# Considering an OBS Engine Nano for first RTA



## aktorsyl

So I haven't dabbled with RTA's yet and did some research (on the web as well as on here), and it seems as if the OBS Engine Nano would be the best bet for starting out - especially considering that it's also single-coil.

However, deciding on the RTA itself is one thing. What about the rest? I assume I need the full CoilMaster toolkit and all that. Or is the one coil that is included with the OBS Engine Nano good enough for testing the theory for a week or two first? In which case I guess I just need Cotton Bacon or something for the first couple of weeks?

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## Dolfie

aktorsyl said:


> So I haven't dabbled with RTA's yet and did some research (on the web as well as on here), and it seems as if the OBS Engine Nano would be the best bet for starting out - especially considering that it's also single-coil.
> 
> However, deciding on the RTA itself is one thing. What about the rest? I assume I need the full CoilMaster toolkit and all that. Or is the one coil that is included with the OBS Engine Nano good enough for testing the theory for a week or two first? In which case I guess I just need Cotton Bacon or something for the first couple of weeks?


Some will agree others will disagree for me I like the coilmaster makes my life easier. Cotton bacon will last you probably 2 months if not longer. I change wick every second day and a coil every week but you don't need to. The wire that works for me now on the Nano is 24gage Ni80. The wicking is key on the Nano you will have to play around with it.

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## aktorsyl

Dolfie said:


> Some will agree others will disagree for me I like the coilmaster makes my life easier. Cotton bacon will last you probably 2 months if not longer. I change wick every second day and a coil every week but you don't need to. The wire that works for me now on the Nano is 24gage Ni80. The wicking is key on the Nano you will have to play around with it.


Thanks @Dolfie . The sites don't specify, what particular type of coil comes with the OBS Engine Nano? What I'm thinking is to use the included coil (should last me a week or 3, as I only use my DTL setup in the evenings) before buying the toolkit to make more.

EDIT: was also considering getting the OBS Engine Nano, some Cotton Bacon, and then just a pack of these: https://www.sirvape.co.za/collectio...ller-staple-staggered-fused-clapton-coil-pack

That postpones the need to actually make coils for a bit while I figure out the rest.

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## Dolfie

aktorsyl said:


> Thanks @Dolfie . The sites don't specify, what particular type of coil comes with the OBS Engine Nano? What I'm thinking is to use the included coil (should last me a week or 3, as I only use my DTL setup in the evenings) before buying the toolkit to make more.
> 
> EDIT: was also considering getting the OBS Engine Nano, some Cotton Bacon, and then just a pack of these: https://www.sirvape.co.za/collectio...ller-staple-staggered-fused-clapton-coil-pack
> 
> That postpones the need to actually make coils for a bit while I figure out the rest.


@daniel craig did a great review about OBS Nano I suggest you check it out.

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## Bizkuit

IMO the engine nano is probably one of the best RTA's one can start with. Cant think of an easier RTA to coil and wick. Awesome flavor and a leak less design that actually works. The included Clapton coil and sheet of cotton should last a couple of weeks.

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## aktorsyl

Dolfie said:


> @daniel craig did a great review about OBS Nano I suggest you check it out.


I did

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## aktorsyl

Bizkuit said:


> IMO the engine nano is probably one of the best RTA's one can start with. Cant think of an easier RTA to coil and wick. Awesome flavor and a leak less design that actually works. The included Clapton coil and sheet of cotton should last a couple of weeks.


Thanks @Bizkuit ! Will these be compatible? https://www.sirvape.co.za/collectio...ller-staple-staggered-fused-clapton-coil-pack

Second question: how do you determine the min/max wattage for built coils like these? Commercial coils have wattage ranges, these obviously do not. For instance, my 0.3ohm commercial EC coils are rated 30-80W, so could you then argue that a built coil giving 0.3 ohm resistance will also have an optimal range between 30W and 80W? (taking Ohm's law into consideration)

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## Bizkuit

@aktorsyl The coils look to be wrapped counterclockwise from the picks so with the left post hole on the nano slightly raised they should work fine.
As for watts its going to cost you a bit of experimentation. Running my 22 gauge ni80 at 0.43 ohms I'm vaping happily at 45 watts

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## Kalashnikov

the included coil will work perfectly. i dont think you would need to really change it anytime soon. just get some wicking material and you good to go

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## aktorsyl

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. Will see how it performs when it arrives.
At any rate, it should be better flavour than the iJust S I've got running at the moment. Surely.

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## Bizkuit

Having had the Ijust this will be worlds different.

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> Thanks for all the advice, everyone. Will see how it performs when it arrives.
> At any rate, it should be better flavour than the iJust S I've got running at the moment. Surely.


Oh yes, you are in for a treat. It is a seriously good RTA. The included coil will last you no problem. I have been using mine for over a month now, I dry burn and clean it when needed.

In general you don't need any toolkit to build coils. I started out with a screwdriver and nail clippers to cut the leads and used that for many months. I got a GeekVape mini toolkit as a gift and have been using that with a screw driver to wrap my coils around. As long as you have a mod with a good ohm reader you can build directly on it. If you are planning on using the IJustS battery, you should be fine with the included coil, mine comes in at 0.345ohms, better to be sure and see if you can't check it on a mod though.

Let us know how you find it.

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## aktorsyl

Caveman said:


> Oh yes, you are in for a treat. It is a seriously good RTA. The included coil will last you no problem. I have been using mine for over a month now, I dry burn and clean it when needed.
> 
> In general you don't need any toolkit to build coils. I started out with a screwdriver and nail clippers to cut the leads and used that for many months. I got a GeekVape mini toolkit as a gift and have been using that with a screw driver to wrap my coils around. As long as you have a mod with a good ohm reader you can build directly on it. If you are planning on using the IJustS battery, you should be fine with the included coil, mine comes in at 0.345ohms, better to be sure and see if you can't check it on a mod though.
> 
> Let us know how you find it.


Luckily I have the Wismec Predator, so should be sorted in that department. Quick and somewhat obvious question, but.. when you install the pre-supplied coil, I assume you don't have to fiddle with it with ceramic tweezers and pulse it to see if it glows evenly and all that? I've watched countless building vids but none of them use prebuilt coils, so it's hard to tell what "normal procedure" would be.

From what I can tell, it's as simple as putting the coil in (so it's closest to the bigger of the 2 airholes), in such a way that it doesn't touch the deck edge but also not the posts. Wick it and drop the cotton just barely into the juice holes (as in, just sortof plug them with the cotton but don't push the cotton all the way in there). I think it's a fairly safe assumption that I'm going to screw up the wicking a few times in the beginning. Then turn it on, check the resistance (with the supplied coil it should be in the 0.3 ohm region) and it's off to the races.

Still not entirely sure how to know what safe min/max wattage ranges are on the coils.. I'm going to assume 30-80W is safe, with 40W being a safe optimal (although that's mostly subjective).

EDIT: I'm also mentally preparing for the increased juice consumption that I'll get with the OBS vs the iJust

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> Luckily I have the Wismec Predator, so should be sorted in that department. Quick and somewhat obvious question, but.. when you install the pre-supplied coil, I assume you don't have to fiddle with it with ceramic tweezers and pulse it to see if it glows evenly and all that? I've watched countless building vids but none of them use prebuilt coils, so it's hard to tell what "normal procedure" would be.
> 
> From what I can tell, it's as simple as putting the coil in (so it's closest to the bigger of the 2 airholes), in such a way that it doesn't touch the deck edge but also not the posts. Wick it and drop the cotton just barely into the juice holes (as in, just sortof plug them with the cotton but don't push the cotton all the way in there). I think it's a fairly safe assumption that I'm going to screw up the wicking a few times in the beginning. Then turn it on, check the resistance (with the supplied coil it should be in the 0.3 ohm region) and it's off to the races.
> 
> Still not entirely sure how to know what safe min/max wattage ranges are on the coils.. I'm going to assume 30-80W is safe, with 40W being a safe optimal (although that's mostly subjective).



You pretty much have it. Think of a pre-built coil as a coil you just wrapped yourself. So you still pulse and check that it's even same way you would do with any coil you built yourself. I have wicked mine with the cotton barely touching to the cotton going straight through the holes and touching the deck, both ways have been the same and I haven't had any issues. I vape mine at 34 watts, 0.34 ohm coil. 

You want the coil to be almost in line with the 2 air holes, it is fairly high up. My leads are pretty much straight.
I'll post some pics now from my phone.

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## aktorsyl

Caveman said:


> You pretty much have it. Think of a pre-built coil as a coil you just wrapped yourself. So you still pulse and check that it's even same way you would do with any coil you built yourself. I have wicked mine with the cotton barely touching to the cotton going straight through the holes and touching the deck, both ways have been the same and I haven't had any issues. I vape mine at 34 watts, 0.34 ohm coil.
> 
> You want the coil to be almost in line with the 2 air holes, it is fairly high up. My leads are pretty much straight.
> I'll post some pics now from my phone.


Very very helpful, thanks! Guess I should probably grab some ceramic tweezers in case the prebuilt coil(s) need tweaking.

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## Raindance

aktorsyl said:


> Luckily I have the Wismec Predator, so should be sorted in that department. Quick and somewhat obvious question, but.. when you install the pre-supplied coil, I assume you don't have to fiddle with it with ceramic tweezers and pulse it to see if it glows evenly and all that? I've watched countless building vids but none of them use prebuilt coils, so it's hard to tell what "normal procedure" would be.
> 
> From what I can tell, it's as simple as putting the coil in (so it's closest to the bigger of the 2 airholes), in such a way that it doesn't touch the deck edge but also not the posts. Wick it and drop the cotton just barely into the juice holes (as in, just sortof plug them with the cotton but don't push the cotton all the way in there). I think it's a fairly safe assumption that I'm going to screw up the wicking a few times in the beginning. Then turn it on, check the resistance (with the supplied coil it should be in the 0.3 ohm region) and it's off to the races.
> 
> Still not entirely sure how to know what safe min/max wattage ranges are on the coils.. I'm going to assume 30-80W is safe, with 40W being a safe optimal (although that's mostly subjective).
> 
> EDIT: I'm also mentally preparing for the increased juice consumption that I'll get with the OBS vs the iJust


In terms of Wattage, just start low and push it up incrementally until you hit your sweet spot.

Regards.

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## Raindance

aktorsyl said:


> Very very helpful, thanks! Guess I should probably grab some ceramic tweezers in case the prebuilt coil(s) need tweaking.


When you pulse them and they glow unevenly, just stroke them with a metal object a couple of times. Not under power though. 

Regards.

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## Slick

Reading this thread just makes me want to get a RTA,I had a serpent mini 22,RDTA(cant remember which 1) and a Kennedy 22 RDA but gave up on them because I could never get it right.
@aktorsyl please let me know how it goes and post some pics as well so I can also have a go at it again

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## aktorsyl

Slick said:


> Reading this thread just makes me want to get a RTA,I had a serpent mini 22,RDTA(cant remember which 1) and a Kennedy 22 RDA but gave up on them because I could never get it right.
> @aktorsyl please let me know how it goes and post some pics as well so I can also have a go at it again


Will do so, bud.
It should arrive on Thursday, then I'll have a go.

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## Slick

aktorsyl said:


> Will do so, bud.
> It should arrive on Thursday, then I'll have a go.


Where did you order from?

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## aktorsyl

Slick said:


> Where did you order from?


SirVape, this afternoon.

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## WELIHF

In terms of getting to the right wattage range, I start with setting the mod at 3.7v (you should be able to see voltage when adjusting wattage), when dry firing if the coils heat up too fast you're too high, too slow and you're too low.

Generally std round coils work well from 3 to 4.5v, bigger Claptons/staple etc anything from 4.2 up to around 6v 

If you can't see the voltage, use ohms law to calculate, 3.7v on 0.3ohm will be at 45w

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

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## aktorsyl

While I'm waiting for everything to arrive, I did some more research on coil building. And here's one thing I don't quite understand yet. I've looked at the SteamEngine, and if I were to build my own coils using 24 gauge Kanthal A1, I'd need 4 wraps to get 0.3 ohm (sounds about right so far). But according to the heat flux section, 20W would already result in an extremely hot vape - while most people use double that wattage for a mild vape?

Link for reference: http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?r=0.3&hf=300&awg=24&id=2.5&ll=4

That should show my calculations. Maybe I made a mistake somewhere?

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> While I'm waiting for everything to arrive, I did some more research on coil building. And here's one thing I don't quite understand yet. I've looked at the SteamEngine, and if I were to build my own coils using 24 gauge Kanthal A1, I'd need 4 wraps to get 0.3 ohm (sounds about right so far). But according to the heat flux section, 20W would already result in an extremely hot vape - while most people use double that wattage for a mild vape?
> 
> Link for reference: http://www.steam-engine.org/coil.html?r=0.3&hf=300&awg=24&id=2.5&ll=4
> 
> That should show my calculations. Maybe I made a mistake somewhere?


I don't think coil engine takes into account the cotton and juice saturation thereof. Plain kanthal will be hot as hell at 20watts. But add cotton, juice and airflow and then you have a cool vape at 20watts

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## aktorsyl

Caveman said:


> I don't think coil engine takes into account the cotton and juice saturation thereof. Plain kanthal will be hot as hell at 20watts. But add cotton, juice and airflow and then you have a cool vape at 20watts
> 
> Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk


Ahh, that makes sense. Silly question, but is there any danger is using too low a wattage for a coil? For instance, starting on 10W for a coil that's supposed to function at 40W?

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## Moey_Ismail

aktorsyl said:


> Ahh, that makes sense. Silly question, but is there any danger is using too low a wattage for a coil? For instance, starting on 10W for a coil that's supposed to function at 40W?


No dangers but it'll take very long for the coil to glow

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## Scissorhands

aktorsyl said:


> Ahh, that makes sense. Silly question, but is there any danger is using too low a wattage for a coil? For instance, starting on 10W for a coil that's supposed to function at 40W?


No danger

The lower your resistance the more wattage you will need to achieve the relevant voltage

As a rule of thumb i like to look at the mech equivalent (ignoring volt drop)

Regardless of the ohms and wattage i start at 3.5 volt then work my way up (if needed) to 4.2 volt . . . Simple builds rarely need more but nothing is stopping you from increasing voltage, especially with large mass coils (clapton/alien)

Have fun

Edit : thats if you are sub ohming (0.1 - 0.6ish) if your ohms are higher than 1.0 you will need much higher voltage for a satisfactory vape (assuming DLH)

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## aktorsyl

Alright, need some advice from you guys. The Nano arrived today. Read up (and watched) on wicking, etc. My coil is level, glows evenly, has no hot legs, and sits pretty high up (the top of the coil is juuuust below the top of the posts. The prebuilt coil that came with it clocks in at 0.23 ohms (rather lower than others have reported on the prebuilt coil).

The cotton was fluffed, and cut so that it just brushes the wicking holes. Wet the cotton to check, and it's just-just into the holes (barely).

So on to testing. Played with the airflow, and the wattage. Tested all the way between 30W and 55W. And obviously I must've done something wrong, because... NOT a lot of flavour at all, and serious _serious _spitback. In fact, if you draw (without pressing the fire button), after a second liquid actually ends up in your mouth. At first I thought it was condensation, so I stuck some paper towel down the chimney to make sure it was dry before trying again - but again, spitback galore. If I keep my draws at about half a second, I avoid spitback - but 0.5 second draws are a bit anticlimactic. Still generates tons of vapour with that short a draw, funnily enough. But compared to the Ijust S where you could easily do a 4-second draw with no pops or spitback.. I'm pretty sure that's user error somewhere 

Either way though, there is still almost zero flavour.

I suspect the problem must be with the wicking.. I'm just not sure how exactly. My wick looks pretty identical to the others out there.

Any pointers?

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## aktorsyl

Forgot to mention - before the attempt above, I had my wick longer at first and tucked it into the wicking holes quite a bit (they weren't touching the bottom of the deck below it, but they were kinda hanging in the middle.. after that attempt (which had the same results as above) I cut the wick shorter to just brush the wicking holes. But nada.

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## BumbleBee

aktorsyl said:


> Forgot to mention - before the attempt above, I had my wick longer at first and tucked it into the wicking holes quite a bit (they weren't touching the bottom of the deck below it, but they were kinda hanging in the middle.. after that attempt (which had the same results as above) I cut the wick shorter to just brush the wicking holes. But nada.


Bring your coil down in line with the post holes without trimming the wick, let the wicks peek through the juice holes. Just make sure that there is enough wick to fill the juice holes but not too much that it's tight.

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> Forgot to mention - before the attempt above, I had my wick longer at first and tucked it into the wicking holes quite a bit (they weren't touching the bottom of the deck below it, but they were kinda hanging in the middle.. after that attempt (which had the same results as above) I cut the wick shorter to just brush the wicking holes. But nada.


Sounds like your deck is flooding. Either not enough wick or it's not covering the holes properly. Your wicks sound about right, perhaps a tad short, are they fully plugging the holes? If there is a gap somewhere the juice will flood and the spitback will happen

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## aktorsyl

Caveman said:


> Sounds like your deck is flooding. Either not enough wick or it's not covering the holes properly. Your wicks sound about right, perhaps a tad short, are they fully plugging the holes? If there is a gap somewhere the juice will flood and the spitback will happen
> 
> Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk


Hmm. They might be too thin. I'll re-wick and make it thicker without trimming the "triangles" at the tips as big as before, and then fold/tuck that into the wicking holes. Seems there are 2 schools of thought - the one half of reviewers say they should just rest on top of the wicking holes, the other half say that the cotton should actually go in there.

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> Hmm. They might be too thin. I'll re-wick and make it thicker without trimming the "triangles" at the tips as big as before, and then fold/tuck that into the wicking holes. Seems there are 2 schools of thought - the one half of reviewers say they should just rest on top of the wicking holes, the other half say that the cotton should actually go in there.


I'd say mine go in there, about halfway to the deck, you can see the very edge sticking out underneath it. I don't trim mine at all in the triangles, but I do fluff the edges out a bit. But make sure the wicks cover the entire opening.

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## aktorsyl

Thanks guys - re-wicked, made the cotton a bit thicker and crammed it into the wicking holes (well, not crammed.. it's loose enough to not form a complete plug). It doesn't reach the bottom of the "lower" deck/juicewell, rather it just slightly sticks out from under the top part of the deck, through the holes.

Much better this time around. It does make a weird muffled popping sound that resembles a desert war (seriously, it's a LOT of pops.. I don't hear that in any of the review videos), but there's no spitback whatsoever. No dry hits either unless I hit it for longer than 4 seconds (and my puffs are usually only 2 seconds, so that's fine).

Flavour _seems _better. Not actually 100% sure, I've got Oatz in here and I might have overdone it earlier, will probably judge flavour better when I switch later. Vapour seems to be much increased.

EDIT: Found a sweet spot at 45W (on 0.24 ohms). This tank is a thirsty one..

EDIT2: Do you guys usually wet the wick before or after tucking it into the wicking holes?

EDIT3: Eh, scratch all of the above, it started spitting again. Will try even more wick this evening. Thicker, not longer.

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> Thanks guys - re-wicked, made the cotton a bit thicker and crammed it into the wicking holes (well, not crammed.. it's loose enough to not form a complete plug). It doesn't reach the bottom of the "lower" deck/juicewell, rather it just slightly sticks out from under the top part of the deck, through the holes.
> 
> Much better this time around. It does make a weird muffled popping sound that resembles a desert war (seriously, it's a LOT of pops.. I don't hear that in any of the review videos), but there's no spitback whatsoever. No dry hits either unless I hit it for longer than 4 seconds (and my puffs are usually only 2 seconds, so that's fine).
> 
> Flavour _seems _better. Not actually 100% sure, I've got Oatz in here and I might have overdone it earlier, will probably judge flavour better when I switch later. Vapour seems to be much increased.
> 
> EDIT: Found a sweet spot at 45W (on 0.24 ohms). This tank is a thirsty one..
> 
> EDIT2: Do you guys usually wet the wick before or after tucking it into the wicking holes?
> 
> EDIT3: Eh, scratch all of the above, it started spitting again. Will try even more wick this evening. Thicker, not longer.


Interesting, a pity you are having some trouble. You want those holes to be completely plugged, with a very slight small spot for the air to escape on the side. But if there is a noticeable gap the juice will flood and you will get that spitback. 

Don't worry about the popping. That's normal. Mine pops like a popcorn machine but it's still awesome

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## aktorsyl

Caveman said:


> You want those holes to be completely plugged, with a very slight small spot for the air to escape on the side. But if there is a noticeable gap the juice will flood and you will get that spitback.


Yeah.. the problem however is that I already put all the cotton down that hole (without trimming it thinner) and there's still gaps. Not evident, but they must be there because the spitback still happens. And it can't be that the cotton is too thin, it almost barely pulls through the coil at the moment.. it's pretty tight inside that coil (which is 3mm ID, as I recall).

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> Yeah.. the problem however is that I already put all the cotton down that hole (without trimming it thinner) and there's still gaps. Not evident, but they must be there because the spitback still happens. And it can't be that the cotton is too thin, it almost barely pulls through the coil at the moment.. it's pretty tight inside that coil (which is 3mm ID, as I recall).


Hmm interesting. If you can't see the gaps it should be alright. If possible maybe you can post a photo here? 

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## aktorsyl

Caveman said:


> Hmm interesting. If you can't see the gaps it should be alright. If possible maybe you can post a photo here?
> 
> Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk


I'll post one this evening after the next re-wick. There are no gaps when the cotton is dry, the moment it gets wet it starts to do funny things.

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> I'll post one this evening after the next re-wick. There are no gaps when the cotton is dry, the moment it gets wet it starts to do funny things.


I need to rewick tonight as well. If you still don't come right let me know, I will take some pics of my wicking tonight as well.

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## aktorsyl

Caveman said:


> I need to rewick tonight as well. If you still don't come right let me know, I will take some pics of my wicking tonight as well.


Ah that would be great, yes please. Especially showing how long you cut the wick. At the moment I cut it roundabout where the outer edge of the base is.

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> Ah that would be great, yes please. Especially showing how long you cut the wick. At the moment I cut it roundabout where the outer edge of the base is.


I do about the same. I put my scissor on the edge so that it is a straight cut, then move it slightly outside a tad more and cut them flat there.

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> Ah that would be great, yes please. Especially showing how long you cut the wick. At the moment I cut it roundabout where the outer edge of the base is.


Right so I just rewicked mine now. It really took me 5 mins. Here are them photos. It's from my phone so I apologize if the quality isn't the best Hehe the last photo is just for effect. 6 second puff and you can see the bubbles are the top. Great flavor right off the bat

























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## aktorsyl

Caveman, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks for the visual aid!

I did mine pretty much exactly like yours now. Got a piece of cotton that pulled through the coil with some serious tension, but not to the point where it pulls the coil, the posts, the deck itself, its grandmother and the UN security council with it off to the side. Cut the wicks juuuust a bit further out than the deck edge. Fluffed the cotton. Tucked it all into the juice holes. Checked the bottom of the deck, and they protrude about 30% (guesstimate).

Then I dripped juice onto the cotton to let it soak. Pulsed the coil a couple of times. Rejuiced the cotton. Tank went on, juice into the tank, and onto the mod we go.

And.. well, it's better. Slightly. Still some abnormal popping (if outside it would almost scare birds out of trees.. those pops are LOUD), but unsure if there's actual spitback. I know, I know, that sounds strange.. but it's very low nic juice, so it's a bit harder to detect spitback on these. After taking 2 or 3 puffs I feel like I inhaled water, so not sure if it's psychosomatic or whether it actually means I'm getting more droplets in the vape. I upped the wattage. It popped more&louder. I upped it some more, figuring the juice is possibly boiling instead of vapourising, and needs more heat. At 55W.. hahaha those pops. Hot damn. The local police asked me to stop shooting AK's in the backyard. Texan republicans knocked on my door to welcome me into the NRA. North Korea asked for my notes.

SO I toned the wattage back down to about 45W. Any lower and the vape is as cold as last week's turkey salad, any higher and it's as hot as... nah, sorry, I ran out of metaphors. But it's too hot  Resistance is futile sits at 0.24 ohm.

One of my vaping friends asked me to explain what I mean by "popping". Hm. Well, it's not the sizzling sound (that you usually want to hear), that's there too... but on top of that, there are 3 to 4 loud pops. Like those bubble wrap things? Just much lower in pitch. The more wattage I push through, the more regular and louder they get. On a 2 second puff, I usually get about 4 of them, mostly starting after 1 second (so basically when the coil heats up).

To re-iterate, the coil glows evenly (from the inside out, no hot legs).

But we're making progress. To all of you, thanks again for all the advice! Really appreciate it. I think we're closer to finding out what's behind the notorious Pops of 2017.

PS: I have a nasty habit of using waaay too much metaphor and hyperbole when I write something. Sometimes I even get letters about it.

EDIT (PS 2): Not sure if it's related, but juice consumption is about 4x that of the iJust S. Is that normal? (Not a problem if it is, just want to make sure). Emptying a tank in about 90 puffs at an average of 1.8s per puff.

And, PS3: All the juices I'm testing with are 70 vg / 30 pg.

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## Caveman

aktorsyl said:


> Caveman, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks for the visual aid!
> 
> I did mine pretty much exactly like yours now. Got a piece of cotton that pulled through the coil with some serious tension, but not to the point where it pulls the coil, the posts, the deck itself, its grandmother and the UN security council with it off to the side. Cut the wicks juuuust a bit further out than the deck edge. Fluffed the cotton. Tucked it all into the juice holes. Checked the bottom of the deck, and they protrude about 30% (guesstimate).
> 
> Then I dripped juice onto the cotton to let it soak. Pulsed the coil a couple of times. Rejuiced the cotton. Tank went on, juice into the tank, and onto the mod we go.
> 
> And.. well, it's better. Slightly. Still some abnormal popping (if outside it would almost scare birds out of trees.. those pops are LOUD), but unsure if there's actual spitback. I know, I know, that sounds strange.. but it's very low nic juice, so it's a bit harder to detect spitback on these. After taking 2 or 3 puffs I feel like I inhaled water, so not sure if it's psychosomatic or whether it actually means I'm getting more droplets in the vape. I upped the wattage. It popped more&louder. I upped it some more, figuring the juice is possibly boiling instead of vapourising, and needs more heat. At 55W.. hahaha those pops. Hot damn. The local police asked me to stop shooting AK's in the backyard. Texan republicans knocked on my door to welcome me into the NRA. North Korea asked for my notes.
> 
> SO I toned the wattage back down to about 45W. Any lower and the vape is as cold as last week's turkey salad, any higher and it's as hot as... nah, sorry, I ran out of metaphors. But it's too hot  Resistance is futile sits at 0.24 ohm.
> 
> One of my vaping friends asked me to explain what I mean by "popping". Hm. Well, it's not the sizzling sound (that you usually want to hear), that's there too... but on top of that, there are 3 to 4 loud pops. Like those bubble wrap things? Just much lower in pitch. The more wattage I push through, the more regular and louder they get. On a 2 second puff, I usually get about 4 of them, mostly starting after 1 second (so basically when the coil heats up).
> 
> To re-iterate, the coil glows evenly (from the inside out, no hot legs).
> 
> But we're making progress. To all of you, thanks again for all the advice! Really appreciate it. I think we're closer to finding out what's behind the notorious Pops of 2017.
> 
> PS: I have a nasty habit of using waaay too much metaphor and hyperbole when I write something. Sometimes I even get letters about it.
> 
> EDIT (PS 2): Not sure if it's related, but juice consumption is about 4x that of the iJust S. Is that normal? (Not a problem if it is, just want to make sure). Emptying a tank in about 90 puffs at an average of 1.8s per puff.
> 
> And, PS3: All the juices I'm testing with are 70 vg / 30 pg.



Lol I dig the metaphors. Mine pops like someone eating a bag of pop rocks. I haven't noticed it affecting anything though and ages ago on some video the dude said it means it's wicking well. Don't quote me on that. My cotton isn't quite as tight as you describe though. 

The juice consumption is not what one would call light. I can kill a whole tank in 10 mins easy. One thing to note though, make sure your coils are tight. Check if your screws have come a bit undone, that tends to happen while the coil beds in. The other thing with these coils is they can take some time to heat up, especially at low wattage. Mine takes a few puffs and purges before its at a good temp for me. Stupid question, have you tried unscrewing the tank and putting it back on. Mine read at 0.2 at first and then when I removed it and put it back it hit 0.35

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

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## aktorsyl

Caveman said:


> Lol I dig the metaphors. Mine pops like someone eating a bag of pop rocks. I haven't noticed it affecting anything though and ages ago on some video the dude said it means it's wicking well. Don't quote me on that. My cotton isn't quite as tight as you describe though.
> 
> The juice consumption is not what one would call light. I can kill a whole tank in 10 mins easy. One thing to note though, make sure your coils are tight. Check if your screws have come a bit undone, that tends to happen while the coil beds in. The other thing with these coils is they can take some time to heat up, especially at low wattage. Mine takes a few puffs and purges before its at a good temp for me. Stupid question, have you tried unscrewing the tank and putting it back on. Mine read at 0.2 at first and then when I removed it and put it back it hit 0.35
> 
> Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk


The popping is down to 3 pops per 2 second puff, so the bag of pop rocks are running empty, it seems. Maybe the wick needs to break in or something, i don't know. Pretty sure there's no spitback, so it's probably fine. Still feel like I'm inhaling liquid though, never had that with the iJust so not completely sure what's going on there, but I'll play around with it a bit.

The flavour is pretty muted at the moment, although it does get a bit better at higher watts. At about 50W+ on the 0.23 ohm coil it starts to taste like something. No dry hits at all (even with that prize-winning amount of cotton I got in there), so that's good. I'd test chain-vaping to see if the wick keeps up, but I don't want to have an olympic swimming pool worth of liquid in my lungs (or the sensation of that, anyway).

The ohms are pretty steady at 0.23.. after multiple rewicking exercises and tank screwing/unscrewing sessions, it pretty much doesn't budge from there. I'm kinda tempted to build an 0.6 ohm coil from normal kanthal (spaced) and see what happens with the popping then, but I'll do that once this current wick is klaar. I'm not rewicking this thing again tonight 

(Yup, the coil does take awhile to heat up.. I usually fire for a second before I puff. I noticed some people also fire and blow for half a second, and then puff.)

For flavour, I want to experiment with the concept of plugging the small airhole (behind the coil) with cotton, apparently that works wonders. Just not sure how the hell a piece of cotton is going to stay in there.

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## aktorsyl

Think I might have a better middle ground now. Re-wicked again tonight to test something.. made the cotton just a little thinner inside the coil, but tucked them into the holes about the same amount as last time. Almost no pops now, and flavour is better. However..

This time, I also used a separate small ball of cotton to *plug the small airhole behind the coil* (hope it doesn't touch the posts, although it probably won't short out anything if it does). Now the only incoming airflow is right next to the coil itself. I plugged it in there as best I could (I worked it in there good & proper with tweezers), and it's pretty tight - but we'll see if it stays put.

Funny thing I noticed is that the CoilMaster ohm reader jumps between 0.24 and 0.26 for no good reason. Screws are tight so not sure why it's doing that. The Predator measures it at a stable 0.23 ohm. I found that my wattage of earlier was probably unnecessary - I'm getting a good vape from it at 35W now.

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## Dolfie

aktorsyl said:


> Think I might have a better middle ground now. Re-wicked again tonight to test something.. made the cotton just a little thinner inside the coil, but tucked them into the holes about the same amount as last time. Almost no pops now, and flavour is better. However..
> 
> This time, I also used a separate small ball of cotton to *plug the small airhole behind the coil* (hope it doesn't touch the posts, although it probably won't short out anything if it does). Now the only incoming airflow is right next to the coil itself. I plugged it in there as best I could (I worked it in there good & proper with tweezers), and it's pretty tight - but we'll see if it stays put.
> 
> Funny thing I noticed is that the CoilMaster ohm reader jumps between 0.24 and 0.26 for no good reason. Screws are tight so not sure why it's doing that. The Predator measures it at a stable 0.23 ohm. I found that my wattage of earlier was probably unnecessary - I'm getting a good vape from it at 35W now.


I also plug the small airhole. My cotton i cut very short then fluff it out and it just make it into the juice hole. For me this works.

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## Dolfie

Dolfie said:


> I also plug the small airhole. My cotton i cut very short then fluff it out and it just make it into the juice hole. For me this works.
> View attachment 93858


Sorry about photo but think you will understand

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## Slick

Hey guys,anyone know how to change the glass on the OBS nano? Can only get the base off,need help please

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## Dolfie

Slick said:


> Hey guys,anyone know how to change the glass on the OBS nano? Can only get the base off,need help please


I normally open the cap where you pour in juice. Stick one off my coil master rod inside so i have leverage and then just turn the glass

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## Slick

Dolfie said:


> I normally open the cap where you pour in juice. Stick one off my coil master rod inside so i have leverage and then just turn the glass


I reassembled it with the cracked glass already but will give it a shot tomorrow probably,thanks @Dolfie

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