# decent hygrometer/temp gauge



## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

I'm in need of a better quality hygrometer/tempo gauge. Both of the devices below were bought on the cheap, I think from Canadian Tire. Its either 36% or 55% humidity, and 15 or 18.9 degrees celsius, depending on which one you believe. I run a room humidifier in this room, so I'd like to believe that the humidity is somewhat "normal", but based on these two devices, I have no actual idea. 
I'd like something which I can place a little faith in!? Also, I don't way to spend eleventy million dollars on it, so please, only reasonably priced suggestions.


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## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

From my research,readily availible(budget sensitive) hygrometers are not very accurate to start with,it all comes down to figuring out your specific unit .

search calibrating hygrometers,it's easily done with a ziplock bag and salt

here's one link . How to Calibrate a Hygrometer

It just seems to be a matter of determining if your unit reads high or low,and remembering that .


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## Intrepid (Oct 9, 2008)

I have a lot of acoustic guitars that I like to keep at 45% humidity year round. I tried out a lot of hygrometers and finally fell in love with the Barigo. Very accurate and if you need to re-cal it, it's easy. Once a year I send it back to the 12th Fret for a "once over". They are a bit expensive at around $70.00 but they have never let me down. Here's a pic.


View attachment 2062


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## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

$70 for that seemingly good quality doesn't too high .

I may check one out.


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

at the point of spending an excessive amount of money on a hygrometer i would just buy a humidifier with one built in.

not sure if it will be more accurate or not, though.


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## Intrepid (Oct 9, 2008)

I ignore the built in hygrometers on my humidifiers. Notoriously inaccurate.


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## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

mike_oxbig said:


> at the point of spending an excessive amount of money on a hygrometer i would just buy a humidifier with one built in.
> 
> not sure if it will be more accurate or not, though.


I don't feel $70 is an excessive amount,especially if you are protecting gear worth thousands .


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

true enough i suppose, it has to be high enough quality that it does its job accurately. and in all fairness i only own one so for all i know it's inaccurate too, but i mean, it gives a fairly close representation. When your entire house is at between 0-10% humidity and you walk into your studio you can smell the difference. i usually keep mine a little on the high side. 60-70%. i have a fairly small humidifier, it only lasts a day and a bit before it's empty, and the hygrometer drops fast when it's off. i'd rather deal with a bit of bellying than any cracking, if worse comes to worst.


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## Gary787 (Aug 27, 2011)

Ok as a qualifier I am not cheap. There is an easy way to check your hygrometers for accuracy but it takes 12 to 24 hours. Cigar 101: Calibrating a Hygrometer - YouTube. The test is accurate and my $2 ebay special is accurate to +-2. I think most of us just want to know that we are in a safe range of 40% to 50% or thereabouts. I should say that I keep my guitars in their cases with Planetwaves suspended humidifiers in the sound holes and if necessary a soap dish hygrometer depending on the readings I get.


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

i love that video. it's like if "mad men" made the how to video. "now we have to wait 12 hours. might as well smoke and drink!"

gonna go test mine now


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## Gary787 (Aug 27, 2011)

Ya I love the guys attitude. There are lots of these videos but he is my favourite.:rockon:I kind of fantasize building an oak and glass display case someday and I would spend the cash to have a nice accuarte system, but for now I play my (2) guitars almost daily so the cheapo hygrometers I have are good enough for me now that I know they work and are accurate. 
FYI I found some mould in my soap dish units I made, so now I rinse them out every couple of days .:smilie_flagge17:


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

My biggest worry is that my little 3 gallon humidifier will run out while i'm gone for the day, not so much that my hygrometer will be off. i have all my stuff confined to one of the smaller bedrooms so it's easier to control the humidity levels. we use a lot of wood heating and it's literally nosebleed dry in my house. i've started putting a pot of water on top of the stove while it's running and it helps a bit...but i've gone in the room when the humidifier has only been off for a couple hours tops and i was getting readings in the low 20's.

it would be nice to have a TRIC case so i wouldn't have to worry, but keeping them in a normal case with a soundhole humidifier has never failed me yet.


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## SquamishSteve (Dec 28, 2012)

Has anyone tried the Lee Valley Hygrometer? Typically their products are top notch and surprisingly inexpensive









Lee Valley Tools - Important Announcement

Just figured I would throw it out there. I think that I will pick one up


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

Looks like mine is 5% too high!

View attachment 2069


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

my 10$ canadian tire special was off by about 6%, and it only took about an hour to adjust. not as accurate as it could be, but unless you're hell-bent on having it exactly at 45% it's good enough for the ladies we date


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## turtlerider (Jan 10, 2013)

*Humidity Measurement*

What we really need for our guitars is not an "accurate" humidity meter but one which we have calibrated so we know how much it is off (if any in the ideal world). It does not matter how expensive a meter is, it still MUST be calibrated. For decades I worked in and managed industrial chemical laboratories and manufacturing operations; even instruments worth tens of thousands of dollars must be calibrated on a regular basis. Even the $2.99 meter from Canadian Tire can be suitable when we know it is off by a certain amount (mine reads 5% high at 45%). 

Short of having access to laboratory instruments to do the calibration, the simplest way for most people is to use saturated salt solutions. Many places on the internet gives the instructions to do this with table salt and that gives 75%. However, 75% is a long way from the desired 45-50% and instruments do typically vary from point to point (my cheap meter is 10% hight at 75%, 5% high at 45% and 3% high at 33%). Therefore another salt is needed to see how the meter responds. The ideal is potassium carbonate but that does not seem to be available to us common people in this fair country of ours. It is available in the US from Amazon for about $7 a pound but the shipping and brokerage would probably be prohibitive (it is used in photo darkrooms but I have not found it in Canada). My solution is Magnesium Chloride which is available from Rona for $14 for 20 kg and they sell it as a deicer (supposed to be more effective at lower temps than common salt and not as corrosive on concrete). Not all stores stock it but a lot do; call before driving too far. This gives a 33% humidity using the same method as table salt. So that gives us values for our test meter both above and below the desired 45-50%(see mine above). Problem solved and our guitars will be healthy and happy. 

By the way, this should be repeated once or twice a year because meters can drift and change with time.


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