UD Bellus issues

[jimmyb79]

Hi all,
I picked up a UD Bellus rta yesterday after reading good things and am having a few issues.
Primarily, I'm getting very little flavour and it doesn't seem to want to wick properly no matter how I wick it.
Even when the coil is saturated, I don't get anywhere near the flavour I've had off a Subtank mini.

My build is 26g Stainless steel, 2.5mm spaced coil with KGD cotton. I have also tried a nickel coil. It's on an Evic VTC mini and I've tried both TC and VW mode.

The wick, I have tried less cotton, more cotton, draping down to the deck base and cutting the cotton to sit at the 'ledge' and still the same problems, the juice just doesn't seem to want to get to the coil.
If I force the juice by priming, it doesn't dry hit but the flavour is seriously lacking.

I've tried different coil placements, high low, closer to posts and closer to edge and no difference.

I'd be grateful for any ideas, or perhaps I've got a dud some how....

Thanks in advance and merry Christmas!

 

[Robert Cromwell]

Watched this? I have no idea but GrimmGreen seems to.


I tried the Lemo2 and like the flavor better with the STM too.

 

[Marc411]

The STM is an underrated tank!

I have tanks on both sides of the pricing spectrum and the STM with the V1 RBA head (I know but it works for me) is an excellent system.

 

[roxynoodle]

My coil height:
e

Wicks:



My guide to wicking:

 

[jimmyb79]

I haven't tried the method in that video, it seems much simpler than the way I've been doing it, so will give it a go. I'm back on my STM for now as after the amount of retries I had trying to get the Bellus to work.

Thanks for the pics, seems like the longer wicks work best. I have tried that but maybe not the right amount of cotton perhaps. More experimenting to come!

 

[jimmyb79]

Update: think I've cracked it! Using a higher coil placement and the wicking method in that video seems to have stopped the dry hits and increased flavour. Got a 0.2 nickel build on at the moment but it seems to be working good now.
Thanks for the help!

 

[John Eldredge]

I have a suggestion. I've been playing with it for a long time. I place this tops over my aroma, mt, crius, and Lemo 2.
I was getting mediocre flavor and occasional "drying hits", just the wicking didn't keep up. I was running 2.5 mm coils...
Try 2 mm coils.. The less dense wick solves a lot of problems. Or I'm running 1.5 mm coils in one, 26/32 Clapton. It's perfect, wicks great and flavor is the best of any of my tanks...
Anyway, smaller Id coils will solve the flavor and wicking issues, while opening up airflow. Pic of my current build 1.5 mm. It's awesome at 45 watts
Edit: no need to trim wicks, just cut them a little short of the bottom of the channel after they are juiced up.

 

[jimmyb79]

Thanks John, the 2.5 is working ok, but I'm sure it could be a little better on flavour so will go with a a 2mm next build. Thanks again

 

[John Eldredge]

No problem.. I'm confident you'll like it.. It's an awesome tank..

 

[vlodato]

Iv had that problem but only when I tried running single coils. I find it much better with duels

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

 

[John Eldredge]

Thanks John, the 2.5 is working ok, but I'm sure it could be a little better on flavour so will go with a a 2mm next build. Thanks again

How did you make out?? Success?

 

[Hitcat44]

Running a Ti-built single Coil [26 ga, 2.38mm I.D., 5/4 Wrap yielding @0.26 R] and wicking the same as Roxy (pretty much same Method as used to use with Fogger v4.1) and having ZERO issues with Dry-Hits or Leaking.
VERY impressed with and loving this Bellus. Flavor, Volume of Vapor, Air-Flow, General Quality, ease of Fill, Juice Capacity, etc.

So much so, I tried to buy the Company.
But,,, ain't got that kinda Cabbage so just bought a 2nd Bellus instead

Keep working and honing the Coil I.D. (found that 2.38mm very rarely has ANY issues in ANY RTA) and the Wicking Method and you will find your/its "Groove".

P.s. With partially-annealed Ti, the 2.38mm Mandrel usually yields a tad larger I.D. due to slight "spring-back" of the Ti Wire.

 

[Croak]

Little late to the party here, but the Bellus is pretty sensitive to coil height in regards to flavor. It's been my experience that the flavor increases with the coil height above the deck...in other words, you want the airflow to be coming from underneath the coil more than from the sides, if you can see your coil easily through the air holes, chances are it's too low.

And a side effect of building higher (and tighter to the deck) is that you tend to get less restrictive airflow that way...most of the reviewers complaining about the Bellus' airflow centered the coils dead-even with the airflow holes, and of course that's going to restrict air, and that same restriction is preventing air from hitting most of the coil, which in turn reduces flavor.

 

[infinii]

Anyone else have leaking issues when refilling?

I found a helpful hint on reddit
1. fill with AF closed
2. tighten the top cap
3. immediately turn the tank upside down and open AF
4. wait 30s before turning right side up

I've used this successfully for like 5 refills without a leak. Thought I'd pass it on.

 

[Croak]

If it's leaking, chances are good it's not wicked properly. Roxy's diagram does a good job illustrating how to wick it. And the coil height matters for leaking too, a higher coil generally has more wick material to absorb the juice. Other issues might be runny high PG juice (not something I have any experience with, if it's more than 30% PG I simply don't vape it), and/or people forcing the juice in too fast, overloading the wicking with too much pressure.

I never close the airflow when I fill mine, by the way. I take it nice and easy with the filling (about five to ten seconds). The only times I've had mine leak was once when I popped the top to fill it, then got distracted by one of my dogs, and came back a few minutes later with juice all over my mod, and once when I squeezed the hell out of a juice bottle and topped it off almost instantly, forcing juice out the AFC. Both cases were my fault, not the tank's.