Why did people start using kanthal over nichrome?

[alicewonderland]

I just ordered some Nichrome 80 wire to try out recently, and holy crap there is 0 rampup time and I only have to take 1-2 second inhales now to create as much vapor as I had to do with 6+second kanthal drags in the same resistances. I've read all the 'brand' type of wires like hotwires gplat anarchist wire etc, are basically just alloys of nichrome. So why did Nichrome 80 fall out of favor so much in the first place in replace of Kanthal? I think everyone is so hooked on Kanthal now that they forgot Nichrome exists and thus the rise of the Nichrome wire 'brand' labels came into the market with ridiculous pricing per foot of wire.

 

[WillyZee]

I Tootle Puff a kayfun at 7.5 watts ... I never heard of Nichrome 80 until people became concerned about temp control at high watts.

Kanthal works perfect for my style of vape

 

[bigbubba7373]

Nichrome 80 from what I understand has nothing to do with temp control at high watts.I use both Nichrome 80 and kanthal a1 but I like the Nichrome 80 more some people get an off taste with the Nichrome 80 as for nickel wire is that not what is used for temp control.

 

[alicewonderland]

Nichrome 80 from what I understand has nothing to do with temp control at high watts.I use both Nichrome 80 and kanthal a1 but I like the Nichrome 80 more some people get an off taste with the Nichrome 80 as for nickel wire is that not what is used for temp control.

yup I was wondering that too. Temp control is nickelwire, not nichrome. Nichrome is something different. Nichrome is nickel with chromium for nichrome 80, and nickel chromium iron for nichrome 60 i believe.

Even at 1.0+ ohm builds at low watts it seems to heat up quicker than kanthal. The only downsides I've found so farm between nichrome and kanthal is that, nichrome is much more malleable so if you use like high gauge wire I can see it being finnicky and annoying, and if you dryburn too high wattage on nichrome, it melts the wire. That's about it though, I use 24gauge and just watch my dryburns, other than that I dont really see how kanthal is better which confuses me to why kanthal is so prevalent and nichrome nobody even talks about. I dont get this weird taste people talk about, maybe they are just trying to take super long hits and are just burning the crap out of their cotton because they dont notice it heats up much faster.

 

[bigbubba7373]

I feel the same way you do alicewonderland

 

[sedition]

Do you guys find you can use a lower wattage since the ramp up time is decreased?

I've got a bunch of N80 in the mail, going to switch my 28/32 Claptons over to it when it arrives. Can't wait!

 

[bigbubba7373]

yes but not just because the ramp up time is decreased the resistance is also slightly lower on nichrome than it is on kanthal a1

 

[alicewonderland]

Do you guys find you can use a lower wattage since the ramp up time is decreased?

I've got a bunch of N80 in the mail, going to switch my 28/32 Claptons over to it when it arrives. Can't wait!

yeah, the resistance is lower on nichrome builds when compared to kanthal builds same gauge. a 5wrap nichrome vs a 5wrap kanthal exactly the same.

 

[Ryedan]

I just ordered some Nichrome 80 wire to try out recently, and holy crap there is 0 rampup time and I only have to take 1-2 second inhales now to create as much vapor as I had to do with 6+second kanthal drags in the same resistances.

I've never tried vaping Nichrome in anything I have built myself. I believe Nichrome used to be commonly used in clearos and cartos but I don't know if that's the case anymore.

By the numbers, a Nichrome coil built at the same resistance and with the same gauge wire (so with more wraps) as a Kanthal coil should have longer heat up time. Is it possible that you're using thinner Nichrome than Kanthal?

I also like quick heat up time on my builds and what you show in the video is not uncommon for me with Kanthal.

 

[DaveSignal]

I sometimes use 24g nichrome. And sometimes 24g kanthal. An 8-wrap nichrome coil is the same resistance as a 6-wrap kanthal (around one of my 2mm screwdrivers). But sometimes it depends on the airflow. Maybe I don't want an 8-wrap coil. And a kanthal coil is harder to disturb when re-wicking later. Lately, I have been using 22g kanthal.

 

[alicewonderland]

I've never tried vaping Nichrome in anything I have built myself. I believe Nichrome used to be commonly used in clearos and cartos but I don't know if that's the case anymore.

By the numbers, a Nichrome coil built at the same resistance and with the same gauge wire (so with more wraps) as a Kanthal coil should have longer heat up time. Is it possible that you're using thinner Nichrome than Kanthal?

I also like quick heat up time on my builds and what you show in the video is not uncommon for me with Kanthal.

yeah I use 24gauge for both kanthal and nichrome. It would make sense that the nichrome would take longer to heat up at same resistances, but for some reason it doesnt. Probably has something to do with the composition or something. I just know even if I try to do 0.2 ohm kanthal builds, there is still that 2-3 seconds of rampup time before it really starts creating vapor unlike the nichrome builds i been making.

Probably has something to do with nichrome wire holding in heat better or something, because I notice even in low resistance builds, my atty never really gets hot like it does with low resistance kanthal builds, lots of quick heat dissipation in kanthal it seems and less in nichrome. It would make sense since its super hard to fail a kanthal wire with dryburning, but extremely easy on the nichrome wire, but this is all just speculation. I know by personal experience though that my kanthal builds have still had rampup time.

 

[Ryedan]

yeah I use 24gauge for both kanthal and nichrome. It would make sense that the nichrome would take longer to heat up at same resistances, but for some reason it doesnt. Probably has something to do with the composition or something. I just know even if I try to do 0.2 ohm kanthal builds, there is still that 2-3 seconds of rampup time before it really starts creating vapor unlike the nichrome builds i been making.

Probably has something to do with nichrome wire holding in heat better or something, because I notice even in low resistance builds, my atty never really gets hot like it does with low resistance kanthal builds, lots of quick heat dissipation in kanthal it seems and less in nichrome. It would make sense since its super hard to fail a kanthal wire with dryburning, but extremely easy on the nichrome wire, but this is all just speculation. I know by personal experience though that my kanthal builds have still had rampup time.

Very interesting and I guess sometimes experience simply trumps the numbers . One of these days I'm going to have to try Nichrome.

 

[zoiDman]

I just ordered some Nichrome 80 wire to try out recently, and holy crap there is 0 rampup time and I only have to take 1-2 second inhales now to create as much vapor as I had to do with 6+second kanthal drags in the same resistances. I've read all the 'brand' type of wires like hotwires gplat anarchist wire etc, are basically just alloys of nichrome. So why did Nichrome 80 fall out of favor so much in the first place in replace of Kanthal? I think everyone is so hooked on Kanthal now that they forgot Nichrome exists and thus the rise of the Nichrome wire 'brand' labels came into the market with ridiculous pricing per foot of wire.

I dunno what Started the move towards Kanthal? And I too was one who hand kinda Forgotten about NiChrome.

Here is something I posted in Another thread...

I resisted moving to RBA's for a Long Time. I was Perfectly Happy to use Clearos (XL CE2's). And I bought a Boat Load of them before they were Discontinued.

When I did get an RBA, a Kraken, I thought it was so Cool to make a coil and to put everything together. Then I took the first hit. Whoa... WTH? It was Very Harsh.

I tried Vaping thru it to see if it got better. Nope. Tried Countless Combination of Coil Ohms using the Spool of Kanthal A-1 wire I had. Nothing Worked. Changed e-Liquids. Bought Different RBA's. Drilled Out Air Holes - Covered Air Holes with Tape. Just about Wore Out the UP/Down on my APV's. Tried the Hot New wick at the Time - Cotton. All Epic Fails. So it All went back into the bottom Drawer in my desk. The Drawer for e-Cigarette stuff that Didn't Work.

Fast Forward to the Release of the Kanger Subtank. Everyone was Raving about it. This had to work. So I got a Subtank Mini. Same Song and Dance. Harsh Hits. What was going on?

I was about to Chuck the Subtank in the Drawer when something Dawned on me. Could it be the Kanthal? I remember seeing threads about NiChrome vs Kanthal, but I never read them. So I started searching and Reading.

Most people said there was No Difference between Kanthal and NiChrome. But a Few said that NiChrome was "Smoother". And I know that NiChrome was the 1st Type of wire used in Atty's, Cartos and later Clearos. What did I have to Loose? So I got a Spool of NiChrome 80.

Made a Coil. Popped it in the Subtank RBA. Dry Burned it. Stuffed it with Cotton. Saturated the Cotton. And filled up the Tank. After a Minute or so I took a Hit.

Holy Flinkering Snit!

It Wasn't Harsh. It Wasn't Harsh at All. And the Flavor was Great. I Boosted the Watts and the Vapor was Massive. But the Flavor was still there. Turned the Watts Down. Outstanding Flavor, just less Vapor. I kept taking Hit After Hit After Hit waiting for it to get Harsh. But it Didn't.

I dug out My Kraken and Other RBA's and set them Up with NiChrome. The Weren't Harsh Either.

So what I'm trying to say by this Long (and Probably Boring) Post is If you are Not getting the hit you want on your RBA's/RBA's/RTA's using Kanthal A-1, and you have Tried Everything, try using NiChrome 80.

The Taste was/is Night and Day to Me.

 

[alicewonderland]

nice post. Yeah i think people are just forgetting about Nichrome wire for some reason, I find it so surprising that people taking like 8+second long drags and doing 'rampup primer puffs' never looked into trying to mend those issues, it's like it is considered to be the norm nowadays. I never really had to do primer puffs or super long drags back with the old clearotanks, so I found it odd I had to do it in some RDA builds. Turns out it was the kanthal that was making the difference.

 

[Robert Cromwell]

Nichrome is more brittle after heating than Kanthal. It is also lower resistance for the same diameter than Kanthal. [edited]

 

[Lessifer]

I do get an off taste with nichrome, it's like a hint of sucking on a penny. Also, nichrome seems softer than kanthal, so not quite as easy to build with, and I always had issues with wraps shorting on eachother, so it had to be torched before and after wrapping. Some of that could have been me, I haven't used it since my early rebuilding days.

 

[retired1]

Unless one has facts to back up outrageous claims, they do not belong on ECF.

 

[zoiDman]

Unless one has facts to back up outrageous claims, they do not belong on ECF.

I think he was Joking.

 

[retired1]

Considering how quickly Google picks up posts on ECF, even in jest, it doesn't belong on ECF.

 

[zoiDman]

Considering how quickly Google picks up posts on ECF, even in jest, it doesn't belong on ECF.

Yeah... I guess you are right.