Question about RDAs

[Maelui]

Okay, so, I have three nautilus coils that crapped out on me all in a row from the same 5-pack. I'm getting kind of frustrated with how much this is costing, and aspire won't replace the defective coils. What I would like to know is, if I got an RDA, would it be cheaper than using this nautilus tank, and coils? I know absolutely NOTHING about RDAs. I love vaping, but now I have to buy another pack of nautilus coils that I can't afford right now. I've used up my monthly spending money, and I'm probably going to have to stop vaping until I have more money.

I have a nautilus mini, by the way. My last good nautilus coil lasted me 2 weeks, before I got these other three that crapped out literally in 3 each days for two, and one day for the last one. I always drop 5-6 drops of liquid into the top of my nautilus coil, and I prime the coil, then let it sit for 10-15 minutes, preferably 15 minutes before vaping. This last coil worked fine for 20ish hours, then it got burnt when I had half of tank of liquid left. I never go above 4.3 volts, and always stay around 4.0 volts. I never tilt my tank either. It's always standing upright, and I never let the liquid go lower than about 0.75mL, which covers the coil holes by A LOT. I could let it go down to 0.5mL without anything happening, but I'm always paranoid, and I am always extremely careful with my vaping devices, and I always take very good care of my stuff.

My ex came over about 1 1/2 months ago, and he was vaping on my old protank 3, and he would press the button to take a hit, but keep talking, and you'd hear it crackling, and I kept telling him to stop doing that, because he was going to burn out my coil, as protank coils are very sensitive, and he just wouldn't stop doing it. I NEVER fire my vape until my lips are on the drip tip. Even with this nautilus, i do that, because I don't want to risk burning the coil up. He has a sized regular nautilus, and he said he fires the button all the time before taking a hit, and sometimes he keeps talking, and it ends up auto-shutting off his battery. He told me these nautilus coils don't burn, like ever.. So, that's why I bought my nautilus mini, and now I'm realizing he was wrong. Maybe I'm just fu*king something up, because I seem to always fu*k everything up.

So, any help regarding this would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[awsum140]

An RDA is nice, but you need to be able to wind coils and wick them properly. Winding coils requires that you understand Ohms Law, resistance, and the capacities and true capabilities of the batteries if you use a mech mod. Then, you're stuck dripping liquids every ten or so drags,

There is also the RTA, rebuildable tank atomizer. That provides the advantage of a large liquid supply, 3ml and greater, as well as the ability to rebuild and re-wick the coil. There are lots of decent ones available, Fogger and Lemo come to mind, as well as some Kanger stuff that can work either as an RTA or a pre-made coil assembly.

ince I found RTAs, the Fogger primarily, I haven't bothered with anything that has a premade soil system.

 

[Mad Scientist]

If you enjoy "tinkering" I don't think anything out there truly beats the vape experience of a well built RDA. What power source do you have or anticipate using? You might need to upgrade to a decent regulated box mod but lucky for you, prices have been falling like a rock so for little money you can get some fantastic gear.

 

[Kellyrob1uk]

If you enjoy "tinkering" I don't think anything out there truly beats the vape experience of a well built RDA. What power source do you have or anticipate using? You might need to upgrade to a decent regulated box mod but lucky for you, prices have been falling like a rock so for little money you can get some fantastic gear.

Hi I am curious to about RDA's. Will my cool fire 4 be ok to run them?

 

[Bunnykiller]

RDAs are good for what they have been designed for... but do require a bit more battery power in most cases...
if you like tanks and are into making your own coils and wicking, consider looking into the Aqua V2.... really nice tank setup.
RDAs to consider could be the Magma, CLT, Stillaire...
building your own coils is easy, wicking is a bit different tho, its more of an art form, its all about getting the proper amount of wick in the coil... lots of youtube tutorials on coil making and wicking. Doing your own coils and wicks can be tedious in the beginning ( learning curve involved) but the amount of money saved is awesome. A box of Rayon ( 500' for 12$) and a roll of kanthal ( 100' for 8$) will last you years... 20$ for years of coils and wicks. Ive been using the same coil in my CLT for about 2 months now... just change out the wick every few days...

 

[awsum140]

If you add in temperature control to an RDA/RTA you'll save even more. I'm passing two months on a titanium coil, rayon wick, build with no change in flavor or vapor on a Fogger V6 on a TC mod. No maintenance at all, not even a rinse in almost two months worth with liquids that, in a conventional setup with silica and kanthal, require a rebuild every two weeks.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Hi I am curious to about RDA's. Will my cool fire 4 be ok to run them?

Cool Fire 4 will definitely do the job. Once you really get into it you might want a bit more power but 40 Watts is plenty certainly to get started and lots of folks stay more than happy with that or less.

 

[Kellyrob1uk]

Cool Fire 4 will definitely do the job. Once you really get into it you might want a bit more power but 40 Watts is plenty certainly to get started and lots of folks stay more than happy with that or less.

Thank you can you recommend a single coil RDA start off with. I have just getting a sub tank mini so going to practice on that for a bit as well

 

[Mad Scientist]

Thank you can you recommend a single coil RDA start off with. I have just getting a sub tank mini so going to practice on that for a bit as well

I don't have a boatload of different rda's so I haven't tried a whole lot of them. I would recommend a mutation x v2. I have a couple of them (for me, buying another of something means I really like it). You can built it single or dual coil. Airflow is adjustable from MTL to cloudz bro lol. The v2 is "old" enough that you can get a clone for 10 bucks or less. I find it to be stone simple to make a build that works great in it. Just coil it with coil height roughly even with the center set of holes, wick it and fold the wick tails under themselves in the juice well, make sure wick does not obstruct the airspace directly under or behind the coil(s), vape and enjoy.

 

[IMFire3605]

Okay, so, I have three nautilus coils that crapped out on me all in a row from the same 5-pack. I'm getting kind of frustrated with how much this is costing, and aspire won't replace the defective coils. What I would like to know is, if I got an RDA, would it be cheaper than using this nautilus tank, and coils? I know absolutely NOTHING about RDAs. I love vaping, but now I have to buy another pack of nautilus coils that I can't afford right now. I've used up my monthly spending money, and I'm probably going to have to stop vaping until I have more money.

I have a nautilus mini, by the way. My last good nautilus coil lasted me 2 weeks, before I got these other three that crapped out literally in 3 each days for two, and one day for the last one. I always drop 5-6 drops of liquid into the top of my nautilus coil, and I prime the coil, then let it sit for 10-15 minutes, preferably 15 minutes before vaping. This last coil worked fine for 20ish hours, then it got burnt when I had half of tank of liquid left. I never go above 4.3 volts, and always stay around 4.0 volts. I never tilt my tank either. It's always standing upright, and I never let the liquid go lower than about 0.75mL, which covers the coil holes by A LOT. I could let it go down to 0.5mL without anything happening, but I'm always paranoid, and I am always extremely careful with my vaping devices, and I always take very good care of my stuff.

My ex came over about 1 1/2 months ago, and he was vaping on my old protank 3, and he would press the button to take a hit, but keep talking, and you'd hear it crackling, and I kept telling him to stop doing that, because he was going to burn out my coil, as protank coils are very sensitive, and he just wouldn't stop doing it. I NEVER fire my vape until my lips are on the drip tip. Even with this nautilus, i do that, because I don't want to risk burning the coil up. He has a sized regular nautilus, and he said he fires the button all the time before taking a hit, and sometimes he keeps talking, and it ends up auto-shutting off his battery. He told me these nautilus coils don't burn, like ever.. So, that's why I bought my nautilus mini, and now I'm realizing he was wrong. Maybe I'm just fu*king something up, because I seem to always fu*k everything up.

So, any help regarding this would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Without knowing what mod you are using, and RDA might be a little much for your mod if it is really low powered like an MVP V2 or like an iStick Mini. They do take more technical knowledge to get right and a lot of safety concerns. If you like the convenience of a tank I'd look at an RTA (Rebuildable Tank Atomizer) like a Kayfun v4, or look at the Kanger Subtanks which come flexible to run pre-made coil heads and a rebuildable deck which allows you to move back and forth until you are fully ready to dive in to more advance rebuildables. My Kayfuns, Russians, and other RTAs I generally build them in the 1.2 to 1.8ohm range as their insulators really can't handle anything lower than about 0.8ohms and at avg of about 1.5ohms they don't kill my batteries like Nautilus and such.

 

[Kellyrob1uk]

I don't have a boatload of different rda's so I haven't tried a whole lot of them. I would recommend a mutation x v2. I have a couple of them (for me, buying another of something means I really like it). You can built it single or dual coil. Airflow is adjustable from MTL to cloudz bro lol. The v2 is "old" enough that you can get a clone for 10 bucks or less. I find it to be stone simple to make a build that works great in it. Just coil it with coil height roughly even with the center set of holes, wick it and fold the wick tails under themselves in the juice well, make sure wick does not obstruct the airspace directly under or behind the coil(s), vape and enjoy.

Thank you will have a look at the mutation x. looking forward to getting into building

 

[Mad Scientist]

Thank you will have a look at the mutation x. looking forward to getting into building

You will like it. Just make sure if you want to try single coil, get the v2. The v2 allows closing off one set of airholes but the v1 does not.

 

[suprtrkr]

RDAs can be a lot of fun. I have a Dark Horse I am fond of.

 

[Kellyrob1uk]

I was playing about with the calculator and when I put 26g to make a 1.2 coil it was coming up with 15 wraps. Is that to many wraps as I read somewhere the more wraps the harder it is to heat up

 

[awsum140]

I was playing about with the calculator and when I put 26g to make a 1.2 coil it was coming up with 15 wraps. Is that to many wraps as I read somewhere the more wraps the harder it is to heat up

Like I said, you need to understand Ohms Law and how wire sizes effect coil resistances. The larger the wire, the lower the resistance. Do more than fool with a calculator, do some reading. It'll pay off in the end.

 

[Hans Wermhat]

+1 on a Kayfun for a RTA. But not the V4. It's kinda complicated to build for a beginner. LOTS of pieces. The Kayfun Lite V1 or V2. The V2 has a bigger airflow. If you like the vape on your Nautilus and want something similar, the V1 will work for you. It's not a hard build.

 

[dcfluegel]

that seems crazy that 3 out of 5 coils from the pack have been squirrelly - sounds like a bad batch - very sorry to hear this

rdas can be a much less expensive route, though require a little more investment of effort initially to get a coil built on 'em and wicked - that being said, they are somewhat indestructible (no glass to break) and you can re-wick pretty easily, as well as build coils in whatever range suits your vaping style

dark horse clones seem to be a decent starter rda - generally see them in the $25 range - add in some kanthal wire (gauge depends on what kind of ohm build you will be targeting) and some wicking (i tend to prefer cotton bacon in my rdas but recently picked up some rayon to try) and you can likely vape for 6 months to a year for the price of 2 packs of coils...

 

[Maelui]

If you add in temperature control to an RDA/RTA you'll save even more. I'm passing two months on a titanium coil, rayon wick, build with no change in flavor or vapor on a Fogger V6 on a TC mod. No maintenance at all, not even a rinse in almost two months worth with liquids that, in a conventional setup with silica and kanthal, require a rebuild every two weeks.

What do you think of the Bamboo RTA clone? I don't know what adding temperature control is. Also, what kind of battery do you have to use with an RTA? I have an Innokin itaste CLK 1280, it goes from 3.5 volts to 5.0 volts. I have no idea if you can even use batteries like my itaste CLK 1280 with an RTA. I'm so lost.. I really want to try an RTA, and use the temperature control with the rayon wicking, but I have no idea how to do it, and what kind of battery to use. I feel like an idiot. :/

Also, thank you everyone for commenting! I really appreciate all the help! I hope I can eventually figure out what all this means.

 

[pevinsghost]

I never go above 4.3 volts, and always stay around 4.0 volts. I never tilt my tank either. I

I know some others have done fine at 4.0 volt, I have found that if I stay down around 3.4v with my nautilus mini, my burnt coils disappear. My coil lifes are measured in months, not days. Depending on the juice, I go up our down .1 or .2, but I get plenty of flavor still. As others have said, rebuildable can save money in the long run, but there is a learning curve, and that n nautilus can be handy to have until you get it down.

 

[awsum140]

You can use just about any battery with an RTA. All you need to do is build a coil that will work well with your battery, mod. I regularly use a Fogger 4.1, RTA, on an Innokin 134 with great success. The Fogger 4.1 is a dual coil RTA so I build each coil at four ohms for a net resistance, two coils in parallel, of two ohms. Wicked with rayon it produces excellent flavor and vapor at 12.5 watts, the maximum setting on a 134.

Temperature control uses nickel or titanium wire and very low resistance coils, typically well under one ohm. Those wire types increase in resistance as they are heated in a very predictable manner. By monitoring that resistance a TC (temperature control) mod can determine the approximate temperature of the coil. If the coil overheats, resistance goes above the set level you selected, the power gets automatically lowered to cool things down. This prevents burning of the liquids, for the most part, which greatly increases coil and wick life quite dramatically. Some people don't like TC, but I have found it to be a good addition to my vaping arsenal.

As far as the Bamboo, or any other RTA, it all depends on your own preferences and what you find easiest to build on. Unfortunately, that means some experimentation, and initial expense, to find the right one.