When it comes to some items where I discussed in the previous journal of the name “Hacks”, I talked about getting humidity gauges from the pet store. This is still a good idea, but eventually, they do not stay fully functional after some time. If they are combined with temperature gauges, you have to worry about some things. One of those things being, if one goes bad, you have to replace the part that’s not functioning.
Also, most of those that still work, may appear to go bad, and some instances, what you need to do, for both separate temperature and humidity gauges, is to recalibrate them. Since these are standard analog/needle gauges, I can shove them in the freezer (or fridge) for maybe an hour or less. If either of them is completely unable to reset, then it’s gone.
The advantage for using these analog/needle gauges, is that they can deal with various temperatures and humidity ranges, and they are waterproof, which is a big plus. This is why they may be a bit more expensive, in the sense of being around $10 or $15 each.
There are some plant stores that may sell some small digital ones, but they aren’t waterproof. To my knowledge, this is the case, and they are also battery-powered.
If you are fortunate enough to find some plant stores that sell these, then you’re golden. I was lucky to encounter this result in NYC where I buy my plants and some accessories. I found some humidity readers/gauges, for $5 each. They do sell them in sets online, but what you may need to worry about is the longevity and consistency of each. If they go bad early, then you will have an issue, and will soon have to replace them.
Sometimes they are referred to as hygrometers, when they are either separate or combined with thermometers, and for some the displays are larger. That’s fine, as long as they do what they were made to do, then there is no issue.
Currently, I’m using a few of these, one for each area where there are plants that didn’t have these before. First thing I will look for, is to see how long they will last, and if they are in need of calibration, should it appear that nothing is changing on the display.
Speaking of calibration, I mentioned putting them in the freezer or refrigerator. Not sure if this will be the same, if I were to go about doing this with the digital ones, but I do know that since it’s battery-powered, the best thing I can do, is remove the battery and leave it out for maybe 30 minutes to an hour, and place the batteries back in, or replace the batteries if it’s needed.
So far, this is an interesting change for what’s available, and I know it can be very convenient to have these around. Some areas with lots of humidity, and wet environments like, “The Tank”, will need to waterproof gauges; so for that, the digital ones that I currently own are out of the question.