Old Reviews Inexpensive CO2 Meter

FYI - Forgot that I had a RollItUp account. Actually never posted there. Anyway, got the code and ordered due in today. So we shall see. Right now, I have an Exhale 365 bag AND a yeast bomb going while I'm waiting for the 365 to kick in. Should be interesting. Or disappointing. So thanks to @>Potato for that info.
 
My meter arrived yesterday. Not sure how good it is. Seems to take a quick “read” every now and then and then stops and goes back to the calibration point of 500 ppm. Highest I’ve seen it go in my tent is 1200. I’ll play with it more. I’m not an expert in these meters so I don’t know what to expect.
 
Nevermind, I figured out the meter. I just needed some...patience?

Are we posting findings here? I don't have readings without the bags/bomb in the tent. But with them in...

Exhaust off, CO2 settled at around 1000 PPM and held there for an hour. Eventually had to kick the exhaust back on due to rising temps, and it has now settled at 675 PPM over the past hour.
 
Don't mean to spam this thread. I'm sending the meter back. It was sorta fun to play with over the weekend. I highly doubt that my Co2 PPM is sitting around 1100 though. Plus, my meter locked up at 1100 and won't do anything. Not sure if that is due to light intensity, humidity, whatever.

I did a little research and apparently a good sensor alone costs more than these cheap meters. Some sensors are around $200. Watched a couple teardowns on these types of units and they don't fare too well. I guess there's a reason that some of the meters out there can cost a couple thousand dollars. At this price range, the LCD on the unit cost more than the sensor. Anyhow, just chiming in on my findings.
 
Sorry to hear this. I got the same sensor from that promo and haven't that any problems. I calibrated it when I got it out of the box and it came in at 410 PPM which is pretty much what I expected.
It's pretty much plug and play, right?

If you would, could you expound on how you add CO2 to your tent? It's completely new to me and it sounds really interesting.
 
Sorry to hear this. I got the same sensor from that promo and haven't that any problems. I calibrated it when I got it out of the box and it came in at 410 PPM which is pretty much what I expected.
It's pretty much plug and play, right?

If you would, could you expound on how you add CO2 to your tent? It's completely new to me and it sounds really interesting.

Yeah it's just plug and play once you calibrate it outdoors. I just don't believe that it's accurate at all in the long run. At least for our applications. I ended up going down a rabbit hole researching these meters and all of the teardowns on these cheap meters show that the "sensor" they use is like a $5 part. I also think that these meters are not reliable in a humid and bright environment. Maybe they do something sitting on a countertop? On top of that, the Inkbird meter is more of a white label product with their logo printed on it.

If you go to a site like CO2 meters, you can see how much a sensor alone for an application like a greenhouse costs: https://www.co2meter.com/collections/gss/products/cozir-lp3-co2-sensor

Anyway, I don't mean to suck the fun out of it. It's cool to play around with I suppose. As far as adding Co2 to your tent, I use the exhale 365 bags. 1 in a 2x4 and 2 in a 4x4. In addition to that I will sometimes use a "yeast bomb". That's just a mixture of yeast, water and sugar. You can DIY it with a bucket a lid and some tubing.

Recipe per gallon container is:

1/2 gallon warm water
4 cups sugar
1 oz bakers yeast.

Swirl bucket every other day. On the 7th day, add one cup of sugar. On the 14th day, dump it all and start again. Multiply the above recipe X whatever size bucket you use. If you use a 5 gallon bucket (for instance), multiply the above by 5.

If you don't like doing DIY, there's a guy on eBay that sells a "kit" just add your own sugar. I tried his kit out before and it works fine. I think I offered him $20 for the "kit" shipped and he accepted a year or so ago. Dunno how he made any money? https://www.ebay.com/itm/321692602898
 
An airstone and an air pump in your wort should give the yeast more oxygen.

Yeah I’ve seen that. I usually just do the yeast bombs until the exhale 365 bags kick in. They should last about 6 months once you activate them, but they do take a couple weeks to get going once you inoculate them.

One word of caution if you try a yeast bomb - don’t put too much liquid in. It can bubble out and leave stickiness on your floor and leaves.
 
There are also many different strains of brewers yeast, to or bottom fermenting. They work at different rates, and prefer different temperatures, so you can speed up or slow the reaction with temperature.
 
Yeah it's just plug and play once you calibrate it outdoors. I just don't believe that it's accurate at all in the long run. At least for our applications. I ended up going down a rabbit hole researching these meters and all of the teardowns on these cheap meters show that the "sensor" they use is like a $5 part. I also think that these meters are not reliable in a humid and bright environment. Maybe they do something sitting on a countertop? On top of that, the Inkbird meter is more of a white label product with their logo printed on it.

If you go to a site like CO2 meters, you can see how much a sensor alone for an application like a greenhouse costs: https://www.co2meter.com/collections/gss/products/cozir-lp3-co2-sensor
The readings that I'm getting vary significantly. Outdoors, it reads 410 ppm at calibration. In the tent, where it sits on the top of the res, it's 410 and 420 but I've seen it as high as 800, IIRC. I assumed that was due to the plants. I haven't made a point to check it on a regular basis because it's, frankly, just a curiosity ATM.

Re. sensor cost - I'm sure there are a wide variety of sensors and a big part of that is that it's not just something that measures CO2. A huge issue is how robust a device is, for want of a better word. People mock the $800 toilet seat - sure some of that stuff is worth mocking but I also know that a lot of what drives the cost of a product is the conditions in which it will continue to function. The sensor that Inkbird is using is the same type of sensor that Pulse puts in the Pulse Pro. I didn't find any tech data on this device but the Inkbird CO2 controller is stated to be ±30 PPM and the PulsePro is ±50 PPM.

Maybe the best way to think of it is that it's a ballpark indicator.

"white label products" - agreed. I see lots of that. No engineering, no product differentiation, just marketing. Caveat emptor.

Anyway, I don't mean to suck the fun out of it. It's cool to play around with I suppose. As far as adding Co2 to your tent, I use the exhale 365 bags. 1 in a 2x4 and 2 in a 4x4. In addition to that I will sometimes use a "yeast bomb". That's just a mixture of yeast, water and sugar. You can DIY it with a bucket a lid and some tubing.

Recipe per gallon container is:

1/2 gallon warm water
4 cups sugar
1 oz bakers yeast.

Swirl bucket every other day. On the 7th day, add one cup of sugar. On the 14th day, dump it all and start again. Multiply the above recipe X whatever size bucket you use. If you use a 5 gallon bucket (for instance), multiply the above by 5.
I might try a DIY. Dunno about a bucket but would a milk jug do the trick? Just mix everything up and put the milk jug in the back of the tent.

If you don't like doing DIY, there's a guy on eBay that sells a "kit" just add your own sugar. I tried his kit out before and it works fine. I think I offered him $20 for the "kit" shipped and he accepted a year or so ago. Dunno how he made any money? https://www.ebay.com/itm/321692602898
Agreed. Human ingenuity. And having kids that'll work for cheap. :-)
 
Back
Top