I’d like to know how you store it after use. Do you fill to the “fill line” on the cap with 3M KCI fluid? Do you just put a few drops in the cap to maintain humidity? I’m hearing conflicting info all over. AI said fill to line with KCI. The instructions (and customer support) say only add a “few drops” of “pure water”. In fact they suggest only a few drops of Deionized water, if that’s the case…
Why have a “fill line” on the cap & not have a tiny bottle of DI water come with the kit? Really confused & it was expensive so I wanted to ask some veteran users of the Apera PC60. Maybe you can share aome other tips too… like should I rinse in distilled water after each use & shake off excess before capping? Thanks!
I have an Apera Ph pen meter and I just leave a few drops of clean bottled H2O in the cap and it seems to stay fine and calibrated. I do make sure to calibrate it once ever month or sometimes twice a month depending on how often I use it. It’s unfortunate when there are so many conflicting stories and opinions, makes choosing the “right” option nerve wrecking. I too was confused by the little fill line, why have it if you don’t want the tip of the probe to be submerged? The manufacturer says just to maintain humidity?!? The biggest thing for me is to not let the tip/probe thing stay dry for long periods. I hope this helps my friend.
Yup their own directions are conflicting. Instructions say never store in KCL fluid for more than 1 hour. The official Apera YouTube video says 1-2 hours. Then a later instruction in the video says if your probe gets dried out, soak it OVERNIGHT in KCL fluid.
I’m starting to think the directions are setup to confuse, encourage mistakes & lead to purchases of new $80 probes
I wouldn’t be surprised if the instructions are conflicting just for that reason, to make you feel the need or to buy a new tool after you do what they say and it doesn’t work.
I have put all my faith into drops. It seems to be working fine for the last few years. I don’t have to calibrate anything.
I leave the probe wet and the drops on the probe seem to keep the humidity up until the next use. I use mine daily and have had it for around a year and a half with no issues. I calibrate every 3 or 4 weeks and it stays very accurate in between.
Yea so the PC60 has EC rods too & according to Apera, the 3M KCL fluid can cause the black coatimg on the EC rods to peel damaging its ability to give conductivity readings. However I have a friend who stores his stand-alone Apera EC meter in KCL without issue. So maybe it’s nothing, or maybe it’s just a problem specific to this 4 in 1 model. Seems like it’s all good for the probe. Thanks for the info @pharmerfil
Awesome to hear @FirstCavApache64 so are you rinsing it in distilled/tap/spring water before putting it up wet? Or are you PH’ing your water/nutes & then just directly into the cap.
If your probe goes out of wack thats where the KCL solution comes in, otherwise i just keep the probe in water as it remains stable, the reason distilled or pure water is suggested is bacteria does and can form on your probe which will alter your readings, but a soft bristle brush and taking the protective blue cover off for a cleaning every now and then is all thats needed.
Saying that been using tap water and have been using my meter for 6-7 years, stays calibrated and only torched the probe once due to my own fault which i brought back with kcl solution.
I rinse my probe with tap water after every use and blow out excess water around the probe. Then dry and cap for storage. I use it every 2 to 3 days, and there is always a few drops of water showing in the cap. I use storage solution when I shut down for a couple months because of the length of time it will go unused.
Get a shot glass fill it 1/4 to 1/3 with storage solution or you can use the PH calibration solution for PH 7 as storage solution. Rinse with water after use wipe off excess water and place meter into the shot glass with the solution. This is more geared for someone who uses the the PH meter often so it’s always ready to go…
I always add the same nutrient solution I’m testing to the cap, enough to submerge the whole probe. Gets changed every time I mix up a new batch of nutrients , minimum weekly. I used to use KCl storage solution, but got tired of having to rinse it off every time I was using the probe. Most important is just keep it wet and not in distilled water.
