Last fact-checked 30 Oct 2020 | Report a factual error on this article
If you love masses of delicious vapour, then a dual-coil vaping setup is the way to go!
With a dual coil atomiser fitted to your vape device, you’ll get double the vapour cloud and double the flavour … but you’ll burn through your battery and e-liquid much faster, too.
In this guide, we’ll talk you through some of the pros and cons of dual-coil vaping and try to answer some of the questions our dual-coil customers have put to us over the years.
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What’s So Good About Dual-Coil Vaping?
If you’re new to cloud chasing or just looking for a way to get more out of your RDA, then dual coil vaping could be perfect for you.
Dual coil vaping delivers roughly double the amount of vapour on every draw. This is because when you double the number of coils in your vape device, you double the amount of surface area where e-liquid meets hot metal … and that leads to more vapour!
You get bigger clouds, of course, but you also get a richer mouthful of flavour with a dual-coil setup. In fact, the only real downside to dual coil vaping is how fast it drains your battery.
What hardware do I need to dual-coil vape?
To dual-coil vape, you will usually need a regulated box mod and a dual-coil atomiser. These are usually attached together with a standard 510 connection. Just bear in mind that the power settings on your vape device will need to change to match the new resistance (if you have two coils instead of one, you halve the electrical resistance. This will have an impact on your voltage and current settings. See more on our Ohm’s Law article).
You can cut and stuff your own coils, or you can buy a pre-made dual coil atomiser head right out of the box - the choice is yours:
If you build your own coils:
If you’re already using an RDA with a two-post build deck (learn more about RDAs here), then you just need to upgrade to a four-post build deck so that you can attach two heating coils at either end. Both heating coils will need to be stuffed with wicking material in the normal way. Every build deck is slightly different, so take a look at the manufacturer’s instructions and follow the guidance on coil positioning.
The great thing about investing in a dual-coil build deck is that you can still vape single-coil on it — you just need to install one coil wire instead of two and adjust your power settings accordingly.
If you use pre-built replaceable coils:
If you prefer to just use out-of-the-box replacement coils, you can still enjoy the volume and flavour of a dual-coil vape. Just search our site for ‘dual coil’ and you’ll see a wide range of replacement coils to fit the most popular devices. Always read the product description carefully and make sure that the replacement coil you buy will be compatible with your device. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch.
Will dual coil vaping harm my battery?
If you set it up correctly, dual coil shouldn’t harm your battery, but it will deplete your battery much much faster. When you double the number of heating coils, the electrical resistance is split evenly across those two coils. That causes the resistance to drop (roughly in half), which in turn causes the current to spike (by roughly double).
Your battery will work safely at any current strength up to and including the Max Continuous Discharge Current. If, when you add two coils, as long as your Amp ratings are still below this level, you’ll be perfectly safe. Just bear in mind that you’ll eat up the charge in your battery much faster than you would if you were vaping on a single coil.
You can calculate the likely current strength using Ohm’s Law (see our Ohm’s Law conversion tables), and the safety chip in your vape device should add another layer of protection. If you have any doubts whatsoever, stop vaping immediately and take a moment to check everything.
Will My Coils Last Longer In A Dual-Coil Configuration?
You might think that by ‘sharing the load’ of your vaping activity across two coils, those coils will take longer to gunk up. Sadly, this isn’t true! If you set up your dual-coil configuration correctly, both coils will be working just as hard as one single coil would have been working on its own. Each coil will gunk up and burn out at the exact same pace that it would have done on a single-coil configuration.
This means you’ll go through coils at twice the rate. You’ll fly through your e-liquid and your battery will drain faster, too … but just think of all that delicious vapour! We think it’s worth it.
Quad-Coil Vaping & Beyond
If you try dual coil vaping and you think it’s twice as good as single-coil, just wait until you try quad coil vaping! I’m not kidding — I’ve seen build decks with space for four, six and even eight heating coils.
You can have a lot of fun when you go beyond dual-coil vaping, but you have to be very careful. The electrical resistance of a four-coil arrangement will be one quarter of what it is on a single-coil arrangement. You can very quickly force your battery to exceed its Max Continuous Discharge Current (a battery’s maximum safe current strength). My advice is to never push a battery outside of its stated safe operating levels. No amount of vapour is worth a battery fire. If you don’t fully understand the limits of your battery, take a look at our battery buyer’s guide.
I hope this guide has given you a decent introduction to dual-coil vaping. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but if you’re already an intermediate vapour and if you’re tempted by the prospect of stronger flavours and bigger clouds, it’s worth investigating. If you have any questions at all before placing an order, please get in touch with us. We love to help our customers to get more out of their vaping experience.
As always, stay safe and happy vaping!
- John Boughey