HELP....with kanthal on wicking

[bunglebear]

so new to wicking but have been watching loads vids etc...
now, ikarus hybrid mod...using single wick (500 mesh oxidized) and wrap 4 coils of .32 evenly, but on every single time, when I test burn, the top coil (top of wick taken to centre pin) lights orange only and then pops!! the other lower coils do no light at all. Tried longer and short pulse burns but it happens every single bleedin time... 
using an aw 18500 with vapesafe

any ideas or solutions please....

TIA

[VapingBad]

Haven't used an Ikarus, but that is a "hot leg" at the top because there is a length of wire in free air the heat it produces is not soaked away quick enough. The coil is probably shorting as well at this stage only do short pulses on a low battery < 3.8 V.

Ideally try to minimise the length of wire in free air, you can do this by pushing the wick toward the centre post, putting stainless steel washers each side of wire at the +ve connection or winding the tail of the wire that you would normally cut off the +ve connection around that wire just to dissipate some of the heat.

[bunglebear]

Ok Ill try your suggestions..great advice
THANK YOU

[bunglebear]

got it working......

[fred]

Jan 19, 2014 16:35:03 GMT bunglebear said:

got it working......

How?

For when someone else has the same problem. 

[ginge7289]

4 wraps with 0.32 is very low resistance, what does it come out at?

[bunglebear]

Jan 19, 2014 16:43:56 GMT fred said:

Jan 19, 2014 16:35:03 GMT bunglebear said:

got it working......

How?

For when someone else has the same problem. 

Followed what VAPING BAD mentioned , I just left less of a gap between top of wick and centre post (so they almost touch) so seems it was a 'hot leg' as mentioned.

ginge7289 ....sorry I have no idea of ohms, no device to measure, and as mentioned also very new to wicking. Although I will say the coil does not light as quick as I thought and the middle two seem stronger than the top and bottom.
Also in case i messed up my terminology when i refer to 4 wraps I mean i wrapped the wire around the wick 4 times....

apologies if i seem like an idiot!!!!......DOH!

[300]

Jan 19, 2014 17:00:35 GMT bunglebear said:

Jan 19, 2014 16:43:56 GMT fred said:

How?

For when someone else has the same problem. 

Followed what VAPING BAD mentioned , I just left less of a gap between top of wick and centre post (so they almost touch) so seems it was a 'hot leg' as mentioned.

ginge7289 ....sorry I have no idea of ohms, no device to measure, and as mentioned also very new to wicking. Although I will say the coil does not light as quick as I thought and the middle two seem stronger than the top and bottom.
Also in case i messed up my terminology when i refer to 4 wraps I mean i wrapped the wire around the wick 4 times....

apologies if i seem like an idiot!!!!......DOH!

ginge7289 is right, your resistance could be very low, make sure your batteries are up to the job.

[ginge7289]

When I wrap my Silver dog with a 2mm straw wick I use 5 wraps of 0.2 Kanthal and that comes in at around 1.5 ohms.

It is fairly common to get the top and bottom legs burning bright at the beginning, you have to play about with the coils till they all begin to glow and then make sure you don't have hotspots. Do you have a picture of your coil bunglebear?

When I started vaping I got an RSST very early on, but because I did not understand how a mesh wick and coil worked I did not get on with it. Since then I have done a lot of reading and practicing but I still struggle with mesh

Silica is a lot easier to get on with but some juices simply taste better on mesh than they do on silica.

[stonethecrows]

Jan 19, 2014 17:00:35 GMT bunglebear said:

Jan 19, 2014 16:43:56 GMT fred said:

How?

For when someone else has the same problem. 

Followed what VAPING BAD mentioned , I just left less of a gap between top of wick and centre post (so they almost touch) so seems it was a 'hot leg' as mentioned.

ginge7289 ....sorry I have no idea of ohms, no device to measure, and as mentioned also very new to wicking. Although I will say the coil does not light as quick as I thought and the middle two seem stronger than the top and bottom.
Also in case i messed up my terminology when i refer to 4 wraps I mean i wrapped the wire around the wick 4 times....

apologies if i seem like an idiot!!!!......DOH!

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-LCD-Multimeter-Voltmeter-Ammeter-OHM-AC-DC-Circuit-Checker-Tester-Buzzer-

www.fasttech.com/products/1411/10006334/1494601-atomizer-resistance-tester-ohm-meter

[bunglebear]

Jan 19, 2014 17:50:23 GMT ginge7289 said:

When I wrap my Silver dog with a 2mm straw wick I use 5 wraps of 0.2 Kanthal and that comes in at around 1.5 ohms.

It is fairly common to get the top and bottom legs burning bright at the beginning, you have to play about with the coils till they all begin to glow and then make sure you don't have hotspots. Do you have a picture of your coil bunglebear?

Pic of wick n wrap:

[ginge7289]

Looks alright mate, as long as it is wicking well and there is no metallic taste you should be fine with that. If it tastes of metal it is more than likely a hotspot.

The only thing I would really recommend is checking the resistance to make sure your batteries are up to the job. I have no idea what a 4 wrap of 0.32 comes out at? Maybe markm may know as he is a serial sub ohm vaper

[VapingBad]

Nice one bunglebear, ginge7289 is right be careful not to over stress your battery with a too low resistance. If you can't measure check your battery isn't getting hot.

[fred]

Just my tuppence-

If I couldn't measure the resistance of a coil, I certainly wouldn't use it on a mech mod (but maybe you have more experience of building coils than you're letting on)

Are your batteries up to the job of running low-res coils? (Don't want one exploding on you)

Get a multimeter for the sake of 3 or 4 quid

[bunglebear]

Jan 19, 2014 19:16:06 GMT ginge7289 said:

The only thing I would really recommend is checking the resistance to make sure your batteries are up to the job. I have no idea what a 4 wrap of 0.32 comes out at:D

So I borrowed a multimeter and tested ohms.

Meters own value= .6
Atomiser = 2.7
Equals. 2.1 ohms

Does that sound about right?