Help needed for newbie to RBA

[Via]

Got a subtank mini at weekend and some elements frost... amazing can't get enough of it... anyway thought I'd try my hands at the RBA base with it (and the two pre built coils) first attempt and wow amazing, went through a tank in no time... then within a day started to get dry burn so thought I'd re wick the coil... pulled old one out and dry burnt the coil (read somewhere it was a good idea) put new wick in and omg never tasted anything more disgusting in my life.

So replaced the coil and new wick and again was in heaven, until tonight where again started to dry burn so thought I'd catch it early and removed old wick this time being clever and not dry burning coil, put new wick in, dropped some juice, reassembled everything and gave it a bit more time to seep in... absolutely foul again!

Any idea why this is? Surely I don't have to replace coil every time? Could understand it first time if I'd burnt something bad into coil dry burning it but all that was done 2nd time was replace an old wick with new one, didn't touch power button till all finished and juiced up.

 

[Hans Wermhat]

Dunno, man. Doesn't sound right to me. There's another problem somewhere.

 

[itskohler]

Bring your power down, work your way back up until it tastes normal.

 

[Foggy Road]

I'm new to RBA also. Using an EHPro Squape Clone. Still on my first coil for about 3 weeks now. Dry burned, wet burned and rewicked several times.
Got a terrible mouthful of burnt cotton vape once. Believe I dislocated my wick while reassembling the atty that time. Been REALLY soaking my wick with juice before reassembling since then. Seems to keep it in place. My last rewick I thought I was using to much cotton but it worked out really well. Been all day vaping on it 4 days now and still going strong. Not even a hint of a leak or seepage.
I would suggest searching YouTube for some build videos.

Wet burn?

 

[stalkster]

Sounds like a wicking issue. To much cotton usually causes poor wicking performance ie dry~burnt hits. Where not enough wicking causes leaking/flooding. You can put some juice on the wick/coil to give it a head start before you put the tank back together/fill it.

 

[Superfecta_]

I second the wicking issue, It's tough to get it right, but when you do, you'll be set. I'd keep experimenting with more/less cotton, and go from there.

 

[Ou2mame]

Have you watched some youtube videos on building it? They are super informative. A lot of it is wick position too. I find the pancake wicking to be the overall best, as long as you don't let the tank sit sideways. Otherwise a traditional wick is better for you. Also juice thickness can be an issue. Kanger made a v2 of the rba with holes in it. Look it up, drilling holes might help you a great deal with higher vg ratio juice. And don't forget about cotton thickness, you want it snug but not tight. And not loose. Watch some videos if you haven't and see what they do. Rip, while annoying and possibly shady business wise, makes great tutorials.

 

[SelakQ]

Oh there could be a long list.
Most important is patience and trial & Error.
Watch out :
1 Make sure the Wire is close linked - make sure before putting cotton that you press power and see if it goes from the inside out - if not press them together with pliers or pincers.
2 Use less heat and work your self upwards on your build - not down!
3 Let the Coils sit before vaping - maybe avoid chain vaping
4 Add distilled Water - 5-7 % depending on how high you VG is.
5 Make sure the cotton doesnt sit too lose in your coil if you out the cotton through the build - which the Kanger RBA does.

 

[suprtrkr]

I don't think you hurt dry burning the coil. I do it all the time when I re-wick to get the gunk off. From your description I can not tell what, but something else is wrong.

 

[Via]

Thanks for all your help really don't know what causes it, got some wire today and made my very first coil and very happy with result but think definitely over doing the wicking so will try less on next build.

With a new coil and wick again bad taste is gone but putting me off attempting to re wick this one as I never want to taste that again! I've never tasted anything more foul and can still taste it thinking about it.

Determined to stick with vaping this time round (been on and off for couple of years now) but it's worse than drugs in some ways I'm always trying for a better hit and never as good as first one lol

 

[mudmanc4]

I've had cotton that simply taste like the thought of the dust on those boxes in the building at the end of the first Raiders of the Lost Ark movie ... get all that?

Is it that Japanese Fukushima yellowish cotton people rave about? That's the worst offender by far for the initial taste of burnt sheep .....

 

[Via]

Nah normal white stuff... is yellow cotton like yellow snow?

I used same cotton for all attempts so would think if it was that then it would taste bad new or old coil? But at same time only difference between good and bad was changing cotton... personally can't see any logical reason.

Maybe I just had it turned up too high too soon but normally run quite low anyway as I don't like the vape too hot.

 

[Via]

TbhI really can't describe taste it's just wrong, hint of burning rubber but wouldn't say it was that... was worried at first it was a burnt seal but again went away with a new coil.

 

[edyle]

Got a subtank mini at weekend and some elements frost... amazing can't get enough of it... anyway thought I'd try my hands at the RBA base with it (and the two pre built coils) first attempt and wow amazing, went through a tank in no time... then within a day started to get dry burn so thought I'd re wick the coil... pulled old one out and dry burnt the coil (read somewhere it was a good idea) put new wick in and omg never tasted anything more disgusting in my life.

So replaced the coil and new wick and again was in heaven, until tonight where again started to dry burn so thought I'd catch it early and removed old wick this time being clever and not dry burning coil, put new wick in, dropped some juice, reassembled everything and gave it a bit more time to seep in... absolutely foul again!

Any idea why this is? Surely I don't have to replace coil every time? Could understand it first time if I'd burnt something bad into coil dry burning it but all that was done 2nd time was replace an old wick with new one, didn't touch power button till all finished and juiced up.

1:
When dryburning, you don't want the coil getting too hot; you don't want to burn the insulators.
So just adjust the power so that you get a smooth dryburn where the coil can glow red but not look like it is turning more orange to yellow super hot.

2:
Dryburn till all the stuff smokes off, and blow on the coil to blow off the stuff/ash.
you can also quench the coil with water, but that has a chance of snapping the coil

3:
after you rewick, juice up the wick directly so you don't have to wait; you can even fire up the juiced coil/wick without the tank on to observe the action.



- oh - and wash your hands/fingers before handling the cotton to wick; yup; smelly fingers end up making smelly wick and leave you wondering what you did wrong.

 

[evan le'garde]

Got a subtank mini at weekend and some elements frost... amazing can't get enough of it... anyway thought I'd try my hands at the RBA base with it (and the two pre built coils) first attempt and wow amazing, went through a tank in no time... then within a day started to get dry burn so thought I'd re wick the coil... pulled old one out and dry burnt the coil (read somewhere it was a good idea) put new wick in and omg never tasted anything more disgusting in my life.

So replaced the coil and new wick and again was in heaven, until tonight where again started to dry burn so thought I'd catch it early and removed old wick this time being clever and not dry burning coil, put new wick in, dropped some juice, reassembled everything and gave it a bit more time to seep in... absolutely foul again!

Any idea why this is? Surely I don't have to replace coil every time? Could understand it first time if I'd burnt something bad into coil dry burning it but all that was done 2nd time was replace an old wick with new one, didn't touch power button till all finished and juiced up.

The Subtank Mini RBA coils are 0.5 ohm. When i used a Subtank Mini RBA with a 0.5 ohm coil the highest wattage i'd use was 25, and i knew when to take my finger off the trigger.

Re-wicking the coil was simple enough. Nice and loose, cut just above the drum, obviously after screwing the drum on by slipping it over the wick tails, then poking the wick down into the juice well inside. If you pack the well too much with wick the juice won't flow and a dry hit will occur. If you fit a wick in your coil which is too tight, again the juice won't flow and a dry hit will occur.

 

[SelakQ]

Thanks for all your help really don't know what causes it, got some wire today and made my very first coil and very happy with result but think definitely over doing the wicking so will try less on next build.

With a new coil and wick again bad taste is gone but putting me off attempting to re wick this one as I never want to taste that again! I've never tasted anything more foul and can still taste it thinking about it.

Determined to stick with vaping this time round (been on and off for couple of years now) but it's worse than drugs in some ways I'm always trying for a better hit and never as good as first one lol

well the foul taste could narrow it down to two things;
1- After wicking - let the coil glow without cotton - ingnite the coil - see if she glows from the inside out if not pinch them stronger together.
2- use a thicker cotton, so gently "squeez" it in for that it spreads smoothly in the wicked coil and does not lay there. (Apology if my english is not that spot on)