My RDA is acting crazy!

[Mandy_H]

Hey everyone,
I wanted to post in veterans cuz you guys will know best & I got a short time frame if I need to return it. I bought a Drop Dead from what I believe is a reputable online company (not sure if I should throw there name out) I was all excited & put my 1st build on.. I put 2 pre built Claptons cuz I can't build them & it was .17 ohm & nada, nothing hapoening. I don't recall if my Rx 200 said anything. So I wrote them & said it's DOA, what do I do? They said record it & they will take care of me. I made my own regular boring coils so I didn't mess up my good ones & it worked, yay!!! Vaped on it .25 ohm at 80 Watts 2 hours last night & 2 hours this morning. Out of nowhere after juicing it up it said low atomizer. All my leads were tight, I loosened my 510 thinking maybe it wasn't reaching & it said short (ooops) so tightened it back up & turned it down to 65Watts & it's fine now... Was 80W to high, it wasn't that hot? I vaped for couple years but stopped for a year so probably gotta brush up on my #s & find my sweet spots all over again but, I'm using a variable box with 3 batts I don't see how that would be it?! What does low atomizer mean & should I send it back before it's too late or is it user error lol?! I debated between the Drop Dead & Drop so maybe I messed up lol? It has been a really great smooth, yummy vape so far though. I just don't have money with starting up having to buy batteries, charger, mod, juice cotton, coils, tank coils, etc, etc, etc you guys know. I'm outta work temporarily from injury so can't afford to have this go down & I can't exchange it. Also the clear top cap doesn't wanna fit which is a bummer cuz I'm stuck with the 1 red 810 & I was hoping for blue or purple as they said it's random but red does look good The struggle is real lol.. Hopefully it's me, not the RDA! I appreciate all suggestions & help! Never seen low atomizer in the past!

 

[classwife]

Moved from Ask the Veterans to General Vaping Discussion as you need help now - not in several days as ATV is designed :

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[bombastinator]

Low atomizer means the coil is so low ohm that it is causing the mods self protection function to activate.

 

[Baditude]

Since it was working perfectly fine before and now you are getting a low atomizer display, it appears that your coil developed a short. Odd that it began to work again once you dropped the wattage.

I would remove the wick, and pulse the bare coils to make sure that they are glowing equally, from inside to out. If a particular part of the coil glows especially bright, that's a hotspot and there is your short. Take a tool and stroke the coil to work the short out -- there are videos on you tube that demonstrate this.

 

[ScottP]

Since it was working perfectly fine before and now you are getting a low atomizer display, it appears that your coil developed a short. Odd that it began to work again once you dropped the wattage.

I would remove the wick, and pulse the bare coils to make sure that they are glowing equally, from inside to out. If a particular part of the coil glows especially bright, that's a hotspot and there is your short. Take a tool and stroke the coil to work the short out -- there are videos on you tube that demonstrate this.

Actually in this case, my guess is that the mod is giving that error when it doesn't have the power to push a specific resistance at the chosen wattage level. It could be that when the batteries were full it had just enough to do 80W @ .25 Ohms but after 4 hours the voltage sag of the batteries pulled it just low enough to throw that error and even with full it just doesn't have enough to push whatever wattage he had selected on the .17 ohm coils. A 3 battery mod SHOULD be able to do this unless the batteries in it are old or crappy.

To check this OP should recharge the batteries to full and see if it allows the .25 ohm coils to work again for a little bit. If I am right the issue is in the mod and/or the batteries and not the Drop Dead and would be a problem in any tank/dripper using coils that low. It would help if we knew what mod he was using and what batteries he had in it and how new/old they were.

It would also be helpful to know what he was using before he got the Drop Dead and what coils he was using in that.

 

[untar]

A 3 battery mod SHOULD be able to do this unless the batteries in it are old or crappy.

Btw, what batteries are those exactly?

 

[ScottP]

Btw, what batteries are those exactly?

That is what I was asking. For instance, if they are 3yr old Trustfire batteries, that may be the issue and not the coils or RDA.

 

[Mandy_H]

Low atomizer means the coil is so low ohm that it is causing the mods self protection function to activate.

So the juggernauts says it's .34 per coil & read .08 on my Drop Dead & obviously wouldn't fire. I took one out & it says .12 on DD & .18 on my recoil deck which is closer to where it should be. Do u think something is off with the Drop Dead since it's reading so off & earlier I was vaping my junk plain coils for an hour didn't change wattage & says low atomizer. I lowered it I think & it was fine. I don't know, kinda wanna send back coils too lol. Maybe I should've gotten the Drop or CSMNT UGH...

 

[Ryedan]

Hey everyone,
I wanted to post in veterans cuz you guys will know best & I got a short time frame if I need to return it. I bought a Drop Dead from what I believe is a reputable online company (not sure if I should throw there name out) I was all excited & put my 1st build on.. I put 2 pre built Claptons cuz I can't build them & it was .17 ohm & nada, nothing hapoening. I don't recall if my Rx 200 said anything. So I wrote them & said it's DOA, what do I do? They said record it & they will take care of me. I made my own regular boring coils so I didn't mess up my good ones & it worked, yay!!! Vaped on it .25 ohm at 80 Watts 2 hours last night & 2 hours this morning. Out of nowhere after juicing it up it said low atomizer. All my leads were tight, I loosened my 510 thinking maybe it wasn't reaching & it said short (ooops) so tightened it back up & turned it down to 65Watts & it's fine now... Was 80W to high, it wasn't that hot? I vaped for couple years but stopped for a year so probably gotta brush up on my #s & find my sweet spots all over again but, I'm using a variable box with 3 batts I don't see how that would be it?! What does low atomizer mean & should I send it back before it's too late or is it user error lol?! I debated between the Drop Dead & Drop so maybe I messed up lol? It has been a really great smooth, yummy vape so far though. I just don't have money with starting up having to buy batteries, charger, mod, juice cotton, coils, tank coils, etc, etc, etc you guys know. I'm outta work temporarily from injury so can't afford to have this go down & I can't exchange it. Also the clear top cap doesn't wanna fit which is a bummer cuz I'm stuck with the 1 red 810 & I was hoping for blue or purple as they said it's random but red does look good The struggle is real lol.. Hopefully it's me, not the RDA! I appreciate all suggestions & help! Never seen low atomizer in the past!

As has been said, the 'low atomizer' warning means atty resistance is below the minimum the mod can handle, which is 0.10 ohms in the case of the RX200.

If your build is close to the minimum and you get a short between two coil wraps, that can do it. But at 0.25 ohms I doubt that's the case, though I would try Baditude's advice about making sure there are no hot spots in the coil anyway. I assume you don't have either coil close enough to the cap to make contact with it, which will definitely give you that message.

My RX200's do not show a low atomizer message when the battery charge is too low for the watts set. They give me a low battery message.

That leaves two possibilities. Either you have an rda that has an intermittent short, which can happen. When I've experienced that it always involved the insulator in the atty's 510 connector, but itcould also be the insulator between the + and - posts on the deck. Or you have a bad mod. Take your time working through this and try to eliminate one thing at a time.

Best of luck with it!

 

[bombastinator]

So the juggernauts says it's .34 per coil & read .08 on my Drop Dead & obviously wouldn't fire. I took one out & it says .12 on DD & .18 on my recoil deck which is closer to where it should be. Do u think something is off with the Drop Dead since it's reading so off & earlier I was vaping my junk plain coils for an hour didn't change wattage & says low atomizer. I lowered it I think & it was fine. I don't know, kinda wanna send back coils too lol. Maybe I should've gotten the Drop or CSMNT UGH...

It could be either something in the mod or something with your atty at this point though the atty is less likely. If there is something wrong with your mod though it should read low for more than one atty. reading oddly for just one atty doesn’t make sense if it’s a mod problem. If you had more than one mod it would be wiser to check the atty. it’s reading normally on the coil tester though... if there was an intermittent or weak connection between the att and the mod the reading should be high though not low. The only thing I can think to do is clean the atty inside and out, make sure all the scre connections are tight and the positive pin is protruding acceptably and try it again. Whether that will help or not is a bit up in the air. You could have a wire scrap or loose connection somewhere messing things up.

 

[untar]

So again, what are the batteries? Model and maker? Age?

Then also make sure your coils don't touch the top cap once it's on, that'll lead to an "atomizer low" message 100%.

Atomizers are made of only very few parts so it should be easy and straightforward to troubleshoot where it goes wrong.

 

[Mandy_H]

Btw, what batteries are those exactly?

Pink Samsung 30Q batts @71% charge. I also have the brown HG2 & green 25r. I bought them 8 months ago or so & only used for a month & quit vaping. They sat, they charge & due on 1 day but I chain vape alllllllll day lol, for the love of God don't say I need new batts cuz I'm broke lol. I'm just gonna stick with coils that are .30- .40 The juggernauts said .36 so it should've been .18 or so. I think .08 is a big difference. I checked really good for clipped coils cuz that happened when I 1st started vaping long ago. I vape & go back to smokes unfortunately but it's been 37 days now so I think I defeated them damn things !! I put same juggernauts in my recoil RDA & it read the same so that should mean it's coils correct?! I would be happy with Claptons & I wish I could make em but I can't. I'm about to go back to my boring plain kanthal lol. That's what was in the Drop Dead when it said Low Att after vaping for couple hours. Hope I have u more insight

 

[Ionori]

If the batteries were discharged (~3v) when you stored them, they may have dipped into unsafe territory after being stored for 7 months. Are you saying they took a day to recharge? Your problem doesn't seem to be connected to the batteries, but it's good to store batteries close to nominal voltage (3.7v) and charge them back up to nominal voltage every 6 months or so.

 

[Mandy_H]

Since it was working perfectly fine before and now you are getting a low atomizer display, it appears that your coil developed a short. Odd that it began to work again once you dropped the wattage.

I would remove the wick, and pulse the bare coils to make sure that they are glowing equally, from inside to out. If a particular part of the coil glows especially bright, that's a hotspot and there is your short. Take a tool and stroke the coil to work the short out -- there are videos on you tube that demonstrate this.

Can I message you directly? I remember you from when I 1st started vaping in 2013 & you were on here lol! Stinkies got the best of me off & on but I've been off for 37 days now & think I've got it! When it says low atomizer it won't even start it's dead & nothing. I just put 2 Claptons I bought at my vape store in my recoil & it's reading .4

As has been said, the 'low atomizer' warning means atty resistance is below the minimum the mod can handle, which is 0.10 ohms in the case of the RX200.

If your build is close to the minimum and you get a short between two coil wraps, that can do it. But at 0.25 ohms I doubt that's the case, though I would try Baditude's advice about making sure there are no hot spots in the coil anyway. I assume you don't have either coil close enough to the cap to make contact with it, which will definitely give you that message.

My RX200's do not show a low atomizer message when the battery charge is too low for the watts set. They give me a low battery message.

That leaves two possibilities. Either you have an rda that has an intermittent short, which can happen. When I've experienced that it always involved the insulator in the atty's 510 connector, but itcould also be the insulator between the + and - posts on the deck. Or you have a bad mod. Take your time working through this and try to eliminate one thing at a time.

Best of luck with it!

I put new coils in my recoil RDA which is my only other RDA.. I have 2 RXs & put that build on both & it read the same ohms & fired perfectly so I'm thinking it's the Drop Dead, do you think so? If the deck is bad would that influence the coils?! It said .36 so double should've been .18 & it read .08. I put one in my recoil to check & also said .08 so maybe it's the coils as well. I'm gonna send the deck & the coils back. Hopefully they let me as I alerted them right away but then thought it was fixed when I put my normal kanthal coils in it & after 2 hours it gave me that low att message again. I just tightened leads which were tight & lowered watts & it was fine. Then I wanted to try the juggernauts & all this happened again. I think it's best to return Drop Dead & coils. Now which RDA to get lol. I was gonna get Drop but 8 don't know if the drop style is giving me a problem or it was just a bad deck from the beginning?!

 

[Ryedan]

I put new coils in my recoil RDA which is my only other RDA.. I have 2 RXs & put that build on both & it read the same ohms & fired perfectly so I'm thinking it's the Drop Dead, do you think so?

Could be, but it's too early to tell. Vape the Recoil for a while with that setup and see what happens. Patience is good here ... give the system time to show you what it will do. Also, what is the resistance you've got in the Recoil?

If the deck is bad would that influence the coils?!

If the deck shorts sometimes, the RX200's will see less resistance and once the resistance gets too low they will think coil resistance is too low. The mods just read resistance, they don't know where the change is coming from. So even though it may not be the coils changing, the mods think that's where it's coming from and handle it accordingly. Which is the safe way to do it

It said .36 so double should've been .18 & it read .08. I put one in my recoil to check & also said .08 so maybe it's the coils as well.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. If the 0.36 ohms is for each coil by itself (how did you read that?), and you're saying two of these 0.36 ohm coils set up in the atty should read 0.18 ohms (correct), but the mod actually read 0.08, something is wrong. Please be explicit about everything. The more information you give us the better we can help you.

 

[Mandy_H]

If the batteries were discharged (~3v) when you stored them, they may have dipped into unsafe territory after being stored for 7 months. Are you saying they took a day to recharge? Your problem doesn't seem to be connected to the batteries, but it's good to store batteries close to nominal voltage (3.7v) and charge them back up to nominal voltage every 6 months or so.

No they take about 4 hours to charge, sometimes 5-6 if I stupidly drain em fully & it's in my D4 and they usually don't last the day, just depends if I use my tank or dripper. I Unfortunately have let the Rx completely die & I need to get them out before that happens. I've ALWAYS bought reliable good Amp batteries. Before I started using these my friend lent me 3 of his new Vtc5 & they last the same as my Samsung pink Qs so that's why I figured even though my batteries were out of commission for awhile they were safe to use. Having to buy all new gear & juice I will definitely by new batts when possible. IF I THOUGHT they were unsafe I definitely would've put those 1st on my list. I have 7 sets if 3 in rotation so I think I'm good. If I'm wrong & they shouldn't have sat for 8 months or so plz let me know!!

 

[Mandy_H]

Could be, but it's too early to tell. Vape the Recoil for a while with that setup and see what happens. Patience is good here ... give the system time to show you what it will do. Also, what is the resistance you've got in the Recoil?



If the deck shorts sometimes, the RX200's will see less resistance and once the resistance gets too low they will think coil resistance is too low. The mods just read resistance, they don't know where the change is coming from. So even though it may not be the coils changing, the mods think that's where it's coming from and handle it accordingly. Which is the safe way to do it



I'm not sure what you're saying here. If the 0.36 ohms is for each coil by itself (how did you read that?), and you're saying two of these 0.36 ohm coils set up in the atty should read 0.18 ohms (correct), but the mod actually read 0.08, something is wrong. Please be explicit about everything. The more information you give us the better we can help you.

Yeah I'm sorry to you & others as I didn't explain very well. I was reading messages, trying to mess with coils & got frustrated with everything! I will say if I can get through that hour+ & not cave into stinkies I'm good haha! The Juggernaut coil from the Coiloligy set is .36 per coil & I put in 2 so it should've read .18 give or take an LITTLE correct? When I put the 2 coils in the Drop Dead it read .08 & said low ATOMIZER & obviously wouldn't fire. I figured ohms were too low from when this happened yesterday so only reason I picked Juggernaut was it had highest resistance in the kit! I think there is definitely a short in the Drop Dead & I'm assuming that effects ohms. The strangest thing is I took 1 juggernaut out of DD & put in Recoil & it said .08 still, which is crazy. I took it out, I'm not using those coils anymore or the Drop Dead, no way. I put in 2 pre made Clapton coils (not same company) I had from the last time I vaped. I put a dual coil build in my Recoil & it reads .40 on both my RXs so don't think it's my mods either. I haven't had a problem the last 4 1/2 hours! I do have an ohm reader coming tomorrow cuz I don't wanna rely on my mods, just never know. I hope this company will take the Drop Dead & coils back & I will get another RDA & coils, NOT COILOLIGY LOL as I've never had a problem with this company. I heard lightning Vapes has good Clapton & another kind of wire that comes in a roll & u just gotta build which I can do, I just can't make a fused Clapton, alien, staple & stuff from scratch lol. Wish I could after this better update you think it's the deck? I don't know if they will take the coils back but since it read off on my Recoil too which I've never had an issue with they just seem very off!

 

[ScottP]

Yeah I'm sorry to you & others as I didn't explain very well. I was reading messages, trying to mess with coils & got frustrated with everything! I will say if I can get through that hour+ & not cave into stinkies I'm good haha! The Juggernaut coil from the Coiloligy set is .36 per coil & I put in 2 so it should've read .18 give or take an LITTLE correct? When I put the 2 coils in the Drop Dead it read .08 & said low ATOMIZER & obviously wouldn't fire. I figured ohms were too low from when this happened yesterday so only reason I picked Juggernaut was it had highest resistance in the kit! I think there is definitely a short in the Drop Dead & I'm assuming that effects ohms. The strangest thing is I took 1 juggernaut out of DD & put in Recoil & it said .08 still, which is crazy. I took it out, I'm not using those coils anymore or the Drop Dead, no way. I put in 2 pre made Clapton coils (not same company) I had from the last time I vaped. I put a dual coil build in my Recoil & it reads .40 on both my RXs so don't think it's my mods either. I haven't had a problem the last 4 1/2 hours! I do have an ohm reader coming tomorrow cuz I don't wanna rely on my mods, just never know. I hope this company will take the Drop Dead & coils back & I will get another RDA & coils, NOT COILOLIGY LOL as I've never had a problem with this company. I heard lightning Vapes has good Clapton & another kind of wire that comes in a roll & u just gotta build which I can do, I just can't make a fused Clapton, alien, staple & stuff from scratch lol. Wish I could after this better update you think it's the deck? I don't know if they will take the coils back but since it read off on my Recoil too which I've never had an issue with they just seem very off!

Take all coils out of the Drop Dead and check if it shows resistance. If it shows 0 or says No Atomizer, then put just one of those .4 ohm coils in the Drop Dead and check resistance (no need for wicking). If it reads correctly install a second coil and see if it then reads half of what just one did. If it read fine with one coil but not two, then remove the second coil and MOVE the first coil to the second slot. Report the results of all these tests back to this thread. The results will tell is if the Drop Dead is defective or not.

 

[Mandy_H]

Take all coils out of the Drop Dead and check if it shows resistance. If it shows 0 or says No Atomizer, then put just one of those .4 ohm coils in the Drop Dead and check resistance (no need for wicking). If it reads correctly install a second coil and see if it then reads half of what just one did. If it read fine with one coil but not two, then remove the second coil and MOVE the first coil to the second slot. Report the results of all these tests back to this thread. The results will tell is if the Drop Dead is defective or not.

I just emailed & asked for a refund or even a store credit & I will still spend my money there. I'm going to bed but will do this tomorrow & let u know. Very good idea, wish I seen this before emailing them but it's been such a freaking hassle! It was so smooth & great for the little time it worked lol! Ty for this advice, I really appreciate it & if it turns to be defective & they give me hassle I can explain this & what happened. Thanks, best advice & knowledge for the future

 

[Punk In Drublic]

Bit confused on what the problem is here. @Mandy_H – If using the identical coils in another RDA that reads 0.08 then your problem is the coils.

Mass produced prebuilt coils are rarely correct with what is advertised on the package. I have seen variances as high as nearly ~0.07 ohms. You clip the leads down to the needed length and that variance can be even more significant, especially when running dual parallel. I have nothing against prebuilt coils. But the materials used and exact awg’s must be given for if I cannot build a similar virtual coil within Steam, I will not purchase it. Assuming I am correct with the materials used in a Coiloligy Juggernaut, Steam gives a ~0.3ohm spec per coil. However, it also gives a > 260 mj/k Heat Capacity rating. This is not very efficient especially when running them in dual parallel. The coil Heat Capacity is not the root of your problem, but it is a clear indication that these coils are probably better suited for single coil RDA’s.

Given you have multiple mods and RDA’s, use a basic coil, or 2 identical basic coils and verify their resistance across all RDA’s. A small variance is acceptable for even the RDA will have its own resistance that will influence the reading.