Pulsing different wire types

[BeardedVaper93]

Hey Vapers

just to query, this is for a recap on the topic.

what wires are safe to pulse for hot spots, in wattage mod obviously.

SS
Kanthal
NiChrome

just want to know if they can be damaged by pulsing them, does the chemical composition get affected, how does this affect durability.

 

[Rossouw]

I pulse all 3 of those, as far as I know the only wires you should not pulse is Ni200 and Titanium. As far as the durability goes, I have no idea, I usually dont use a coil longer than 3 or 4 days before I get bored of it.

 

[Mark121m]

this would be great to hear from the other vapers.

when i pulse my coils
kanthal / Nikrothal / SS i always pulse 3 times to make sure i can clamp my coils together the way i want

 

[Ezekiel]

Generally speaking, all of those coils are safe to pulse. You wont easily 'wear them out' by pulsing either, although bad quality wire (ie, wire with a lot of unlisted impurities, or a very high carbon content) might start to alter in their properties (such as conductivity, or its thermal relationships) if you pulse for too long or too hot, as some unknown oxidation products start forming. Ive never experienced this with any branded (eg UD) wire though.

Bigger issues in terms of durability comes into play when you clean your coils by dry-burning them after rewicking. If you had a gunky coil (usually as a result of vaping juices with a significant sugar content), dry-burning will burn most of the gunk away, but in the process you can alter your coil somewhat. In this regard, Ive noticed that Kanthal coils seem to survive the longest, followed by Nichrome and then SS. As an example, after one or two gunky rewickings the TCR on SS coils tends to become less reliable, and I have to find a new TCR or rebuild the coil. Ive also noticed small changes in the cold resistance of older coils. It really depends heavily on the build though - twisted builds seem to survive more rewickings + dry-burning than normal builds, for instance. The spacing of a coil also matters - compact coils tend to gunk more significantly (ie, large pieces of soot covering more than one loop),but dry-burning and squeezing your coil usually fixed everything. On the other hand, spaced coils can sometimes deform somewhat, which is difficult to fix if you have more than one coil in an atty. Lastly, dry-burning older coils can sometimes affect the post connections, so be sure to check all screws and post-wire connections afterwards.

When dry-burning, try to keep it as short as necessary, to factor out unknowns. I always dry-burn at much lower wattages as well - usually about at a fourth of what I'm usually vaping at (ie, dry-burn at 10 watts if Im vaping that coil at 40 watts). If any oxides form (gray/white powders - supposed to be harmless if it forms on SS, Kanthal or Nichrome coils), either wipe it off using a tissue (after the coil has cooled) or clean the coils using water. You can also dry-burn directly in water as well,although I have never done so.

Finally, Ti can be very lightly dry-burned, but great care should be taken - if even a hint of a powder forms on the surface, chuck those coils immediately. Ni cannot be dry burned at all - the lightest current seems to form (toxic) Ni oxides practically immediately. I have no experience with NiFethal so cant comment there.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Silver]

Thanks for that @Ezekiel
Love your posts!!

 

[Greyz]

Nice reply @Ezekiel - as always an informative post!

 

[Andre]

Generally speaking, all of those coils are safe to pulse. You wont easily 'wear them out' by pulsing either, although bad quality wire (ie, wire with a lot of unlisted impurities, or a very high carbon content) might start to alter in their properties (such as conductivity, or its thermal relationships) if you pulse for too long or too hot, as some unknown oxidation products start forming. Ive never experienced this with any branded (eg UD) wire though.

Bigger issues in terms of durability comes into play when you clean your coils by dry-burning them after rewicking. If you had a gunky coil (usually as a result of vaping juices with a significant sugar content), dry-burning will burn most of the gunk away, but in the process you can alter your coil somewhat. In this regard, Ive noticed that Kanthal coils seem to survive the longest, followed by Nichrome and then SS. As an example, after one or two gunky rewickings the TCR on SS coils tends to become less reliable, and I have to find a new TCR or rebuild the coil. Ive also noticed small changes in the cold resistance of older coils. It really depends heavily on the build though - twisted builds seem to survive more rewickings + dry-burning than normal builds, for instance. The spacing of a coil also matters - compact coils tend to gunk more significantly (ie, large pieces of soot covering more than one loop),but dry-burning and squeezing your coil usually fixed everything. On the other hand, spaced coils can sometimes deform somewhat, which is difficult to fix if you have more than one coil in an atty. Lastly, dry-burning older coils can sometimes affect the post connections, so be sure to check all screws and post-wire connections afterwards.

When dry-burning, try to keep it as short as necessary, to factor out unknowns. I always dry-burn at much lower wattages as well - usually about at a fourth of what I'm usually vaping at (ie, dry-burn at 10 watts if Im vaping that coil at 40 watts). If any oxides form (gray/white powders - supposed to be harmless if it forms on SS, Kanthal or Nichrome coils), either wipe it off using a tissue (after the coil has cooled) or clean the coils using water. You can also dry-burn directly in water as well,although I have never done so.

Finally, Ti can be very lightly dry-burned, but great care should be taken - if even a hint of a powder forms on the surface, chuck those coils immediately. Ni cannot be dry burned at all - the lightest current seems to form (toxic) Ni oxides practically immediately. I have no experience with NiFethal so cant comment there.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Awesome response, thank you. I have found that with SS one really has to be careful with higher wattages and too long pulses - the SS snaps much easier than Kanthal.