# My first DIY coil and built



## Marius Keinhans (18/5/22)

Made my first coil today and fitted it to my Steam Crave Classic MTL RTA. It only took me three try's to get the wicking right, but got there eventually. 
Got one question though and it might have been asked and answered before. How do I decide what the correct wattage for my coil is. As a electronic technician I am very familiar with ohms law, but picking a appropriate wattage seems like a dark art to me. My coil measures 1.3 ohms, so what would be the correct wattage? When using prebuild coils there was always a suggested wattage range, using that wattage rang for a similar wattage coil, it just have no flavor. Pushing the wattage up, it gets better, but I need to know how far I can go. Thanks for any help.



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Reactions: Winner 3


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## Adephi (18/5/22)

1.3 ohm coil doesn't require high wattages. I won't go higher than 20.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2 | Winner 1 | Thanks 1


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## Munro31 (18/5/22)

Marius Keinhans said:


> Made my first coil today and fitted it to my Steam Crave Classic MTL RTA. It only took me three try's to get the wicking right, but got there eventually.
> Got one question though and it might have been asked and answered before. How do I decide what the correct wattage for my coil is. As a electronic technician I am very familiar with ohms law, but picking a appropriate wattage seems like a dark art to me. My coil measures 1.3 ohms, so what would be the correct wattage? When using prebuild coils there was always a suggested wattage range, using that wattage rang for a similar wattage coil, it just have no flavor. Pushing the wattage up, it gets better, but I need to know how far I can go. Thanks for any help.
> 
> View attachment 256063
> ...


I would start at around 15 and slowly work up to max 20 watts and see where you get the sweet spot

Reactions: Agree 2 | Thanks 1


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## Stranger (18/5/22)

Hi Marius, this may help









Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators


Specialized calculator for atomizer coils. Parallel, twisted, ribbon. Returns the required length, number of wraps, performance specs, leg power loss, etc.




www.steam-engine.org





It gives you an idea of where your limits are. Please give more info on wire type and awg, what ID is the coil

Adjusting the heat flux at the bottom of the page there will give you an idea on what W to use.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Thanks 1


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## Stranger (18/5/22)



Reactions: Winner 1 | Informative 1


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## Marius Keinhans (18/5/22)

Stranger said:


> Hi Marius, this may help
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks @Stranger . Busy studying the chart
Canthal Wire, 28awg 3mm ID, 7 wraps

Reactions: Like 1


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## ivc_mixer (18/5/22)

Munro31 said:


> I would start at around 15 and slowly work up to max 20 watts and see where you get the sweet spot


I have to agree with Munro here. The website as quoted by @Stranger, brilliant as it may be, will give you the technical answer as to what, according to logic, your wattage needs to be set to. However vaping, despite its intricacies, is not all technical; a lot of it is subjective/personal preference. When I used my Hellvape Rebirth I used to run dual tri-core aliens in there which came out around 0.18 Ohm. For that setting the sweet spot is supposed to be 51.7W. For me however if I put it on that it was like I was vaping air, I blasted it at 90-95W and for me that was my sweet spot.

So start off at 15W and work your way up until you find a setting which you like where you get the best overall experience.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 2 | Thanks 1


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## Marius Keinhans (18/5/22)

Munro31 said:


> I would start at around 15 and slowly work up to max 20 watts and see where you get the sweet spot


Thanks @Munro31 
Found the preferred taste around 18 Watts. I used some 1.2 ohm Innokin Z coils before and they stated 10-14 Watts, so I was a bit careful going any higher.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Munro31 (18/5/22)

Marius Keinhans said:


> Thanks @Munro31
> Found the preferred taste around 18 Watts. I used some 1.2 ohm Innokin Z coils before and they stated 10-14 Watts, so I was a bit careful going any higher.


No problem boet, you will be hitting much better flavour after a few rewicks , I'm almost exclusively on MTL now and I do a lot of things that most people will say is wrong! For example I use 26g Kanthal wire in my mtl tanks , great flavour for me. 28g was just not going it for me. As you experiment you will unlock lots of new flavouts and experiences

Reactions: Like 2 | Winner 1


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## Stranger (18/5/22)

@ivc_mixer and @Munro31 

Absolute truth. Strangely this thread I posted today https://www.ecigssa.co.za/threads/the-idiosyncrasy-of-the-sweet-spot.76061/

has a similar feel and there is a lot of school fees to pay. A 22awg (that is pretty thick wire) gives me a very similar result in my intakes to some of the exotic coils I have (won)

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1


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## Marius Keinhans (18/5/22)

Munro31 said:


> No problem boet, you will be hitting much better flavour after a few rewicks , I'm almost exclusively on MTL now and I do a lot of things that most people will say is wrong! For example I use 26g Kanthal wire in my mtl tanks , great flavour for me. 28g was just not going it for me. As you experiment you will unlock lots of new flavouts and experiences


Thanks for the info. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I will try the 26g next. I have some 26g Kanthal. At what resistance do you wrap it?

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## Stranger (18/5/22)

Steam engine not too far off though

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## Stranger (18/5/22)

I would go for a 2.5 ID with the 26 and aim for around 1.0 ..... 8 wraps

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## Munro31 (18/5/22)

Marius Keinhans said:


> Thanks for the info. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I will try the 26g next. I have some 26g Kanthal. At what resistance do you wrap it?


I usually give it 6 or 7 wraps, at 2.5 it's usually 0.6ish, still vape it at 18watts on mtl 12mg, but when I'm vaping salts I use 28g 8 wraps otherwise the salts hit me too hard!

Reactions: Like 1 | Thanks 1


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## Munro31 (18/5/22)

Stranger said:


> @ivc_mixer and @Munro31
> 
> Absolute truth. Strangely this thread I posted today https://www.ecigssa.co.za/threads/the-idiosyncrasy-of-the-sweet-spot.76061/
> 
> has a similar feel and there is a lot of school fees to pay. A 22awg (that is pretty thick wire) gives me a very similar result in my intakes to some of the exotic coils I have (won)


When I was paying my school fees in vaping I was really enjoying it, lots of things to test and experiment with, now I'm dialed in but find myself getting bored with vaping

Reactions: Like 1 | Can relate 2 | Informative 1


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## Resistance (18/5/22)

Munro31 said:


> No problem boet, you will be hitting much better flavour after a few rewicks , I'm almost exclusively on MTL now and I do a lot of things that most people will say is wrong! For example I use 26g Kanthal wire in my mtl tanks , great flavour for me. 28g was just not going it for me. As you experiment you will unlock lots of new flavouts and experiences


I use 24G SS mostly. In most RTA's and RDA's I use. Tried others guages and came back to using 24G

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Resistance (18/5/22)

Munro31 said:


> I usually give it 6 or 7 wraps, at 2.5 it's usually 0.6ish, still vape it at 18watts on mtl 12mg, but when I'm vaping salts I use 28g 8 wraps otherwise the salts hit me too hard!


OK there I differ a bit. Dependant on how I feel at that specific moment I sometimes go up to 28w and sometimes down to 11w

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## Marius Keinhans (18/5/22)

Munro31 said:


> I usually give it 6 or 7 wraps, at 2.5 it's usually 0.6ish, still vape it at 18watts on mtl 12mg, but when I'm vaping salts I use 28g 8 wraps otherwise the salts hit me too hard!


Thanks. I vape mostly mtl. I really do not enjoy dl or rdl. I started on salts but found that even with salts down to 18mg, I have a thick feeling in my throat like I used to get when smoking too much at a braai. I vape mtl now at mostly 6mg freebase. Going any stronger, I start getting the same feeling in the morning. Guess I'm vaping too often, but when using 5 to 6 mg, I'm fine.

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## Munro31 (18/5/22)

Marius Keinhans said:


> Thanks. I vape mostly mtl. I really do not enjoy dl or rdl. I started on salts but found that even with salts down to 18mg, I have a thick feeling in my throat like I used to get when smoking too much at a braai. I vape mtl now at mostly 6mg freebase. Going any stronger, I start getting the same feeling in the morning. Guess I'm vaping too often, but when using 5 to 6 mg, I'm fine.


I rarely vape salts, I tent to start coughing after a tank or so and get a heavy feeling in my chest, but sometimes I will try a new juice. I love my 12mg, I Crave the throat hit that is missing from salts. I always have a tobacco and a fruit in rotation as well, the fruit I use to refresh my taste buds to get back to my tobacco, which is my ADV. RDL very rarely with Nutty Crunch cookie or TKO Lime Milkshake. As you can see, very dialed in already with preferences

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## Munro31 (18/5/22)

Resistance said:


> OK there I differ a bit. Dependant on how I feel at that specific moment I sometimes go up to 28w and sometimes down to 11w


Yip, I'm the same, I'm not locked in on a wattage, sometimes I'm high, sometimes low. It's weird but it hits the spot!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Timwis (18/5/22)

Also the fact that it took a few wicking attempts is to be expected, it can be a bit floody espe4cially after a refill if not enough cotton used which is more than I usually use with a MTL RTA!

Reactions: Agree 2


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