Kanthal Vs SS 316L MTL Build - my observations

[Vik171]

I started building when I got my Kayfun Prime (3 months back) and this is the only RTA I have and I've ever known so my experience below is only limited to Kayfun Prime tank.

For the last 3 months I only built Kanthal coils. My normal build: Kanthal 28GA, 2mm ID, 8 wraps, 1.4 ohms, Vape at 13W. The flavour and vapour was good. I was very happy with the setup and thought I wasn't going to need anything else so didn't explore much.
Last week I used SS 316L 28GA wire, the resistance came out to be 0.9 ohms with 8 wraps on 2mm ID. vaping at 12W. Only change I made this time - I enabled Preheat at 15W for 0.5s and Preheat delay of 10s on Arctic Fox. It feels like I rediscovered vaping again! SS builds are perfect for my taste!
Couple of observations:
- Kanthal builds produce vapour which is slightly moist I reckon. After vaping my lips would have small traces of sweetness from the moist vapour. It's not spitback or anything. The drip tip will also accumulate some moisture from the vapour and I could see it on my ultem Kayfun drip-tip.
- On SS 316L builds the vapour is dry and there is no after-taste on my lips and the drip tip stays dry. It's been 1 week and I have tried 3 different juices. I really like this! I don't have to run to wash-room anymore to clean my lips and mouth after vaping!
- The flavour in Kanthal is slightly better in my opinion but I reckon it's probably because the vapour contains some moist juice particles which adds to the overall flavour. However, I prefer the flavour from SS as it's dry, clean and leaves a good taste in mouth.

Can someone please confirm if anyone had similar experience?

 

[Psihoza]

My first RTA is also Prime. I dont have that experience but I moved to TC (Flashed Arctic Fox firmware on a Pico 75W) quite fast.

What stands out in your numbers for me is ohms and W for ss316l coil. 28awg, 2mm, 9 wraps Id expect 0.75 ohms, not 0.9. Using coil calculator, based on your K1 coil on 13W, seems yoir preferred Heat Flux is 180. If I configure same heat flux for yoir SS coil, coil calc suggests 15W, not 12W.

That said, coil calc is not exaxt and shouldn't be used for such a small measuring, but it maybe tells me youre just running SS coil on lower temperature (cooler vape)? If you decrease W for K1 coil maybe you achieve the same?

Either way... Depending on your mod, I suggest also trying TC mode.

 

[Vik171]

My first RTA is also Prime. I dont have that experience but I moved to TC (Flashed Arctic Fox firmware on a Pico 75W) quite fast.

What stands out in your numbers for me is ohms and W for ss316l coil. 28awg, 2mm, 9 wraps Id expect 0.75 ohms, not 0.9. Using coil calculator, based on your K1 coil on 13W, seems yoir preferred Heat Flux is 180. If I configure same heat flux for yoir SS coil, coil calc suggests 15W, not 12W.

The actual reading is 0.86 ohms, so I rounded it to 0.9 I make spaced coils and after putting cotton the final reading was 0.86 ohms. On Kanthal contact coils I have noticed a little lower readings, haven't tried contact on SS yet. I use the steam-engine's calculator for approximations but I reckon normal use varies. For me 13W is perfect vape, 15W makes the vape too hot or sometimes I get dry-hits. Also I only open 1 and a 1/4 (quarter) turns liquid control in Kayfun Prime with 50:50 juice, so don't need very high wattage. For max VG sometimes 2 complete turns.

I tried TC for 3 days and then gave up on it. The vape was just never perfect, and too many variables to keep track of. I reckon keeping it simple is good - Take mod out, fire, vape!

 

[Psihoza]

And your mod is?

 

[Vik171]

Pico 21700 with Arctic Fox on it.

 

[Psihoza]

Funny how people with same setup have different experience. Difference between K1 and SS coils was negligible tome, when those vaped ok. TC with SS only is absolutely consistent to me. Thats the reason I stick with it.

At the moment Im on 28 awg, 5 wraps arround 2mm, roughly 0.5 - 0.6 ohm. I vape in TC with max W set to 30. I wick Cotton Bacon v2. JFC is 2 turns. Juice is 50:50. Temp 205 to 235 celsius.

 

[Vik171]

30W! interesting. If you are not running in TC then would you still vape at 30W in Wattage mode? I couldn't go above 13W in any of my 28ga builds. Sometimes I'll fire up 14-15W if I have extra juice that I want to get rid of quickly.
I have a Kabuki that takes BVC 1.8 ohm coil and I vape it at 14W. So yeah, 13/14W is my limit. I use Kendo Vape Cotton in my builds but don't think it would make much difference.

Btw, were you using any other MTL tank before Kayfun? Since I got kayfun prime, I don't use my other tanks much, even kabuki that I really liked earlier. How's your experience so far?

 

[Psihoza]

30W is a max. TC rarely uses that much power, probably only at start so it is like your preheat setting.

I had many tanks and after buying Prime they all are collecting dust now
Also playing fith Doggystyle but for me its not as good.

 

[stols001]

IDK I've vaped plenty of kanthal drop in TC coils, and I use SS in my builds, but I haven't noticed a huge difference, in fact I'd say a few of my Kanthal coils taste drier than SOME of my RTAs. I think this is also juice dependent and build and tank dependent, but it's hard for me to really say for sure. Too many variables.

However, if you prefer SS well use it, with the added bonus that you can switch into TC any time you want. I kind of like that SS feature, so that is why I use it.

Anna