Help with Humidity and controlling smart switches with smart sensor

#1

Hi there,

I’m having issues with finding a way to control humidity from the data I’m getting.

The pulse reading are very different to the humidity smart sensor I have to control environment devices. 10% difference most of the time. I know my smart devices aren’t accurate but I want to understand a lot more on how the pulse sensor works so I can calibrate the other devices to the pulse.

I understand the pulse has the BME280 and I read the info on it here Compare DHT22, AM2302, AM2320, AM2321, SHT71, HTU21D, Si7021, BME280

Says it’s temp runs hot at 1 degree more. Do I need to adjust this in the calibration or has Pulse already written an algorithm to work around this?

What temps and humidity reading are most likely going to show big difference between the pulse and cheaper sensors? For instance when the humidity is 70% and temps 26 - 20 C, I see big differences between sensors.

Can anyone recommend another smart sensor that has a decent sensor? Needs to work with Tuya chips/app

I’m using a device that uses the tuya chip (not sure if it has the same tuya sensor, I’m awaiting the manufacturers comment on what sensor is being used.

Anyone have a tuya zigbee humidity and temp sensor and compared to the pulse for accurate? This is an easy swap for me.

I’m looking into inkbird, not sure what apps it works with other than it’s own. Trying to avoid buying more smart witches and so forth.

The pulse sites says it’s highly unlikely that the humidity sensor is out, I don’t have anything that I can trust to calibrate against it. Is there any affordable hygrometers I can purchase to use to calibrate or double check the pulse sensor is within the ball park?

Is a roadmap with dates as to when pulse will bring in functions for automatons?

Appreciate the help guys!

#2

Tommy:

I’m not answering your question directly but wanted to pass along some information that might help.

These are the sensors that I use to understand the temperature and RH in my tent:

AcuRite Hygrometer - $15 at Amazon. Very fast response, large easy to read dial

Acurite Indoor sensor in the tent (transmits to the AcuRite hub) - in the tool pocket on the right side of the tent

Acurite indoor sensor in the garage (transmits to the AcuRite hub) - 4’ off the ground, hanging from an inside wall

AC Infinity - 4" exhaust fan with sensor. Used in passive mode, controlled by the Inkbird Humidity Controller

Inkbird WiFi Temperature Controller

Inkbird WiFi Humidity Controller

ThermoPen MkIV

I assumed that all of the readings from the instruments are wrong. Some by more than others but they should show similar results over time once they’re calibrated.

Temperature Calibration

The ThermoPen served as my temperature baseline. Google how to calibrate a ThermoPen - it takes about 5 minutes. I’ve done my ThermoPen twice in the past 5 years and it’s been accurate to 0.1° both times.

Humidity Calibration

Google is your friend again. Put some salt in a tiny container (shot glass), add enough water to make a stiff slurry, put the sensor in a plastic bag and, 6 hours later the sensor should read 75%.

With those two baselines established, you can calibrate the other instruments.

A couple of other things - the sensors have different update rates so one sensor may change but the others haven’t. Finally, pretty close is good enough. 10% is definitely “something’s wrong here” but even with everything being calibrated, the numbers are still ±2 and maybe ±3 or ±4 at times. The instaneous readings are helpful but the trends are important to me.

#3

Thanks for the info. The salt trick is a good one. I’ll check that out for sure.

DO you know much about Inkbird and what home automation it works with? Is it limited or worth looking into?

I’m hoping I can find something that works with existing smart switches.

#4

@peet Be great to hear from you too :slight_smile:

#5

I’m not familiar with Tuya so I can’t recommend anything unfortunately.

How far apart distance wise are the sensors you’re comparing? Stuff needs to be in the same exact place when you compare things. If you’re even 6 inches apart, you may get pretty different readings.

Also, sensors have different smoothing, so they respond at different rates to the environment. For example if your AC kicks on, and your room’s temp drops by 10F, one sensor may pick up on that right away, and a different sensor may need 15 minutes to see the full magnitude of the change. To account for that you should be doing sensor comparisons in a stable environment.

The next piece of hardware we’re going to develop is going to be a smart plug for controls. Here’s the wishlist thread for it: Smart Plug for Controls - #6 by didi

#6

@peet Yep I’ve been testing close together and in stable environment.

The smart sensors I have I know are slow to get the readings and aren’t as real time as the pulse but are there some smart sensors of other brands that you can recommend that have decent sensors that make it easier to work with my pulse data? Inkbird? (inkbird have so many different options) Eve? Zigbee?

With the question about the pulse sensor running hot +1, do I need to allow for this or has Pulse created an algorithm to allow for this?

Is there a recommended and affordable device that I could possibly use to test if the pulse humidity readings are correct?

As great as the smart plugs from Pulse will be, sounds like it will be 1-2 yrs away before that hits the market, which is too long to wait. Pulse wold kill it if they were able to launch.

#7

The Inkbirds a commodity products. I bought mine on Amazon.

Don’t know about “home automation”. I run them from the iPhone and both sensors (temp and RH) have two outlets, one that’s activated when the measured value drops below the set value and another that’s activated when the measured value exceeds the set value.

For RH, the Inkbird activates the Infinity fan for high RH or a 1 gallon humidifier for terrariums if the RH drops.

#8

This is already compensated for, but worth double checking since everyone’s environment is unique and sensors drift over time.

I usually recommend the caliber iv hygrometer as a relatively inexpensive ($25), relatively accurate device. It seems to agree pretty well with my pulses and my more expensive thermometers and hygrometers.

1-2 years is a good guess. In the meantime we’re working on expanding access to our API.

#9

Hey Peet,

I missed this but rocking. That’s a good solution.

Is there a roadmap on the api? Or realistic timeline? 6 months, 1 yr, 3 yr’s.

Hope you guys can get it out there, game changer!

Cheers

#10

@peet So i got the Caliber iv, does this have the same humidity sensor as the pulse? Or are you able to let me know what differences they have at different temps and rh levels? It gets close to the pulse but usually has a higher RH. I was concerned that the pulse’s RH is giving a dryer reading. For instance at 28C, The pulse will be 60rh but the caliber will be 65 RH and then my 4 smart devices are around the 68. They are all next to each other and I realise that they can differ a few points but pulse seems dryer and the smart devices are reading it wetter. Once I hear back, I’ll put them in a container with a stable temp and rh but hoping you can clear up the factory differences before I spend more time on this.

Also if the pulse is out, can the caliber be used to calibrate the pulse? Not to confident in using a 25 dollar instrument to calibrate something worth 10x the price though.

Cheers,

Tom

#11

No they have a different sensor as far as I can tell, I’ve just found them to be pretty reliable.

How are the temperatures matching up between all of the devices? That is the first parameter you want to compare.

#12

I missed this msg again sorry @peet

The temps are very close. Sometimes half a degree but rarely more than that.

Okay so isolation test time.

Would putting them in a sealed glass jar and checking after several hrs be the best to see how different they are?

#13

I use a professional HVAC room analyzer . It even has a little wind fan to measure cfms . If you go to a hvac supply house they should have at a minimum an accurate thermometer or that Bluetooth room analyzer I have. I’ll post a pic for you.

#14

image
image3024×4032 3.14 MB

There’s very cheap ones online that I wouldn’t get. This one was about 100$ and you can even set it up on a tripod and really see what’s doin at diff locations. I just saw this is called an anemometer. Not sure if it’s sensor but the pulse is dead on to this within a half a degree .

1 Like
#15

Madness! Def checking this out