Hydra Electronic Humidifier

B

barbourjay

random cigar bum
So i ordered one of these on monday from cheaphumidors.com and got it tuesday. i wanted a little more active humidification and some fans for my wine-o-door so that is why i purchased this unit over the cigar oasis. i calibrated it to my hygrometers that i've used boveda on already and it's all set. 4 days after i got it i had to refill the cartridge. i suspect it runs a lot because of the TE fan kicking on causing a sudden drop in humidity. i have the fans (only one extra) set up to run only when the unit is on. you can plug the in to run only when the humidification device kicks on. so far it's working good along with my beads, keeping things at a pretty steady 65%-67% percent and my temps are in the higher 60's also. i wish the fans it came with were a little larger but i think that will be solved with a trip to the computer store. not to mention how loud they are for the size. the audible alerts are nice and the beeping is just annoying enough to let you know that the unit needs to be refilled. so far so good. i wish the ribbon cable was a little longer as i can really put the unit where i want. here's my current setup.

newhumi.jpg


over all i'd say it's a nice unit and for the money can't be beat.

now i just need to get a bigger cabinet.
 
Pretty cool! I'm thinking of getting one for a wine fridge sized humidor I want to build... I'm thinking a 80mm fan would be good! :ss
 
Nice :)

I got word they have a larger unit coming out. Wonder how much larger and how much more it'll cost.
 
just a FYI, i've had to refill the unit twice already since the initial time. can't figure out why other than adding a couple of boxes.
 
Mindflux said:
Leaky seal?
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nah, it was airtight before i added the hydra. the humidity monitor might be messed up. it shows 68% and then drops to 62 for some unknown reason and then it kicks on for a long time and then shuts off and then shows 80%. i think i might have a bad unit.
 
Mindflux said:
any updates?
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refilled it so far 4 times. this last time i didn't dran the water out of the cartridge and it seems to be working much better. honestly i've added a few boxes in there and it was probably them just sucking up all the humidity. even if i have to keep filling it up it's still allowing me to keep a lower temp and higher humidity than before.
 
barbourjay said:
refilled it so far 4 times. this last time i didn't dran the water out of the cartridge and it seems to be working much better. honestly i've added a few boxes in there and it was probably them just sucking up all the humidity. even if i have to keep filling it up it's still allowing me to keep a lower temp and higher humidity than before.
Click to expand...

Those would have to be some super dry boxes to soak up that much water. :ss
 
turns out i had the humidity sensor all the way down. thank god for my beads as they took most of the moisture out, not to mention the drain for the wine-o-door. still holding steady. i did move my unit to a cooler area under a vent. it's cycling less and i re-organized the shelving. i tried to get some other fans but it's a two pin fan that is required and best buy only carries 3 pin. so i'm going by another computer shop to see how big of a fan i can get for it. i'll probably run 3 80mm fans. should be more than enough.
 
barbourjay said:
turns out i had the humidity sensor all the way down. thank god for my beads as they took most of the moisture out, not to mention the drain for the wine-o-door. still holding steady. i did move my unit to a cooler area under a vent. it's cycling less and i re-organized the shelving. i tried to get some other fans but it's a two pin fan that is required and best buy only carries 3 pin. so i'm going by another computer shop to see how big of a fan i can get for it. i'll probably run 3 80mm fans. should be more than enough.
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You may have to wire a two pin connector yourself. Watch the amperage on those.. don't blow up your Hydra. The fans it's designed for are the little muffin fans, not the 80mm type.

Thanks for the update on why it was running so much. That doesn't quite make sense though.. since it's lowest setting would hold the RH at whatever it's programmed for, and technically your beads should have always held it above that thresh hold...
 
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Mindflux said:
You may have to wire a two pin connector yourself. Watch the amperage on those.. don't blow up your Hydra. The fans it's designed for are the little muffin fans, not the 80mm type.

Thanks for the update on why it was running so much. That doesn't quite make sense though.. since it's lowest setting would hold the RH at whatever it's programmed for, and technically your beads should have always held it above that thresh hold...
Click to expand...


i don't have enough beads in there. maybe half a pound if that.

as for the setting, it's not that i turned the humidity level down. it's that i turned the sensor down. my others were reading 65% or a little more and it was reading down into the 50's. i turned it back up to where it should and it's not using as much water.
 
barbourjay said:
i don't have enough beads in there. maybe half a pound if that.

as for the setting, it's not that i turned the humidity level down. it's that i turned the sensor down. my others were reading 65% or a little more and it was reading down into the 50's. i turned it back up to where it should and it's not using as much water.
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Turned the sensor down? How do you mean? When you set the humidity level it tells the sensor when to trip the fan. So... I'm confused.
 
Mindflux said:
nm I get it now. You can adjust the hygrometer for 'better' accuracy..
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exactly and it has like a 10% swing that it can do. i had it turned all the way down so it kept running all the time. i turned it back up and all is fine so far. rock steady at 65%.
 
I can't tell by the pictures from the websites, but it seems like there might be computer case fans that would work in this situation.

If anyone gets third party computer fans to work, take pictures and post. I really want to see the connectors.
 
tchariya said:
I can't tell by the pictures from the websites, but it seems like there might be computer case fans that would work in this situation.

If anyone gets third party computer fans to work, take pictures and post. I really want to see the connectors.
Click to expand...


so i went on a hunt the other day and it looks like only CPU fans are 2 prong setup. all case fans i found were 3 prong and won't work.
 
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