Alright, I'm in a bind here and I'm about at the point of going insane. I recently bought a 3,000 count cabinet. For humidification, I have a little over 4lbs of beads (some bags are 65% some are 70%). For some reason, the damn thing sat rock solid at 55%. :-) So I bought a hydra and filled it up and put it in last night. Since last night, the hydra has been going crazy. It keeps beeping every 2-3 hours like it's out of water. I have the hydra set to 65% and it has yet to reach that. Talk about frustrating. I go to fill it up, and it doesn't take anywhere near as much as it did when I started. Just now I moved the Hydra to the 2nd level of the cabinet and moved around the bags of beads. I will update the thread in a few hours with what the humidity is. I'm trying everything and I just can't get it to where I want it to be.
[Reply]

Have you calibrated your hygrometers and tested your seal? :-)
[Reply]

Dear lord.....
[Reply]

Just getting the question out of the way :-)
[Reply]

I actually just replaced the battery in my digital to hygro to see where that goes. It's been about a year since I've replaced the battery. Hopefully everything will even out by tomorrow morning, the thing I just don't understand is why the Hydra every two to three hours beeps like it's out of water.
[Reply]

Is it seasoned?
[Reply]

Yes
[Reply]

I didn't think that you could use two different humidity beads, maybe someone in the know can weigh in about that.
[Reply]

Are you certain?

To me it sounds like the wood is still absorbing a ton of moisture, bringing the RH inside down to very low. :-)
[Reply]

That's my first thought too. I would think something that size would take a LONG time to absorb and stabilize. My 150 ct. is still absorbing my humidity beads and it's only been a little over 3 months. But it's sitting low 60's w/ 70 humidity beads in it, and I'm refilling them once a week or two
[Reply]

Yeah, I've had two different kinds for some time now, it just evens out for the most part, my coolers were usually right around 67%.
[Reply]

You could be right Darrell. If that's the case then I guess eventually it will even out. We shall see over the next few days. Just checked it, right now the Hydra is reading 58, the other digital is reading 52. At this point, I trust the Hydra a little more. Based upon what I've read, the digital on it is very accurate.
[Reply]

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

Stupid Hydra. I'm ready to spike this thing on the ground. lol. Just filled it back up and plugged in back in. When it started beeping it was up to 58, so were gaining ground at least. The little digital is still reading low though. I'm going to put the little digital in the Vino tonight over night. I know it's rock solid at 65%. See what it reads with the new battery in the morning.
[Reply]

I'm convinced the Hydra is broken. The alarm just went off again, this time, the whole thing is still full, it won't even take water. Is there away to turn off the alarm on the Hydra?
[Reply]

The hydra is doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
If the RH%age isn't rising in the vessel it's humidifying, it thinks it is empty and the alarm sounds.
It'll continue to do it until you plug up the leaks.
Sorry!!!
[Reply]

Not to knock the hydra, but I hate them. I would just use beads and some small PC fans or oust fans. Far less hassle, and no annoying alarms.
[Reply]

The Hydra has a adjustment dial on it. So, unless you've calibrated it and adjusted it, I wouldn't trust it anymore than any other uncalibrated hygro.

There's a little button on the side of my Hydra which turns off the alarm although I think it's a temporary off.

Dumb question, is this the new large Hydra you're using?
[Reply]

How long were you running at 55%? With a cabinet that large, it will take several days to bring it up to 65% if your cigars had all actually reached 55% RH.
[Reply]

It ran at 55% for about a week until I put the hydra in. I don't have a problem with the hydra taking time to bring the cabinet back up to 65%, that's expected as you said. The thing that I don't understand is why the stupid alarm keeps going off, especially when it doesn't even need to be filled.

Mikey, I'm using the smaller one, not the commercial. The original point of the Hydra was to help bring the humidity back up and maintain it. I have a ton of beads in there, I figured adding the Hydra would put things back where they need to be.

I guess now I have two new questions:

What's the best way to seal the doors on the cabinet if there is indeed a leak?
How do you calibrate the hydra? Just take take the top off and lock it in a tupperwear and salt test like usual? I guess I could also put it in a container with 65% beads for a few hours and see what it reads.

Thoughts?

Thanks everyone for their help thus far!
[Reply]

I don't have a Hydra....is the alarm designed to sound when the resevoir is empty, or when the humdior is below the set RH for a period of time?
[Reply]