RTA difficulties wicking 80/20 juice

Hi all, recently I’ve been making a lot of my juices 80/20, used to do 70/30, and they’re fine in my dripper in fact if I make a juice specifically for the dripper I do tend to make it 80/20 or sometimes even max vg. but I’ve been having a few issues when I put 80/20 in my rta, it seems to be ok once it warms the juice a little but at first I can feel that it’s not drawing enough up and the vapor is dropping off.
Has anyone else encountered this with an rta? Would thinning the wick help or perhaps a bigger diameter coil? I currently have a dual clapton set up 2.5mm diameter @28ohms and running it around 50-55 watts.
Or should I just stick to 70/30 in the rta? :thinking:

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@MrMattuk we’ve ALL experienced that. You should just move your “tank” mix down to 70/30 to let it flow and wick. Thinning your wicks won’t help much. Thick is fine for dripping, as you stated, but once you get into a tank (thickness will depend on the tank setup), you need to thin it somewhat, so it will wick.

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I agree with @SessionDrummer. Which rta are you using? This might help with the answers.

You can try thinning a bit depending on how much cotton you are using. But you should consider how you are wicking. Moving to a max vg or close to it will be less forgiving. The amount in terms of thickness of the cotton may be fine by is too short, too long resulting in a less optimal wicking.

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Thanks @SessionDrummer I figured that would be the case, just thought there might of been an alternate ‘fix’ :pensive: guess I’ll be thinning the juice down a bit in future for the tank! :joy:

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Well, all cards on the table here, there are a LOT of different tanks out there, with all kinds of different features, juice flow hole/slot sizes, etc., so you can always try to thin your wick tails and see if that works. It’s impossible to give one rule for all tanks. I’m personally almost 100% SteamCrave, and my experience has been, that the juice viscosity was the winning ticket, over any wick modifications.

You should try it on your setup, and see if modifying the wicks works for your setup or not.

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Thanks @Chrispdx I wasn’t planning on max vg in the tank only for my rda. I’ve got the dead rabbit rta and the zeus x rta both top air flow and I know theyre not the best for flavour but I got them specifically for work i have had bottom airflow but they tend to leak everywhere on a rattley hot bus (I’m a bus driver). My wicking is pretty good, have had a few issues with both, too much or not enough at first but I’ve pretty much got it spot on more often than not now :crossed_fingers:

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I’m sure you’re right, and I’ll be learning by you’re experience rather than messing with my wicks and getting frustrated only to find that you were right all along!! :wink: I’d pretty much figured figured that would be the case anyhow i was asking more out of curiosity. Thanks for the help tho @SessionDrummer and @Chrispdx ! As always it’s much appreciated :+1:

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Well if you ask my wife, she’ll say that’s NEVER the case, so your mileage will vary !!!

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Hahahha!!
I’m sure that’s the case with all wives!! I’m seldom right and even if I am it goes without aknowlegement… or somehow was her idea all along! :rofl::joy:

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I just thought about something that you started to hit on…the build. It may not be about going with a bigger inner diameter but…between the higher vg and how hot the build is, it could be causing the issue. It could just be the number of wraps.

Here is an example: with my kayfun v5 I would get some dry hits with a 26 gauge round wire build. But when I switched to 28 gauge it was much better. I wouldn’t have thought that amount of change would make a big impact but it did.

Try playing with the coil build.

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Thanks @Chrispdx I might give it a look if i get time, i do find with single wire builds that they just dont hit the spot tho, i make my own clapton wire fused 2x 28 gauge kanthal with 38 gauge ni80 wrap. Keeps the wattage low but gives me the hit I’m I’m after, single wire just seems a bit of a thin hit to me.

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You like them then! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::joy:
In all seriousness I did see a steam crave rta, I cant remember which one it was now but I was considering a purchase but didn’t in the end as it wasnt top airflow. Are they good and would they leak on a rattley hot bus? :crazy_face:

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Every one I have (many from different versions and models) ALL have their own characteristics. All are great, and some I favor over others. Flavor IS the driving force in my vaping game, and above all else. As far as leaking, you can always shut off (most, not all versions) the air and juice flow if you are concerned. On my very old original v1., which has no juice or airflow, I can control leaking by how much I wick it.

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I too am driven by flavour, the dead rabbit was the first top flow that I bought and although yes if wicked properly it doesn’t leak, it does have weird flavour issues, 9 times out of 10 it mutes a lot of the leading flavours and brings out some of the accent notes which is really weird and why I got the zeus x which is much better for flavour and again if wicked properly it wont leak (hasn’t yet lol) now I’ve got my work vape sorted I might have to get proper flavour atty for home, at the mo I just use one of my rda’s which isnt always the most convenient thing to reach for :joy::rofl:

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What those two up there said, holds true. What I hear you saying is that you’re concerned with the heat of your work environment thinning your juice and causing leaks in your rta, correct? If so, you might try a top airflow RTA. I really like the Hellvape Destiny. It’s a single coil RTA that refuses to leak and I often work in 100 - 115F heat in the summer with no problems so far. I vape 70V/30P. There are dual coil top airflow RTAs as well if that’s more to your liking.

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Cheers fella I’ll check it out! I already have 2 top air flow rtas which as far as leaks go, if wicked correctly are leak free. It was more about the viscosity of my juice not wicking as quickly as I’d like. But I will check out the destiny, might even use a little less juice than my current squeeze, the zeus x the flavours pretty good but it is a thirsty bugger!! :rofl:

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Try adding 1- 3% distilled water. Easier to just add to the tank a drop at a time or pull a few ml and add the dw. If you take it too high you’ll get some spit back. I mix my base vg/dw8%/salts 9mg(250mg pg). The only pg added comes from flavor content. Works well in my rtas. Since you already have 20% pg I’d start with 2% dw and go from there.

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Thankyou @Letitia if I had some distilled water that might be worth a go for the short term but I do have lots of pg so I’m gonna just thin it with that for now and in future I’ll mix 70/30 for the rta and save the high vg stuff for my RDA’S.
Thanks for the tip tho, most appreciated :+1:

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I vape max VGA in all of my RTA’s with no problems. The Zeus X and Dead Rabbit both require long wick tails because of the way the build deck is laid out. The juice has a long way to travel. I have found that it’s best to thin the wicks more than most other RTA’s for my Zeus X and it keeps up fine. Also, the best coil placement for me is making the coil as short as possible without touching the posts. It helps with both wicking and flavor. I have no experience with the Dead Rabbit. Hope this helps.

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Thanks for the info @louiesquared. I’d say you’re lucky and probably best leaving the dead rabbit alone, I’ve tried all sorts of coil types/placements but just cant get decent flavour out of it, it tends to mute a lot of the leading flavours and picks up on the subtle notes or accent flavours, very strange!! I used to adjust recipes accordingly to get them to taste like they should. Which led me to the zeus x, which all though not amazing for flavour it is much much better!!

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