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Blue Helix
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Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work?
#27532551 - 11/06/21 01:51 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Someone brought these super inexpensive Inkbird controllers to my attention, and I don't know how long this humidity controller has been out there, but it makes building your own humidity or temperature controller--as I have posted about--a worthless waste of time if it works well. These are as cheap as I can imagine they _could_ be! I am more interested in the humidity one, but the temperature one looks good too.
From those using it, does the humidity controller actually work in the high humidity range (>90%)? An about that alarm that you cannot turn off:
1) What is the highest humidity you can have before it goes off? 2) How loud is the alarm? 3) Does the alarm go off during misting then or can you at least power down the box (manually or with a simple double-throw relay) during misting and power back up with the same settings? 4) How do you turn off the alarm?
I ask these things because depending on how annoying it is an alarm could make or break it for mushroom growing.
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bigfootscreepyuncl
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Blue Helix]
#27532600 - 11/06/21 02:42 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I don't have the one with the humidity controller but I have like 5 of the itc-308s for brewing beer and regulating temperature in my kegerator(s). They work really well and the temperature probes are really accurate. A friend of mine uses the one with humidity in his walk-in humidor (~8'x10') and it doesn't have an issue maintaining 70%, and another friend of mine uses the humidity model for making cheese (in a converted chest freezer). Neither of them use it above 90% but if I get a chance to ask them about it I will.
The alarms are not loud like an alarm clock - just a high pitched beep, maybe once every 2-3 seconds or so. It's similar to a smoke detector but isn't as loud and it doesn't travel through your entire house. If you were to put it behind a closed door you would barely be able to hear it, especially if you were in the next room. To turn the alarm off you just have to push a button once. You can also set a large allowance before the alarm goes off - if you want 95% humidity you can set it to not go off until like 70% for example.
Hope this is of some help, sorry I can't answer the specifics! ink-bird runs a lot of good black friday deals, btw
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QM33
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Blue Helix]
#27532663 - 11/06/21 03:52 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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It does work in the high humidity range kind of. Like if you wanted to push it to 95 and drop it to at least 85 regularly it would probably be fine. And if your ventilation isn't good that will cause some issues probably. Thing is if they get wet they will probably be stuck at95+ for a long time, you may even have to dry it out for it to work right. So keep that in mind because if it's right in front of your humidifier outlet it will not function properly. Some people have said spores cause issues, I haven't found that to be the case when operating it between 75 and 85 ish regularly. I used to run it higher and it sucked ass, I even had cycle timers, which worked good, but operating at a lower range they work way better. Ide also suggest calibrating with salt or even more a 75% humidity pack. I've calibrated them high and that sucks ass imo. I have a handheld one that I calibrated and they're both accurate to each other within .5%, you could get a cheap handheld to go along with it maybe.
It will go to 99.99 before it shuts off if you want.
Loud enough that you could hear it through a door 10 ft away maybe. But that's it.
Idk about your third question. You can set a the humidity to come on at a certain percent and run until it gets to a certain percent. The alarm is separate so you can set a low alarm and a high alarm for if say your foggers aren't working or are stuck on.
You press any button or the center one. I have two, one for backup at this point. I've replaced the sensors even on one. You may want to silicone around the wires. I'll link a video from Meyers mushrooms.
And idk what he's talking about again here but you should probably watch this
If it's for cubes you may want a cycle timer because of how ineffective it may be at higher levels, imo.
I use them
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Blue Helix
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: QM33]
#27532722 - 11/06/21 04:57 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Thank you for all this information! It sounds pretty good to me, and I don't expect perfect accuracy even with calibration. As for the alarm and stuff you could calibrate it a bit lower. Then when it hits 97% or whatever, it would be actually 100%. I have two ways to cycle my humidifier on and off. One is for a misting schedule and the other is for the unit to try to keep it at a given humidity. If you set the misting cycle opposite of the unit being on, then I think you could even mist without the alarm going off (make the ultrasonic mist cycle turn off then wait for 30 minutes until turning back on the Inkbird). I can easily do that because the way I have my humidifier wired, it can be driven by two actual plugs via a relay that switches power from one to the other power input based on a timer. I think that would work for me. Whatever I do, though, I would not want to hear an alarm because it's where I sleep.
So with all that consideration and given the very low price, I ordered one. I don't actually need it, but for $45 delivered I don't see how you can go wrong. And it's always nice to have a backup.
Quote:
QM33 said: It does work in the high humidity range kind of. Like if you wanted to push it to 95 and drop it to at least 85 regularly it would probably be fine. And if your ventilation isn't good that will cause some issues probably. Thing is if they get wet they will probably be stuck at95+ for a long time, you may even have to dry it out for it to work right. So keep that in mind because if it's right in front of your humidifier outlet it will not function properly. Some people have said spores cause issues, I haven't found that to be the case when operating it between 75 and 85 ish regularly. I used to run it higher and it sucked ass, I even had cycle timers, which worked good, but operating at a lower range they work way better. Ide also suggest calibrating with salt or even more a 75% humidity pack. I've calibrated them high and that sucks ass imo. I have a handheld one that I calibrated and they're both accurate to each other within .5%, you could get a cheap handheld to go along with it maybe.
It will go to 99.99 before it shuts off if you want.
Loud enough that you could hear it through a door 10 ft away maybe. But that's it.
Idk about your third question. You can set a the humidity to come on at a certain percent and run until it gets to a certain percent. The alarm is separate so you can set a low alarm and a high alarm for if say your foggers aren't working or are stuck on.
You press any button or the center one. I have two, one for backup at this point. I've replaced the sensors even on one. You may want to silicone around the wires. I'll link a video from Meyers mushrooms.
And idk what he's talking about again here but you should probably watch this
If it's for cubes you may want a cycle timer because of how ineffective it may be at higher levels, imo.
I use them
Edited by Blue Helix (11/06/21 05:16 PM)
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Stromrider
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Blue Helix]
#27532958 - 11/06/21 08:14 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I've been running them on my gourmet farm for a couple years now. Work great. They aren't perfect but they're close enough for rock and roll
I run this analog cycle timer for the fans. I love it. Super simple
BN-LINK Short Period Repeat Cycle Intermittent Timer, Interval Timer - Day, Night, or 24 Hour Operation https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0184CG9K0/ref=cm_sw_r_apanp_Lpms3b3HFVRYZ
Edited by Stromrider (11/06/21 08:16 PM)
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Blue Helix
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Stromrider]
#27533083 - 11/06/21 10:15 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Stromrider said: I've been running them on my gourmet farm for a couple years now. Work great. They aren't perfect but they're close enough for rock and roll
I run this analog cycle timer for the fans. I love it. Super simple
BN-LINK Short Period Repeat Cycle Intermittent Timer, Interval Timer - Day, Night, or 24 Hour Operation https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0184CG9K0/ref=cm_sw_r_apanp_Lpms3b3HFVRYZ
I have a question about putting a humidifier on a timer. Usually misters very rapidly raise the RH of the chamber to near 100%. So does that trigger the alarm such that you have to turn the unit on and off for it to work again? That sounds kind of bad, but as I said, there are ways around it. If the alarm was just a sound, I'd open the unit up and disconnect the speaker. But it sounds like once it has fired, you have to turn the unit back off to get it to reset itself. Is that true?
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Stromrider
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Blue Helix]
#27533359 - 11/07/21 06:43 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I don't know I've never ran my humidifiers on a timer, just my fans. My humidifier runs off the inkbird humidistat.
When I first set up my growrooms I thought I needed my humidity set to as close to 100 percent as possible. I learned quickly that was unnecessary and now let the growroom swing between about 75 and 90.
When I was trying to keep it closer to a hundred it did constantly hit the alarm on the inkbird since the highest you can set the alarm is 100. The trick is to calibrate the inkbird in such a way that it can never get to 100. Like if calibrating with the wet towel in a bag method tell it 95 instead of 100
It doesn't matter what the inkbird reads really. It's not super accurate anyway. You just watch the mushrooms for guidance. You want to run the humidity as low as the mushrooms allow. There's no need to keep it 100 if the mushrooms do just as well at 85
If I was running a high pressure misting system, which I hope to be soon, I wouldn't bother at all with humidistats. I'd just be running cycle timers. I'd have the misters kick on after every air change cycle or something. I don't know if the analog cycle timers would be accurate enough to keep all that in sync
Edited by Stromrider (11/07/21 06:48 AM)
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sandman420
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Stromrider] 1
#27533369 - 11/07/21 07:00 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Personally I think you are better off with a straight cycle timed system and hair hygrometers instead of relying on a cheap humidistat. With the proper settings you can get more consistency throughout the tent.
All in all setting up a humidified tent is really tricky and a lot can go wrong and I hate it.
You can quickly destroy the room the tent is in from excessive humidity getting to the room surfaces and water leaks. Why is my dab torch making a green flame? Why is it so wet in here? Ohh, what's this puddle that has gone unnoticed for a month under my tent?
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QM33
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: sandman420]
#27533390 - 11/07/21 07:16 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Keeping a room between 85 and 75ish ,using foggers compared to misters, you will have virtually no moisture and water build up. Not to say if you don't seal the room well you won't cause structural damage eventually, as well as good ventilation. When I first started shit was dripping, but it's realy unnecessary ime. If there's water buildup you should probably turn it down. I haven't seen a puddle or even a drop in my grow room since keeping my humidity below 90.
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Blue Helix
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Stromrider]
#27533838 - 11/07/21 01:41 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Stromrider said: When I was trying to keep it closer to a hundred it did constantly hit the alarm on the inkbird since the highest you can set the alarm is 100. The trick is to calibrate the inkbird in such a way that it can never get to 100. Like if calibrating with the wet towel in a bag method tell it 95 instead of 100
It doesn't matter what the inkbird reads really. It's not super accurate anyway. You just watch the mushrooms for guidance. You want to run the humidity as low as the mushrooms allow. There's no need to keep it 100 if the mushrooms do just as well at 85
I totally agree with these two points, which is why today I will be receiving mine (very exciting!). My calibrating 100% to show say 95%, you just add 5% to what you see, so if you see 95% it is really 100%. Problem solved!
For pan cyan and cambos, I differ with some that don't like misting systems, though because ultrasonic or high-pressure misting systems allow one to slowly ramp up the casing humidity after laying it. Pan cambos and pan cyans love that.
I use my humidifier as both a misting system that runs on a timer as well as a humidifier that keeps the RH where I want it (generally north of 90% or very close). The way I can drive the same humidifier two ways is really with the aid of a single cheap double-throw relay. It's not hard to do, and in the end, it works like this if you care: there are two plugs to power the humidifier with the hot of each plug connected to one side of a double-throw relay. The humidifier's hot is connected to the center post. I connect the relay's activation coil so if it detects power from one plug (the timer plug) it always turns on. When the timer power is off, it switches to power from a second plug that is connected to the Inkbird. This set up is kind of a relay-based logical OR:
1) power from either the timer OR the humidistat always turns the humidifier on 2) If power is off for both, it turns off.
(PS - Another way one might be able to do this is to simply tie together both plugs. That really isn't a good idea electrically, though, even if it might work. For example, if one of them is plugged in and the other is not, you expose a hot, and that's kind of dangerous)
You might ask why I bother with all that at all? It's because I didn't want to have two humidifiers in the compact, efficient system (it's in a very small closet yet can handle 12 13x9" pans). That's really the only reason, outside of that it simplifies hooking up the plastic 1" pipe.
So, again, thank you to everyone that helped make my decision to buy the Inkbird! If it works like I bet it will, then I'd say only a fool would make an expensive system following my old post at this stage. The Inkbird makes all that just expensive and annoying project. This is way cheaper and very simple. In my case, it was just one relay, but that's only because I wanted to use the same humidifier for both a misting timer and the Inkbird (and the Inkbird does not have a timer option).
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Blue Helix
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Blue Helix]
#27534233 - 11/07/21 08:10 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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So I got in the unit, and the humidity does saturate, which is good news. By adjusting the saturation point to 98% you've solved the alarm during misting problem. That way when my few hours of ultrasonic misting comes on, the unit will not create an annoying sound in my bedroom. And you set it at 98% to go to 99%, so it's easy to remember. Problem solved.
Outside of that my impression of the unit is very high quality, especially given the price point.
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gt40
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Blue Helix] 1
#27534485 - 11/08/21 05:23 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Guy from oak and spores made a few videos where he briefly explains why he moves from inkbrid to tork cycle timer. Just for info
Anyway, Blue Helix, I hope your device will reinforce your grows
Edited by gt40 (11/08/21 08:19 AM)
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sandman420
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: gt40]
#27534488 - 11/08/21 05:32 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Yep. I stand firmly behind my previous statement that cycle timing is superior to a cheap digital hygrometer humidity system. His experience was similar to mine with everything he said.
Major delay, Overshoot, undershoot, big problem with condensation/dripping from the overshoot.
For me it was a disaster. But that's par for the course for me anyway.
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QM33
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: sandman420]
#27534497 - 11/08/21 05:40 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I feel like they're awesome if you can make them work, or maybe if they work for you. I feel like your general climate is going to be a factor. If you outside conditions are harsh, it's going to work more and harder, like maybe if it's really dry often. But the bad thing I found about cycle timers is that the fresh air coming into my grow room is going to vary in humidity percentages throughout the year, and even the day, meaning you will have to constantly adjust those cycle timers, and if you don't you will absolutely understood or overshoot your range eventually, unless your checking it constantly. I strongly suggest a couple readers if your just using cycle timers.
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Blue Helix
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: QM33]
#27537811 - 11/10/21 11:46 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Under a realistic high misting scenario as I use this controller just ERRORs out entirely even if you keep it totally dry. If you let it dry out, it starts to work again. This is how I figured this unit would work. It's fine for low-misting environments, but the second you start to mist, it's nothing but trouble.
Edited by Blue Helix (11/10/21 12:10 PM)
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QM33
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Blue Helix]
#27537826 - 11/10/21 11:58 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Ya ide just get a cycle time. A handheld one would probably be nice and way cheaper than most high quality hydrogemeter . Maybe even a analog one or whatever.
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Blue Helix
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: QM33]
#27537866 - 11/10/21 12:20 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
QM33 said: Ya ide just get a cycle time. A handheld one would probably be nice and way cheaper than most high quality hydrogemeter . Maybe even a analog one or whatever.
I do have a cycle timer. It runs the mister for 4 hours about three times a day (12 hours total). It's a single ultrasonic and brings the casing moisture up slowly that way. The Inkbird unit cannot handle that kind of slow mist environment, though. I can use it after the misting process is done, but it's worthless for misting hours on end like I prefer to do. Most probes I've tried cannot handle this, so it's not unusual. But since most people and all professional operations dump huge amounts of water in the chamber fast (using a half dozen ultrasonic transducers or high-pressure nozzles), it works for them. That fast aggressive way to mist the unit can probably handle (all such probes can). It cannot handle slow long misting, though, so if you do that, you might want to look elsewhere. It's so ridiculously cheap that I might keep it for after the casing moisture ramp. I can just use it for everything else OR I can change the misting cycles to be shorter but more frequent. Either way should fix the problem.
Edited by Blue Helix (11/10/21 12:32 PM)
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FloydtheBarber
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Re: Inkbird temperature and humidity controllers - do they really work? [Re: Blue Helix]
#28391009 - 07/10/23 04:37 AM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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Just wondering if anyone tried installing the sensor well away from the misting inlet pipe? For example maybe in a 'S' bend or similar, so the sensor doesn't get saturated in incoming water vapor?
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