Should I get an RTA/RDA/RDTA, Please explain!

[Chelsea Ann Hall]

My husband and I are very curious about getting into building our own coils and such.
I'm always dumping my tank out and changing up the flavors, way too much.
Husband likes tanks because you can keep liquid in them.
I have heard that RTA(I think) Is basically a rebuildable drip tip with a tank in it also. I guess I could do research, but I'd rather someone explain it on here to me.
Husband is very knowledgeable and I'm sure it won't be hard for him to learn, we have the general idea of positive and negative.
We also both have MVP 20w, which is no lower than 1 ohm, does a sub ohm dripper and regular dripper make a difference? We don't care about HUGE clouds, but mostly about flavor and how it hits and convenience, and saving money.
Since we don't have mods that can use sub ohm, wouldn't we have to use a single coil? Please tell me what we will need to buy, maybe videos, and whats the cheapest/best products, and best places to buy these, I was thinking about a Dark Horse clone, Are clones safe? Are they okay? Were not rich or anything. Probably have like no more than 50-100 dollars to spend on this stuff.

 

[Yozhik]

First thing, get a coil master for making your coils. Makes it a lot easier:
$6.82 Coil Master E-Cigarette Wire Coil Winder - blue / 1.0 + 1.5 + 2.0 + 2.5 + 3.0mm poles at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

Also, a pair of ceramic tweezers and sharp scissors are useful. You can get them on the same site. Outside of that, I'd recommend picking up 28 gauge Kanthal and organic cotton to build your coils and wick them.

Now, as to rda/rta. An RDA is easier to learn on. The magma is a pretty easy RDA to learn on and has good flavor on single coil builds (Dark Horse looks fairly easy as well,no idea on flavor). As to tanks, you can go with a clone (Kayfun clones are a popular choice it seems) or get a cheap authentic RTA, such as the Lemo 2. Whatever RDA or RTA you buy, there's almost always a youtube video showing you how to build for it.

Also, bookmark this link so you know how large to build your coils:
Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators

 

[edyle]

My husband and I are very curious about getting into building our own coils and such.
I'm always dumping my tank out and changing up the flavors, way too much.
Husband likes tanks because you can keep liquid in them.
I have heard that RTA(I think) Is basically a rebuildable drip tip with a tank in it also. I guess I could do research, but I'd rather someone explain it on here to me.
Husband is very knowledgeable and I'm sure it won't be hard for him to learn, we have the general idea of positive and negative.
We also both have MVP 20w, which is no lower than 1 ohm, does a sub ohm dripper and regular dripper make a difference? We don't care about HUGE clouds, but mostly about flavor and how it hits and convenience, and saving money.
Since we don't have mods that can use sub ohm, wouldn't we have to use a single coil? Please tell me what we will need to buy, maybe videos, and whats the cheapest/best products, and best places to buy these, I was thinking about a Dark Horse clone, Are clones safe? Are they okay? Were not rich or anything. Probably have like no more than 50-100 dollars to spend on this stuff.

an rda (for example the Dark Horse) is just the simplest thing you can get.
very simple, rugged, will basically last forever, and should not be expensive.

an rta is basically like having an rda with a tank to hold the liquid, and you depend on wicking for the liquid to keep feeding the rda coil.

 

[vapee]

My husband and I are very curious about getting into building our own coils and such.
I'm always dumping my tank out and changing up the flavors, way too much.
Husband likes tanks because you can keep liquid in them.
I have heard that RTA(I think) Is basically a rebuildable drip tip with a tank in it also. I guess I could do research, but I'd rather someone explain it on here to me.
Husband is very knowledgeable and I'm sure it won't be hard for him to learn, we have the general idea of positive and negative.
We also both have MVP 20w, which is no lower than 1 ohm, does a sub ohm dripper and regular dripper make a difference? We don't care about HUGE clouds, but mostly about flavor and how it hits and convenience, and saving money.
Since we don't have mods that can use sub ohm, wouldn't we have to use a single coil? Please tell me what we will need to buy, maybe videos, and whats the cheapest/best products, and best places to buy these, I was thinking about a Dark Horse clone, Are clones safe? Are they okay? Were not rich or anything. Probably have like no more than 50-100 dollars to spend on this stuff.

Tanks can be very convenient in that you can just check the liquid level to see when you need to refill it, only down side is if its not say screwed together well or wicked good it could leak a fair bit, but its not too tricky to avoid this usually on most tanks.

The drippers or RDA's are good for more direct flavor as the wicks can be saturated a fair bit more than the tanks usually, also theres more options for airflow with those, but if you don't mind about the vapor production then tanks can be adequate for that. It can be easier to rebuild at first on drippers as theres usually loads more room for the coils and wick, and you won't really need to worry about having to wick it correctly like you would on a RTA tank.

the drippers by themself can be used for sub ohm or above 1 ohm, but ones with large airflow are generally aimed at those using thicker wires that will read at lower than 1 ohm, also dual coils will half the resistance of each coil, and quad with make it 1/4 of each coil.

You could get a cheap dripper or clone to start rebuilding even using an mvp 20 or a tank like the kanger sub tank mini that has stock coils and a rebuildable coil unit too, or something like the kayfun tank if you like a tighter draw. Just need a reel of kanthal a1, some ko gen do or muji cotton and something to wrap the coil around - can even be a screw driver or drill bit

look around for micro and macro coils, also the gauge or thickness of the wire will generally dictate whether you would be goin for a sub ohm coil or not as well as the watts you want for the coil, the thicker coils like awg 26 and awg 24 etc generally will need something over 20 watts to get hot enough to vape though.They generally are used for a warmer vape/more vapor though.

Clones can be hit n miss with quality, generally if buying online find somewhere with reviews and comments on each product can be helpful, ones made or stainless steel with stainless steel posts should generally be safe but needs a good cleaning the first time due to machine oil residue that usually present.

If you shop around you can find big spools of wire quite cheap and muji cotton too in packs of around 100 can b cheap.

 

[ElevenEleven]

Pass on the Dark Horse. There are much better RDA's that will give you better flavor.

 

[crxess]

I think someone is getting ahead of themselves.
Not willing to research - Tell me what I need? How do you confirm the information you receive is correct or will truly fit your needs?

Simple starter but may of may not fit.
SubTank mini (original not clone) for tank
Magma RDA in single coil mode for dripping

Simple devices that work and are able to grow with the user.

 

[Chelsea Ann Hall]

I have done some research tonight, and I like how the Magma clone is, there's a little space at the bottom to collect some juice, and since I switch up flavors so much, an RDA would probably be best. Since the MVP 20w only fires 20 watts, and will not go below 1 ohm, though I've heard it will do .8 ohm. I believe I need 28 gauge wire. I enjoy a wide bored tip, and one that pops off rather than screws. But the Magma is a screw on from what I saw. The only thing I'm confused on at this point is why some rdas have 2 ports, 3 ports, 4 ports, etc. Since I can't use subohm (Which I don't really mind too much as I just care mostly about flavor than clouds although clouds are nice) then wouldn't I just have to have a single coil? Or is it possible to have a dual coil ?
And also, What do the wraps have to do with anything? Like 12 wrap on 28g is what I think I'm supposed to use, and the MVP mod has an ohm reader which is very good.

 

[Chelsea Ann Hall]

What does it matter how many wraps there are, and how big around it is? Does that change the resistance or what have you?

 

[Chelsea Ann Hall]

I'm probably going to get the Magma RDA Clone, they're 25 dollars and I've heard they're easy to learn on. Like I said at this point the only thing I need to know is the purpose of wraps and how many times you wrap it, and the diameter on them. And what gauge wire (I'd like to have 1-1.5ohms) in a coil. And if I can dual coil it on a Magma Clone. I'm not trying to go up and beyond on watts and stuff, just wanting a cheaper, better alternative, and something that will taste much better than my Nautilus

 

[Chelsea Ann Hall]

From what I've gathered, the more wraps, the harder it is for the coil to heat up. Making the resistance go up, making the coil produce less power and heat up slower.

 

[edyle]

I have done some research tonight, and I like how the Magma clone is, there's a little space at the bottom to collect some juice, and since I switch up flavors so much, an RDA would probably be best. Since the MVP 20w only fires 20 watts, and will not go below 1 ohm, though I've heard it will do .8 ohm. I believe I need 28 gauge wire. I enjoy a wide bored tip, and one that pops off rather than screws. But the Magma is a screw on from what I saw. The only thing I'm confused on at this point is why some rdas have 2 ports, 3 ports, 4 ports, etc. Since I can't use subohm (Which I don't really mind too much as I just care mostly about flavor than clouds although clouds are nice) then wouldn't I just have to have a single coil? Or is it possible to have a dual coil ?
And also, What do the wraps have to do with anything? Like 12 wrap on 28g is what I think I'm supposed to use, and the MVP mod has an ohm reader which is very good.

1: 20 watts should be fine; I think these days 30 watts is more like a standard; I vape at 5 to 15 watts, and I been vaping for 2 years.

2: 28 gauge kanthal is pretty much a standard on rebuildables; although I should mention seems a lot of people use thicker wire like 26 gauge on drippers.
I usually recommend 30 gauge as an all round versatile gauge because it can even be used to recoil regular protank coils.
These days I seem to be moving from 30 guage to 28 gauge myself and I'm vaping on 2+ ohm 28 gauge coils these days.

3: the magma has a screw on topcap.
The driptip is the mouthpiece part at the top; they're called 510 drip tips; pretty standard.
The thing I don't like about the magma is they come with a plastic block down in the dripwell; however I do have a clone myself which does not have plastic down in the drip well; anyway I don't use it; i'd use my manta instead.

4: most rda's are 3 posts. the better ones are doublecenterpost so they have 4 posts for dual coil. I prefer two posts like the magma and the manta
I recommend single coil for new vapers; I still use single coil myself.

5: how many wraps:
more than 1
less than 20
7 seems to be a magic number.
I tend to use 10.... just because...I guess I'm metric?

 

[edyle]

From what I've gathered, the more wraps, the harder it is for the coil to heat up. Making the resistance go up, making the coil produce less power and heat up slower.

Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators

use steam engine

watch the flame icon over on the right

 

[vapee]

Yea the more wraps = longer wire = higher resistance, its generally good to go for around 6 to 8 wraps for coils so if you're having to use many wraps its sometimes better to go for a thinner coil that'll be higher resistance for identical coil counts. 28 gauge should be decent though, 6-8 wraps, depends on the coiling diameter too, but theres coil calculators around that'll make things a bit easier. The rdas with more posts let you do dual/quad etc coils but on most you can just install 1 coil and close off the airflow where the 2nd coil would be. Just have 1 side with airflow opened pointing at the coil.

You can use dual coils on a mvp 20w though if you wanted, just need thin wire and a fair few wraps but something like 8 wraps over a 3mm drill bit in dual coil with awg 28 or awg 30 should work, but check out the calculators to be sure. Sometimes some trial and error can be useful too

 

[Monotremata]

I have done some research tonight, and I like how the Magma clone is, there's a little space at the bottom to collect some juice, and since I switch up flavors so much, an RDA would probably be best. Since the MVP 20w only fires 20 watts, and will not go below 1 ohm, though I've heard it will do .8 ohm. I believe I need 28 gauge wire. I enjoy a wide bored tip, and one that pops off rather than screws. But the Magma is a screw on from what I saw. The only thing I'm confused on at this point is why some rdas have 2 ports, 3 ports, 4 ports, etc. Since I can't use subohm (Which I don't really mind too much as I just care mostly about flavor than clouds although clouds are nice) then wouldn't I just have to have a single coil? Or is it possible to have a dual coil ?
And also, What do the wraps have to do with anything? Like 12 wrap on 28g is what I think I'm supposed to use, and the MVP mod has an ohm reader which is very good.

I THINK your MVP can go down to .8, cant really remember. I have an MVP2 and passed on the newer 20w one because I wanted a box with swappable batteries. As for the Magma, yeah as was mentioned already the top cap screws off, but the drip tip is the mouth piece it pops right out. Be warned I dont think the Magma comes with a drip tip, at least my Infinite clone didnt. 20w is more than enough for a Magma. I used to run mine with a single 1.5ohm coil between 15-18w. Any higher than that and the Magma starts getting seriously hot. It wasnt made for high wattage cloud chucking, it was made with very little airflow to maximize flavor over vapor. 28 gauge is probably fine. I used to use 29 with mine. Any bigger than 28 and youll probably start pushing it as far as room inside goes. You dont want your coil touching the top cap or it will short out on you, so keep the wire gauge smaller as opposed to bigger. You can use the Magma with dual coils, but once again, even though it was made for one or two, that thing tends to heat up really quickly because of the way its designed, so be careful if youre going to use duals.

Not sure what you mean by the ports though.. Are you talking about the airholes around the base or the number of post holes inside the well.

 

[Nomoreash]

You've picked out a great RDA to learn on, easy to build and doesn't require much power to shine, you're MVP should be fine with it as long as you stick with single coils, which I prefer in the Magma anyway.

I usually build the Magma using 28ga in the low 1 ohm rage 1 to 1.4 is where I like it best. Check out and get use to the steam engine linked above. The coil diameter, number of wraps and wire gauge will determine the ohms.

 

[kaahn]

From what I've gathered, the more wraps, the harder it is for the coil to heat up. Making the resistance go up, making the coil produce less power and heat up slower.

Take a hard look into an original Lemo . A really good rebuildable tank atomizer (RTA) to start with IMHO. Large build deck. Good size tank. Easy to learn on. Reasonable juice consumption (1.2 to 1.6 ohm coils works really well). Good vapor production. Really good flavor.

 

[The Ocelot]

I have done some research tonight, and I like how the Magma clone is, there's a little space at the bottom to collect some juice, and since I switch up flavors so much, an RDA would probably be best. Since the MVP 20w only fires 20 watts, and will not go below 1 ohm, though I've heard it will do .8 ohm. I believe I need 28 gauge wire. I enjoy a wide bored tip, and one that pops off rather than screws. But the Magma is a screw on from what I saw. The only thing I'm confused on at this point is why some rdas have 2 ports, 3 ports, 4 ports, etc. Since I can't use subohm (Which I don't really mind too much as I just care mostly about flavor than clouds although clouds are nice) then wouldn't I just have to have a single coil? Or is it possible to have a dual coil ?
And also, What do the wraps have to do with anything? Like 12 wrap on 28g is what I think I'm supposed to use, and the MVP mod has an ohm reader which is very good.

I like my Magma, but as edyle said, there is a block in the middle. (I have an authentic, I don't know about the clone.) I've found that when I drip it's better if I screw the top off and drip directly into the well. If I drip through a drip tip the juice hits the block and splashes on the sides, instead of going into the well, then it leaks through the air holes. Once I figured that out, I didn't have any trouble with it. I like that it holds a lot of juice and you don't have to drip very often. I use 28 gauge wire and build about 1.2Ω coils on it.

ETA: I prefer RTAs, but I don't change flavors very often.

 

[crxess]

I recommend the Magma because I have (2) in my collection and I have been using both almost on a daily basis. I like changing up also and they both are great for a quick Strawberry Ice Cream or a Creamy Hazelnut in stead of filling a tank.

Both run 28Ga as it is thick enough to not heat to quick and thin enough to not drain the battery trying to heat up.
.8 is a Great build resistance, but 1-1.2ohm will also work fine.
3 Holes for air flow, but forget the smallest, it is to small for most people.
Yes the Cap screws on but once you learn when to Drip and how many drops you can just drip through the tip or pop the tip off and drip into the top. I suggest a thin tip bottle for dripping this way.
Wick ends should meet in the bottom of the well for best liquid control.
Always keep the air hole(s) side to side when vaping, not top/bottom to avoid leaks

 

[Chelsea Ann Hall]

I have a Dark Horse right now that I traded a friend, I had him build me dual coil, with 28g wire, 12 wrapped, It's on my MVP and I have the settings cranked because it's not producing as much as I want it to. Will a single coil build with just 7 wraps make it better? Also ordered a Magma clone and 28g a1 wire and reylon cotton

 

[Chelsea Ann Hall]

My reader is showing 1 ohm, Maybe I should just buy a new mod? LOL they have the clones for like 20 dollars which are basically just battery holders. Maybe going subohm is what I need, but I don't want to have to spend the money for one considering I'll have to get my hubby one too lol.