milwaukee pH meter is pure garbage!!!

420OldSchoolDJ420 said:

wait, can you tell me how you tested your runoff using a liquid ph tester? I have tried this a few times but the runoff water color ALWAYS ruins the test. How did you accurately test the runoff using that type tester?

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My runoff water is pretty clear, and when the liquid test turns bright orangish red, its not hard to read it at all.

Chumlie said:

A witch pH tester do you have? If it the Milwaukee pH600, its not that acurate I had to a calibrate it almost every three days. So I went ahead an bought the pH51. The guys at milwaukee suport will tell you to leave it in tap water. Also when you got the meter did you leave it in a glass of water for 12 hours (6) before calibrating it, if it is the pH51 the pH600 you only have to leave it in for 3 to 4 hours.

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I've got the pH600, calibrated it before use both times I used it. I also kept it stored in tap water. It always reads the calibration solution perfectly as 7.01 but apparently it is not very accurate when it comes to testing the pH of anything else. I will be using the liquid test kit from now on. I did not know to leave it in tap water before the first time I used it, but it was left in tap water much longer than that for storage prior to its most recent use and it still reads over an entire point off. My tap water is 8.5 the milwaukee says its 6.8 one day, then 7.5 the other day. I added my typical dose of pH down to the tap waer (2 drops to a gallon), when using the liquid test this always shows it at 6.0-7.0 but the milwaukee wouldnt budge, it took me TEN drops of pH down to get the milwaukee to tell me that my tap water was in the 6.0-7.0 range, I shoulda known then that something was up, as I never have to add that much pH down to my water to get it to show a proper pH with my liquid kit. I will be using the liquid kit from now on as this grow has me flat broke and I dont have nearly enough money for another pH meter.

The reason you leave it in tap water for 3 hours or more(pH600) when you first get it is because it is water proof meter and it takes it a couple of hours for the water to soak into the prob. Now the Milwaukee tech guy told me on the pH51 it takes 12 for most people will only do 6 hours.

Now the pH liquids are not that acurate as the meters if you get the right meter, I believe the Milwaukee pH51 is pretty acurate. I could get back to you on that.

My tap water is 7.8 to 7.9 and it takes about a milliter or two of GH pH down to get to 6.8

To bump an old thread. +1 on Milwaukee meters being piece of shit. I only had my PH600 for 38 days before it went belly up. Obv 8 days outside the warranty period. I always had to calibrate it every time I used it as it was always .1 off and sometimes .2. Today it just went batshit crazy when I dipped it into my solution. The ph values went extremely high then immediately started counting downwards..then itd stop and shoot thru the roof again. It still continued to do this when taken out of the solution. I think Ill be going with Hanna instead as long as I dont find any hate for it.

i use soil so i dont have to worry so much about the Ph but i still test it!!

A thread that would address the many choices of PH equipment would be nice. I attempted to start one here: https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/266542-ph-testing-equipment.html

Mine work fine.
I have a pen model and a continuous monitor one also.

I know this is an old thread but i recently purchased a ph600 test meter w/ a bottle of 7.0 buffer, 4.0 buffer & electrode rinse for $32, so i couldn't pass it up. But so far Ive had it for a month and Ive use it about 4-6 times a week. I haven't had to adjust it yet, but i do occasionally recheck it with my liquid kit and its always within .2 ph of where the liquid kit is so I figure its most likely giving the correct reading. Since Milwaukee doesn't really give you any directions on how to break there meter in, I decided to call there toll free number and this is what the tech guy told me. He said before you even use it to test anything that your suppose to sit the meter in a glass of plain tap water and leave it sit there for 2hrs or more also he told me to not even bother trying to keep the electrode wet w/ your cap on to just keep it in a cup of tap water at all times your not using it, because if it drys out, it wont read correctly anymore. Although the meter comes dry so I don't understand how that works, but i figured Id add a little new info on the post in case anyone else is wondering the same things i did.

sorry to bump on old thread, but i too have one of these ph600s and just realized it's messed up. biggest piece of crap ever, i kept thinking there is no way i need to add this much ph buffer to get the ph down. then all of a sudden it was readying 2.0 + off of everything. i have no solution but I am going to buy a bottle to see if it will calibrate. what a piece of crap!

DaveCoulier said:

To bump an old thread. +1 on Milwaukee meters being piece of shit. I only had my PH600 for 38 days before it went belly up. Obv 8 days outside the warranty period. I always had to calibrate it every time I used it as it was always .1 off and sometimes .2. Today it just went batshit crazy when I dipped it into my solution. The ph values went extremely high then immediately started counting downwards..then itd stop and shoot thru the roof again. It still continued to do this when taken out of the solution. I think Ill be going with Hanna instead as long as I dont find any hate for it.

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I have the Milwaukee, it reads 8.1 always even in acid water. I also have a Hanna of which I have returned one and am about to return another. The first Hanna sucked up water inside the unit so the digital was shorting out from water. The second reads Milwaukee Tap at 8.5 - went to aquarium store asked to measure their Discus tank which they claimed to read at 7.0 but the Hanna read it at 8.4. So I have contacted MWW and ask what the current Ph is on tap water, if they say 7.5 then I also asked if it is possible for mineral deposits in the pipes raising the Ph, am waiting for a reply. Both the Milwaukee and the Hanna are made in Romania. Perhaps the same company is making both. I would love to here from anyone that has a Ph meter that actually works!