start, or if you're feeling spendy get a roll of that and a roll of 24g. I like rayon, but I've heard good things about Japanese cotton as well, so you probably won't go wrong there.

An ohm meter is an absolute must, to check your coils against the on-board meter on the iStick before you plug it in. I'd start shooting for a coil/coils in the 1 ohm resistance range, once you get comfortable in your build abilities you may want to drop to 0.8, 0.6, 0.4...but start with higher resistance, you can always crank the wattage to deliver power and drop as you learn.

That Poseidon looks pretty complex from a quick search of teh Googles - I'd shoot for two 2.0 ohm coils (1.0 ohm total resistance after dividing the resistance by number of coils) to start. You might also consider a simpler 4-hole atty like a Plume Veil to get started with basic dual coil builds - clones can be had in the $10 range.

I like lightningvapes.com for wire, ohm meters, and batteries - super fast and cheap with free shipping. Others will probably chime in with their favorites as well...

What is the diffrerence between kanthal resistance wire/ribbon wire/nichrome? would it produce different vape quality? and how does different gauge affect vaping?

Sorry about all these questions...still a learner!
 

UncleRJ

Will write reviews for Beer!
Staff member
Senior Moderator
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
ECF Refugee
Reviewer
Moderator
Kanthal is kind of the coil building standard material.

Resistance is determined by the diameter of the wire and the length of wire used to build the coil. The larger the diameter of the wire the less the resistance.

Try to resist the temptation of Ribbon and Nichrome wire for the moment and focus your attention on just getting your first working coils built before trying anything fancy.

26 gauge is a great size to work with and your coils could last you for weeks if done properly and just dry burned and re-wicked every couple of tanks or every 10ml of liquid used.

And I would even go so far as suggesting that for your first build, just try doing a single coil instead of a double coil just to get used to the process.
 
Kanthal is kind of the coil building standard material.

Resistance is determined by the diameter of the wire and the length of wire used to build the coil. The larger the diameter of the wire the less the resistance.

Try to resist the temptation of Ribbon and Nichrome wire for the moment and focus your attention on just getting your first working coils built before trying anything fancy.

26 gauge is a great size to work with and your coils could last you for weeks if done properly and just dry burned and re-wicked every couple of tanks or every 10ml of liquid used.

And I would even go so far as suggesting that for your first build, just try doing a single coil instead of a double coil just to get used to the process.

the supplier i order from is currently out of 26g so i think atm i'll go with the 24g. from what you have suggested, could i conclude that the larger the diameter of the wire, would also give a larger vape production?

side note : eg i have the atlantis sub ohm right now (not the new version) but since the release of atlantis 2, the coil selection have also added 0.3ohm. (the istick can read 0.2ohm so i am thinking 0.3 should of course be ok), does that mean that the 0.3ohm coil will have a larger vape productiion?
 

OBDave

VU Donator
Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Kanthal resistance wire is round, and definitely what you want to start with. Ribbon wire is flattened, and Nichrome has a much lower resistance - it's typically used in temperature-controlled devices. Both of these are for more advanced builders - I don't even use them and I've been building for a year or so.

Your build technique, and the power you apply to the build, are what are really going to determine how much vapor you produce - it's not as simple as bigger wire = bigger cloud. Bigger wire has less resistance, so your coils are going to need more wraps to perform the same way with 24g as they would with 26g.

I'm also going to back track on my earlier advice and side with @UncleRJ - maybe you'll do best shooting for a single coil in the 1.0 ohm range for your first build. Check steam-engine.org for some good advice as far as how many wraps to use based on what kind of wire you're using and what you're wrapping around...

EDIT: You did order an ohm meter along with your wire, right?
 
Kanthal resistance wire is round, and definitely what you want to start with. Ribbon wire is flattened, and Nichrome has a much lower resistance - it's typically used in temperature-controlled devices. Both of these are for more advanced builders - I don't even use them and I've been building for a year or so.

Your build technique, and the power you apply to the build, are what are really going to determine how much vapor you produce - it's not as simple as bigger wire = bigger cloud. Bigger wire has less resistance, so your coils are going to need more wraps to perform the same way with 24g as they would with 26g.

I'm also going to back track on my earlier advice and side with @UncleRJ - maybe you'll do best shooting for a single coil in the 1.0 ohm range for your first build. Check steam-engine.org for some good advice as far as how many wraps to use based on what kind of wire you're using and what you're wrapping around...

EDIT: You did order an ohm meter along with your wire, right?
I have purchased 24g kanthal and also ohm meter, but am now confused to how to use the steam engine to calculate the number of wraps etc
eg i've set the material/diameter to kanthal A1 and 24 g, DUAL coil, target resistance to 1, inner diameter of coil to 3mm

i'm not sure what it means by leg length (total per coil)...

disregarding leg length (which is now set at 5mm) its giving me total full wrap of 22 o_o"
 

OBDave

VU Donator
Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Yeah, I didn't really do the math when figuring 1.0 ohm duals, and said as much in my next post - especially with 24g you're looking at a near impossibility. When I started I was using 28g and even 30g to make higher-resistance builds until I felt confident enough to start going sub-ohm and using bigger wire.

You could do a single 3 mm coil at 10 wraps and be close - maybe give that a shot? You could also pick up a small spool of 28g from LightningVapes or somewhere else, though it's only $4 there and ships free and within a day. The thinner wire will let you play a little more with higher resistance builds and once you get 2 or 3 successful then you can shoot for 0.8, 0.6, etc...the thick wire won't really come into play in dual-coil use until you get down around 0.5 ohm.
 

OBDave

VU Donator
Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Heck, if you want to shoot me your address I could even spool off a few feet of 28 and 30 and fire it out to you in the mail...
 

VU Sponsors

Top