Working with Titanium wire.

[Tubbyengineer]

OK After a few days of working with Titanium I've decided to leave off using it for a while - At least until one of my DNA 200's arrives. The reason? I think the firmware for the Titanium wire on the SX350J in the Sx Mini M class is glitchy. I just cannot get a reliable vape, whether I use spaced coils or micro coils, it's continuosly firing far to low when the resistance is locked in and the battery sag is truly atrocious. According to the display on the M Class firing a 0.185 ohm spaced titanium coil will cause the battery level to sag by about 50%, add to that that changes of 0.005 Ohms are swinging the vape between cold and quite warm and i feel that it could be the mod thats the problem rather than the wire. I'm also getting a distinct lack of flavour after a couple of hours when compared to the single strand nickel coil I'm running now. I still stand by all my observations of the physical side of working with Titanium, I just can't guarantee my TC results until I've tried it on a different mod.
stealthvape will be getting some NiFe (Resistherm) wire soon so I'll give that a go too.

 

[stealthvape]

OK After a few days of working with Titanium I've decided to leave off using it for a while - At least until one of my DNA 200's arrives. The reason? I think the firmware for the Titanium wire on the SX350J in the Sx Mini M class is glitchy. I just cannot get a reliable vape, whether I use spaced coils or micro coils, it's continuosly firing far to low when the resistance is locked in and the battery sag is truly atrocious. According to the display on the M Class firing a 0.185 ohm spaced titanium coil will cause the battery level to sag by about 50%, add to that that changes of 0.005 Ohms are swinging the vape between cold and quite warm and i feel that it could be the mod thats the problem rather than the wire. I'm also getting a distinct lack of flavour after a couple of hours when compared to the single strand nickel coil I'm running now. I still stand by all my observations of the physical side of working with Titanium, I just can't guarantee my TC results until I've tried it on a different mod.
@stealthvape will be getting some NiFe (Resistherm) wire soon so I'll give that a go too.

I'm sure you've thought of this but revisit the post screws. Titanium can shift around a bit the first few times it's heated I've found.

There really shouldn't be any more sag than with a nickel coil so yeah it does sound like the mod isn't behaving.

The NiFe we're getting isn't resistherm but it's similar, ish. It's up on the steam engine calculator if you want to try the numbers and has a TCR of 0.0049. Off the top of my head resistherm is nearer 0.0032. Lower resistance though.

Already planning the next wire acquisition

 

[Tubbyengineer]

I'm sure you've thought of this but revisit the post screws. Titanium can shift around a bit the first few times it's heated I've found.

There really shouldn't be any more sag than with a nickel coil so yeah it does sound like the mod isn't behaving.

The NiFe we're getting isn't resistherm but it's similar, ish. It's up on the steam engine calculator if you want to try the numbers and has a TCR of 0.0049. Off the top of my head resistherm is nearer 0.0032. Lower resistance though.

Already planning the next wire acquisition

I spent an hour last night stripping and deep cleaning the build deck and 510 connection on both the Heron and SX Mini M class - It should be perfect, I also ensure I drop the wire into the slots on the posts (really they're for screwing the posts down) which always helps stop wire from slipping. The fact that it doesn't give me grief on the DNA40 makes me think it's the mod. The DNA40 seems pretty steady, slight change in resistance from the first install but it's giving a consistent vape with reasonable flavour.

I've already downloaded the TCR table for my DNA200's from Vapegeek - It's a race now, Will I get the H-Cigar one first or the replacement Vape cige one...

I'm looking forward to trying NiFe, Hopefully the added iron will make the Nickel stiffer and more resilient, I know it's the same sort of wire that Dicodes uses but with a slightly different ratio, from the look of the graph on Steam-engine.org it's got a steeper response line than Titanium and the "Standard" Resistherm blend.

 

[nacmacfeegle]

Tubbyengineer
FWIW, I've been tooting on a microcoil built from Stealthvape's 0.4 Ti for the last 3 days on a subtankmini driven by an IPV D2. It's been pretty stable and consistent. It came in at around 0.19ohms.
I'm now trying a twisted build from the same stuff at around 0.09, jury is out until I've had some more time with it.
The twisted is quite springy, so allow a half mm size down when winding.

 

[Tubbyengineer]

Titanium Coil building and wicking

After previous failures with Titanium I gave up on using it in the "Correct" fashion for a while due to problems with the SX Minin M Class firmware - It just would not behave.

Just before lunch there was a scream and cursing outside the door - I nipped out and rescued the Postie from the pit trap I'd dug, then beat him over the head with a rock until he let go of my HCigar VT200 and ran indoors clasping said item to my chest and muttering "Preciousssss, my precioussss...".

Having overcome the fit of shinyitis I've settled in to have a play, I've now got My Heron coiled with a Microcoil with a 2mm I.D, and resistance of 0.156. Plenty of cotton in it (Way more than I'd use for a nickel build) and it seems to be stable, I noticed that one thing you need to do when building coils in Titanium is to be brutal, treatment that would tear an NI200 coil to pieces is simply shrugged off by Titanium, in fact it seems to be a Fifty shades type of wire - the rougher you are with it the more it seems to like it...

A few days of testing and messing around with various atties and coils and I'll have a better picture of whats going on...

 

[Tubbyengineer]

Taifun GT2 Stats

Firing data for Medical grade Titanium (Stealthvape): 0.4mm (26AWG), 2.5mm I.D, 5 wraps

 

[Mr Numpty]

Firing data for Medical grade Titanium (Stealthvape): 0.4mm (26AWG), 2.5mm I.D, 5 wraps

Some nice coloured lines and stuff there. Do they say good things or bad things?

I've pretty much ditched my 0.4 Ti wire now as the 0.5 version seems to perform much better in all regards in both single and dual coil. On a side note, achieved my first ever build that had a zero after the decimal point. 0.09 Ohms. I feel like I've finally arrived.

 

[Tubbyengineer]

Some nice coloured lines and stuff there. Do they say good things or bad things?

I've pretty much ditched my 0.4 Ti wire now as the 0.5 version seems to perform much better in all regards in both single and dual coil. On a side note, achieved my first ever build that had a zero after the decimal point. 0.09 Ohms. I feel like I've finally arrived.

The really important ones are The dark red - Set temperature, and the Light red - measured temperature, I've started adding output power as well. It shows the coil is reaching temp quickly and maintaining that temp reasonably well..

So mostly good things, i tried a different wick after that - even more cotton, the results were interesting, the temperature swings were much more evident...

 

[Mr Numpty]

The really important ones are The dark red - Set temperature, and the Light red - measured temperature, I've started adding output power as well. It shows the coil is reaching temp quickly and maintaining that temp reasonably well..

So mostly good things, i tried a different wick after that - even more cotton, the results were interesting, the temperature swings were much more evident...

Thanks, good to hear. Is that an indication that it's true what they say about TC coils working better with less wicking than kanthal coils?

 

[gary68]

Whenever I see graphs and stuff my eyes glaze over it all goes over my head...