Wireless smart hygrometer for home cheese cave?

[NewbieInNewHampshire]

Hi all -

Just joined. Great to be here and I greatly appreciate any advice you're willing to offer. I'm pretty new to cheesemaking. So far, I've made chevre, cream cheese, creme fraiche, and feta - basically all the easy stuff. I've purchased a cheese press and it's time to take the next step to hard cheeses, so I've been doing research on home cheese "caves."

I'm interested in a wireless smart hygrometer that would speak to my iPhone, but have noticed that most hygrometers/weather stations only use a probe to measure temperature. I'd love to have a device that uses a probe for humidity, too, to enable me to keep the electronics of the readout device outside of the refrigerator.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a device that I could stick in a refrigerator that will effectively speak to my phones and provide alerts if the humidity is outside the parameters I establish? In a perfect world, I could just put a probe inside the refrigerator to preserve the electronics on the readout device, but this is the only device I've found that seems to offer that option https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H38RPNG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=AON8DME687K1&th=1. Any thoughts on this device?

Bonus points if multiple probes are allowed, as it looks like it is advisable to keep a separate "cave" for blue cheese and I don't want to mess around with cross-contamination. :-)

I hope this query makes sense. I'm basically just looking for hygrometer recommendations that are wireless and will speak to an iPhone and provide alerts for excursions.

Thank you so much for any insight/suggestions you can provide. I really value your guidance.

Best,
Melanie

[mikekchar]

My problem hygrometers is that every single one of them that I've looked at says that the operating relative humidity maxes out at 80%.  Above that point it's no longer accurate.  Which, for cheesemaking, is rather useless.  You can actually build a hygrometer out of 2 temperature probes.  You have one that's wet and another that's dry.  They will measure slightly different temperatures.  You can use the difference to calculate the relative humidity from that.  You need very sensitive temperature probes, though.  One day I'll give it a shot...

[Al Quentin]

I've been playing around with a couple of these:

https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-Bluetooth-Hygrometer-Thermometer-Greenhouse/dp/B08LKCLFR6?pd_rd_w=NmC4m&content-id=amzn1.sym.bc622850-a717-4d94-96c3-7cc183488298&pf_rd_p=bc622850-a717-4d94-96c3-7cc183488298&pf_rd_r=KBJVXH1BQBSBETGRRJFT&pd_rd_wg=bOvOT&pd_rd_r=1f2bf454-edf2-4780-b75f-bed7bbb3c51c&pd_rd_i=B08LKCLFR6&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_rp_1_t

They claim to measure RH of 10% - 99%, +/- 2%. Haven't independently verified the RH accuracy, but in testing I've gotten readings up to 98%RH. The temp accuracy compares favorably to my pricey Thermapen, and both units  track & agree with each other in temp and RH. Bluetooth range is good, and I can get readings from inside a fridge one story below my place. The Android app (which could be better) can send alerts and log multiple sensors. I've been testing these for a couple of months, trying to figure out how I'm going to control humidity/temp, and it's interesting to see changes as the fridge cycles on/off and how changes in temp affect RH readings. The logs are nice, but you can't save them to a PC.  Nevertheless, they're only $10 - that's why I decided to give them a try. Will update when/if I verify RH accuracy.

EDIT - Sorry, just re-read your post - missed that you were looking for something to talk to an i-Phone and I was talking about Android. Just looked at the instructions for my device & there's a QR code for an IOS app too.

[NewbieInNewHampshire]

Incredibly helpful. Thank you so much. Do you find that condensation collects on the device and, if so, it hasn't caused problems/damage?

[Al Quentin]

In my limited testing so far, I haven't created any significant condensation on the units for any length of time. Given the nature of these things, I expect that a very humid environment would eventually take it's toll. These are meant to reside in the measured environment, and since the sensors are mounted on a circuit board inside the unit, the boards are exposed to whatever humidity's in the air. I've looked inside the units and, although the boards are pretty good quality, they don't have any sort of conformal coating protecting them from moisture long term - I wouldn't expect them to at the price. That being said, lots of electronics live in humid environments around the world. These may not survive as long as they would in an arid environment but, if the RH readings prove to be reasonably accurate, I'll consider them a relatively cheap "consumable" with useful features.

[pastpawn]

In my limited testing so far, I haven't created any significant condensation on the units for any length of time. Given the nature of these things, I expect that a very humid environment would eventually take it's toll. These are meant to reside in the measured environment, and since the sensors are mounted on a circuit board inside the unit, the boards are exposed to whatever humidity's in the air. I've looked inside the units and, although the boards are pretty good quality, they don't have any sort of conformal coating protecting them from moisture long term - I wouldn't expect them to at the price. That being said, lots of electronics live in humid environments around the world. These may not survive as long as they would in an arid environment but, if the RH readings prove to be reasonably accurate, I'll consider them a relatively cheap "consumable" with useful features.

Of course, you could spray conformal coating on them yourself.  Or just brush some polyurathane over the board (both sides).  Or caulk.  Or latex paint.  Or any other non-soluble protectant.

I have a wireless hygrometer, but the batteries went dead too quickly for my liking.  I now use an Inkbird dual controller to both control the temperature of my cheese cave and to control humidity.  It seems to work well.  I have not tested the accuracy of it, but as a hobbyist I don't think I ever will

[NewbieInNewHampshire]

In my limited testing so far, I haven't created any significant condensation on the units for any length of time. Given the nature of these things, I expect that a very humid environment would eventually take it's toll. These are meant to reside in the measured environment, and since the sensors are mounted on a circuit board inside the unit, the boards are exposed to whatever humidity's in the air. I've looked inside the units and, although the boards are pretty good quality, they don't have any sort of conformal coating protecting them from moisture long term - I wouldn't expect them to at the price. That being said, lots of electronics live in humid environments around the world. These may not survive as long as they would in an arid environment but, if the RH readings prove to be reasonably accurate, I'll consider them a relatively cheap "consumable" with useful features.

Of course, you could spray conformal coating on them yourself.  Or just brush some polyurathane over the board (both sides).  Or caulk.  Or latex paint.  Or any other non-soluble protectant.

I have a wireless hygrometer, but the batteries went dead too quickly for my liking.  I now use an Inkbird dual controller to both control the temperature of my cheese cave and to control humidity.  It seems to work well.  I have not tested the accuracy of it, but as a hobbyist I don't think I ever will

You wouldn't happen to have a link to the Inkbird you're using, would you?

[pastpawn]

In my limited testing so far, I haven't created any significant condensation on the units for any length of time. Given the nature of these things, I expect that a very humid environment would eventually take it's toll. These are meant to reside in the measured environment, and since the sensors are mounted on a circuit board inside the unit, the boards are exposed to whatever humidity's in the air. I've looked inside the units and, although the boards are pretty good quality, they don't have any sort of conformal coating protecting them from moisture long term - I wouldn't expect them to at the price. That being said, lots of electronics live in humid environments around the world. These may not survive as long as they would in an arid environment but, if the RH readings prove to be reasonably accurate, I'll consider them a relatively cheap "consumable" with useful features.

Of course, you could spray conformal coating on them yourself.  Or just brush some polyurathane over the board (both sides).  Or caulk.  Or latex paint.  Or any other non-soluble protectant.

I have a wireless hygrometer, but the batteries went dead too quickly for my liking.  I now use an Inkbird dual controller to both control the temperature of my cheese cave and to control humidity.  It seems to work well.  I have not tested the accuracy of it, but as a hobbyist I don't think I ever will

You wouldn't happen to have a link to the Inkbird you're using, would you?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HF9W41Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Works great.  One output is used for controlling temperature, the other for humidity.  Have you thought about a way to generate humidity? 

[NewbieInNewHampshire]

In my limited testing so far, I haven't created any significant condensation on the units for any length of time. Given the nature of these things, I expect that a very humid environment would eventually take it's toll. These are meant to reside in the measured environment, and since the sensors are mounted on a circuit board inside the unit, the boards are exposed to whatever humidity's in the air. I've looked inside the units and, although the boards are pretty good quality, they don't have any sort of conformal coating protecting them from moisture long term - I wouldn't expect them to at the price. That being said, lots of electronics live in humid environments around the world. These may not survive as long as they would in an arid environment but, if the RH readings prove to be reasonably accurate, I'll consider them a relatively cheap "consumable" with useful features.

Of course, you could spray conformal coating on them yourself.  Or just brush some polyurathane over the board (both sides).  Or caulk.  Or latex paint.  Or any other non-soluble protectant.

I have a wireless hygrometer, but the batteries went dead too quickly for my liking.  I now use an Inkbird dual controller to both control the temperature of my cheese cave and to control humidity.  It seems to work well.  I have not tested the accuracy of it, but as a hobbyist I don't think I ever will

You wouldn't happen to have a link to the Inkbird you're using, would you?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HF9W41Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Works great.  One output is used for controlling temperature, the other for humidity.  Have you thought about a way to generate humidity? 

Thanks so much! For humidity, I was thinking a plastic bin of water and, if absolutely necessary, a towel. I have a heat/cool controller now, but the thought of putting a humidifier in the fridge makes me think of nothing but Legionnaire's disease or some other deadly illness. Did you have a recommendation?

[Tedybar]

I have the same inkbird setup and us a humidifier plugged into the inkbird humidity plug. Works great,