I know we already have these Temp Control and titanium wire usage topics that recently just started on the forums. I wanted to make a thread that digs a little deeper into understanding the proper settings to set Temperature Control at for the 2 wires that are currently available to us.
- Nickel Wire (Ni200)
- Titanium (Grade 1 & 2)
It all started with nickel wire. I bought 200 ft. from lightning vapes when I started using TC and I found that I absolutely can not stand the taste that this wire gives off. I tried pre-built coils, built my own of all resistances and still just want to throw this stuff in the garbage 
. Not my cup of tea, so if anyone here that does have it and likes it wants to chime in on the specific settings they use and the do’s/dont’s, please feel free as I will not touch on Nickel wire myself.
Not sure if many know this, but I remember a few years back when titanium actually spiked for the community. There were a lot of people who tried it, but there was also a lot of speculation at the time about the safety of vaping titanium, so most people, including myself stopped.
Now those years have passed and the speculations, well, they are just speculations because we were all wrong about titanium wire when it came out. There was no temp control, just people building ridiculously low builds with it. Now, titanium has come back in full effect and stronger than ever the last few months.
Enough rambling, to my point:
- I have figured out that with titanium wire the builds require somewhere in the temp range of 450-500F to be efficient enough to vape on.
- This wire is not “non-resistance” wire. There is a resistance to it, although it is very small, so do not be fooled. If it were non-resistance, the results would not be pretty.
- I like the vape particularly between 35-50J on a .2 dual coil (2.5mm inner diameter, spaced, 6 wraps, 28g).
- I like to vape around 450Âş-550ÂşF depending on my builds.
- If you have TC set below 400ÂşF and wonder why you are not getting a good hit, it is because TC is not high enough for the resistance of the coil you are vaping on.
- You will not produce any toxins from the titanium, even at the maximum TC any Temp Control mod on the market goes to, IF you use the TC the RIGHT way.
- The state at which oxidation is formed (TiOâ‚‚) does not occur until +600ÂşF.
- The alpha phase in pure titanium is characterized by a hexagonal close-packed crystalline structure that remains stable from room temperature to approximately 1,620°F. The beta phase in pure titanium has a body-centered cubic structure, and is stable from approximately 1,620°F to the melting point of about 3,040°F. Taken from here.
THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT HERE:
You MUST, MUST, MUST, sync the resistance of the coil to the box mod BEFORE you do a pull with TC on. This means you need to set the resistance of the coil on the box mod while at room temperature. Once the mod is fired, the resistance of the coil will rise. If the resistance of the coil rises and you re-sync it, the mod is going to push more power to the coil = more heat, resulting in what most people who have TC and don’t use it properly call “TC not working”. If this is done, the cotton will be burned and you will create toxins, which is very unsafe to inhale. I could write an entirely new topic about why the coil does this, so I will not begin to explain why it happens, I’ll keep it simple. If you are interested in wondering why this is so, just ask me. I have an Electrical Engineering degree and would be happy to explain.
Here is a play by play of how I set my coil, wick, and TC (maybe this will help understand what I’m saying better):
- Clean your wire with some rubbing alcohol, just wipe it down thoroughly and rinse it off.
- Wrap your coil. I like spaced coils, as TC acts funky with contact coils. I wrap on a 2.4mm screwdriver always and try to wrap as even as possible. I scrunch the coil once I have as many wraps as I want, this makes the spaces closer and even. They don’t have to be perfectly spaced, just make sure it’s enough for the naked eye not to notice.
- Now mount the coil to the deck. Important point - NEVER dry burn Ti like you would kanthal. I use what is called the “pulsing method” and fire at 7W for 1-2 seconds at a time about 2 times, the coil should barely turn a deep red (this is the heat stage before it glows orange like you would with kanthal). NEVER let Ti glow orange, EVER (this will create the oxides I discussed above). This pulsing method also acts as a cleanser for all the machining oil as well.
- You’re ready to wick now. I use Koh Gen Do organic Japanese cotton, best stuff I have ever tried. I cut my sheet appropriately for the inner diameter of my coils, I normally do one piece and cut it in half for both my coils. Each RDA, RTA, RBA, Subtank, etc., will require its own method of wicking to work properly in its application.
- Important step - here is what I call “setting the wick”. This is where you can find out the exact temperature that the cotton is going to start scorching, aka. dry hitting. If you do not do this step properly, TC will not work as advertised to eliminate the dry hits. Once you have wick properly inserted in the coil (nice and snug), do not wet the wick yet, and turn TC on and set to a low temperature (I start at 325º) along with a low Joule setting (I use 20J).
- Once the temp and Joules are set, fire the atomizer for 10 continuous seconds, this is about the longest pull I would imagine anyone would do. The picture below represents the attempts of finding the sweet spot of the build I just finished doing. The first time will not be correct, as the temp will probably be too low, I turn it up in increments of 25ºF. The far left brownness that you see is too high of a temperature and started to singe the cotton. I turned down to 375ºF and fired again for 10 seconds, resulting in the middle discoloration (this is almost where you want it, so you’re close). Finally, I turned my temp down to 360ºF and fired for 10 seconds resulting in the far right portion, pretty much clean white cotton and not singed. My rule of thumb here - find the sweet spot and set 5-10ºF below that. THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST DO TO SET THE WICK SO YOU WILL NOT GET A DRY HIT!
- Once you have set your wick and found the sweet spot, you’re ready to wet that wick and vape away!
It works properly when set properly. People need to know this information because most people who get TC and setup titanium wire on it are experimenting with it as their first time or just are not familiar with it.
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