I just bought one today. It is the black one. I wasn't able to get a demo on exactly how it all works. Iv'e googled and looked on you tube and all I have found is how to calibrate it. I have the phand ppm figured out. I'm just wonering what the setting is that looks like a backwards u with a capital S is?? The intructions really don't tell me much. Please help!
Does anyone have a hanna ph/ec/tds combo meter?
- Thread starter brutus3
- Start date
1 µS/cm = Thats the EC strength. I take it you live in the USA? where most people use PPM to see how much you are feeding the plants? The EC strength is used in Europe more often EC or CF
EC means = elecritc conductivity some nurturant makes will use PPM or EC or CF or all 3 of them to tell you how strong to make the solution.
CF or EC 1.0 or 10 is half strenth/ 2.0 or 20 is full strenth here is a conversion chart for you it does not matter what reading you take rember that CF or EC 10 or 1.0 is half strenth and that 20 or 2.0 is full strenth.
CF or EC is universal its the same all over the world where PPM is manufacturers specific reading, but they all mean the same if you use the EC or CF. if you use hanna 500PPM or eutch 640PPM or truncheon 700PPM they are all half strenth or universal CF/EC 1.0 or 10.
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Thanks nut! I am in US. Lol. I was gonna call the store tomarrow and ask. It was driving me nuts though! I searched on pc for over an hour then posted this thread. My ppm in wk 5 of bloom is 830 and the ec strength is 1660 on this meter. I thought that had to be something for another language or country, I don't even have that symbol on my pc. Anyways, thanks for replying with the good info I needed! I geuss I'm doing ok then with them numbers and just got ph down to 5.6 exactly.
sounds about right using Hanna 830PPM is about 1.6EC or 16CF
EC is denoted in a number of ways just as metrics where 1 Kilometer=1000 meters=1,000,000 millimeters, different denotations all equalling the same distance.
EC is most commonly measured as mS/cm* (millisiemens per centimeter) but, sometimes as µS/cm (microsiemens per centimeter) 1 mS/cm=1000S/cm. While less common, yours is simply a super accurate reading. If your EC reads 1273, just round of to 1.3.
PPM and TDS cannot be measured with pens. PPM requires a chemical analysis your pen can't perform. TDS requires you to evaporate water and physically measure the residue left behind which, again, your pen cannot do. Pens and meters measure EC and nothing else. PPM and TDS are EC X any of nearly a dozen different "conversion" factors. Hanna alone uses 4 different conversions (500, 640, 650 and 700) As a result, your PPM/TDS reading of 700 may be a weaker solution than my 500 PPM/TDS depending on the conversions used. For this reason, EC is the preferable standard. EC is EC wherever you go, PPM/TDS change with the tides.
CF or conductivity factor is mS/cmX10. While this is a constant conversion compared to PPM/TDS, it's still an unnecessary conversion, one we're better off without.
* Large scale farmers dealing in acres use the dS/m denotation (decisiemens per meter) which is an identical reading to mS/cm
EC is most commonly measured as mS/cm* (millisiemens per centimeter) but, sometimes as µS/cm (microsiemens per centimeter) 1 mS/cm=1000S/cm. While less common, yours is simply a super accurate reading. If your EC reads 1273, just round of to 1.3.
PPM and TDS cannot be measured with pens. PPM requires a chemical analysis your pen can't perform. TDS requires you to evaporate water and physically measure the residue left behind which, again, your pen cannot do. Pens and meters measure EC and nothing else. PPM and TDS are EC X any of nearly a dozen different "conversion" factors. Hanna alone uses 4 different conversions (500, 640, 650 and 700) As a result, your PPM/TDS reading of 700 may be a weaker solution than my 500 PPM/TDS depending on the conversions used. For this reason, EC is the preferable standard. EC is EC wherever you go, PPM/TDS change with the tides.
CF or conductivity factor is mS/cmX10. While this is a constant conversion compared to PPM/TDS, it's still an unnecessary conversion, one we're better off without.
* Large scale farmers dealing in acres use the dS/m denotation (decisiemens per meter) which is an identical reading to mS/cm
That would be EC 1.7 Maybe a bit high but, future readings will tell.
Don't know about PCs but, on a Mac, the "µ" symbol is achieved with the keyboard combination of option+M
Cool, thanks guys! I'm understanding it now. Seems the meter is pretty accurate and the readings of ec should be roughly about double of ppm"s?? This was my trial/expirement run. Didn't matter if it failed. But, of course I didn't want that to happen! I'm wanting to switch to water! My back is killing me from hauling bags of dirt in and out! LOL.
thats the problem with soil makes for loads of work dumping tones of dirt after the grow was my main concern being seen loading black bags full of soil in to the car in the middle of the night looks suspicious as fook IMHO.
p.s
just use that chart above you will not go wrong your are using a Hanna meter so use that conversion.
NO! In some instances it may be close to that, in others it could be 1/3 or 1/4 or 7/8 or... the list goes on....
An EC of 1 is "equal" to a PPM of 500 or 9hundred ...something or, damn near any number in between. There are nearly a dozen different conversions.
Rather than match some chart that's never met you or your grow, use EC and pH to talk to your plants directly.
EC up/pH down is too rich.
EC down/pH up is too lean
EC flat/ph flat is (kinda, sorta) "just right." Note the quotes.
Because no one pH reading allows equal absorption of all nutes, a flat pH reading guarantees that your NPK ratios are now out of balance. Add back a balanced formula and the res goes even further out of balance, repeat enough times and certain elements become deficient, others toxic. For this reason a small swing in both EC and pH are preferred.
PPM concentrations are for people who want to compare apples to oranges.
The micro symbol can be done on a window machine by holding the Alt button while pressing the combo 2-3-0 on you numeral pad.
The degree symbol is the same. Alt 2-4-8.
This does not work on most laptop keybords, unless they have seperate numeral pads.
The micro symbol can be done on a window machine by holding the Alt button while pressing the combo 2-3-0 on you numeral pad.
The degree symbol is the same. Alt 2-4-8.
This does not work on most laptop keybords, unless they have seperate numeral pads.
yeah I was going to say this as well. the pH reading is susceptible to temperature (much more so than a rated tolerance of 0.02)
IN TRUTH, it is very hard to compensate high order temperature effects. Very novel means are developed for this, let us just say that if a computer processor couldn't figure out temp and compensate for it, it would never work.
That is why the probe is 139.99 ;-)
You should never store your pH electrode in RO or distilled water. Rinsing in RO or DI is OK. Storage should be done in electrode storage solution (4M KCl) or pH 7 buffer solution.
If you stored your electrode in RO, I bet it is stable, because it's fucked up.
Every pH electrode manufacturer recommends against storing in RO or distilled. This will cause ions to leach out of the glass bulb and render your electrode useless. Congrats.
For those all giddy about ATC (automatic temperature compensation), at the pH ranges and temperatures we deal with, the effect of temp is negligable.
A pH 4.00 buffer will measure 4.00 at temps of 15, 20 and 25C.
A pH 7.00 buffer will measure 7.04, 7.02 and 7.00 at temps of 15, 20 and 25C, respectively.
A pH 14.00 buffer will measure 10.14, 10.06 and 10.00 at temps of 15, 20 and 25C, respectively.
As you can see, there's very little difference temp has on pH in hydroponic working ranges.
Nice option if you're measuring hot or cold liquids that are extremely acidic or alkaline.
If you stored your electrode in RO, I bet it is stable, because it's fucked up.
Every pH electrode manufacturer recommends against storing in RO or distilled. This will cause ions to leach out of the glass bulb and render your electrode useless. Congrats.
For those all giddy about ATC (automatic temperature compensation), at the pH ranges and temperatures we deal with, the effect of temp is negligable.
A pH 4.00 buffer will measure 4.00 at temps of 15, 20 and 25C.
A pH 7.00 buffer will measure 7.04, 7.02 and 7.00 at temps of 15, 20 and 25C, respectively.
A pH 14.00 buffer will measure 10.14, 10.06 and 10.00 at temps of 15, 20 and 25C, respectively.
As you can see, there's very little difference temp has on pH in hydroponic working ranges.
Nice option if you're measuring hot or cold liquids that are extremely acidic or alkaline.
Hannah meters are complete and utter shit, I bought 5, 2 wouldn't calibrate. Replaced them, one bad out of the box. 3 more failed a month later. Replaced them all under warranty again, now I have 4 left and 2 of them won't calibrate 9 months later. At this point I think all 5 have been replaced twice in less than a year. That's a 200% failure rate! lol
Hanna make some decent stuff (lab grade), but a lot geared toward growers is garbage.
I won't comment on the OP's unit because the "black" model is not listed on their product sheet.
If it's a Grocheck continuous monitor, it's probably OK. It uses a replaceble double junction pH electrode.
If it has a combo electrode, he bought the farm. When one part of the three part electrode dies, you have to pay to replace all three parts when only 1 part is bad.
Good for hydro store and manufacturer. Bad for consumer.
I won't comment on the OP's unit because the "black" model is not listed on their product sheet.
If it's a Grocheck continuous monitor, it's probably OK. It uses a replaceble double junction pH electrode.
If it has a combo electrode, he bought the farm. When one part of the three part electrode dies, you have to pay to replace all three parts when only 1 part is bad.
Good for hydro store and manufacturer. Bad for consumer.
I had a pen type combo meter that did me well for a while before it wouldn't calibrate. I bought the new hanna combo handheld and have no complaints at all.
http://www.google.com/products/cata...bIF1TfLoLKO6wgW3-ZmrBw&sa=title&ved=0CBAQ8wI# This thing is really nice with added features to tell you when to calibrate and you can literally dial it in.
http://www.google.com/products/cata...bIF1TfLoLKO6wgW3-ZmrBw&sa=title&ved=0CBAQ8wI# This thing is really nice with added features to tell you when to calibrate and you can literally dial it in.
Hydrofarm420
Member
Hanna pens are 50 US$ and this link is for their research grade meter, lol 900 US$. A wise man once told me you might not always get what you pay for but you NEVER get what you dont. A basic truth but a truth nonetheless. I have not had good experience with hanna meters either but I still dont have almost a G to drop on a meter. I take what I do seriously but im gonna have to wait for that one. The gentleman at my hydroshop says some labrotory grade meters cost as much as 10,000 US$. I promptly turned and asked him why he'd spent the beter part of 20 minutes upselling me a bluelab gaurdian if it to was a peice of shit lol. Sooo...i guess its all about perspective.
http://www.geneq.com/catalog/en/ph4245.html
http://www.geneq.com/catalog/en/ph4245.html
ogenko
Member
thanks for that info
I have the same combo meter and I wouldn't recommend it to a friend. Very finicky and needs to be calibrated often. My buddy uses a bluelab, and I've gotten to play with it. The choice is simple as I see it now. Down with Hanna, up with Bluelab.
