What EC meter are u guys using?

[Darknes01]

I have been looking around for a good ec meter that i can rely on.
I have seen in a lot of youtube videos people using bluelabs.
I currently have an Apera EC20 and while it feels like a good product i dont know if i trust the readings.
I calibrated it like 1 week ago and today it was off by like 20 to 30 points , aka i tested my nuts water before calibration
and it was at 1213 then after calibrating it i got 1175. i dont know if this amount of swing is acceptable or not.
Oh and i also have an Apera PH20 for testing ph and its dead on every single time.

 

[Renfro]

I calibrated it like 1 week ago and today it was off by like 20 to 30 points

Do it now and see how much it's off. Thats the real deal, how long does it stay calibrated.

 

[rustyshaclkferd]

lots of variables in EC readings, it is not as exact of a measurement as people would choose to proclaim.

20-30 in a week, after a cleaning ..sound like the cleaning cycle to me a week

if it drifts more within a week from now on..be cautious

 

[Tangerine_]

I like my Blue Lab meters but the pH one is slooow.

For EC, I've gone back to using a cheap 20 dollar EC/PPM meter I bought on eBay.
I cant recall the brand, but I've found it be just as reliable as my expensive one. When my lights come on, I'll check and try to snap a pic of it.

 

[Darknes01]

Do it now and see how much it's off. Thats the real deal, how long does it stay calibrated.

I calibrated it 2x today and since u mentioned it , i figured let me check. so i got some new 1413us liquid and put the meter in it. now its off by 20 points. Should i send this back before my 30 days is up? I want to be able to trust this thing when i go and check on my res, to see if they are eating or not or whatnot. i just dont know if this variation is ok and or expected. also please everyone tell me what you guys are using, i wanna see if there is a pattern

 

[Airwalker16]

I'd say I trust any ph pen just as long as you have some 4.0 solution to test it on and see how close it is. If it's off, you just turn the screw a bit to line everything up. I've had the same shitty one for years now.

 

[Darknes01]

I like my Blue Lab meters but the pH one is slooow.

For EC, I've gone back to using a cheap 20 dollar EC/PPM meter I bought on eBay.
I cant recall the brand, but I've found it be just as reliable as my expensive one. When my lights come on, I'll check and try to snap a pic of it.

ya that would be great honestly. I used to use an old 20 dollar ppm reader i bought on amazon but then i wanted to be better at keeping an eye on my plants so decided to get this and cant trust it at all anymore lol

 

[Darknes01]

I'd say I trust any ph pen just as long as you have some 4.0 solution to test it on and see how close it is. If it's off, you just turn the screw a bit to line everything up. I've had the same shitty one for years now.

Oh i trust my ph pen, its my stupid EC pen i dont trust and cant figure out if i should return it and buy a more expensive bluelab or go back to buying the 20 dollar ppm pens from amazon.

 

[Renfro]

Are you letting it sit in the solution long enough to stabilize temperature?

 

[Darknes01]

Are you letting it sit in the solution long enough to stabilize temperature?

Yap, I wait till the number stops moving basically and it takes about 3 to 5 min.

 

[Renfro]

And if you are re using the same sample container of calibration solution are you making sure not to bring anything in with the meter? Like is it rinsed of any PPM?

Honestly I have a cheapo PPM EC meter and it's probably about as accurate as plus or minus 20 PPM. It's accurate enough for what I wanna do. Most of the time I just use a truncheon and that confirms what I expect and thats fast.

 

[70's natureboy]

I calibrated it 2x today and since u mentioned it , i figured let me check. so i got some new 1413us liquid and put the meter in it. now its off by 20 points. Should i send this back before my 30 days is up? I want to be able to trust this thing when i go and check on my res, to see if they are eating or not or whatnot. i just dont know if this variation is ok and or expected. also please everyone tell me what you guys are using, i wanna see if there is a pattern View attachment 4455401

I think that's as close as any are going to get. I bought a Control Wizrd Digistick and its a piece of shit. I might look at an Apera now. I should have just bought a Truncheon stick and be done with it.

 

[2com]

Bluelab:
Truncheon's are great. Bullet proof, no calibration needed ever. There's two models (one has a slightly higher scale).
The combo meter (temp, ph, ec (tds, ppm, cf) is great as well (it's ec probe is of the same quality as the truncheon far as I could tell).

Properly, consistently rinsing, calibrating, and cleaning every once in a while, along with always storing in kcl solution go a long way to making the ph probe last longer and work as good as it can.

 

[Darknes01]

Bluelab:
Truncheon's are great. Bullet proof, no calibration needed ever. There's two models (one has a slightly higher scale).
The combo meter (temp, ph, ec (tds, ppm, cf) is great as well (it's ec probe is of the same quality as the truncheon far as I could tell).

Properly, consistently rinsing, calibrating, and cleaning every once in a while, along with always storing in kcl solution go a long way to making the ph probe last longer and work as good as it can.

i think im reading a little too much into this stuff and over analyzing it. Its off by 10 to 20 points on an ec scale which is like 5 to 10 ppm , in the grand scheme of things thats not much i guess. What i have decided to do is calibrate it every 10 days when i do a res change on both my RDWC systems and then hopefully it will just show me consistent results over the 10 days.
Regarding the bluelab truncheon, it doesnt even have anything between say 1.0 and 1.2 thats off by 200 and even if it blinks between the 2 then it could be 1100 or 1150 and so on. here my ec pen from apera is say showing 1920 then 1935, thats barely 15 point difference where the bluelab would be or could be off by as much as 100. hope that makes sense.

 

[MrGreenFingers99]

I second the truncheon, bullet proof and also great for mixing nutes! People get hung up on the fact it doesnt tell you the reading to 0.02 EC, that's because you dont need to be so precise with EC/PPM's - it's like aiming for a PH of 5.841 instead of just 5.8 lol

 

[xtsho]

I use a $30 HM Digital COM-80. It does what it's supposed to do. Has four settings for readings but I only use one.

• EC Range: 0 – 9990 µS; 0 – 9.9 mS
• TDS Range: 0 – 5000 ppm (0.5 Scale) ; 0-8560 ppm (0.7 Scale)
• Temperature Range: 1-80 °C; 33-176 °F
• Resolution: 1 µS/ppm; 0.1 mS
• Temp. Resolution: 0.1 °C/F
• Accuracy: +/- 2%

 

[Nizza]

I like my bluelab pulse meter. It takes direct EC reading and moisture reading straight from the soil/medium and right to my phone.
I just got the soil leap meter tooo~ sooooo excited

 

[waterproof808]

bluelab truncheon FTW! They are rugged, don't need calibration, the readout displays in 2 ppm scales and EC simultaneously, doubles as a mixing stick. A little more pricey but worth every penny

 

[Darknes01]

i got a Bluelab MONGUA Guardian and very happy with it. But today my ppm went from 850 down to 680 and up to 850 again during the course of 4hrs. I cant figure out if this normal or something wrong with the bluelab guardian

 

[Darknes01]

i got a Bluelab MONGUA Guardian and very happy with it. But today my ppm went from 850 down to 680 and up to 850 again during the course of 4hrs. I cant figure out if this normal or something wrong with the bluelab guardian

never mind something was wrong with my bluelab, i gently shook the probe and now its ready 920ppm