disappointed

[CzesiuB]

Vapefly Galaxies RDTA: flavour, flavour, intensity
Vapefly Brunhilde MTL: flavour, nice
Ambition mods Ripley: plain, on the edge of the dry hit (yup, I DID primed the "pipelines")

Just in case:
1. I have used SAME liquid: PodSalt vanilla
2. I have used same coils: 1 ohm 316L by Ryuitech (these were sold on amazon for some £4.99 per 100pces, unavailable now)
3. I have used same mod, LostVape Therion dna75c
while I would be happy to discuss with someone from the ambitious mods (having the ambitions is good. Harvesting monies selling the crap under a brand is... making customers going to pods) - I am open to advices if I am doing anything wrong?
Yes, I have primed the pipes (of the internal diameter larger than my WC flush pipe) until it leaked on the bottom.
Now, setting the mod to 316L, 20W, 140C, taking the 2-3 draws in a string - bleh... no, Ripley (or replay) is not an option...
And yes, after the draw, removing the top part I can see that the wick is semi/part dry...
Well...
REALLY disappointed as comparing to the two mentioned above competitors... see the Classifieds sections soon (unless someone will give me a really smartass hint how to keep the wicks saturated...).

PS: I have just made an experiment: keeping it horizontal creates a wide stain of the liquid on the table, while keeping the one of the legs just semi-saturated ONLY... it seems to be an unique engineering indeed... ROTFL

PPS: I shall stick to the honest/doubtful/politically incorrect reviews by Jai Haze rather than spending monies on the crap... my bad.

 

[MarylinC37]

I don't know how much help I can be as I've never used one of these type of RDTA's before but I've seen build videos on how they work and as no one else has replied I'll have a go and see if I can offer any useful ideas that might help you.

Firstly, have you tried using the mesh instead of the pipes to see if that helps?

It's important to make sure you pour liquid through the pipes first before you fill the tank. With the pipes the bottom end is cut at an angle so when you prime them are you pouring enough liquid through pipes to make sure enough liquid has filled the bottom of the tank to fully submerge the angle to make sure there are no airlocks?

Then after priming the pipes and then soaking the coil and cotton I would gently pat the wet cotton against the top of the pipe to create a good seal between the pipe and the cotton to help the capilliary action.

Personally I'm not a fan of using TC as it is too flaky and unreliable for my liking.

I prefer winding my own coils as it gives me better control and more options to vary things to get the best results.

If you want a tight MTL draw using the smaller airholes I would probably make a 7 wrap Ni80 coil with 29 awg wire which should ohm out at around 1.2.
For a RDL draw with the larger airholes I would use SS316 28 awg and I would make it 3mm ID instead of 2.5 to help avoid dry hits. 6 wraps should ohm out at about 0.7.

Personally I always prefer using 3mm ID coils to supply more juice to the centre of the coil and make sure the cotton is loose enough to easily slide through the coil so it won't dry out.

Is the angle of the coil at 90 degrees facing the airflow holes and at the right height so the airflow is hitting the bottom of the coil?

Finally I find I get better results if I space the coil wraps so the airflow will pick up more juice and provide more flavour.

I know you already probably know most of this but hopefully I've given you one or two more ideas that might help and hopefully someone else with more experience of this particular atty can chip in and maybe have some better ideas.

 

[CzesiuB]

I don't know how much help I can be as I've never used one of these type of RDTA's before but I've seen build videos on how they work and as no one else has replied I'll have a go and see if I can offer any useful ideas that might help you.

Firstly, have you tried using the mesh instead of the pipes to see if that helps?

It's important to make sure you pour liquid through the pipes first before you fill the tank. With the pipes the bottom end is cut at an angle so when you prime them are you pouring enough liquid through pipes to make sure enough liquid has filled the bottom of the tank to fully submerge the angle to make sure there are no airlocks?

Then after priming the pipes and then soaking the coil and cotton I would gently pat the wet cotton against the top of the pipe to create a good seal between the pipe and the cotton to help the capilliary action.

Personally I'm not a fan of using TC as it is too flaky and unreliable for my liking.

I prefer winding my own coils as it gives me better control and more options to vary things to get the best results.

If you want a tight MTL draw using the smaller airholes I would probably make a 7 wrap Ni80 coil with 29 awg wire which should ohm out at around 1.2.
For a RDL draw with the larger airholes I would use SS316 28 awg and I would make it 3mm ID instead of 2.5 to help avoid dry hits. 6 wraps should ohm out at about 0.7.

Personally I always prefer using 3mm ID coils to supply more juice to the centre of the coil and make sure the cotton is loose enough to easily slide through the coil so it won't dry out.

Is the angle of the coil at 90 degrees facing the airflow holes and at the right height so the airflow is hitting the bottom of the coil?

Finally I find I get better results if I space the coil wraps so the airflow will pick up more juice and provide more flavour.

I know you already probably know most of this but hopefully I've given you one or two more ideas that might help and hopefully someone else with more experience of this particular atty can chip in and maybe have some better ideas.

Pretty interesting... thanks for putting me in a potentially correct orientation, Marilyn.
While reading your suggestions and description I think that there seem to be one problem... the wick just lies on the support where these pipes are supposed to deliver the liquid. To me it can be a case (semi supported by quite significant leak almost instantly when I'd put the tank into the horizontal position) that there is insufficient pressure which should (?) press the wicks to the support even if I initially pressed the wick to the support/liquid port in the pipes.
Obviously, if there would be a gap between the leg and support - there will be no liquid transfer.
I will try something when I will be back home tonight, e.g. changing 2.5mm coil (and wick) to 3.5mm...
Will announce the results.

 

[MarylinC37]

Pretty interesting... thanks for putting me in a potentially correct orientation, Marilyn.
While reading your suggestions and description I think that there seem to be one problem... the wick just lies on the support where these pipes are supposed to deliver the liquid. To me it can be a case (semi supported by quite significant leak almost instantly when I'd put the tank into the horizontal position) that there is insufficient pressure which should (?) press the wicks to the support even if I initially pressed the wick to the support/liquid port in the pipes.
Obviously, if there would be a gap between the leg and support - there will be no liquid transfer.
I will try something when I will be back home tonight, e.g. changing 2.5mm coil (and wick) to 3.5mm...
Will announce the results.

I'm glad I've been able to give you a new idea to try and help.

Obviously you don't want to pat too hard and crush the cotton but I think it may be a good idea to cut your cotton slightly longer so it tucks in a little at the sides which might help keep it in good contact with the top of the pipes to make sure it forms a good seal. It would be a shame to see an atty go to waste so I'll be very interested to hear how you get on and if you manage to get it to start working nicely.

 

[CzesiuB]

I'm glad I've been able to give you a new idea to try and help.

Obviously you don't want to pat too hard and crush the cotton but I think it may be a good idea to cut your cotton slightly longer so it tucks in a little at the sides which might help keep it in good contact with the top of the pipes to make sure it forms a good seal. It would be a shame to see an atty go to waste so I'll be very interested to hear how you get on and if you manage to get it to start working nicely.

I am testing the 3mm cotton now.
I can see some improvement, yet it is not tremendous change in terms of the chain vaping. Same time, I've used longer wicks hoping it will cause the compression.
Still, comparing (within the brand) Bi2hop and Ripley: Bi2hop wins without the doubt.
Comparing the "method": Vapefly Galaxies and Ripley: Galaxies wins again.
Anyway:
Tomorrow I will test the 3.5mm wick setup... but, to be honest: while buying Ripley I made a decision based on similarity and brand trust. I feel that I shall not. Wiring/wicking arrangement is pretty similar and SHALL be as simple as Bi2hop, shouldn't it? Well... my experience provides otherwise.

 

[phatbhoy]

Pretty interesting... thanks for putting me in a potentially correct orientation, Marilyn.
While reading your suggestions and description I think that there seem to be one problem... the wick just lies on the support where these pipes are supposed to deliver the liquid. To me it can be a case (semi supported by quite significant leak almost instantly when I'd put the tank into the horizontal position) that there is insufficient pressure which should (?) press the wicks to the support even if I initially pressed the wick to the support/liquid port in the pipes.
Obviously, if there would be a gap between the leg and support - there will be no liquid transfer.
I will try something when I will be back home tonight, e.g. changing 2.5mm coil (and wick) to 3.5mm...
Will announce the results.

I know this probably sounds obvious but, have you oriented the pipes with the angled end in the tank? Just a thought, otherwise the pipes won't feed correctly.

 

[CzesiuB]

I know this probably sounds obvious but, have you oriented the pipes with the angled end in the tank? Just a thought, otherwise the pipes won't feed correctly.

The pipes in ripley are sitting in the wick support. You physically cannot do otherwise.

 

[MarylinC37]

I am testing the 3mm cotton now.
I can see some improvement, yet it is not tremendous change in terms of the chain vaping. Same time, I've used longer wicks hoping it will cause the compression.
Still, comparing (within the brand) Bi2hop and Ripley: Bi2hop wins without the doubt.
Comparing the "method": Vapefly Galaxies and Ripley: Galaxies wins again.
Anyway:
Tomorrow I will test the 3.5mm wick setup... but, to be honest: while buying Ripley I made a decision based on similarity and brand trust. I feel that I shall not. Wiring/wicking arrangement is pretty similar and SHALL be as simple as Bi2hop, shouldn't it? Well... my experience provides otherwise.

Yes I agree nothing beats your own hands on experience of a particular atty. If other similar atties are giving better results then to my mind it is a problem with the design on this one. It ought to be intuitive enough that it shouldn't require a physics degree to get decent performance from it.

Going up to a 3.5mm coil I would imagine could overload the deck with juice and cause excess juice to leak but there is no harm in at least trying it to find out and it will be interesting to see if the atty still leaks now that you are making a better seal between the pipes and the cotton.

Out of interest do you space your coil wraps or use contact coils with no spacing?

 

[CzesiuB]

Going up to a 3.5mm coil I would imagine could overload the deck with juice and cause excess juice to leak but there is no harm in at least trying it to find out and it will be interesting to see if the atty still leaks now that you are making a better seal between the pipes and the cotton.

Out of interest do you space your coil wraps or use contact coils with no spacing?

1. Leaks still, but smaller amount. To be fair, I've only had one RDTA which was not leaking while in horizontal position and it was Vandy Vape pyro V2 - the tank had two silicone pin seals which were preventing leaks when the tank was assembled (not mtl tank though).
2. I have bought some time ago 1ohm 316 coils made by ruitech on amazon (unavailable there for some time, sadly). The coils are spaced, but to be fair, to fit them to both: Bi2hop and Ripley I have to compress the coils, so there is virtually no spacing remaining after this.

 

[MarylinC37]

My coil calculator is telling me that a 1ohm SS316 coil requires 7 wraps of 29awg wire so I'm guessing that's what your coils are.

I'm a big fan of spacing coils because having so much metal surrounding the wet cotton restricts how much juice gets picked up by the airflow. All the flavour comes from the juice so trying to get the airflow to pick up just the right amount so you're not drinking excess juice but where you can get the maximum flavour from having enough juice contained in the vapour is what I always try to aim for.

Leaks are always going to be a problem with atties with fixed airholes on either side that you can't close off. It's similar for me with my squonking drippers but fortunately I can completely close all the airflow holes if I need to.