Ares, new MTL RTA designed by Phil Busardo and Dimitirs Agrafiotis

[Kusie]

Hmm, thanks for your answer, my black version came with that black o-ring installed, I think you exchan ged yours manually with the green one supplied, right? I might give it a try anyway to change that O ring. Thanks!

EDIT: upon further research I found different pictures of that lower O ring ... that makes me wonder how it´s supposed to be right...

See this, that´s mainly how it looks on my version:

And here another one, O ring looks different:

 

[Dieseler]

Kusie i have 2 Ares and the o-rings look just like your first picture not like the 2nd . Also in your first picture looking at the 6 o'clock position the o-ring is not set all the way down into base a must.
Also if i may check the diffuse cap under the coil and make sure its tightly screwed down.

With mine using using organic cotton 96%pg diy formula a 2.5 wound kanthal coil at 1 ohm 12.5w i put the cotton snug into coil and cut the legs above the base so it does not touch it when saturated as it will expand some if stuffed into coil to begin with dry it may struggle when wet and expanded.

After a weeks using 1 of the ares and nothing else just refilling it and refilling it finally it leaked similar to what you have shown changed out cotton wick only and 3 days in no problems .
When i go to fill i dab the underside of top cap while open with tissue fill and close as i have learned if not when i close top cap it pushed some e-liquid outside of it so reason why i dab it dry then fill and close other than that its fine.

You could have a bad Ares as some i think have stated but personally i would break tank down get it all dry again re wick and prime some check o-rings to be seated and when screwing base back on making sure its nice and tight.

 

[sk25411]

@Kusie the build looks good, very similar to what I’ve been running, although I use a 2.5mm ID with 8 wraps.

I would say too much cotton, but your pics look just like how I do mine. It’s very snug in the coil, and I don’t thin my tails.

The one time I had serious leaking through the air holes, there MUST have been a single strand of cotton sticking into the diffuser, or my coil was too close to it. I cleaned it out really good, soaking it, and it hasn’t happened since.

I guess I’d suggest double checking to make sure nothing is touching or near the diffuser, a good cleaning, and maybe try a 2.5mm ID.

 

[ricks]

I suggest he use a 2.5 mm coil and see how it works. @Kusie

 

[Kusie]

Thanks but ... been there, done that. 2.5 mm ID is my standard build and I actually changed to a 3 mm ID coil recently to check if the added ID and wick diameter will allow more juice flow and help to avoid reflow problems.... *sigh*

 

[Brewdawg1181]

Hi,
so I wanted to ask you folks to take a look at my build. Can´t get this thing to work like it should, after rewicking it´s fine for a few draws until the wick starts to get dry again and gives me dry hits. There is just no juice reflow. Hardly see any bubbles rising, if so, very tiny ones.

Currently I´m using a 3 mm ID SS coil 28GA with 9 wraps, very slightly spaced. Results in around 1 ohms, vaping with 14 watts. Standard KGD cotton pads used for wicking. Also tried Rayon, no difference.

View attachment 721053

View attachment 721055

View attachment 721057

View attachment 721059

What do you think?
Also, my mod looks like this in the morning:

View attachment 721061

Seeping down from the airflow ring on the mod... very annoying.
Also emaild Phil Busardo about this, maybe he can give some tipps too.
Like to master this tank, but it seems I can´t.

Any comments appreciated.
K.

With this design, it seems almost impossible that it wouldn't wick well, with decent cotton or rayon. I don't really get much in the way of bubbles, because it's primarily using capillary action to pull the juice up, and doesn't rely on vacuum as much as some other designs. The only thing I could think of with the wicking issue is that maybe using a 3mm coil, you're "pinching off" the wick as it goes thru the slots, limiting the juice flow. So maybe a 2.5mm coil would help, or thinning the wick so there's no restriction thru the slots. But the pic looks fine, and since rayon shrinks, it would be even less likely this is the cause. So if you're using a juice you're familiar with, vaping as you normally do, I'm stumped. Because in my view, that's one of the biggest benefits of this type of design - that it's hard to get too much/little wick material.

For the leaking - I believe if it were the o-ring, the juice should leak outside the AF ring. As @sk25411 said, if the o-ring is intact, it must be strands contacting the diffuser - and you should be able to confirm that by seeing if there's juice in the af chamber. But even that seems unlikely since you already rewicked and had the same issue with cotton and rayon. Hmmm???? Maybe this will be one of those things where you build again, it disappears, and you never find out why it happened!

 

[stols001]

I would break the tank down thoroughly and make sure everything is where it should be, then continue trying different builds. I agree it doesn't necessarily sound like the "problem" that certain ares were recalled for, but if you continue having trouble, maybe contact the manufacturer and see what they say, they've been pretty good for replacement/warranty as far as I can see. It may be you have a defective ares, but one not "traditionally" defective. Mine is an absolute non-leaker, I've even dropped it and it hasn't leaked. I'm really satisfied with mine, and I used a 2.0 mm spaced, stainless steel coil. I did use rayon, and that seems to be my magic wicking,, it's incredibly rare for me to get leaks nowadays, and the ares is no different. Best of luck, I hope you get it solved....

Anna

 

[Kusie]

Good morning,
thanks for all the help and encouraging tips. I also got an answer from Phil Busardo yesterday (I sent him the upper images and asked for advise). This is what he recommended:

1. Keep you coil as close to the air diffuser as possible without touching it.
2. Try to cut your cotton a little short so that it doesn't touch the base of the deck
3. Keep your cotton/rayon wick firm in the coil, but brush it out on the sides to
   remove some fibers, thin it out a bit, and be sure the fibers are going in one direction.
4. make sure all your o-rings are seated correctly, and you have your cotton (and any stray fibers) away from the bottom o-rings and wick channel threads.

So I grabbed my Ares this morning, completely disassembled it, cleaned in ultrasonic bath, checked/tightened the air diffuser, exchanged the black base o-ring with the green one from the addon bag (only managed to remove the base o ring, could get the glass off from the top o ring and didn´t want to use too much force and break my glass..), made a new slightly spaced 2.5 ID SS coil and placed it as close as possible to the air diffuser, made a pretty tight cotton wick and thinned out/brushed/combed the tails. Put anything together and gave it a few test puffs, so far so good.

I immediately noticed a change, after every draw I now get a big visible bubble comming up from the base which is a good sign in my opinion. It seems I really choked the wick channels too much before... I now really fear that it starts to leak again. We´ll see. Time will tell if that did the trick.
K.

 

[Dieseler]

Good luck Kusie let us know how that works out for you let us know and if it does not hopefully you can return it .

 

[sk25411]

So, I opened a new Ares last night, simply because I’ve been testing so many flavors.

This one has a definite defect. The top cap is not seated tight. The fill mechanism slides great, but the cap creates zero seal, making it super airy.

You can see from the pics, that if you press down, it seats the top well, making it a nice tight draw. The little Innokin band around the top also seals it up nice.

Gonna email them today, as this one definitely has an issue.

 

[Cirus]

So, I opened a new Ares last night, simply because I’ve been testing so many flavors.

This one has a definite defect. The top cap is not seated tight. The fill mechanism slides great, but the cap creates zero seal, making it super airy.

You can see from the pics, that if you press down, it seats the top well, making it a nice tight draw. The little Innokin band around the top also seals it up nice.

Gonna email them today, as this one definitely has an issue.


View attachment 721285 View attachment 721287

Sounds like my defective tank.

 

[Cirus]

Good morning,
thanks for all the help and encouraging tips. I also got an answer from Phil Busardo yesterday (I sent him the upper images and asked for advise). This is what he recommended:

1. Keep you coil as close to the air diffuser as possible without touching it.
2. Try to cut your cotton a little short so that it doesn't touch the base of the deck
3. Keep your cotton/rayon wick firm in the coil, but brush it out on the sides to
   remove some fibers, thin it out a bit, and be sure the fibers are going in one direction.
4. make sure all your o-rings are seated correctly, and you have your cotton (and any stray fibers) away from the bottom o-rings and wick channel threads.

So I grabbed my Ares this morning, completely disassembled it, cleaned in ultrasonic bath, checked/tightened the air diffuser, exchanged the black base o-ring with the green one from the addon bag (only managed to remove the base o ring, could get the glass off from the top o ring and didn´t want to use too much force and break my glass..), made a new slightly spaced 2.5 ID SS coil and placed it as close as possible to the air diffuser, made a pretty tight cotton wick and thinned out/brushed/combed the tails. Put anything together and gave it a few test puffs, so far so good.

I immediately noticed a change, after every draw I now get a big visible bubble comming up from the base which is a good sign in my opinion. It seems I really choked the wick channels too much before... I now really fear that it starts to leak again. We´ll see. Time will tell if that did the trick.
K.

I use a 3mm ID coil but thin my wick a lot (guess that's subjective). No leaking, great flavor with diluted VG

 

[Cirus]

I use a 3mm ID coil but thin my wick a lot (guess that's subjective). No leaking, great flavor with diluted VG

I should probably specify this is with the Scottish Roll method.

 

[sk25411]

Innokin is on vacation until 2/24, so I don’t see hearing back from them anytime soon.

 

[stols001]

True, true. You may still want to email your issue, if it's continuing. And keep a copy, to verify you are still within warranty period when everyone turns up again. Good luck.

Anna

 

[Chodi]

I considered buying this tank mostly because of the creators but I find endless comments here and on other forums about problems. That has kept me from giving it a try. I don't see so many posts about problems and defects with any other rta. It is possible that Innokin just did not do their homework with this one? That is a shame cause I have a high regard for Phil's reviews.

 

[Dieseler]

I considered buying this tank mostly because of the creators but I find endless comments here and on other forums about problems. That has kept me from giving it a try. I don't see so many posts about problems and defects with any other rta. It is possible that Innokin just did not do their homework with this one? That is a shame cause I have a high regard for Phil's reviews.

Personally think its is a quality control issue such as a few posts above showing top cap defect and also reading some that have o ring issues when trying to take apart a brand new tank and o ring stuck to glass.
The o rings i have found imparts a taste to the e liquid even after washing in soap and water but learned to soak them in lemon juice for a day then re washing them to neutralize that taste.Soap does not do that alone at least with the flavoring i use.

Perhaps i did get lucky with the 2 i have so far no leakage with 95 to 96 % PG in diy and very nice flavor for about a week and a half. After a full week did get leakage telling me to change out the wick after vaping with the tanks exclusively using nothing else.

 

[DaveP]

I considered buying this tank mostly because of the creators but I find endless comments here and on other forums about problems. That has kept me from giving it a try. I don't see so many posts about problems and defects with any other rta. It is possible that Innokin just did not do their homework with this one? That is a shame cause I have a high regard for Phil's reviews.

The Ares is a good tank. The only issue I had with it is just a slight wetness around the AFC ring if you lay it on its side without closing down the air ports. Now, I just rotate the AFC ring counterclockwise until it stops to cover the air holes. So far, so good.

ETA: After rewatching Busardo's tutorial on wicking the Ares I rewicked mine with a little more Rayon. He suggests a wick thickness that requires twisting the wick to get it into the deck slots and letting the wick touch the deck at the bottom. So far, so good. My wick was obviously a little thinner than it needed to be, especially since Rayon shrinks when juiced.

 

[Brewdawg1181]

I considered buying this tank mostly because of the creators but I find endless comments here and on other forums about problems. That has kept me from giving it a try. I don't see so many posts about problems and defects with any other rta. It is possible that Innokin just did not do their homework with this one? That is a shame cause I have a high regard for Phil's reviews.

I believe on the first shipments, there were tolerance issues on the filling grommet/top cap, but those have been fixed. I didn't order until they'd been out a while, and mine has been flawless. No leaks, condensation issues, not whistling, nothing. I'm looking at one right now, sitting on my desk, on a paper towel for 3 days on its side, and no leaks.

It's got great flavor, easy to build, easy to fill, comfortable to use. I found, sadly, that it isn't quite the best TH for my taste, but I still use it some. I think it "functions" better than any atty I've owned.

 

[Dieseler]

I believe on the first shipments, there were tolerance issues on the filling grommet/top cap, but those have been fixed. I didn't order until they'd been out a while, and mine has been flawless. No leaks, condensation issues, not whistling, nothing. I'm looking at one right now, sitting on my desk, on a paper towel for 3 days on its side, and no leaks.
View attachment 722513
It's got great flavor, easy to build, easy to fill, comfortable to use. I found, sadly, that it isn't quite the best TH for my taste, but I still use it some. I think it "functions" better than any atty I've owned.

May i ask where did you make your purchase from.
It may help others if they decide to buy an ares tank.