Hydra confusion

[Kapsimalis]

Hey guys just before I head out to work I have my hydra hooked up in the humidor and i took out the foam and put in crystal gel. Before I put it all together in the humi I tested the hygrometer on the unit by using te boveda calibration packet 75%rh and the hydra read 74.7! Fantastic. Nap anyways now you have the background info the concern is that once I put the top of the unit together with the water cartridge and in my humidor the hydra reads 65% so it turns on for about 20 seconds and then reads 80% then on e it's off it goes back down to 67% and turns on again for a few seconds then reads 80 again. I set the hydra for 68 by the way. So question is it normal to go on and off in such short bursts and read such high numbers then decrease back down to 67(again my hydra is set to 68) and go on again. I'm confused and a bit nervous.

[CanuckSARTech]

There's a lot of variables there. Which Hydra unit is it? How big is your humidor, volume size (cubic feet/inches), and then overall capacity (boxes/cigars)? Based on the capacity, how full is the humidor? Do you have any other RH measures in there, such as beads and whatnot? If so, how much, and what is their standard RH level?

A lot of things go into it.

Without knowing anything else with this, I'd set the RH to 65 or 66%, a bit lower, and I wouldn't touch it for at least three days. That's 72 hours of not opening and closing it, etc.

[Kapsimalis]

Ok I have some 70rh beads in there just like I did before I got the hydra. Winters coming and rh is steady still at 68 with beads only and that's how I want it but I want the hydra to recycle humidity into the and into my beads. I set this up for my buddy a while back and it's simple but genius and it works like a charm. So I wanted the same for myself:) anyways my humidor is a 400 cigar cab. I have 12 or 13 boxes in there plus about 20 singles tucked away up top. It's the hydra sm. And it's plenty big for my humidor. I have two hygrometers that are working dead on. And my hygrometers read like I said 1to 2 percent lower then what my hydra is set too which is 68. Anyways I just put it in and observed it for 2 min before posting lol. My only concern is how it turns on and jumps right up to 80rh in 20 seconds then goes back down and turns back on again in about 30 seconds.

[CanuckSARTech]

Hmmmm....I'm thinking it may just be a mis-reading then from it initially cycling that moist air.

[Colt45]

Take one of your hygros, hold it close and breathe on it once or twice - note the reading.

[Kapsimalis]

Take one of your hygros, hold it close and breathe on it once or twice - note the reading.

My hybrid work fine. I don't have to blow on them too know the humidity will go up. I know this because I did it once when I first got them lmao. It's just the hydras weird how it goes on and jumps to a really high humidity then turns off but my two regular hygros never read higher than 68. So it must be the hydras a lil weird, but eg my humidity stays like a rock at 68.