RDA Nimbus - First RDA from RBA / tanks

[postembr2]

Hi, i decided to try my first RDA. Im used to rewire my kayfun, its pretty easy, and even with crappy coils that i build in a rush it works marvelous.
Fast forward, i decided to give a try on a cheap nimbus clone. It have fantastic finishing, very well done, its a very good clone, while i dont like kayfun clones, i dont find any issue with RDA clones, mostly because its a so simply design.

So my problem is, i received this, build a simple coil with ekowool. Coil around 1.3 ohms, tried with my usual 7-8 watts setting.
One thing i noticed is that vapor production dont seen the same as my regular RBA or tanks. Other thing is that even with saturated wick, it was tasting a little like dry burn.

So some questions
1 - The nimbus have 4 holes, albeit small. Is this affecting vapor volume?
2 - If using ekowool or any silica, how much should i use, or how long?
3 - How do you know when its time to redrip on wick without having to visually check on each puff? Just by getting used to it dynamics due to vapor volume/taste?

 

[MattyTny]

1. I wouldn't look at it in terms of how many air holes or how big they are, but how it feels when take a draw. Compared to your KF is it more airy or tight? Chances are it's more airy. This plays in on how much vapor and flavor you'll get. Airy will give more vapor, tight will give more flavor.

2. A lot of people moved away from silica and ekowool when building. Maybe check out some Kohgendo cotton pads. Extremely easy to work with. To answer your question I think that most silica RDA users fold their wick over one or two times to get more wick when wrapping around the silica. Holds more liquid.

3. The flavor and vapor production will usually drop off when starting to get dry. You might notice some popping too. I've never used silica for building, so I'm not to sure of how it acts when dry. You'll get a feel for it over time though.

I suggest using cotton pads for your RDA since it's easy to work with and when you want to rewick you can just pull it out, dry fire, and put a new wick in.

You also want to make sure when installing your wick and coil that the coil is close and in front of the airflow inlets. This helps in creating vapor and cooling the vapor.

One more thing, if your RDA is getting too little power you might notice the taste is off. This is because the coil isn't getting enough heat to vaporize the liquid. That or it's too saturated. It's kind of like your inhaling partially vaporized liquid. If you notice the taste to be off, but your wick is not dry or burnt, then up the power or drip a little less.

Hope this helps.

 

[State O' Flux]

Hi, i decided to try my first RDA. Im used to rewire my Kayfun, its pretty easy, and even with crappy coils that i build in a rush it works marvelous.
Fast forward, i decided to give a try on a cheap nimbus clone. It have fantastic finishing, very well done, its a very good clone, while i dont like kayfun clones, i dont find any issue with RDA clones, mostly because its a so simply design.

So my problem is, i received this, build a simple coil with ekowool. Coil around 1.3 ohms, tried with my usual 7-8 watts setting.
One thing i noticed is that vapor production dont seen the same as my regular RBA or tanks. Other thing is that even with saturated wick, it was tasting a little like dry burn.
Ekowool is not the best choice for RDAs, unless you've got a deep juice well with "submerged" wick tails... and even then, the capillary action can be slow, with weak volume. In addition, the burnt taste may be a byproduct of the Ekowool itself. Cotton would be more appropriate.

Technically, and this depends greatly on the wire gauge and type you've used to build your coil... your coil radiant temperature may be extremely low at 7-8 watts. If, for example you're using 28 gauge wire, you should be running around twice that wattage (or a lower net resistance) to obtain an "average" coil temperature.

So some questions
1 - The nimbus have 4 holes, albeit small. Is this affecting vapor volume?
You can have too much air flow. With your modest resistance and equally modest vaporization potential, it's possible that your air to vapor ratio is too "lean"... giving the impression of a weak vapor volume.

2 - If using ekowool or any silica, how much should i use, or how long?
Your main concern is how tight the wick fits in the coil. Too tight a fit and the speed and volume of capillary action to wick-in-coil will be reduced. The wick should pull through with only a modest drag.
Length? Hard to answer without a photo of your current build deck.

3 - How do you know when its time to redrip on wick without having to visually check on each puff? Just by getting used to it dynamics due to vapor volume/taste?
Yes. There are so many variables - juice reservoir capacity, net resistance, coil surface area, coil heat flux, your draw habits and air flow, to name a few... all contribute to the time/draws between re-dripping. Most RDA users can "taste" when it's time to re-drip.

If you provide more specifics to your build... wire gauge, mandrel ID and perhaps a clear photo of the Nimbus deck, I (or others) may be able to offer more exacting answers to your concerns.

Cheers

 

[Das Auto]

Nicely stated State. I'll just chime in and say I agree with the above.

 

[State O' Flux]

Nicely stated State. I'll just chime in and say I agree with the above.

I got it all from the back of a Count Chocula cereal box. ;-)

 

[postembr2]

Hi Op here.
I redone the resistance using a 23mm kanthal, about 1 ohm total. It summed around 10 wraps. Coil was nice glowing, and using organic cotton, but same results around 10 watts, a very dimmed vapor. Its interesting to note that without cap, i could see that there was plenty of vapor being produced, but once i drag it dont work as it should.
I will rewick and post photos, should be more easy to see.