Why do people ask about the coil resistance?

[Walker]

I hope I don't come off the wrong way in this message. I am genuinely curious about this.

I'm still new to vaping, but I'm an electrical engineer and am way more familiar with Ohms law, power, current, etc, etc than I really would like to be.

So, what I am wondering is why people say things like "with a X Ohm coil, you really need Y watts to get a good vape". That makes no sense to the engineer side of me.

Watts are a measure of power. If I am vaping at 20 watts, it (technically) doesn't matter how I achieved that.

Maybe it's a 1.5 Ohm coil running at 5.5V.
Maybe it's a 0.5 Ohm coil running at 3.1V.
Maybe it's a 0.2 Ohm coil running at 2.0V.

Either way, you are getting 20 watts of power and the same vaporizing potential.

Is there some other (more aesthetic, less scientific) thing going on?

Again... I am not trying to be confrontational. I'm curious and interested.

 

[William Hucke]

umm here is and idea to test it out if you have a VV mod build some coils for those ohm's you listed and try it out on the same rda and same mod

to me science say's it don't matter how you do it its the same

but at the same time is pseudoscience of its there but you cant prove how you do it in grand detail

when you factor in different flavors taste much more different at various temps

 

[hogheadv]

My guess would be that the amount of metal and surface area would play into it. To make a .1 ohm coil with 32 gauge wire the coil would be tiny whereas a .1 ohm coil using 22 gauge wire would contain a lot more metal and surface area to heat up. I would think the thin wire would get red hot and give off a terrible vape while the thicker wire would stay cooler and give off a satisfying vape because of the amount of surface area being heated.

 

[Dr3d]

The conception of subohming is a relic from the dark ages of mech mods (sarcasm deliberate). Most mechs run from about 3.6 or 7 to 4.2 volts - making 20 watts a more challenging vaporizing potential to achieve.

This new age is simply ahead of the average vaper's linguistic development.

Or, I could tell you that the average vaper has an extremely limited understanding of ohm's law. They may be plugging numbers into an online calculator with the hope of discovering how hard a coil is going to drive the battery.

 

[Walker]

I can understand the watt density point of view (watts spread out over a different amount of metal), but I never see people ask about the structure of the coil, just the resistance.

I'm definitely going to try building different coils to use with my vv/vw mod and see if I can tell a difference. I was just wondering if anybody could answer before I spent a bunch of time doing it.

 

[William Hucke]

ive only used simple 24gage kanthol simple wraps so I have no idea but I would think some intricate builds would do better in diferent ohms in VV/VW mods and as well as flavors

Green jasmine is one of them it has a good tea flave but the in hale and exhale tastes are horrible

 

[Neunerball]

Some juice just tastes better with lower power and vice versa. Just my $0.02

 

[zaroba]

Maybe it's a 1.5 Ohm coil running at 5.5V.
Maybe it's a 0.5 Ohm coil running at 3.1V.
Maybe it's a 0.2 Ohm coil running at 2.0V.

Either way, you are getting 20 watts of power and the same vaporizing potential.

It's not a linear scale

Generally speaking, 20 watts on a 1.5 ohm coil will generate more heat then on a 0.2 ohm coil since the 1.5 ohm coil has 1.5 ohms of resistance.

Realistically though, the lower ohm coil would be using thicker wire so the physical coil might be the same length, or maybe even larger then the higher ohm coil made out of thin wire. But because the wire is thicker, it has more mass to heat up, has more surface area for e-liquid evaporation, and can tolerate higher temperatures without risk of melting or breaking. It also takes longer to heat up and cool down so higher wattages are needed.

Just for kicks, I turned my sig 100 with a 0.14 ohm rda down to 20 watts. Took a 5 second hit, nothing. Held in the button in for 10 secs then took a 5 second hit. Not even half the vapor as a 5 second hit from a Nautilus with a 1.6 ohm coil @ 10 watts.

 

[Walker]

I am going to have to disagree with you on the first paragraph you wrote. 20w of heat is 20w of heat, and it doesn't matter what resistance the coil is.

But the second paragraph about watt density... that makes sense.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[Zamazam]

I'd say it's partly dated information and group think. I never pay much attention to it, I just recommend new vapers start out at a wattage that will fully vaporize their ejuice without flooding the atomizer and adjust upwards. Adjust to taste is my motto. Different tanks and atomizers don't produce the same vape quality at the same wattage. My Arctic tank with a .2 Ohm coil works perfectly for me at 75 watts, my Silo Tank performs better at 55 Watts.