PH meter, error during calibration

L

lilnug420

Well-Known Member
i have these 2 ph meters, one is 1 year old the other 3 years old.


they're both giving error when trying to calibrate, they were stored dry, as the instructions don't say anything about storage solutions.


on the instruction it says if they dry out to immerse them in distilled water for 2-3 h, i did so overnight and they're still giving error, i'm gonna try immersing them for 12h in the 4ph solution as i've read it can help revive them.

i will post a pic of the instructions and the ph meters.


does anyone have experience with these cheap meters? how accurate are they? and how often do you calibrate them? as long as the margin of error isn't higher than 0.25 they're good enough for me as i can't afford the expensive ones
 
You could check them with some General Hydroponics pH Test Solution. A few drops in 20mL will turn the liquid anywhere from bright yellow to dark green depending on the pH. It's probably good for close to reading within 0.25 of the true pH. Available online for less than $8 at BezosBigBox or eBay
GHpHTI.jpg
 
BeccaBuds said:
You could check them with some General Hydroponics pH Test Solution. A few drops in 20mL will turn the liquid anywhere from bright yellow to dark green depending on the pH. It's probably good for close to reading within 0.25 of the true pH. Available online for less than $8 at BezosBigBox or eBay
GHpHTI.jpg
Click to expand...
already have them, they're pretty inaccurate as everyone interprets the colors differently, same with strips, i dont trust my judgment
 
lilnug420 said:
i have these 2 ph meters, one is 1 year old the other 3 years old.


they're both giving error when trying to calibrate, they were stored dry, as the instructions don't say anything about storage solutions.


on the instruction it says if they dry out to immerse them in distilled water for 2-3 h, i did so overnight and they're still giving error, i'm gonna try immersing them for 12h in the 4ph solution as i've read it can help revive them.

i will post a pic of the instructions and the ph meters.


does anyone have experience with these cheap meters? how accurate are they? and how often do you calibrate them? as long as the margin of error isn't higher than 0.25 they're good enough for me as i can't afford the expensive ones
Click to expand...
I have a meter just like that one and it will not work correctly at all, it's only a year old. I have to get a new one.
 
I've only got one of those cheapos too
I check it occasionally in plain water, milk, vinegar etc and it's not accurate, but still a good indicator
Never been too fussy about pH anyway tbh
I pre-mix up my pH down in batches so that I know 5ml/L of my solution will drop the pH of 1L by 1 whole point
So 5ml/L will take my tap water from pH 7.0 to pH 6.0, then I decide whether to go lower if I think Fe, Zn, Mb, B or Cu need a boost, but generally I know 5ml/L will be pH 6.0, 6ml/L will result in pH 5.8 etc, but I don't often check the final pH, it'll be somewhere around there depending on additives
Only Potassium Silicate screws it up a bit, takes ages to settle down
 
Roy Growin said:
I've only got one of those cheapos too
I check it occasionally in plain water, milk, vinegar etc and it's not accurate, but still a good indicator
Never been too fussy about pH anyway tbh
I pre-mix up my pH down in batches so that I know 5ml/L of my solution will drop the pH of 1L by 1 whole point
So 5ml/L will take my tap water from pH 7.0 to pH 6.0, then I decide whether to go lower if I think Fe, Zn, Mb, B or Cu need a boost, but generally I know 5ml/L will be pH 6.0, 6ml/L will result in pH 5.8 etc, but I don't often check the final pH, it'll be somewhere around there depending on additives
Only Potassium Silicate screws it up a bit, takes ages to settle down
Click to expand...
how far off would you say it is? i remember mine being pretty accurate even after a month of not calibrating when new, like within .15 of error, which is plenty enough for growing
 
lilnug420 said:
already have them, they're pretty inaccurate as everyone interprets the colors differently, same with strips, i dont trust my judgment
Click to expand...

My cheap meter died on the first grow, and I struggle with seeing color tones correctly, especially old school PH paper. PH pen quality is typically directly related to its cost. The blue lab pens are more expensive but spoken highly of

Personally I got fed up with PH and just went organic. Once every few months I check my soil PH to ensure nothing has decomped out but other than that the only measurements I make are TDS/PPM for my living water.
 
Read the maintenance instruction and see if that helps.

Your probe dried out, try placing in distill water for a couple hours.

Hope this helps,
Tok..
 
lilnug420 said:
how far off would you say it is? i remember mine being pretty accurate even after a month of not calibrating when new, like within .15 of error, which is plenty enough for growing
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I got the report from my water supplier who confirmed my tap water is pH7.2, my meter reads pH7.0
Malt vinegar has a pH of approx 2.5 - my meter says 3.0, so it's not accurate but near enough to make a judgement
I can see if my plants are even slightly yellowing, so they are my meter really
 
Howdy ,If mine drys out it's DEAD I use storage solution in the cap I have a Blue lab one of the best investments I've ever made for growing .
I use it to ph my water,our water is 8.0 out of the tap after filtration and I always pH my water, for my plants or the veggies I'm in living soil it so it helps keep it stable I don't want to put 8.0 water on my 7.0 soil especially if it only takes me a sector 2 to ph it and a ec pen I don't use, no need unless I would maybe try a run off test but I get my soil tested in my indoor grow .I only use fish or silica and LAB in my water other than that I don't use Nuits my amendment mix is good for a season I just add microbes via compost tea or worm castings or top dress dry amendment if the microbes need anything I can usually tell by the plant and the stage it's in what I need to feed the soil and in small amounts as not to change the soil pH to much I run 6.9 in my soil so it can go either way a bit and not get crazy gotta watch inputs for heavy metals that shows up in a soil test ✌️

IMG_20230623_095000.jpg


IMG_20230623_094927.jpg
 
lilnug420 said:
i have these 2 ph meters, one is 1 year old the other 3 years old.


they're both giving error when trying to calibrate, they were stored dry, as the instructions don't say anything about storage solutions.


on the instruction it says if they dry out to immerse them in distilled water for 2-3 h, i did so overnight and they're still giving error, i'm gonna try immersing them for 12h in the 4ph solution as i've read it can help revive them.

i will post a pic of the instructions and the ph meters.


does anyone have experience with these cheap meters? how accurate are they? and how often do you calibrate them? as long as the margin of error isn't higher than 0.25 they're good enough for me as i can't afford the expensive ones
Click to expand...
I think I've got the same meter... it did dry out for a relatively longish period. I re-calibrated recently using the packets of crystal chemical that came with the unit. I think it's working well. I need to get more of those packets.

What error message did you get? Is it explained in the manual? Do the batteries need replaced?
 
Just break down and buy a good one it's WORTH IT the √ mark doesn't show up if it's not calibrated. If you dried out you meter It's Dead the cheap ones probably won't because they have metal probes I've tried them wasted more money and time chasing my tail than anything, mine is a glass probe you might want to cross reference your meter with another meter somehow or the liquid just to see if you are in the ballpark,and I'll just put it out there your grow will only do as good as the equipment you use same with inputs!

IMG_20230627_085205.jpg


IMG_20230627_085519.jpg


IMG_20230627_085909.jpg
 
seaofgreen18 said:
Just break down and buy a good one it's WORTH IT the √ mark doesn't show up if it's not calibrated. If you dried out you meter It's Dead the cheap ones probably won't because they have metal probes I've tried them wasted more money and time chasing my tail than anything, mine is a glass probe you might want to cross reference your meter with another meter somehow or the liquid just to see if you are in the ballpark,and I'll just put it out there your grow will only do as good as the equipment you use same with inputs!

IMG_20230627_085205.jpg


IMG_20230627_085519.jpg


IMG_20230627_085909.jpg
Click to expand...
You are right break down pay the money for a good one and not another cheap one. Pay once and be done with it. Thats what I am going to do.
 
lilnug420 said:
i have these 2 ph meters, one is 1 year old the other 3 years old.


they're both giving error when trying to calibrate, they were stored dry, as the instructions don't say anything about storage solutions.


on the instruction it says if they dry out to immerse them in distilled water for 2-3 h, i did so overnight and they're still giving error, i'm gonna try immersing them for 12h in the 4ph solution as i've read it can help revive them.

i will post a pic of the instructions and the ph meters.


does anyone have experience with these cheap meters? how accurate are they? and how often do you calibrate them? as long as the margin of error isn't higher than 0.25 they're good enough for me as i can't afford the expensive ones
Click to expand...
Try distilled vinegar instead and buy KCl storage solution. Cheers!
 
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