Which one do I trust?

[mediazeal]

New Brinsea Oct 20 Advanced incubator arrived today. It's fired up and running. No eggs yet. This version has a digital temp and digital humidity read out
supposed to be factory calibrated.
Temp is dead on at 99.8F and holding with .1 degrees at all times, making it pretty believable.

I put water in the wells
and I put the walmart digital temp/humidity gage in the incubator.
I had put this walmart version in the plastic bag last week with the 1/2c salt and 1/4c water combo to test it. It was dead on at 75% humidity. I have a second gage (bemis) that is 1% higher than the walmart one.

So walmart one is inside the incubator and reads 99 degrees and 38% humidity
The Brinsea digital read out is 99.8F degrees and 45% humidity
7% seems like a lot and I'm not sure which to believe

After reading all the humidity threads and on the advice of the woman selling me the eggs, I was thinking of running 35-40% humidity for 18 days, then up to 50-60% for hatching. (closer to dry method).

Advice?
I'd love advice from anyone who has experience with this kind of incubator
and the outside humidity vs inside incubator humidity......... does this matter?
I'm starting eggs this week and VERY anxious to not kill them!

 

[jimnjay]

Trust the Brinsea instruments. If you find as you progress in your hatch that the air cells are not developing as indicated on this chart then you might make some adjustments. Calibrations could get messed up some by shipping I guess. If you have questions call Brinsea Tech Support. In my experience the MFGRs are very willing to help. I have not worked with Brinesa but Brower and Lyon people have been wonderful

 

[Akane]

That's about as close as your gonna get 2 different thermometers and hygrometers agreeing. Personally I wouldn't just trust the brinsea without calibrating it as well. The more expensive the hygrometer the better the calibration screw/button they have. That should tell you something. Even the best ones still require calibration even if they are calibrated at the factory. I would throw it in a bag too and see what it says.

Also I found my hygrometer continued to increase in reading after 24hrs. I'm wondering if maybe some of us aren't waiting long enough from either using too large of bags, less salt mix, or starting with really low humidity. My walmart hygrometer said 65% after 14hrs, 70% after 24hrs, 75% a few hours later, and 80% after about 36hrs and did not go up after that. So if I'd stopped reading it at 24hrs would I have been reading too low? Since different calibration sites give a different time to wait I would assume yes and that the humidity from the damp salt should not continue to increase beyond 75%. So if you had a properly calibrated hygrometer I would think it should read 75% even if you left it there for 5days.

 

[mediazeal]

Thanks so much. I will 'follow the eggs'
unfortunately the brinsea hygrometer readout is in the top section with cord and can not be separated from the blower and heater, so can't put it in a bag.

I will check with their tech support today as well, good idea.

Thanks for taking the time to advise. MUCH appreciated.