Govee Hygrometer Calibration

[Sprintcars11]

I have a Govee 5175 bluetooth/wifi hygrometer. I am using a Boveda Calibration kit. I've done two 12 hour cycles so far and made adjustments. It was solid at 75 last night. I left it in the bag overnight and now it is reading 75.6. I dont understand why it it has gone up? Should I run a third 12 hour cycle and check again, or am I obsessing over this and just need to throw it in the tupedor and forget it? I just want to make sure I am getting this right.

Thanks!

Joe

 

[Boudie]

First of all in my opinion, I don't store cigars at 75 so why would I calibrate at 75? I store at 65 so I calibrate with 65% Bovedas. I know they can be off a bit but I trust them more then anything else.

Temperature changes will throw off your relative humidity. Best to calibrate at your storage temperature. I store at between 62 -65 so that's what I calibrate at. Big problem with humidity and temperature is dramatic swings. Keep both stable and even if you store a bit wetter, drier, warmer, cooler then I do your smokes will be fine.

 

[Sprintcars11]

I am calibrating to 75 because that is the calibration kit offered by boveda.

 

[Rupe]

Humidity readings on a hygrometer are "relative" which means they are related to the temperature in the room. This means that readings will go up or down slightly depending on what the temperature is in your room. Turning down your thermostat at night or when you're gone during the day for instance.

Looking at the big picture, .6% humidity difference is statistically insignificant. Even the most accurate hygrometers are still only +/- 1% and temperature changes will affect humidity readings. The main concern for storage is really to keep both temperature and humidity as stable as possible. Swings of a couple of points of humidity or temperature are not going to be detrimental long term.

When I first got into this hobby 10 years ago, I would obsess about keeping my humidity at a specific level. Over time I have found that as long as I am able to keep it in a couple point range I am doing well. At this point, my hygrometers are only there as the "canary in the coalmine" to let me know if things need to get corrected. I really only check them every couple of weeks now and do not panic if things start to get off track.

 

[Boudie]

Well hell, Rupe said what I was going to say but I'll post my reply anyway!! Don't want to do all that typing for nothing.


They sell all types of humidity packs for everthing from dope to guitars. They picked a standard. The salt test has been used for decades if not centuries and provides 75% humidity so Boveda is staying with the standard. If you trust the boveda you plan to use why not calibrate to it? Once you have everything stabilized it's the swings you are trying to prevent not necessarily maintain an exact number. There is no appreciable diffference between 65 and 66 or 65 and 64. I'd be more concerned about a 5% swing in either direction no matter what you store at.

Significant swings in humidity and/or termperature cause cracking in the wrapper. Too high a temp and/or too high a humidity causes mold (plume) and beetles. Too low a humidity causes the oils in the cigar to dry out.

Calibrating hydrometers at 75 is like calibrating my bicycle speedometer at 40 mph. I'm 65 yrs old and over 250lbs I should calibrate my bicycle speedometer at maybe 10 because that's about the best I can get out of these bad knees.

 

[Texican]

Putting in my two cents, sorta unrelated to the original question but I am an advocate for using multiple hygrometers to confirm your RH range. When I switched from using three tupperdors to having one humi, I put all three in there on different shelves and it's great to see them all within a point of each other. Peace of mind.

 

[Light_Smoker]

I second what Rupe and Boudie say. I also do what Texican does when I first get a hygro, it certainly doesn't hurt especially if one unit loses power. My Govee shows my RH move in rhythm with the temp but it's within 1 to 2 (max!) points of my 66% preference.

 

[Capn_Jackson]

Putting in my two cents, sorta unrelated to the original question but I am an advocate for using multiple hygrometers to confirm your RH range. When I switched from using three tupperdors to having one humi, I put all three in there on different shelves and it's great to see them all within a point of each other. Peace of mind.

Same as @Texican. I actually have a Govee on each shelf/drawer of my wineador. Overkill, maybe, but I like data.

 

[Zmilin]

I have a Govee 5175 bluetooth/wifi hygrometer. I am using a Boveda Calibration kit. I've done two 12 hour cycles so far and made adjustments. It was solid at 75 last night. I left it in the bag overnight and now it is reading 75.6. I dont understand why it it has gone up? Should I run a third 12 hour cycle and check again, or am I obsessing over this and just need to throw it in the tupedor and forget it? I just want to make sure I am getting this right.

Thanks!

Joe

I recently switched to Govee (a few months ago) and calibrated after using them out of the box for a couple weeks (to see how they compared out of the box and against my Boveda Butlers). The Govee has less tolerance than the Butlers did but that doesnt bother me. I run five of them and rarely get the same reading on all units. As long as they are within a percent of my set RH Im happy.
Ive ended up putting them all in a container with a 65% Boveda pack for a couple days. I adjusted them 2-3 times in that period to get them as close to each other as I could. I also stored them in the humidor so the temp would be stable and known.
In the end some variance will happen. I suspect there are unit out there that will be far more accurate but its just something I have learned to let go of as long as the readings are within a point of each other. My OCD has thanked me for letting go of that one.

 

[CigarKoala]

First of all in my opinion, I don't store cigars at 75 so why would I calibrate at 75? I store at 65 so I calibrate with 65% Bovedas. I know they can be off a bit but I trust them more then anything else.

Temperature changes will throw off your relative humidity. Best to calibrate at your storage temperature. I store at between 62 -65 so that's what I calibrate at. Big problem with humidity and temperature is dramatic swings. Keep both stable and even if you store a bit wetter, drier, warmer, cooler then I do your smokes will be fine.

Boveda recommends 75% because it is the most accurate ratio for their solution. They brought this up at one of their interviews as to why they picked that specific percentage. Its really such a slight margin but you would get the best calibration at 75% with that specific product than you would with a 62% or any other number.

 

[Boudie]

Boveda recommends 75% because it is the most accurate ratio for their solution. They brought this up at one of their interviews as to why they picked that specific percentage. Its really such a slight margin but you would get the best calibration at 75% with that specific product than you would with a 62% or any other number.

That's interesting, my follow up question would be how much varience do they expect at the lower levels. The old time method was a salt test at 75%.

It all comes down to what humidity your cigars best smoke at. If you like the way your cigars behave with 65% Bovedas the only question in my mind is how far has my humidor moved from that level. You may calibrate at 75 but if you store at 65 and the 65 Bovedas do not provide constant 65 you are chasing ghosts from two different sources of error. The hygrometer and the Bovedas.

I agree that if you are using your hygrometer to test multiple Rhs then maybe 75 is ideal but my hygrometers stay in the same humidor so i'm more worried about swings in that humidor not if it's a consistent 64, 65 or 66

I met their reps in Tampa a couple of weeks ago and had an interesting discussion about storing and dry boxing at lower Rh in the swamp and higher Rh in drier areas.