Anyone else have problems with Bluelab ph meters?

I bought a Bluelab combo meter just over a year ago and the thing has given me so many headaches. It ceased working about a month ago and since Bluelab can't 'recreate' the problem they are not obligated to fulfill the warrantee...BUMMER!

Seems to be the only ph meter around. Anyone know of any other ph pens they'd recommend?

I just bought blue lab ppm and pH pens. The ppm won't calibrate properly and I think they want to replace it....for free of course. Bummer that's happening to you. Did u call the US customer service?

Being heavily into DWC, as well as possessing 4 saltwater aquariums( pH meters are more important in Aquaria than in Hydro) Id say I'm qualified to take a crack at your issue.
You haven't really specified the issue however. More info is needed homes.
Oh and I've had a Bluelab for about 8 years now.

Just won't remain calibrated. First thing I noticed was that the ph reading of my tap water kept changing from day to day, hour to hour. Then I realized it was the ph meter, not my water. So I would calibrate it when the readings from the same bucket would change within minutes.

When I attempt to calibrate it in the 7.0 solution the lowest reading it would give of the 7.0 solution was about 7.6. Then I calibrate it to 4.0 and go on my way. After a few times of calibrating it like this eventually it would just spike it's reading to 9.0 and higher, even when placed in the 7.0 solution and it would give me an error reading preventing me from being able to calibrate it or use it at all.

I thought it was the probe cause I took it to the shop and they tested it and said it wasn't the body. I replaced the probe. And still was doing it. I had it professionally calibrated 3 times at the shop with the calibration machine from Bluelab, but it would only stay calibrated for a few hours.

I then sent it to to company and they couldn't 'duplicate' the problem so they are not obligated to replace it and won't.

I'm not really looking for help troubleshooting this, unless it's something you know how to troubleshoot. I'd love some help. But mostly Im just wondering if there are any other ph meters on the market anyone would recommend cause Bluelab seems to have pretty well cornered the market with what I believe to be an inferior product.

take it to grow store you got it from see if they can fix it. my blulabs ph and ppm pen wouldnt calibreate after 2-3 years of use and the guy gave me both brand new boxes. which i didnt have the receipt for.

Odd, I had two guardians go bad due to moisture , get them a little wet and they start dropping led segments.
Emailed bluelab , they requested pictures of the dimmed segments on the led display and the serial number and a week later I had two new guardians that I will not allow to be in wet or very very humid conditions.
They seem very good at supporting their product and keeping their reputation.

I've never heard it said about bluelab but I've seen some talk about their tri-meters being affected by rfi/emi from their ballasts.
freaks out the readings or some shit.

dbkick said:

I've never heard it said about bluelab but I've seen some talk about their tri-meters being affected by rfi/emi from their ballasts.
freaks out the readings or some shit.

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Me neither. I've never even heard anyone talk about their experience using Bluelab. So I figured I'd start a thread about it. I did take it to the shop I bought it at and they did send it back to Bluelab to be worked on, but I did not contact Bluelab myself. That is my next option.

They don't even have you send them back, they ask you to destroy the defective units. That's a hard thing to do when the dimmed segment is the last digit of the ppm reading,

Ive got several bluelab truncheun meters that stay in the rez's that are going strong 5 yrs now but i did have 2 BL combo pens that have had issues & were replaced by the grow shop , i bought a KICK ASS Hanna PH meter called the GrowCheck for $90 as a spare & its been my main meter for 3 yrs now , mainly due to ease of use & unbeatable calibration.

The growcheck meter has a manual calibration dial & single point calibration , its impossible for the meter to not calibrate , the bluelabs go to the 3rd digit & the Hanna GrowCheck goes to the 2nd digit but like Dbkick said the 3rd digit is bout useless anyways .

You just use whatever soultion you want & turn the dial until the meter reads 4.0 , 7.0 ect & the GrowCheck is calibrated perfectly , they take common AAA batterys too , if you end up buying a new meter have a peek at the Hanna GrowCheck.

My BL pen is tripping as well but I use ph test drops because I don't trust the PH meters for this reason been using PH drops since 07' but still using meters this is how I know the meter is off. Because if the meter is working correctly they'd match.

Get the cleaning solution , make sure the probes are very clean . Let sit in the solutions awhile before you calibrate. The customer service from my experience sucks, but the meters are badass. I have used many other meters and I love all my blue labs

Make sure to change your batteries often in the combo meter as well

I just realized the other day that the probe on my res thermometer was screwing with my Bluelab meters. It's a cheap Petsmart tank thermometer. The day after i put it in i started getting huge fluctuations in my readings, I calibrated and recalibrated, cleaned and calibrated. Once i pulled that probe out..everything settled right out. I dropped it back in and the meter went nutty. All I can think of is that since these instruments read electrical differences in the media, that probe was giving off enough of a charge to interfere with the meters. Something to think about...I'm wondering if a water pump in the tank could effect readings now..or any other elec. device that may be influencing the reservoir.

i have a myron l ultrapen.it holds calibration better then all the other ph pens i have used.

I've had the standard Bluelab ph Meter for about 6 years now, replaced the probe a couple of times, and it's been excellent - up till now. Activating the "on" switch does nothing. Remove the batteries, and replace (with same batteries), and the display goes through what seems to be a checking/startup process, then it goes into read mode. So, it works, but there IS a problem. I'm going to place the meter in a warm, dry place overnight, and see it that helps.
In the meantime, if anyone else has experienced this, perhaps I can learn more....

In the meantime, I'll contact Bluelab and see what they have to say.

Regards,

IJ

dbkick said:

Odd, I had two guardians go bad due to moisture , get them a little wet and they start dropping led segments.
Emailed bluelab , they requested pictures of the dimmed segments on the led display and the serial number and a week later I had two new guardians that I will not allow to be in wet or very very humid conditions.
They seem very good at supporting their product and keeping their reputation.

Click to expand...

Same exact thing here. Got new ones mailed priority.