SS 316L Temp Control and Wattage Builds for RT

[shnknr]

Hello fellow vapers,

I am in desperate need of help as a noob vaper.
I've recently switched from Vaporesso NRG tank to Merlin Mini RTA. My Mod is Vaporesso Revenger.
I want to use that setup in Temp Control and/or Wattage mode with SS316L coils.

Bought 4 spool of SS316L wires(28ga single wire, Fused Clapton 28*28+32, Alien 0.3*0.8Flat+32ga, Clapton 26ga+32ga) and need build recommendations for a good vape with good flavor and vapor production.
As I googled a bit and searched the forum, I found some threads but they confused me even more and I am sure there are many people like me. Spaced or contact, how to get rid of hot spots, what ohm and tempreature is ideal?

Please give some tips, guide noobs like me so that we can enjoy vaping as much as we should.
Any help is much much appreciated.

Wires I have; (28ga single wire, Fused Clapton 28*28+32, Alien 0.3*0.8Flat+32ga, Clapton 26ga+32ga)

 

[meloserj]

Hi mate

First you should check http://www.steam-engine.org/ to calculate your desired ohm.
In Temp control mode, your coils should stay 0.15-0.18 ohm. These are the best points as lower ones are not recommended.
Then you should know that Temp control has its name, means control of coil is done based of temperature. So clapton coils although are very delicious, but become hot so fast and your mod will switch to PROTECTED.
My suggestion. Use simple SS wire, and if you prefer go to spaced coils. Then you will need so try and error to find the best sweet point of your vape.
I must add, temp control will give you cold vapes, so if you are fan of warm vapors, then this style will not satisfy you.

 

[shnknr]

Hi mate

First you should check http://www.steam-engine.org/ to calculate your desired ohm.
In Temp control mode, your coils should stay 0.15-0.18 ohm. These are the best points as lower ones are not recommended.
Then you should know that Temp control has its name, means control of coil is done based of temperature. So clapton coils although are very delicious, but become hot so fast and your mod will switch to PROTECTED.
My suggestion. Use simple SS wire, and if you prefer go to spaced coils. Then you will need so try and error to find the best sweet point of your vape.
I must add, temp control will give you cold vapes, so if you are fan of warm vapors, then this style will not satisfy you.

Hello mate,

Thanks for the fast response,.
So I made a few trials on steam-engine and found the setup below with single 28ga wire, what is your opinion about it for temp control? (Is the result for spaced or contact, which one should i make?)
http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?mat=ss316l&s=dp&r=0.25&hf=210&awg=28&id=2.5
And what about wattage mode? Can I use my Clapton coils just as if they were KA1? I wanna make use of them.

Cheers.

 

[meloserj]

Hello mate,

Thanks for the fast response,.
So I made a few trials on steam-engine and found the setup below with single 28ga wire, what is your opinion about it for temp control? (Is the result for spaced or contact, which one should i make?)
http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?mat=ss316l&s=dp&r=0.25&hf=210&awg=28&id=2.5
And what about wattage mode? Can I use my Clapton coils just as if they were KA1? I wanna make use of them.

Cheers.

I prefer to go with http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?mat=ss316l&s=dp&r=0.15&awg=28&id=2.5 although it gives you just 3 wraps, and may be not enough space for good vapor production (Just because you wanna use your wires and not wasted)
Result is same for spaced and contact, you should know if you go lower AWG, like 26 and 24, it will give you more space to play with rounds of the coil.

You can use your SS clapton wires freely in wattage mode, just their uptime is better but hotter than KA1. (look to heat capacity in site, lower means cooler vapes) Personally, I prefer Ni80 for wattage mode. In single coil, Ni80 AWG 26 fused claptons are making magic.

Hosgeldeniz abi to build dunya of RDA

 

[shnknr]

I prefer to go with http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?mat=ss316l&s=dp&r=0.15&awg=28&id=2.5 although it gives you just 3 wraps, and may be not enough space for good vapor production (Just because you wanna use your wires and not wasted)
Result is same for spaced and contact, you should know if you go lower AWG, like 26 and 24, it will give you more space to play with rounds of the coil.

You can use your SS clapton wires freely in wattage mode, just their uptime is better but hotter than KA1. (look to heat capacity in site, lower means cooler vapes) Personally, I prefer Ni80 for wattage mode. In single coil, Ni80 AWG 26 fused claptons are making magic.

Hosgeldeniz abi to build dunya of RDA

3 wraps? LOL.
Sounds weird but i'll give it a try. Maybe i might try to figure out a build and use that 28ga with my other RTA;Siren 2 which i rarely use.

Thanks a lot mate.
That Mabel Matiz pic. tho haha

 

[shnknr]

So, i tried a build with the SS 316L Alien Clapton
0.3*0.8 Flat 32ga 6 wraps 3mm ID reading 0,4 ohms. pictures below;

Tried to eliminate hot spots, wicked it well.
I set the temperature to 400 F and wattage for VT(don't know what it is) 45.
Taste is a little weird, am i doing it right?
(heats slowly, stays hot a while after releasing fire button, wick splashes sometimes)
In addition, I couldn't find the spot to use that coil in wattage mode, felt like around 40 watts was meh.

 

[eStorm]

I still see at least 3 hotspots in that picture lol.
Get some ceramic tweezers, lightly pulse your coil at around 25-35 watt, and then gently squeeze it. After that strum the coil a couple times to fully eliminate the hot spot(s).

the wattage you mentioned 45 while in temperature mode, is there to determinate how quickly you want to archive the set temperature. If you feel your ramp up is slow or very slow, change that wattage number. You should be able to increase it by 5 or with some mods by 10, work your way up till you found something satisfying. Same in wattage/power mode itself. If you feel 40 isn't great, try 43,46,48,50,52,55 and so on. There comes a point were you are either satisfied or get a dry hit

 

[shnknr]

I still see at least 3 hotspots in that picture lol.
Get some ceramic tweezers, lightly pulse your coil at around 25-35 watt, and then gently squeeze it. After that strum the coil a couple times to fully eliminate the hot spot(s).

the wattage you mentioned 45 while in temperature mode, is there to determinate how quickly you want to archive the set temperature. If you feel your ramp up is slow or very slow, change that wattage number. You should be able to increase it by 5 or with some mods by 10, work your way up till you found something satisfying. Same in wattage/power mode itself. If you feel 40 isn't great, try 43,46,48,50,52,55 and so on. There comes a point were you are either satisfied or get a dry hit

Thanks for the advice dude.
Tried a different wire 28*28+32 SS Fused Clapton 6 wraps parallel comes out 0.25 ohms
Tried in Power mod around 45watts and VT mode at 420F.
Definitely better than the previous.
Yet i am mot sure if i have eliminated the hotspots descently, and need to work around to find the sweet spot on wattage/TC mode.
Here is the build;


 

[David Wolf]

Hello fellow vapers,

I am in desperate need of help as a noob vaper.
I've recently switched from Vaporesso NRG tank to Merlin Mini RTA. My Mod is Vaporesso Revenger.
I want to use that setup in Temp Control and/or Wattage mode with SS316L coils.

Bought 4 spool of SS316L wires(28ga single wire, Fused Clapton 28*28+32, Alien 0.3*0.8Flat+32ga, Clapton 26ga+32ga) and need build recommendations for a good vape with good flavor and vapor production.
As I googled a bit and searched the forum, I found some threads but they confused me even more and I am sure there are many people like me. Spaced or contact, how to get rid of hot spots, what ohm and tempreature is ideal?

Please give some tips, guide noobs like me so that we can enjoy vaping as much as we should.
Any help is much much appreciated.

Wires I have;View attachment 104975 (28ga single wire, Fused Clapton 28*28+32, Alien 0.3*0.8Flat+32ga, Clapton 26ga+32ga)

For temperature control using SS316L 28 AWG single wire, I use 6 1/2 SPACED wraps, 2.5 I.D., resistance comes out to around 0.68 ohms, vape at 12.to 12.5W. I vape MTL, prefer a cooler vape, and this serves me well.
The reason I recommend spaced wraps and a higher resistance for temperature control with 316L are simple. 316L has a low temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) so it doesn't take much error to throw it all off.
1. Contact coils oxidize to prevent shorting between coils, but that doesn't mean you can't get variances in resistance which is a temperature control killer (especially with 316L). Spaced coils eliminate that.
2. With a low TCR, a higher resistance coil provides a greater resistance change for a given temperature change, making TC perform better. For example, a coil at 0.5 ohm resistance with have double the resistance change per deg.F than a 0.25 ohm coil.

I don't have a Merlin Mini RTA, but if you need more vapor, then I would suggest trying a 3.0 mm ID 28 AWG coil, and vaping at say 14 W or so. Going higher wattage I would suggest trying 26 AWG 316L SS, which I also like, but prefer the fast ramp up of the 28 AWG.
I also use the Wire Wizard tab on steam engine, which allows you to put in your desired coil spacing. You can then compare the specs with the same settings on the Coil Wrapping tab (to see your heat flux total, or you can calculate it from the mW/mm2 per watt on the Wire Wizard tab).
http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?mat=ss316l&r=0.65&hf=170&awg=28&id=2.5&ll=3

 

[shnknr]

For temperature control using SS316L 28 AWG single wire, I use 6 1/2 SPACED wraps, 2.5 I.D., resistance comes out to around 0.68 ohms, vape at 12.to 12.5W. I vape MTL, prefer a cooler vape, and this serves me well.
The reason I recommend spaced wraps and a higher resistance for temperature control with 316L are simple. 316L has a low temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) so it doesn't take much error to throw it all off.
1. Contact coils oxidize to prevent shorting between coils, but that doesn't mean you can't get variances in resistance which is a temperature control killer (especially with 316L). Spaced coils eliminate that.
2. With a low TCR, a higher resistance coil provides a greater resistance change for a given temperature change, making TC perform better. For example, a coil at 0.5 ohm resistance with have double the resistance change per deg.F than a 0.25 ohm coil.

I don't have a Merlin Mini RTA, but if you need more vapor, then I would suggest trying a 3.0 mm ID 28 AWG coil, and vaping at say 14 W or so. Going higher wattage I would suggest trying 26 AWG 316L SS, which I also like, but prefer the fast ramp up of the 28 AWG.
I also use the Wire Wizard tab on steam engine, which allows you to put in your desired coil spacing. You can then compare the specs with the same settings on the Coil Wrapping tab (to see your heat flux total, or you can calculate it from the mW/mm2 per watt on the Wire Wizard tab).
http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?mat=ss316l&r=0.65&hf=170&awg=28&id=2.5&ll=3

Thanks to your advices. It saves me time I would waste by trial and error.
Luckily, after i work around on steam-engine, I made a 28ga 3mm ID 7 wrap coil for my Siren 2 which gives around 0,8 ohms and i enjoy it around 17-18 watts. Its pretty good.
I will try 28ga build for Merlin in DL mode.
But still, i could't find a way to utilize those beefy SS316L Claptons.
I feel like KA1 Claptons are more suitable for wattage mode and DL vape. (Yet i know too little about it

 

[shnknr]

Made a SS Fused Clapton 28*28+32 3mmID 5wrap parallel contact build on Merlin Mini.
My Vaporesso Revenger reads it as 0.2 ohms(sometimes rises to ~.24) Eliminated the hot spots as I could. Hitting it on CCT with 70 watts preheat, a graph like an arrowhead peaking 450F slowly and decreasing at the end.
Great dense clouds, warm vape and the flavor is OK too. Best outcome i've got so far and i am happy with it.

 

[SkoldVape]

Just bare in mind the Merlin Mini can't handle high wattage. Even with the dual coil configuration I found I got dry hits above 70 watts. With the single coil I only vaped it at 30 watts

 

[shnknr]

Just bare in mind the Merlin Mini can't handle high wattage. Even with the dual coil configuration I found I got dry hits above 70 watts. With the single coil I only vaped it at 30 watts

What setup did you use on The Mini?
I stuffed the cotton just a little loose considering it would consume the juice more rapidly, and haven't had a dry hit, i've been vaping on it just a day tho.
Yet i can tell that I think the only con of the Mini is not having juice flow control.

 

[SkoldVape]

What setup did you use on The Mini?
I stuffed the cotton just a little loose considering it would consume the juice more rapidly, and haven't had a dry hit, i've been vaping on it just a day tho.
Yet i can tell that I think the only con of the Mini is not having juice flow control.

I've used it on many setups and had dry hits if I go above 30 watts on single coil and above 60 on dual coil. & although it doesn't have juice flow control you can still rotate the tank so a wicking channel is showing but it doesn't really do owt as I've had it closed off

 

[Ben2vape]

I prefer to go with http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?mat=ss316l&s=dp&r=0.15&awg=28&id=2.5 although it gives you just 3 wraps, and may be not enough space for good vapor production (Just because you wanna use your wires and not wasted)
Result is same for spaced and contact, you should know if you go lower AWG, like 26 and 24, it will give you more space to play with rounds of the coil.

You can use your SS clapton wires freely in wattage mode, just their uptime is better but hotter than KA1. (look to heat capacity in site, lower means cooler vapes) Personally, I prefer Ni80 for wattage mode. In single coil, Ni80 AWG 26 fused claptons are making magic.

Hosgeldeniz abi to build dunya of RDA

This theory sounds a bit different from my experience - I'm using SS Clapton in my Galaxies MTL currently at 26W limit and if I turn the temp up past 220 I burn my lips... It's a very HOT raspberry pie.