Just picked up an arbiter2 RTA... I'm afraid maybe it's not quite for me though.

[Mediocre00Rebel]

Ok, so the stuffy nose I got was just part of the ongoing cold I have had for the last week. None of it was vape related.

I just built the wake RTA with two "22AWG+0.4*0.08MM NI80+A1 3mm 0.6+0.05ohm" coils. And some COTN cotton. I used strawberry ice sadboy juice. It actually works pretty great and I can taste it!! Huge ... clouds. Still uses a bit more juice than what id like, but it's good for a quick nicotine fix.

One question though, I can see air bubbles when I puff it, but only on one side of the tank. Both coils look like they're remaining saturated regardless, is this normal?

Thank you all for your support! The coils I used came in a multi pack called master coil. They seem to work great. Lol. "Super tiger coil." I actually picked that one cause it was the smallest, but damn. Huge clouds.

 

[Mediocre00Rebel]

....!!!! It's leaking out the air holes in the bottom!!! What did I do? I think I may know, I closed the airflow and sucked on it to make extra sure there was enough juice on the wick. I think I actually just flooded it. Maybe the culprit was me. Lol.

 

[Mediocre00Rebel]

It's very fulfilling doing this. It actually tastes fantastic too. Even at just 65 watts I got tons of flavor and huge clouds.

 

[rob33]

It's just a learning curve, you can't expect to start making perfect coils straight out of the gate. You don't even know what you are looking for yet. I bet if you have the desire and stick with in a month or two you won't look back. I was opposite of you, I was building my own coils and tried the premade ones and no way would I use them.

Starting out just keep it simple, single wire then on to a clapton wire the better you get you can make the same coil over and over.

 

[zoiDman]

It's very fulfilling doing this. It actually tastes fantastic too. Even at just 65 watts I got tons of flavor and huge clouds.

Yeah... RTA's can be Great. And can Free a Person from the need to continually buy Coil Heads that are much more Expensive. But also can become harder and harder to find.

Just takes a little Experimentation to figure out What makes What happen in a Build?

What happens if I use More Cotton vs Less?
Do I get More Flavor if the Coil is mounted Higher or Lower to the Deck?
Do Spaced Coils work Better? Or are Contact Coils the way to go?
Are Single Coil RTA's Better for Flavor?
Do I need Low Ohms and High Watts? Or can I get the Same Thing with Higher Ohms and Lower Watts?

Things like that.

 

[tj99959]

I'm old school, and probably shouldn't even be in this thread.
But, if juice consumption is your worry, try a MTL tank instead of chasing clouds with a DL tank.
Besides, all clouds are the same size when you close your eyes.
I wrap 2.0 ohm coils instead of 0.2 ohm, and vape @ 8 watts instead of 80, and only use 3-4 ml/day
5 wraps of 32 ga kenthal a1 around 3mm ekowool wick

 

[Mediocre00Rebel]

I really really like this wake tank. I actually think I got it nearly perfect after ....ing with it for a while. The juice tastes great. Even got sweetness to it. It's not too overpowering, and despite it consuming more juice. I filled to the top, and drove to work which is like 35 min, I used to smoke like 6 cigarettes on my way. I looked at my tank now and it's not even at the halfway mark yet, although when it hits that it goes faster because the internal components take up a lot of space. I'm actually really liking this. Once this gets low I'm gonna fill it with one of my favorite juices and see how that is

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

Every ex-smoker vaper is different in terms of what they need in order to stay off the cigarettes. That has been iterated and reiterated on this forum a billion times and it's 300% true. Some ex-smokers can MTL vape without inhaling at 4.7 watts and be satisfied while others need a warm and cloudy 70W DL vape. But it is what it is and that's what it is.

 

[Mediocre00Rebel]

I'm gonna give the arbiter2 another try sometime, I think I'm actually gonna change that setup to smaller coils though. I figure, smaller coil, less cotton, less juice consumption... Yeah?

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

I really really like this wake tank. I actually think I got it nearly perfect after ....ing with it for a while. The juice tastes great. Even got sweetness to it. It's not too overpowering, and despite it consuming more juice. I filled to the top, and drove to work which is like 35 min, I used to smoke like 6 cigarettes on my way. I looked at my tank now and it's not even at the halfway mark yet, although when it hits that it goes faster because the internal components take up a lot of space. I'm actually really liking this. Once this gets low I'm gonna fill it with one of my favorite juices and see how that is

Not a bad experience for a $5 tank. Looks like you should have picked up another one of these instead of another arbiter lol

 

[Mediocre00Rebel]

Every ex-smoker vaper is different in terms of what they need in order to stay off the cigarettes. That has been iterated and reiterated on this forum a billion times and it's 300% true. Some ex-smokers can MTL vape without inhaling at 4.7 watts and be satisfied while others need a warm and cloudy 70W DL vape. But it is what it is and that's what it is.

I'm the second type. Lol I got it at 70 watts right now lol. It's weird cause the drop ins wouldn't give me as rounded of a flavor as this does. At that wattage*

 

[Mediocre00Rebel]

Not a bad experience for a $5 tank. Looks like you should have picked up another one of these instead of another arbiter lol

It's a learning curve. Don't get me wrong, the other tank has amazing flavor and more advanced leak protection. I wish it had better spitback protection, but I'm gonna try a different coil setup in it sometime.

 

[Superuser187]

It's a learning curve. Don't get me wrong, the other tank has amazing flavor and more advanced leak protection. I wish it had better spitback protection, but I'm gonna try a different coil setup in it sometime.

Smaller coils or less number of coils means less heating surface area which means less juice consumption.

The spitback u experienced usually means that needs the cotton to be little tighter through into the coil but sometimes some coils may be a little spitty when they are fresh wicked until u vape it a bit like 2 tanks and then it may stop spiting.

Defenetly worth to give the arbiter another try after all u paid for it and its a good rta

 

[Mediocre00Rebel]

Smaller coils or less number of coils means less heating surface area which means less juice consumption.

The spitback u experienced usually means that needs the cotton to be little tighter through into the coil but sometimes some coils may be a little spitty when they are fresh wicked until u vape it a bit like 2 tanks and then it may stop spiting.

Defenetly worth to give the arbiter another try after all u paid for it and its a good rta

Quick question, my wake started leaking at the bottom when it got too hot. On my way to work it didn't, but when I got here I got a little over zealous and hit it a lot. It started leaking from the bottom. I've read that not enough cotton can cause this. Does that apply to after it gets hot too?

 

[Mediocre00Rebel]

I'm old school, and probably shouldn't even be in this thread.
But, if juice consumption is your worry, try a MTL tank instead of chasing clouds with a DL tank.
Besides, all clouds are the same size when you close your eyes.
I wrap 2.0 ohm coils instead of 0.2 ohm, and vape @ 8 watts instead of 80, and only use 3-4 ml/day
5 wraps of 32 ga kenthal a1 around 3mm ekowool wick

I think an MTL tank will be my next one, I might actually get another setup too, cause now I got a bunch of tanks and only 1 mod. I want to get an MTL when I wanna be more discreet.

 

[Superuser187]

Quick question, my wake started leaking at the bottom when it got too hot. On my way to work it didn't, but when I got here I got a little over zealous and hit it a lot. It started leaking from the bottom. I've read that not enough cotton can cause this. Does that apply to after it gets hot too?

Leaking is caused by not enough cotton yes but its a fine line between lot of cotton that will cause dry hits or muted flavour and not enough cotton that will cause leaks and with experience u learn the atomizer u may use and build it as good as possible.

The juices contain vg and pg and those 2 liquids have different viscosity so if i was gonna build my rta lets say for example for full vg juice that is very thick i would thin my cotton ends more in order to help it absorb the thick juiceso even the juice should be taken into consideration.


If your atomizer gets warn it will make the juice warm also and that makes the juice less thick (viscous?) so it will be more easily absorbed and may cause leak.
This can happen also in hot summer days for example my wicking and the amount of cotton i use is different at winter and summer.

One more thing that can make an atomizer leak is vibrations such as letting your vape on a car dash that maybe its vibrating for some reason or any other source of vibration.

And last thing is condensation.
Can be mistaken for leaking, as we vape all atomizers build up condensation in the airflow holes and depending on the atomizer design those condensations may run out of the airflow holes or may not.
Sometimes it may be just a drop of juice once per day or 2 and its not biggy to wipe it in my opinion.

Leaking is another thing tho and is caused by wrong wicking and is usualy much more juice running out of the bottom airflow and may even be worst than few drops and all juice of the tank run out of airflow holes and make a mess.

Just saying because sometimes no matter how good u build a rebuildable u wont even get rid some minor condensation and need to wipe it but its fine if its just once per day so i say if its not much dont get crazy about it if u see u cant make it stop.

Also another thing may be that u inhale very hard and the airflow cant keep up so u draw juice from the tank to the coil.
Thats more rare to happend with direct lung airy atomizers because usually u cant unhale soooooo hard.
In mouth to lung atomizers if u vape on very very tight airflow for example u may experience leaks and see that u need to add more cotton.
So even the way u inhale is something that can affect and determine how much cotton u use.

Either way u just build and try remember how much cotton u used last time and it u have leaks the next time u try add little more so u adjust accordingly.
And with time u get better at it and its always easy and works great

Excuse my bad english lol hope u understand

 

[Mediocre00Rebel]

Leaking is caused by not enough cotton yes but its a fine line between lot of cotton that will cause dry hits or muted flavour and not enough cotton that will cause leaks and with experience u learn the atomizer u may use and build it as good as possible.

The juices contain vg and pg and those 2 liquids have different viscosity so if i was gonna build my rta lets say for example for full vg juice that is very thick i would thin my cotton ends more in order to help it absorb the thick juiceso even the juice should be taken into consideration.


If your atomizer gets warn it will make the juice warm also and that makes the juice less thick (viscous?) so it will be more easily absorbed and may cause leak.
This can happen also in hot summer days for example my wicking and the amount of cotton i use is different at winter and summer.

One more thing that can make an atomizer leak is vibrations such as letting your vape on a car dash that maybe its vibrating for some reason or any other source of vibration.

And last thing is condensation.
Can be mistaken for leaking, as we vape all atomizers build up condensation in the airflow holes and depending on the atomizer design those condensations may run out of the airflow holes or may not.
Sometimes it may be just a drop of juice once per day or 2 and its not biggy to wipe it in my opinion.

Leaking is another thing tho and is caused by wrong wicking and is usualy much more juice running out of the bottom airflow and may even be worst than few drops and all juice of the tank run out of airflow holes and make a mess.

Just saying because sometimes no matter how good u build a rebuildable u wont even get rid some minor condensation and need to wipe it but its fine if its just once per day so i say if its not much dont get crazy about it if u see u cant make it stop.

Also another thing may be that u inhale very hard and the airflow cant keep up so u draw juice from the tank to the coil.
Thats more rare to happend with direct lung airy atomizers because usually u cant unhale soooooo hard.
In mouth to lung atomizers if u vape on very very tight airflow for example u may experience leaks and see that u need to add more cotton.
So even the way u inhale is something that can affect and determine how much cotton u use.

Either way u just build and try remember how much cotton u used last time and it u have leaks the next time u try add little more so u adjust accordingly.
And with time u get better at it and its always easy and works great

Excuse my bad english lol hope u understand

Ok awesome. It seems really intermittent almost. Like I was just puffing it and it didn't leak that time. Maybe I was doing it too hard like you said, causing it to maybe draw up too much. I noticed that the RTA tanks feel like a tighter draw than the drop ins I was using.

 

[Superuser187]

Ok awesome. It seems really intermittent almost. Like I was just puffing it and it didn't leak that time. Maybe I was doing it too hard like you said, causing it to maybe draw up too much. I noticed that the RTA tanks feel like a tighter draw than the drop ins I was using.

As a new to rebuildables i think u do great since if u had made a serious mistake with the cotton u would have lot of leaking and wont be vapable.
But yeah can be lots of reasons that may cause some juice or condensation apear.

The airflow depends on the rta or subohm tank because not all are the same but some are more airy than others if we compare full open airflow.

Also the placement of the coils can affect the airflow if the coils are very close to the airflow holes for example on the deck then the air pass and hits the coil hard and that creates some kind of resistance and turbulence that makes it tighter on the draw.
And ofc the size of the coils matter also.
If u fit the biggest coil u can fit on any atomizer u will definitely get tighter airflow and also warmer vapor btw since it wont be able to be cooled properly. Sooo not a good idea usually.

There are lots of small things that u find out with experience as u rebuild and try things and there are also the quorks of some atomizers.
I just say so u just have in mind and if it sounds tooo much atm i am sure later u will get used to everything.

 

[Superuser187]

Ok awesome. It seems really intermittent almost. Like I was just puffing it and it didn't leak that time. Maybe I was doing it too hard like you said, causing it to maybe draw up too much. I noticed that the RTA tanks feel like a tighter draw than the drop ins I was using.

As a new to rebuildables i think u do great since if u had made a serious mistake with the cotton u would have lot of leaking and wont be vapable.
But yeah can be lots of reasons that may cause some juice or condensation apear.

The airflow depends on the rta or subohm tank because not all are the same but some are more airy than others if we compare full open airflow.

Also the placement of the coils can affect the airflow if the coils are very close to the airflow holes for example on the deck then the air pass and hits the coil hard and that creates some kind of resistance and turbulence that makes it tighter on the draw.
And ofc the size of the coils matter also.
If u fit the biggest coil u can fit on any atomizer u will definitely get tighter airflow and also warmer vapor btw since it wont be able to be cooled properly. Sooo not a good idea usually.

There are lots of small things that u find out with experience as u rebuild and try things and there are also the quorks of some atomizers.
I just say so u just have in mind and if it sounds tooo much atm i am sure later u will get used to everything.

 

[Z-Lee]

I did the same thing as you with the original Arbiter. Single coil build. It was okay, but it wasn't anything special to me. In fact, I sidelined the atty for 6 or so months because I just wasn't impressed.

Then I got bored one day. I threw a bunch of rebuildables I had laying around on my desk and I started going through them all one by one. Thoroughly cleaned, coils dry burnt or replaced if needed, rewicked, etc. I came across the Arbiter and figured eh, I'm going to throw a dual coil in this and see if it makes any difference.

The difference: Night and Day.

Dual coils have larger chambers to accommodate the space for 2 coils. If you opt for a single coil in a dual coil, you're now created a lot of open space for air to dilute the vapor your single coil is producing and it also changes the path of airflow. With a single coil, the airflow intake is pointed in such a way that it should be no more than a millimeter or two from the coil. When you stick a single coil in a dual coil chamber, you've essentially added at least 1.5 mm of empty space on each side of the coil (assuming the airflow is aimed from the side) allowing a ton of the airflow to circumvent the coil.

If you were to take a look around, you'd probably notice that one of the newest "highly talked about" rebuildables is the Damn Vape Nitrous RDA. What this kit does that separates it from the rest, is it includes 2 top caps that are specifically used for single or dual coils. This was to address the chamber space to coil ratio.

My suggestion would be to commit your single coil to one side so that it's closer to the airflow intake. A better suggestion would be to go to a dual coil configuration, but I realize you're concerned about the juice consumption. Another option would be to shop around for a well-known, good performing single coil RTA.

I will agree that the Arbiter appears to be a juice guzzler (apparently that hasn't changed from the OG to the second edition). I do however think that much of the juice usage is perceived and not actual. If you look at the chamber size in comparison to other tanks, it's huuuuuuge! (said in a Fat Bas-turd accent). There isn't very much space between the glass and the chamber, which makes the rate at which the juice is being consumed seem very rapid.

From Left to Right: Vaporesso iTank, Hellvape Dead Rabbit V2 RTA, OXVA Arbiter RTA, Innokin Z Force

There's quite a bit of juice that pools down at the bottom of this tank. Like a lot.


If you are looking for single coil RTA flavor bangers that won't break the bank, I'm sure there are quite a few people here that have suggestions for that.

I would recommend:

Smokerstore Taifun GT4 - Clone from FastTech is under $30.

Vapefly Siegfried Mesh RTA - This is a good one because you can try out mesh with this as well as clamp in a single coil if you don't find mesh to be your thing. This is my favorite mesh tank for RDL.

Steampipes Cabeo RDTA - More or less built the same way as an RTA. The tank on this one is pretty small, so an RDL or MTL setup is best (high/higher Ohm, low Wattage build). Clones can be found at FastTech for under $30 as well.

Hellvape Dead Rabbit V2 RTA - Easy to build on, great flavor.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment.