The ZAP Rebuildable atomizer (RBA)

[9ball_AJ]

Well for two days I fought it hard.
Now I'm really satisfied.
IF y'all decide you can not get them to work I will gladly give you your money back plus shipping.
I will say try to get them to work. You will not be sorry.

+1 to lowboy's comments. I had trouble for a couple of days. some very anemic vapes for sure. It got better fast... Then i decided to experiment with different setups and it went back to frustration for a while. After a couple of weeks, I put down carto's forever. The vape is AMAZING!! Once you learn the caveats of the ZAP, it is absolutely worth the frustration. My only complaints are size and lack of pocketability. My ZAP/Provari Combo usually stays at home unless I am leaving town, but it is the best performing combination I have ever vaped. The Genesis experience in general has been short periods of frustration, mostly caused by my need to experiment, followed by some awesome, flavorful clouds of vapor. Once you find your sweet spot, man is it ever sweet!!

Keep on truckin' you will get there, and rest assured that if you don't, there will be a line of people willing to refund your money plus shipping to take it off your hands. There are loads of people on this forum willing to help, so reach out with specifics.

 

[lowboy]

I have played around with RBA a little and I saw these was going on sale.
Something just told me I needed to pay the price for something good.
I have been using my ZAP for about a week now and still learning.
I have hardly touched my carto tanks since.
I keep trying to use them but it's just not the same now. At one time I thought cartos was the cream of the crop. I was using them in a Jonboy tank of course.
On a side note I still have not told the banker exactly what I payed. She about freaked when I said it was a little more than $50............LOL
Keep trying.

 

[synthros]

It's taken me a couple of tanks to get there, and this zap is just now vaping fantastically. it was good out of the box, but now its just incredible. I'm already figuring out a way to take it on the go with me. I was planning on just using it at home, because its really nice, really expensive and you have to exercise some care to keep it from leaking. But I really don't want to use anything else atm. My zap has spoiled me with a quickness. Zens video (the one on the provape website), was an aha moment for me with genesis atty's, suddenly I "GOT IT". I do have one question for the experts, how long (average?), can I expect this stock coil to last? I feel a little more confident about rebuilding it than I did, but I have to confess I'm nervous that ill never get it to be this awesome again, lol. Anyways I am truly glad I pulled the trigger on this. I'm sorry for the people who really really wanted one and couldn't get one so someone could make a quick hundred bucks. Don't get defensive or rip me, if you're selling it for what you bought it for because its "not for you", I'm not referring to you. Smart move on Provapes part to try and spread them out. I'm sure in any event there are a lot of people just like me who just layed hands on their first Zen product and are thrilled. Vape on!

 

[tybin]

a wick can last months. some replace the coil, but i find if it aint broke don't fix it. you can just do a dry burn and splash it with some distilled water when the coil gets gunked. I sometimes replace the coil, but wait to see if i can just clean it.


even if you did change your wick monthly, you have enough of them to last a year

 

[drewbalicious]

Well it's definitely comforting to know it can take a few days or even up to a week for the coil/mesh to break in. I'm using my ADV in it at the moment and the flavor just isn't there for me. But I'm not giving in yet. I'll give it a week and see how it goes. But I'm only spending a few hours a night with it (too scared to take it out of the house) so I might be here for awhile. But if mine does come up on the classifieds it will be listed for what I paid. I'm not a price gouger either. I'm all for capitalism, but not in this community. Thanks for all the kind words and well wishes!!

 

[tybin]

..... but not in this community. ......

 

[Keeno]

I was forced to sell mine practically the same day it arrived......LIFE happened between the time I purchased it and it arrived....same sort of situation that occurred when I was fortunate to get on the ASH list. I spent the day it arrived trying to think of a way to keep the ZAP but I did the responsible thing and sold it......I don't feel the need to justify just tired of reading speculation as to why on earth someone would sell their ZAP before breaking it in or using it. I'll be getting me another ZAP or perhaps a ZAU when they go on sale again and hopefully this time I'll finally be able to hold on to one long enough to at least use it......

 

[synthros]

a wick can last months. some replace the coil, but i find if it aint broke don't fix it. you can just do a dry burn and splash it with some distilled water when the coil gets gunked. I sometimes replace the coil, but wait to see if i can just clean it.


even if you did change your wick monthly, you have enough of them to last a year

So assuming you kept the coil, it will "pop" eventually? How long would you expect it to last if you didn't just replace it when it got gunked up and just cleaned it up like you described?

 

[tybin]

I have heard some say months. I have not got to that point, as I usually end experimenting and then things go south. At least I've become good at building coils

 

[TechJ]

Yeah it was a trial by fire for me. It vaped nicely at first then started to become a bit weak. Started to get dry hits. I figured it was the skinny wick. So i combined 4 wicks to make a fat wick. I removed the insulator. Tried a single strand wrap and ended up with a 3 ohm coil which just didn't get hot enough for me. ( I made sure to oxidize my wick thoroughly. ) so I did a nice tight uniform twist of the included 32ga kanthal and ended up with a nice 1.6ohm dual coil. Running at 4.5v this is finally my sweet spot. Loads of flavor and vapor. The heat is plenty to keep up with the increased wicking and the coil is void of hot spots ( including the legs to the terminal screws). I'm a happy camper now.

 

[TechJ]

Oh yeah pluid @ 15watts in this thing is amazing!

 

[Don Kaluminati]

I removed the insulator....

Zen himself said not to remove the insulator.

 

[Don Kaluminati]

If you guys are getting harsh hits then you might have to re-wrap the coil. Mine arrived with too much length in the kanthal from the grounding stud to the wick causing a harsh hit.... I couldn't take it past 3.8v. To me it was not a huge deal because in the last three weeks I bought a bliss and a cobra before getting my zap so I knew how to do it, but it is the best of my small gaggle of attys, and my j-tanks and boge cartos have been collecting dust since. RBA's are the best and my Zap is the best of the best. Once you figure out how to tune your ferrari you'll be in love. Stay the course.

 

[TechJ]

I run my ZAP pretty hot. The insulator is only there to keep your wick from grounding out. A properly oxidized wick shouldn't have enough surface conductivity to allow it to ground out. It allowed me to use a fatter wick and run hotter. Works perfectly for me.

 

[Don Kaluminati]

I run my ZAP pretty hot. The insulator is only there to keep your wick from grounding out. A properly oxidized wick shouldn't have enough surface conductivity to allow it to ground out. It allowed me to use a fatter wick and run hotter. Works perfectly for me.

I don't know why he said it but I'm sticking to it. The man knows way more than me about RBA's. Check out the zen thread and he goes more in depth as to the why and what really doesn't need insulators.

 

[Skyway]

I run my ZAP pretty hot. The insulator is only there to keep your wick from grounding out. A properly oxidized wick shouldn't have enough surface conductivity to allow it to ground out. It allowed me to use a fatter wick and run hotter. Works perfectly for me.

I am kind of curious what you are running this on. You say you are making a 3 wick coil and running a dual coil at 1.6ohm. Not sure how you would run a dual coil on a Zap when there is only one ground. You are not going to achieve 15watts on a Provari so I am curious if you could fill us in on what you are doing.

 

[TechJ]

No I said I used multiple wicks to create 1 fat wick. Then I took 2coils of 32ga kanthal a1 @ 3.2ohms each and twisted them into a single 1.6 ohm coil. I'm running said coil at 4.9v .
V x V / R = W
4.9 x 4.9 = 24.01
24.01 / 1.6 = 15.00625

Numbers don't lie

 

[Skyway]

Not saying you are. The calculations are correct, I am just curious since I know the data sheet for the V2 Provari says it can only achieve a 2.96 Amp limit at 4.9volts making 14.50 watts. If you are getting 15watts from your Provari, it must be stressing the hell out of it, lol.

 

[synthros]

No I said I used multiple wicks to create 1 fat wick. Then I took 2coils of 32ga kanthal a1 @ 3.2ohms each and twisted them into a single 1.6 ohm coil. I'm running said coil at 4.9v .
V x V / R = W
4.9 x 4.9 = 24.01
24.01 / 1.6 = 15.00625

Numbers don't lie

I didn't know you could do that. I'll have to give it a try after this stock coil goes. Working too well to mess with at the moment

 

[icucme2]

Hey guys. Got my zap on monday.. I think the wick isnt wicking juice properly.. The two ends of the wick look like they are closed in.. Like the person who cut them used not so sharp scissors and pinched the ends.. Does this matter? Or should i try to unpinch the ends so juice can flow thru the center of the wick?