Please Convince Me Not to Give Up on RBAs :(

[Kemosabe]

Kemosabe, I had problems at first with the wick and coils, had shorts, hot spots and loose coils that made it tast like cardboard. I wasnt impressed with it at all and was about ready to go back to a tank and carto, but couldnt leave it alone.
I'm on my second wick and 3rd coil but it's been vaping great, well until the little OP problem last night but now I know how to correct that even though I havent yet.

Thought you might get a kick out of this,,
Had my first wick working great after hours of fiddling with the coil, replacing the coil and fryin the wick with a torch.
Went through 2 tanks of juice with no problems thinking hey this is great I've got it, then I went to refill the tank and the top cap was stuck or cross threaded ?
It was really stuck, but twisting and pulling hard it finally popped off,, but also destroyed the wick and coil I was so proud of !

i do get a kick out of that. sounds like somehting that would happen to me.
i too thought i had it mastered. i was up and running like a champ on sunday. vaped through several milliliters. then on wednesday i popped the coil and havent been able to build a successful one since. i really hope this center post insulating idea works.

Yeah...I didn't think about that....how did he get it to fire and not short out his device?


Whats a Budz Worx Tank?....couldn't find anything on it in the forum.

i think im gonna chalk it up to magic. he must be a wizard of sorts.

Budz Worx is a Phillipino company that makes RBAs and such. sorry, but i dont know anything else about them. an ECF friend told me about them yesterday.

 

[Azphat12]

I can say the Aga-t is pretty nice. I just tried the cig paper trick and it works pretty well. Got my coil at 2.2ohms and only had to do very minor adjustments on 1 coil. Im using 32awg Kanthal a-1. Just make sure you wind the coil around the wick a little tighter then normal. When I used the same pressure....it didnt work well. After I made the coil a little tighter on the paper...worked good.

 

[Bob57]

another center pin fix if ya have not already seen it:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...uick-easy-fix-did-clone-center-pin-issue.html

That worked,,
Pushed the pos pin out a little put 3-4 wraps of dental floss around it and no more OP errors
That was just enough to keep the pin from going to deep in the body.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Boognish]

Great thread and great info here Kemo.. My AGA and DID's have been performing great with the help of threads like this. Seems like only yesterday we were sharing our beer and juice pairings and getting our first VV devices. Now it's our RBA's and I'm still digging in the beer/juice thread I hit 9 months smoke-free the other day. All grown up...hehe. Cheers

 

[Kemosabe]

Great thread and great info here Kemo.. My AGA and DID's have been performing great with the help of threads like this. Seems like only yesterday we were sharing our beer and juice pairings and getting our first VV devices. Now it's our RBA's and I'm still digging in the beer/juice thread I hit 9 months smoke-free the other day. All grown up...hehe. Cheers

right on Boog! good to see ya. congrats on 9 mos. i remember that beer/juice thread. glad to hear its still kickin. i gotta find it...

well anyway came in to share my success story. you guys fing ROCK. thats all i gotta say. i insulated my center pin last night with some electrical tape and i positioned that bottom grommet just right. quickly built a sloppy coil just because i was so pumped to see if it worked and YUP! it did fired right up no problemo. not an OP in the building.

as Kramer would say, "IM BACK, BABY!"

 

[spraintz]

WooHoo!!!!

That's awesome, love hearing success stories.

 

[Boognish]

FYI... This is a great way to upgrade the flavor of your vivi novas with ss mesh.

Vivi Nova SS Wick tutorial - YouTube

 

[Kemosabe]

WooHoo!!!!

That's awesome, love hearing success stories.

couldnta done it without ya!

FYI... This is a great way to upgrade the flavor of your vivi novas with ss mesh.

Vivi Nova SS Wick tutorial - YouTube

thanks. ive seen that. i plan to upgrade my novas just havent gotten around to it yet. im bummed about the rubber grommet at the bottom of the vivi head. makes me want to get some NR wire to rebuild with. but ive only breifly read up on how to do that. right now im just pumped about my DuD. im already thinking about which RBA i want to get next.

 

[Dearth Vapir]

... every time i screwed the pos lead tight, it would pull the wick up against the center post. so what i did was hold the wick away from the post with my finger, while tightening the nut and holding the wire taught with my other hand. which reminds me: how do most people do this? aside from having 3 hands, i cant quite seem to find a way to pull it off.

To limit this problem, I wind the nut below the wire (2nd nut from top) down a bit, then bring the top nut down into loose contact with the wire/kanthal. I then screw the nut below the wire back upwards to nip the wire against the top nut, then with thumb nails and forefingers, tweak both nuts tight together at the same time.

If that conection is still pulling the top coil a bit tight, or leaving it a little too loose, I turn the entire centre post in the appropriate direction a little until it's 'Goldilocks-ed' ('just right').

DV

 

[Dearth Vapir]

I happen to have some nichrome. Ill try some.
Since my coil popped earlier, I tried rebuilding. Got the dang OP error again. Made sure the center post was making contact. The resistance would flash 5.3 for example and then error out immediately. Adjusted the coil, tested it again. Same thing. Quick ohm flash, then OP. I thought it was my wick, so I pulled it out to re-oxidize. While it was out, the coil was still intact, so I tried firing it. No dice. OP. so I grabbed a different piece of wire, still no dice. What gives?

I'm 'guessing' that the OP error is 'OPen circuit'? - Try removing the atty and pushing the centre pin/top nut downwards hard-ish, until the centre contact at the base of the atty protrudes from the 510 threading a little bit, then refit the atty, and try firing again?

Apart from burned out coils, these are the only open circuit fails I've had (or apart from not-connected coils, can see possible) from these attys.

DV

 

[Dieseler]

Everyone has there way and hopefully you will find what works best for you .

Kanthal has less problems especially the lower gauge wires in my humble opinion.
Few tips -
One thing that may be of help other than properly oxidixed mesh is your wrapping as it easy to break the ox layer with your positive lead when connecting to the top post, you mention 3 hands.
You can use a toothpick and place it between the mesh and the post when attaching your positive wire lead to the post just dont pull to hard when attaching wire as this is where problems occur breaking the ox barrier on the mesh its very thing to begin with.

Test fireing coil without e-liquid in tank and at low voltage to see even coil glow and adjusting the individual coil wires to do so is made with something blunt so as not to scratch the mesh .
Once even glow is observed fill tank and your mesh should saturate itself within a minute, test fire at low voltage again in darken room and observe to make sure nothing is glowing.
Once this is done your on your way and it get easier the more you do it.
Good luck . ; )

 

[Kemosabe]

I'm 'guessing' that the OP error is 'OPen circuit'? - Try removing the atty and pushing the centre pin/top nut downwards hard-ish, until the centre contact at the base of the atty protrudes from the 510 threading a little bit, then refit the atty, and try firing again?

Apart from burned out coils, these are the only open circuit fails I've had (or apart from not-connected coils, can see possible) from these attys.

DV

you are correct. OP is open current/circuit. what it ended up being was a wonky center post. it was making contact with the body of the atty. darn chid quality. now i realize why ths thing was twenty bucks and not much more like others. but hey, its up and running and i am quite pleased. i insulated the center post and its now running great. i will always be nervous in the back of my mind that somehting else will go wrong, but thats just me. i think im good.

i like the goldilocks and toothpick tricks! i can see them working well. once im back home those ideas are getting put to work

 

[Dearth Vapir]

you are correct. OP is open current/circuit. what it ended up being was a wonky center post. it was making contact with the body of the atty. darn chid quality. now i realize why ths thing was twenty bucks and not much more like others. but hey, its up and running and i am quite pleased. i insulated the center post and its now running great. i will always be nervous in the back of my mind that somehting else will go wrong, but thats just me. i think im good.

i like the goldilocks and toothpick tricks! i can see them working well. once im back home those ideas are getting put to work

OK, but uhhmm - from your solution it looks like that error code must mean 'short circuit'? - If the centre post is contacting the outer sleeve then the power is being grounded/shorted right near the source (electrically speaking) rather than an 'open circuit' where the power isn't connected to the load/coil, as I was suspecting, but the fact of the matter is - you found the problem and fixed it! So I don't know why I'm still typing LOL!

Since I got my first CHID I've been wanting to do summink about the centre post design and have considered replacing it with a long screw and putting a small nylon nut that's been shaped to fit, in the centre tube/under the atty top plate, then the pos post position can be set from beneath the atty with a screwdriver, and it shouldn't move much when you mess with the top nuts, but until I get 'a round tuit' I'll not know if this is another duff idea or not, heheheh...

Oh yeah, since I busted through the side of the little silicon 'top hat' insulator at the top of my attys pos post and it shorted to the side of the hole, well since then I've taken to putting a tiny red fibre washer above it on the pos shaft to protect it from the nut/s (got mine out of a dremel bits kit - you know the ones - and just drilled out their centre holes to fit ',;~}~ )


These atys have NOT been easy to get into for me, but now I have 3 (2 CHIDs and an AGA_T) working I haven't used a std. atty or carto in weeks, so long may yours keep working well! Have fun.

D 'nemesis of brevity' V

 

[Kemosabe]

good point. i tried to get more clarificatin on what OP code is versus what E1 and the other E codes on the provari, but the OP isnt even in the manual, while the E codes are. go figure. i brought it up on the provape site and got no response from the provape peeps. they either dont know or dont care lol.

 

[Rule62]

good point. i tried to get more clarificatin on what OP code is versus what E1 and the other E codes on the provari, but the OP isnt even in the manual, while the E codes are. go figure. i brought it up on the provape site and got no response from the provape peeps. they either dont know or dont care lol.

OP is an Open Circuit. No continuity between the + and -. E1 is a short circuit.

 

[Kemosabe]

OP is an Open Circuit. No continuity between the + and -. E1 is a short circuit.

Thanks rule. Good too see you btw. I remember you from the v2 forum back I the day. Always bringing the knowledge.

 

[Dearth Vapir]

OP is an Open Circuit. No continuity between the + and -. E1 is a short circuit.

Well without actually ever owning one of the devices or reading a manual, that's what I'd suspected since 'OP' tends to more or less be used universally in electronics to mean open circuit/no continuity, but until one knows for certain, well, then one never knows, esp. with products we use being made the world over.

So Kemosabe - looks like it may have just been a sunken pos/centre contact at the 510 end of the atty after all perhaps? Maybe this just corrected itself between disassembly and reassembly when you insulated the centre pin, but as I already said - you fixed it so why am I still typing?!? Heheheh...

Cheers folks ',;~}~

DV

 

[Rule62]

Thanks rule. Good too see you btw. I remember you from the v2 forum back I the day. Always bringing the knowledge.

Thanks. I still look in there every now and then. Haven't posted there in a while.

 

[crashtest22]

There is so much on youtube to watch that anyone would be pro in a matter of days on rba's
my last video on my blog was the iHybrid setup I build a coil in it and am vaping in a few min.
iHybrid by Faceless - E-Cigarette Review's, Tips, and Tricks