I used these in my first job making moisture instrumentation in 1999. The sensor needs a higher frequency driving wave at higher humidity to stop polarisation and a much lower frequency at very low humidity. I developed a simple bit of code that smoothly varied the frequency from 10kHz down to 100Hz based on what the sensor was reading, hugely extending the accurate range of the sensor.
@DaPenguin4474 жыл бұрын
Hi Clive, just dropping in to say how useful this video is 4 years later. I've been researching humidity sensors for a 3D printer filament drying project and was nearly going to pull the trigger on a couple of $8 already in the nice plastic case with the display jobbies, when I remembered I had a few sensors lying around from a previous arduino project. I wondered how they worked, and the words " hygrometer eBay " brought me straight here. I'm fairly certain if I type anything I'm remotely interested in with the word eBay after it I'll end up with result number 1 being a video of yours.... Top quality content as always mate, stay safe during this quarantine, and as always... keep the explosion containment pie dish handy.
@stridermt2k8 жыл бұрын
How the hell do you know these awesome little tidbits like the humidity in a bag trick? That kind of stuff is awesome to know and I really have to thank you for it. It's why I subscribe to this channel -infotainment of the highest caliber!
@vedasticks8 жыл бұрын
possibly mycology hobby? mycoligists need accurate humidity readings . its commen knowledge for those into mycology . to calibrate an anologue humidity guage, you put it in a bag with salt for upto 75% for high humity upto 99% wrap it in a damp towel for 1 hour and adjust to read 99%
@SianaGearz8 жыл бұрын
I had it in 10 minutes of Googling. I mean once you have multiple humidity meters, or have ever even been to a store where a bunch of them display different values, the natural question occurs which one is right.
@stridermt2k8 жыл бұрын
vedasticks Indeed! Siana Gearz Good for you! ;)
@chris27902 жыл бұрын
Maybe he's a cigar aficionado. They're OCD about their humidors. :)
@patrickbasani79679 ай бұрын
Maybe cigars! Ask me how I know it 😂
@DrTeddyMMM8 жыл бұрын
I purchased 10 of these little devices, they were sold as ºC (celsius) only. I wanted to use them mainly for the humidity function. As with everything I get, I take it apart first. I discovered there is a set of solder points inside that will set it to ºF (fahrenheit) temperature readings. Bonus! :)
@shanemagman11916 жыл бұрын
Hi @DrTeddyMMM So how did you have them convert Celsius to Fahrenheit? Mine was displayed in Fahrenheit and after battery change it turned into Celsius. I'd really appreciate if you could shed some light. Thanks!
@stevenA444 жыл бұрын
How I didn't see your comment last year when I got some of these and asked Clive how to change it, I don't know. I should have read more comments. LOL But he said the same thing about the solder pads.
@ivansandoval9463 жыл бұрын
did the humidity function work propperly?
@LuneyToonz-lk2de21 күн бұрын
@shanemagman1191 I ordered 2 recently. They were reading C, so I bridged the 2 connections labeled F with solder. You have to remove the iron slowly so the bead goes across both contacts.
@zorgatron89987 жыл бұрын
I really do appreciate videos like this, Clive. I know it seems like such a simple thing but this is a good unbiased educational video for a product that has worked very well in my life. Thanks for the work you do!
@georgestyer21532 жыл бұрын
Totally agree
@Harani666 жыл бұрын
Very useful video I bought a pair of these with the sensors on flying leads and put them in a wall mounted box on a cavity wall I've been having damp problems with. One panel is reading the ambient humidity (and temperature), the other the sensor goes through a hole in the wall so I can measure humidity in the cavity and compare them against each other. Now I can make sure the two units are calibrated the same.
@MrKlyushin7 жыл бұрын
Thank you for such a great video! I was wondering how those sensors work. I have very poor knowledge of physics but at a amateur level I understood how it works. Thanks a lot!
@a647382 жыл бұрын
Boveda brand sells salt packs with different humidity settings including a 75% and 33% humidity for calibrating humidity meters...
@flagpoleeip8 жыл бұрын
put mine through the washing machine. had a significant affect on its accuracy.
@christiangeiselmann8 жыл бұрын
The washing machine's?
@flagpoleeip8 жыл бұрын
very good.
@p3rs0n428 жыл бұрын
What kind of washing machine is it? We may be able to help you re-calibrate it, and fix it's accuracy.
@christiangeiselmann8 жыл бұрын
+p3rs0n42 Never do your laundry with a non-calibrated washing mashine. Bad things can happen!
@p3rs0n428 жыл бұрын
+Christian Geiselmann I always recalibrate it before each load, just to be safe!
@grahamrdyer63228 жыл бұрын
Thanks for showing us Clive, I didn't really know how these things work but I'm glad you did this video.
@peterleather68668 жыл бұрын
I never knew that you could check the calibration like that. I have a DHT22 (digital) humidity sensor connected to my Raspberry Pi weather station that I suspect is read way off so could test it with this method. Thanks for the tip!
@azzym3128 жыл бұрын
Clive I thought they were capacitors of which the capacitance varies with humidity. I traced the circuit of one of these and I found this; There was a CMOS 555 on board of which the frequency varied as a function of the capacitance of the sensor. I could be wrong perhaps the varying resistance changed the frequency directly. But I remember that the sensor was located where normally a capacitor goes into the 555 oscillator circuit. I built and sold a dozen humidity display plus recorders to a pharmaceutical Co. about 6 years ago.
@sniffy69999998 жыл бұрын
Great for homemade humidors, and I know know heaps more about them. Clive, you're a star.
@Zero_Ego5 жыл бұрын
You answered every question I had about these units and more. Much appreciated.
@DonDegidio8 жыл бұрын
Nice video and humidity sensor explanation. Great way to test the units. If they were adjustable, wish you would have shown how to bring them closer to the correct reading.
@davids24488 жыл бұрын
Great tip about testing. I now know which of my hygrometers to trust. Thank you Clive!
@Markle2k8 жыл бұрын
You can use various salts with their own equilibrium relative humidities. To calibrate a low point at 33%, Magnesium Chloride is an easily accessible salt. You should use kosher salt or canning salt instead of table salt for your Sodium Chloride slurry, though. Common table salt contains anti-caking agents that can throw things off.
@TodorTashev Жыл бұрын
Wonderful explanation. Thank you so much for sharing. I am also enthusiastic about hygrometers and since they show slightly different values I didn't know which one is correct. Now I know how to check. I'm really excited to try this out.
@LPFthings8 жыл бұрын
Humidity sensors require temperature sensors to get the relative humidity (absolute isn't really used much), you can probably tune the ones that are out by simply tweaking the resistance of the thermistor.
@AstAMoore8 жыл бұрын
Unlikely. Thermistors are _highly_ nonlinear. The COB has a table programmed into it that compares the resistance of the thermistor to the (nearest) preprogrammed value. At least that’s what should happen theoretically when each unit is calibrated. Granted, there’s not a chance they do that for cheap Chinese hygrometers (they probably use typical values from the thermistor’s manufacturer data sheet), but I don’t see how you can “tweak” the resistance without _decreasing_ the overall accuracy of the unit. You could, probably, calibrate it this way to be (more) accurate in a specific range of temperatures (for example, around the typical room temperature, refrigerator temperature, or freezer temperature). You’ll still need a highly accurate, certified device as a gauge for that.
@EpicLPer8 жыл бұрын
Why would anyone need more than 6 of tho... oh wait, you're Clive, never underestimate Clive.
@bigclivedotcom8 жыл бұрын
Yeah, it was a group test to see how they compared.
@LakeNipissing8 жыл бұрын
Living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, basement...
@drkastenbrot8 жыл бұрын
theyre cheap, reason enough to buy at least 5
@kyoudaiken8 жыл бұрын
I bought three of them in white. One for my bedroom, one for my kitchen and one for my fridge.
@LosSerpent4 жыл бұрын
if you're growing weed...
@kane1005742 жыл бұрын
Man, that is amazing. Humidity cal for cheap meters. Thank you so much for this!
@BaconSniffer5788 жыл бұрын
I use these in my guitar cases. Thanks for the calibration tips
@Seegalgalguntijak8 жыл бұрын
Last winter, I bought a few of these round analog humidity meters from ebay, because my apartment is always too dry and I was using a humidifyer for the first time. When they arrived, they all showed a different value, so I had to clip open and manually rotate the dial in order to get a somewhat accurate reading (but in fact, I'm happy if it shows me "around 20%" or "around 40%", with the former being almost unbearable for my respiratory system and the latter being the start of where it becomes tolerable.
@Hkarl858 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much Mr. Clive for this video, me and the wife are looking for new ones for the green houses that dont just crap out in the sunlight and moisture so this is extremely helpful ! you would think a moisture meter would have some protection from the elements but apparently not
@easymac794 жыл бұрын
1:49 I'd say the variation in humidity reading is not so much an error in the humidity reading, but rather the calculation it performs based on the temperature. You might mention it later, but I'm commenting in real time; relative humidity is based on the capacity of air to hold water vapor and that changes based on temperature. The meters in the tub are ranging from a low of 18.3C to a high of 19.9C and show a difference in relative humidity of 4%. I think it comes down to the accuracy of the temperature probes, but there is another 5m7s to this video and I could be totally incorrect.
@stupossibleify8 жыл бұрын
Every time I look at your channel there's something interesting and timely
@XOIIOXOIIO8 жыл бұрын
Fantastic little thing, I'm ordering one for my server rack right now, I have my own temp sensor I rigged up using a dallas instruments one wire device but something to permanently install will be handy, though without the ability to datalog like mine. First one I found has a remote sensor, and I figure that will work nicely since I will be able to put it somewhere in the rack if I want to read the temp from somewhere else.
@evilutionltd8 жыл бұрын
I fitted one of these into a smart Roadster a few months ago. They suffer from leaks and the water turns to vapour and condenses on the main controller PCB for most of the electrics. Monitoring the humidity in the car was an obvious step.
@maxximumb8 жыл бұрын
Thanks big man for another quality video to keep us exciting party folk entertained, this Friday night.
@troylivingstone10828 жыл бұрын
ahey! the first product that you've dismantled that I own, good to see whats inside 'er.
@stevenferro Жыл бұрын
Thanks for showing us how to test the accuracy i was a bit worried about that and now i have something to help me out!
@browpetj6 жыл бұрын
Great video and great channel. Subbed for sure. Had several of these under cover that drifted due to very fine silica dust (middle east weather). Now I know how and how not to clean these! Most appreciated.
@SilverGreen938 жыл бұрын
Thanks, bigclive! Learnt something new today. AC, not DC for RH sensors. :)
@joels76058 жыл бұрын
I really like the HIH-4000. It's a capacitive sensor that does a similar job. The resistive salt based devices age. Capacitive sensors do not. They also output a 0-5v analog signal and don't need to be driven with hard to deal with sine waves. Something to look into...
@tomcardale55968 жыл бұрын
We build things for grain store monitoring using the HIH 4000 series sensors, been using them for years. Eventually some do go a bit haywire but most of the time it's due to dodgy electrics on a farm that have zapped some part of the circuitry upstream of them.
@hendersonjp8 жыл бұрын
hey Clive your knowledge is immence another ace video top class viewing .Keep it up sir .
@chuck1804 Жыл бұрын
This video was the simple explanation I was looking for. Thank you!
@Galileosays4 жыл бұрын
Great help to calibrate/check the hygrometer, which turns out to be essential in covid-19 prevention. That is, keeping a room above 40 %RH and preferable below 50 %RH.
@fromfin908 жыл бұрын
i have a temperature meter in the same package, quite neat to keep an eye on temp inside refridgerator(it has a lead with the sensor on the end) Might get one of these for fun
@TheSpotify958 жыл бұрын
Excellent video, thanks! Also, thanks for explaining how to test the accuracy on these things. I have varying different humidity meters around, and I don't know if any of them are correct or not, so I will definitely get them checked.
@DrZipZwan4 жыл бұрын
I got this humitidy meter, but with external long probe model. Later I am going to test its accuracy according to your test. Thx.
@DarkLinkAD8 жыл бұрын
I had an old 480Watt window a/c, so I decided to use the condenser to dry my bedroom. My humidity sensor Implied 47% humidity at 27.7C/82F. I had it in operation overnight, 5 gallons of water later and the sensor still reads 47% Humidity. I think my hair is a far better measurement of humidity.
@emilee1726 жыл бұрын
BTW most have a small area with 2 solder point that can be shorted for use with Fahrenheit , actually has a C/F denoted on the board
@mjpea48 жыл бұрын
Just subbed to Patreon Clive, keep doing what you're doing mate.
@tundramanq3 жыл бұрын
One note: The bottom of the line Acurite humidity/ temperature meter I use seems correct for humidity and degrees C in whole numbers. However if I switch temperature display to degrees F it is obvious that it only displays whole numbers in C, because as the degrees change in F they jump 1 or 2 degrees F. The omitted F numbers never show up on the display. Living in the USA and living in higher whole number resolution Fahrenheit , I just do not have a good feel for Centigrade.
@mnoxman8 жыл бұрын
Impedance according to the data sheet is 31.0k@60%RH excited at 1Khz. If these are put in as one leg of a 31.0K "bridge" you can drive them with a 1khz sine wave and then send the output in to a op amp buffer and then rectify it from there. The op amp can have enough gain to compensate for the diode loss and then it can be read directly with a DMM or ADC input. It means ordering expensive 0.1% resistors though and perhaps "balancing" out an offset.
@AttilaAsztalos8 жыл бұрын
So the million dollar question remains unanswered - did those ones you tested drive the sensors in AC or DC...? :)
@bigclivedotcom8 жыл бұрын
On the basis that they are designed for the task and the readings remain stable over time I would guess that they are being run properly.
@beermyster55858 жыл бұрын
I own a few of these. Great help for tropical plants and exotic animals.
@chester_ville_40662 жыл бұрын
I learned so much in 7 mins thank my good sir..
@qaisarawan932 жыл бұрын
A great fan of your videos. Please make a video about the humidity sensors that comes with common xh-m452 temperature humidity controller used in egg incubators. Currently most use this "asair am2120" and it doesn't works for more then 2 weeks.
@mxskelly8 жыл бұрын
I thought that they generally worked as capacitors. I know the ones I've seen have open air separating the plates and the changing humidity in the air changes it dielectric properties, therefore changing the capacitance which can then be measured.
@solarguy60434 жыл бұрын
Thanks Clive. Had to find out if these are reliable enough to monitor the humidity for my sneks.
@Elephantine999 Жыл бұрын
Great job. Thorough and even authoritative
@dalton64398 жыл бұрын
I have always wanted to know how these worked, thanks.
@theirisheditor8 жыл бұрын
At that price, it would worth ordering 10 and doing the calibration test to cherry pick the most accurate ones. Even the more expensive ones I bought a while back vary several percent from each other when left placed side by side overnight. Great tip about the salt water based calibration. As for distilled water, dehumidifier water makes a good substitute as we use it in the clothes iron, steam cleaner, etc that normal tap water would otherwise leave gunk once evaporated. Going by Amazon, it's surprising how many people fall for the snake oil single-use moisture traps claiming to dehumidify one's home considering they only collect 1-2 litres per refill (which takes several weeks and expensive to buy), compared to 2 to 4 litres per day for a typical electric dehumidifier.
@christiangeiselmann8 жыл бұрын
'Dehumidified water'? Let me see that! :-)
@zh848 жыл бұрын
+Christian Geiselmann I think this means "water collected from the dehumidifier", which as it has been condensed from water vapour is essentially distilled water.
@Ben-bu2jg4 жыл бұрын
Hi, I have bought two hygrometers. When I do the salt Calibration test they have a difference of 10 between them, one reads 76 the other 86, however when they are out the salt test and in the same spot in my room they read more or less the same? Do you know why this might be? Thanks
@MickeyD20128 жыл бұрын
Thank you. This is of particular relevance to me right now.
@Wheresmy2408 жыл бұрын
Great video Clive! Very informative, I've always wondered how those cheap devices measured humidity.
@HektorBandimar3 жыл бұрын
Useful and interesting video, thank you.
@twocvbloke8 жыл бұрын
The last humidity meter thing I had was a cheap one which came with a thermometer and a clock in a 3-gauge plastic housing, never worked right, especially after I made the spring pop out... :P
@andyalder79108 жыл бұрын
Clive, On the polarisation of the sensor from using DC, have you ever tried to measure the resistance of silver loaded conductive paint while it's drying? You could make a video of that but you'd have to do several stripes at hourly intervals before measuring the resistances.
@hugebartlett18842 жыл бұрын
I have these things all through the house,all acceptably accurate. Any discrepancy I just take the average. Very useful little devices.
WEIRD SENSOR OUTPUT: On a box store portable dehumidifier: Output is 30% all the time. Exhale on the sensor and humidity spikes to about 90%, then for about 30 seconds, slowly decreases to 80%, then stays constant at 80% for about a minute, then display goes from 80 to 30 or 31% instantly and then stays there forever. I think something cracked on the sensor (unit is 12 years old), it's open but under high humidity it "conducts" and produces output. I think the controller has a min display value of 30% no matter how much lower the actual humidity is. What do you think?
@CrashedDreams5348 жыл бұрын
if you touch them you can heat them up a bit with the soldering iron while in use until they read right again
@pepper6698 жыл бұрын
How does the BME280 humidity / pressure / temperature sensor work? I have one and it's advertised to be very accurate. I can confirm that it's very fast and that it has a high resolution (which - I'm aware - is not the same as accuracy).
@PaulMansfield7 жыл бұрын
It would be great if you could check with an oscilloscope whether these cheap all in one modules correctly use ac on the sensor.
@agvulpine8 жыл бұрын
Dear Mr Clive, if you have the time, could you test the various resistors and pads to figure out how to get the temperature to display in Fahrenheit? I see the LCD does have "F" next to the "C", and this LCD does look purpose made for this hygrometer. I'd love if I could meaningfully read the temperature in the U.S! I bought 5. Would buy 20 more if they read in °F.
@yadabub8 жыл бұрын
In case you didn't figure this out, the typical examples tend to have a couple of pads labeled c/f and if you jumper them together you get Fahrenheit instead of the default Celsius.
@agvulpine7 жыл бұрын
Wow, thanks! Geez those are tiny pads, I didn't even see them before without a magnifying glass. Lowercase 'c/f' to the very right edge of the board, centered vertically.
@saturn5tony8 жыл бұрын
very cool, thank you for showing me this Clive!
@AlexkWright8 жыл бұрын
If applying a DC voltage across these sensors polarizes them one way or the other.. could that be used as a cheap way to nudge some of the ones you have their closer to accurate?
@markukblackmore8 жыл бұрын
I've often wondered how those work. V cool vid.
@LakeNipissing8 жыл бұрын
Interesting... I have heard exactly the same thing, but _without_ using salt results in a humidity of 50% in a sealed container. I never tried this to find out if it is true though.
@henninghoefer8 жыл бұрын
The temperatures are even more off... (see 1:38) Shouldn't that be _easier_ to measure reliably?
@DrZipZwan4 жыл бұрын
I though Iwas only one that spoted always the temp difference....
@JohnSmith-kw6be3 жыл бұрын
Thank you for the video. I always wondered how some of these worked. This clarifies and teaches me a lot about them. I wonder how good is their response time and how does their different encasing can affect both the accuracy and response time of it.
@MKhurramAziz8 жыл бұрын
If only you made this video 2 months ago clive! I used these little things to make a weather-station and I spent days trying to get it to work correctly, ended up getting the digital sensor modules (DHT modules) and using those instead. It wasn't until later I found that its not very good to drive them using DC.
@SouthwesternEagle8 жыл бұрын
I moved down here to Phoenix, Arizona thinking that the humidity would be between 2% and 35%. NOPE! The humidity during the Summer regularly exceeds 50%! It can get kinda sticky here.
@SardiPax8 жыл бұрын
Interesting, thanks Clive. Are there other salts you can use that would have different humidity equalisation points? I wonder if the offset you noticed on some of the devices is linear.
@bigclivedotcom8 жыл бұрын
Yes there are other salts that can be used, like lithium chloride, but some are very temperature dependent. The plain old sodium chloride test is the simplest.
@a647382 жыл бұрын
Boveda brand sells packs with different humidity settings including a 75% and 33% humidity for calibrating humidity meters...
@florianmuller33468 жыл бұрын
By the way: You can calibrate the analog ones very easy. Bought a few from china for less than a dollar and they all had a calibration screw in it.
@agfdsa1237 жыл бұрын
So, i) do you know if the above LCD ones suffice? If yes do you know for how long? ii) Do you know if the only analog one in the video is the correct one, "AC"? a) Do you know if it's good enough? If yes do you know for how long?
@baldpig2k128 жыл бұрын
timed this visit to KZbin quite well!
@achimgazelle36416 жыл бұрын
Hi, I have the same LCD devices. At the shows the constant 10% humidity. Is the sensor defective or does it have to be calibrated? I have already put airtight in a box and with salt. not much has happened.
@ivansandoval9463 жыл бұрын
Hi Clive. Is there any chance to reuse the HR202L after getting it wet? Bc I wanna try it into some project and it requires to wash it on a daily basis... in case it's not possible, do you know another idea that could work with it? GREETINGS FROM ARGENTINA!
@bigclivedotcom3 жыл бұрын
I'm not sure how well it would last if you got it wet or cleaned it with a detergent. It may lose its accuracy.
@dotes128 жыл бұрын
I think that the temperature sensor is required to have a humidity sensor give a relative humidity percentage, so the inaccuracy of both sensors combined causes the RH% to be off by 5-8%
@bigclivedotcom8 жыл бұрын
I don't think these units do relative humidity. They seem to vary dramatically with temperature compared to a real RH unit and more accurately mimic a traditional mechanical humidity meter.
@bigclivedotcom8 жыл бұрын
I've just checked by replacing one of the thermistors with a variable resistor, and the humidity reading is affected by the temperature, but at zero or below where you'd expect any humidity to show 99% it doesn't. So not what I'd consider actual RH.
@dotes128 жыл бұрын
+bigclivedotcom Great idea to check if they're related! That's strange that you got that result though. BTW, I love your videos, thank you for making them!
@lezbriddon8 жыл бұрын
the zoomed pic of the humidity sensors looks like the ones that used to be fixed to the heads in vhs machines
@bennguyen131311 ай бұрын
It's interesting how some of these indoor humidity/hygrometer meter/monitors differ in price.. do they all use the same sensors inside? I thought of using my phone, but found that most newer don't have temperature and humidity sensors.. but there are a few that do: Samsung Galaxy Note 3, AGM X2, Galaxy S4, Motorola Moto X, and the Moto X 2nd Generation.
@mirkomueller34128 жыл бұрын
wow, an eye opening video. again so glad i subscribed.
@daylen5778 жыл бұрын
Hey Clive. I had basic science stuff in school but never really understood the differences between Volts, Watts, Amps etc. Any chance you could do an informational video explaining this like you'd explain it to a 5 year old?
@mybackhurts70203 жыл бұрын
Just got one as a Christmas gift thinking about putting it in my car
@leosedf8 жыл бұрын
I prefer the digital ones (SHT) from Sensirion. I was using the same method to calibrate my humidor meters.
@christiangeiselmann8 жыл бұрын
Am I getting it right that for the little container with salt and water the idea is to take so much of both that in the container there will be a saturated solution of salt in water pluss excess salt that then will act on the surrounding air?
@bigclivedotcom8 жыл бұрын
It makes a saturated solution that balances out by either liberating water into the air or drawing it out until the equilibrium of about 75% is achieved.
@numberpirate4 жыл бұрын
When they say thin film they actually mean thin film of photoresist on it which is what they use when making microchips. This means the film was put on it when it was part of another 1000 chips on a microchip wafer which are now either 200mm-300mm (8 inch to 12 inch) sized wafers.
@LuneyToonz-lk2de21 күн бұрын
I ordered a few of the mini ones and they don’t seem to come with the crystal modules anymore. One didn’t even have the little temperature sensor bead, just the humidity plate.
@bigclivedotcom21 күн бұрын
I'll have to check that out.
@worcesterexchange5542 жыл бұрын
I know that this is an old video, but still relavent. I recently bought five of these on ebay. They were cheap, but I expected them to be fairly accurate. However two had an error of -7% and one of -8%. As they work on resistance, do you think that they could be recalibrated by soldering a resistor across them? I have quite a few around so I wouldn't cost me anything. But before I start it would be nice to know if someone has done this and what values to add. This would only work if the voltage needed to be lowered. I don't know of any way to increase the voltage if that is required. I need to raise the displayed value by 7%. (I think that the resistance will decreace with an increase in humidity, so adding a high value resistor in parallel has a chance of working and raising the displayed value.)
@bigclivedotcom2 жыл бұрын
It might be worth experimenting with series or parallel resistors. It may end up optimal around a central reading point.
@Planeta1951 Жыл бұрын
Awesome video! Thank you so much.
@PuchMaxi8 жыл бұрын
Could one perhaps 'calibrate' them using DC for a short while to compensate for the offset and then put the sensor back in?
@Mentorcase8 жыл бұрын
Good thinking.
@SeanBZA8 жыл бұрын
No, the electrolysis damages the film and causes a permanent drift in it, as the copper slowly migrates with time across the film making it change properties. These sensors also drift with time in use, especially if exposed to high humidity ( like over 50%RH) so only have a limited lifetime in humid areas. You cannot make a cheap humidity sensor with a long life, no way to do so. There are more expensive ones that are rated to survive condensation, but they are never going to be 99c buys. As well if you want 1% accuracy then you will be buying a unit with motors, fans and peltier coolers in it that actually gets the proper dew point of the air and then calculates humidity from that, or has a wet and dry bulb in an air stream.
@PuchMaxi8 жыл бұрын
That makes sense. Just compensate for the offset in software then.
@jabacon58668 жыл бұрын
Seems to be as accurate and good as the £15 or so one I got for my cigar humidor.
@t0nito8 жыл бұрын
The temperature readings are all different from each other inside the container too.
@bigclivedotcom8 жыл бұрын
Yes, the temperature sensing is very random on these units. Like it was grudgingly included as a bonus.
@krustysnakeeyes33618 жыл бұрын
Clive just saying you need a twitter and if you have one can I follow it ^-^ (sorry if I seem rude asking)
@zh848 жыл бұрын
I was struck by the similarity between the hygrometer component and the infamous Cheap Shitty Pink USB Charger From China. Both depend on wires with a very small separation. Presumably the Cheap Shitty Pink USB Charger detects humidity by shorting the USB power to the mains and burning out whatever is plugged into it.
@askassk8 жыл бұрын
Unfortunately you left without telling us how the cheap sensors measure the resistance. :( Have you had a look at it? Is it a square (how precisely is the duty cycle of 50% reached) or have they got some kinda analogue oscillator?!
@laertica2 жыл бұрын
Are these little units resettable? After you bring them to 75%, is there a reset button than allows you to make it read correctly? I could not tell if there was a reset button when you took it apart. Enjoyed your video. Thanks