A few words of caution about RBA's

[ancient puffer]

I've seen this posted on several vendor's sites, and they often note that it was taken from ECF. I have no idea where it was originally posted, but it is a "word to the wise" for those of you who are new to vaping and/or rba's:

Please note very carefully that rebuildable atomizer coils and wicks have known risks.

Rebuildables are for experts, not average or beginner vapers with no multimeter or knowledge of how to use a meter, or when a meter must be used, or how electronic devices work. These materials cannot safely be used by the inexperienced or those without basic knowledge of electronics.

This is because:

1. A rebuildable coil/wick MUST be tested carefully with a meter before it is used.
2. If it is not tested it is entirely the risk of the user.
3. Faulty wicks/coils WILL blow electronic devices.
4. New coil/wick units must be tested and then used first on a strong basic electrical APV that has short circuit protection.
5. No new coil/wick assembly should be used on an electronic device until known to be safe.
6. These items destroy electronic devices if faulty. This is a known issue.

I would also add that guessing at resistance based on wire gauge and number of wraps, is risking a hard short which at a minimum will melt your spring, or, at best, poor performance. It's just not worth the risks to use RBA's if you don't take the necessary precautions.

And finally, it's not my intent to scare anyone away from RBA's, I'm just hoping to make a few, who are new to this, more aware of the realities. Just because some things are "second nature" to those of us who have been doing it a while, is no reason to be cavalier about it, especially when the knowledge level of the readers here is often unknown.

Robert has gone the extra mile to build us a safe, reliable, device. We would all hate to see anyone muck up their REO due to lack of awareness of basic "must do's".

 

[jifjifjif]

I concur.

At a local B&M by my home, they have it staffed with young men who are all fired up about "mech mods" and sub ohm coils and I don't have a lot of confidence that they know what the heck they are talking about. I doubt they spend as much time on ECF as I do.

I've been vaping almost three years and I still read and learn daily.

Thanks for posting this.

 

[dedi]

Both above posts are so true!!! Some of the staff at B&M's really scare me with their lack of knowledge and poor advice

 

[yaypudding]

you should hear some the horror stories I see on the reddit e-cig page. There was one b&m selling kamry k-101 kits with an igo-w setup with dual coils at .4ohms, and the kicker, the battery included, an efest 18350 rated at 6 amps.

This story seems to be common place, especially in california, where b&m's are trying to profit off of the cloud chasing craze.

 

[redeyedancer]

Great post

 

[nerak]

One thing I have noticed a lot is it is so common for us to just say the gauge of wire. Most of us know it is a special resistance wire used for a specific purpose.

Twice I have heard of people thinking that any thin wire could be used. My own son asked me if he could use beading wire. Lucky for him he didn't just buy it!

We as vapers that actually make parts for our mods and RBA's should take into consideration that some might not want to do a lot of reading and just skim popular threads and jump into building.

Even though it seems redundant to repeat information it needs to be done.

Thank you Bill for taking the time to make this thread!

 

[Angi2299]

you should hear some the horror stories I see on the reddit e-cig page. There was one b&m selling kamry k-101 kits with an igo-w setup with dual coils at .4ohms, and the kicker, the battery included, an efest 18350 rated at 6 amps.

This story seems to be common place, especially in california, where b&m's are trying to profit off of the cloud chasing craze.

I see the same thing on Facebook....

Typical post - "Man this new mod hits like a beast/train. Went to store X and they hooked me up with (insert any clone mechanical here) and they wrapped me a .2 ohm coil."

I do not think stores should be wrapping coils for anyone!

<end rant>

 

[johni]

A local B&M sold my BIL a trident and mech mod. Built dual nanocoils and stuffed it with cotton, drowned it with juice and sent him on his way. The poor guy was totally clueless about what he had or how to make it work. He didn't even know to drip more juice! Nincompoops abound these days!

There are a couple of active threads in this forum started by guys asking questions about how to modify their Reo. It's good that they are asking for help, but if you don't have the requisite skills, leave it alone!

 

[dedi]

........and while we are on this topic......I just watched a video (by a very well respected reviewer) on the Tube where the guy didn't check his build before putting it on his mod. He EVEN said well I guess I should have checked it but I just get too comfortable/blase with what I am building!!!! Arghhhhh, that isn't encouraging nor helpful to any of us!
I guess this could have gone in the pet peeve thread!

 

[cantstopwontstop]

I vape under 1 ohm on almost every atty I own. But, yes, it's becoming all to common to log onto youtube and see some ..... with a nemesis clone, an IGO with a .2 ohm coil and an 18350 knock-off battery. "Hey guys check out my pipe bomb!" The bottom line is by taking this risk it gives the rest of us a bad rap. It only takes several people blowing off their fingers, lips, or nose to make vaping look dangerous. But granted those of us with an ohm meter and high quality 30 amp (and some basic knowledge) batteries feel safe vaping at half an ohm (at least I do).

Try to impart knowledge on those who are unintentionally taking risks because they just don't know any better. Learning about batteries and rebuilding is not something that takes an hour and can be learned by watching random videos on youtube. Although there are some really good vids on youtube where a significant amount of time is invested on safe vaping practices. This stuff requires a bit of time to learn , but when done safe is gratifying and fun!

 

[thinkingaboutit]

Plenty of places to get them...but I check my coils far more often now that I have this:
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1494601

I used the provari and the multimeter after I sold the vari. But this is my favorite because it holds the base while I build

 

[Filthy-Beast]

My son was is a great example. Local B&M in Cali set him up with mechanical tube and Patriot atty, they never taught him anything about making coils. Why, he'd go back to the store every week for them to make a new coil. It's actually a great business model for generating repeat foot traffic that will impulse buy.

The mod, battery and build where all good quality and the proper build for sub ohming so I have no problem with any of that.

The problem I have is they did not take the time tailor the ohm and coil build to his preference. I was shocked when I checked, he was vaping a .3 ohm coil, they took a basic noob, someone used to a 2.5 ohm atty on ego and went straight to .3 ohms. when I built him a .9 ohm coils in an RM2 on the Reo he fell in love and never let go of it.

 

[Ian444]

I feel the need to mention that building and fitting a coil to a RM2 has a lot less chance for disaster than any other rba on the market that I know of, especially if cotton or silica is used for the wick. There's a lot of room, the posts are well spaced, and it has an insulating ceramic deck.

However, a means for measuring the ohms of the rba with its new coil is absolutely essential, otherwise its just russian roulette. Don't forget to fit the cap before measuring (in case there's a wire or coil going to touch the cap). Itaste mvp/vamo/provari/multimeter/coil tester all measure ohms and are good enough for the job.

 

[thinkingaboutit]

Ian has a good point. The RM2 is very easy to work with and forgiving.

Still good to dot and cross the correct letters.

 

[Raynman]

It's very easy to become complacent when you build on the RM2 all of the time. Thanks for starting this thread AP.

 

[SeaNap]

Scary Stuff! I'm an electrical engineer and I still spent MONTHS reading the forums to learn what I know now. Makes me kinda wanna work part time at the B&M by me so that kind of thing won't happen (plus free juice ).

 

[supertrunker]

i think Rolygate wrote the original warning and he's got a lot of wise words to say on other matters too. I suggest people do not go < 1 unless they really know what they are doing. If you just want a decent vape - it's not necessary.

If you really are about pushing limits of batteries and voltage drop matters to you, then you had better make sure you understand batteries as well as Baditude and Ohms law as well as Georg himself!

My favourite: can i just use copper wire i stripped out of a table lamp as a coil? Sure you can! 1-800-DENTIST.

When it all goes wrong it will not be 'stupid idiot who knew nothing changes his kissing technique' - it will be 'all ecigs are dangerous and explosive'.

T

 

[DasBluCig]

A local B&M sold my BIL a trident and mech mod. Built dual nanocoils and stuffed it with cotton, drowned it with juice and sent him on his way. The poor guy was totally clueless about what he had or how to make it work. He didn't even know to drip more juice! Nincompoops abound these days!

There are a couple of active threads in this forum started by guys asking questions about how to modify their Reo. It's good that they are asking for help, but if you don't have the requisite skills, leave it alone!

Ignorance can be solved by education.....
BUT......there ain't no cure....for STUPID!!
And.....instructions are only helpful to those who READ 'EM....and HEED 'EM!!
NEVER hurts to "hammer home" safety, though!!
Happy (vaping) Trails!

 

[Vash]

Yeah my sister in law came over last night and her boyfriend said B&M here is wrapping coils for people and his friend is using .4 coil on some cheap batts !!! Its not if but when something bad is going to happen and that scares the hell out of me.

 

[Krazirob]

i must share a story on this topic.....walked into my favorite vape store few months back and there was this kid there who was blowing some decent clouds (not like mine but decent....LOL). anyways i asked him what he had going on in the RBA he had which was a nimbus clone on a magneto clone. He said he had a dual coil at .4 ohms. I said oh cool but in my head I'm thinking of what kind of batteries he has....LOL

He then says why is the bottom button heating up real fast every time I hit it. Right there I stepped in and said stop....what batteries are you using and how are the coils set up......there is a short in there........he had a 2000mah Efeset battery and the coil was grounding out on the bottom of the RBA.

I said those batteries are at its full rate which is 10A and the coil is set up wrong......he stated it was his second time building a coil......so i replied with and you decided after the first time that it was smart to go sub ohm.....reallly......then he said how do you know how much current the battery is giving off.....and i said well you have a .4 ohm coil and given voltage drop of lets say .4 you at 9ish Amps....he said how did you get that......OHMS LAW......

So this guy could have gotten hurt real bad and the fact he didn't know anything about the battery he was using nor did he even hear of ohms law.

kids these days want the clouds....but with clouds come risks and if you don't know everything about whats going on when you hit your fire button then you're wrong and you need education first....

took me 3 years of vaping before i went below 1 ohm.

anyways good story and i tell people that one in hopes to lure them to do research