OK, so I've seen that alot of people are purchasing
$20-30 weather
stations at Walmart and such, and asking why it only reads 40% RH or
something low for what it should be in their terrarium. The reason for
this is that the remote sensor on these is ONLY for outside
temperature. It seems that the ones with remote RH sensors are more
pricey and are a little more difficult to find. This leads people to
just chunk the whole thing in their terrarium only to find out the unit
itself isn't waterproof and now its broken
So, I decided to do a writeup of how I modified my Springfield
Precisetemp to include a remote RH sensor.
Supplies:
1) Weather Station
2) Small phillips screwdriver
3) Soldering iron and solder
4) Wire
5) Heat shrink tubing
OK,
first you need to pop out the screws that hold the unit together. On
mine there were 7 screws; they had a standard phillips head (yours may
have a small torx head, just use the right tool for the job):
Be
careful when you're pulling it apart. If you feel that there's too much
resistance somewhere, DON'T FORCE IT! Inspect it again to make sure
you've gotten all the screws. Check under the battery area and see if
there's any screws under there as well. There are sensitive parts in
there, you don't want to break anything.
Next you need to find
the RH sensor. Look on the casing for the unit and there should be a
couple holes pretty close to it to allow air in. In the price range
we're working with here, most of them should be the same type pictured
here:
What
you'll want to do is cut the leads at about the halfway point. Be very
careful, as they have a low tensile strength and will break easily.
Also they will most likely be exposed leads like mine, so make sure you
mark them somehow so you can remember which wire will go to which lead.
After you sever the sensor, you're going to solder in a length
of wire in order to make it external. I suggest using the wire from an
old DC converter (like a phone charger or something) that has 2
distinct wires that are bound next to each other. Split the 2 wires
apart from each other at each end about 2-4 inches down, so you've got
room to work with individual wires. Take a piece of the heat shrink
tubing and cut 2 pieces about 1/2"-3/4" each. You'll need to slide
these over the split wires BEFORE you solder the sensor on, or else you
won't be able to get them on there. Now solder a wire to each lead on
the sensor, then slide the shrink tubing up and heat it with a lighter
to seal off the contacts:
Sorry that pics kind of crappy, but you get the idea. Also sorry I
don't have any pics of the actual soldering process.
Next
solder the other end of the new piece of wire onto the exposed leads on
the unit. This is where you'll wish you had marked them somehow if you
didn't. After you have it solid, just cut a notch in the case for the
wire to run out of and BINGO, you've got a remote RH sensor! Here's
mine fresh out of action for a pic:
This
particular model was found to be pretty accurate by testing it with a
psychrometer. I've been using mine this way for about 6 month without a
hiccup. Anyway, hope someone found this useful! Lemme know what ya'll
think, and feel free to deviate a little bit if you're comfortable... I
know how everyone thinks around here
GL Everyone
by NeedMoreSleep
