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g3n3r1c

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I posted this question once before an for the life of me can't find it, or the answer:

Can someone please tell me what gage wire Kanger uses for their coils on the rba?

I'm going to guess by the rather large diameter of the wire that it's 24 ga, but not sure.

Thanks.

I mic'd it out to .34 .35, puts it right in the 26-27awg range if it's Kanthal A1...
Resistance is very close with my 27awg, but off enough to make me think they're using 26awg .
 

Darryl Licht

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I've been battling the wicking techniques (as many here have) since this is my first rebuilder. I had a little bit better luck with this last one. Resistance is .7 and I'm able to take short (<=4 sec) drags on it at about 17w without getting burnt hits.

I'm going to take another stab at wicking tonight, but I was hoping someone could help me clarify some technique. I've seen a lot of different things about keeping the cotton (I'm using japanese cotton) fluffy, but you also want to compress it, but not twist it.

My plan is to cut a piece about 3-4x the ID of the coil, take one side of the compressed "skin" off, compress it down about half way (the amount that will go through the coil), snip the ends, then fluff it back out while laying it down to the base.

Does that sound right?

Yes that sounds about right, although 3x the width of the ID of coil is what I use. I've tried peeling only one skin vs pulling both skins, and I see little difference. I use my eliquid and a toothpick to saturate the wick and move it down leaving a 1-2mm gap for the juice channels. Wicking is cheap and easy to do, keep experimenting and you'll find the sweet spot!
 
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Darryl Licht

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I seems to get burned hits whatever I do on this rba so Im soon give up. Done all kinds och wicking and so on. Dont know why this doesnt work for me

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Yeah, I don't know why so many are having issues with this fantastic lil RBA! I've had zero issues, zero dry hits (except the time I pulled off my .4 ohm RDA @ 40w and put on my STM with RBA build at .7! Yikes! But that was user error!
 

gpjoe

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I mic'd it out to .34 .35, puts it right in the 26-27awg range if it's Kanthal A1...
Resistance is very close with my 27awg, but off enough to make me think they're using 26awg .

Thanks. I just compared it again to my 26ga kanthal and it looks very close. I haven't gotten out my digital mic to verify but it looks close enough.
 

Nailz

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    Yeah, I don't know why so many are having issues with this fantastic lil RBA! I've had zero issues, zero dry hits (except the time I pulled off my .4 ohm RDA @ 40w and put on my STM with RBA build at .7! Yikes! But that was user error!

    I agree, had zero problems with my RBA, have a single 0.70ohm build on it, admit I am only using 50/50 juice in it, but had no dry hits or wicking problems, just bought a 2nd mini, because I like how easy it is to fill and how quick you can change your wick easily too, replacing my other tanks for mini's :D
     
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    vincom

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    I hate this RBA deck honestly, it's not capable of doing what I want without modding it.

    And by what I want, I mean .5 ohm builds with 6-8 second inhales at 25 watts wide open with very VG heavy juice, lol. I'm probably wanting a little too much from it is the problem lol.
    Ya I think with that long of a drag ur pushing the boundaries but maybe do a primer pull b4 doing it might help or thin out the juice a little or dremel the weep slots
     

    shreduhsoreus

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    Ya I think with that long of a drag ur pushing the boundaries but maybe do a primer pull b4 doing it might help or thin out the juice a little or dremel the weep slots

    Yea I'm probably just going to make the slots a little bigger so it can handle longer drags without drying out. I can get to about 3 or 4 seconds, sometimes 4 is pushing it though and the tail end of the hit is dry.
     

    Darryl Licht

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    Yea I'm probably just going to make the slots a little bigger so it can handle longer drags without drying out. I can get to about 3 or 4 seconds, sometimes 4 is pushing it though and the tail end of the hit is dry.

    I'd suggest that you continue with wick trial and error before you perform an un-repairable modification. I can take a 5-10 second lung hit on mine using KGD ... cotton. Wicks are easy and cheap to replace, hacking your rba is undoable!
     

    cigatron

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    I'd suggest that you continue with wick trial and error before you perform an un-repairable modification. I can take a 5-10 second lung hit on mine using KGD ... cotton. Wicks are easy and cheap to replace, hacking your rba is undoable!

    At what wattage and juice ratio? I can take 5-10 sec chain vapes at 25w but only with 65vg or thinner juices. I usually vape with 3-4sec pulls at 27-30w though. I just don't like to suck on the stupid things longer than that.

    Tanks come prepackaged, so to speak, with a time limit on length of pulls and it's inversely proportional to your wattage setting. During the pull no air bubbles can move into the tank so you start to run lean on juice, especially when the tank is near full. The low pressure air in the tank restricts the flow of juice during long pulls. No air in equals restricted juice flow out. Better to take more frequent shorter pulls at higher wattage imo to allow air bubbles to enter the tank and relieve some of the low pressure between vapes. That said, once the tank is down to about 3/4 level there is more air in the tank so it can stretch more easily allowing for more juice flow during longer pulls.

    So if you're going to impress your friends by fogging the room up wait untll the tank level has dropped some and then take the longer 6-10 sec pulls at higher wattage.

    With higher vg thicker juices the bubbles have a more difficult time entering the tank. It's because of viscosity. Because it's harder for the bubble to molecularly separate the higher viscosity vg juice the bubbles will not enter the tank as readily and that causes even lower air pressure in the tank which in turn makes it even more difficult to pull juice in.

    Trying not to get too techy here but it can be beneficial to understand when troubleshooting problems.
     
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    Darryl Licht

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    At what wattage and juice ratio? I can take 5-10 sec chain vapes at 25w but only with 65vg or thinner juices. I usually vape with 3-4sec pulls at 27-30w though. I just don't like to suck on the stupid things longer than that.

    0.7 ohms @ 20W using 80%-99%VG liquids. Normal hits are 3-5 sec for me as well. I too hate sucking! LOL!

    My point is that I believe with proper wicking you can attain a fantastic vape using the STM RBA. I DO NOT advocate hacking the rba with a dremel/drill/file for the majority of users out there.
     
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    AmandaD

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    It seems to me that some of these RBA sections from Kanger refuse to work no matter what. I've been seeing the same thing on other boards as well. I've seen too many folks Try to many times only to fail.... Wicking this device isn't rocket science. Houston we have a problem.

    I absolutely agree. And most of the posts are from people who know about wicking and rebuilding. I think the QC on these RBAs is just bad, and many of these channels do need to be widened.
     

    Darryl Licht

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    It seems to me that some of these RBA sections from Kanger refuse to work no matter what. I've been seeing the same thing on other boards as well. I've seen too many folks Try to many times only to fail.... Wicking this device isn't rocket science. Houston we have a problem.

    I absolutely agree. And most of the posts are from people who know about wicking and rebuilding. I think the QC on these RBAs is just bad, and many of these channels do need to be widened.


    That may very well be, although many HERE reporting having issues are new or newer vapors.

    Let's not forget that the STM is attractive to both new and veteran vapers. I again want to emphasize that, we as a group, should not encourage this hack until all other avenues have been exhausted by the user having difficulty.

    I am not saying that this hack is wrong, or doesn't work, or anything like that. What I am saying is that this isn't the cure all to everyone's STM RBA woes!
     
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