Trouble calibrating Bluelab Pen

So I bought a bluelab pen on Sunday and I have been soaking it in fresh water since. When I put it in the 7.0 solution to calibrate it won't go down to 7.0 it's steady at around 7.4. Is this a normal thing with a uncalibrated pen? Should I just go ahead and calibrate it?

calibrate it. Do you know what the PH of the water you are soaking it in is? I would then test it for a few days to see if it stays calibrated. It will probably be fine after you calibrate it. Also, be careful with the PH pen. You can damage the probe when you pull off the blue cap. Make sure you store it in liquid. The blue lab rep actually told me to use 7.0 solution or water instead of the storage solution which is 4.0 She told me that the probe will last longer if stored at 7.0 good luck..

Tho I don't have the bluelab ph pen I keep my probe stored in 7.0 calibration solution, seems I read that here in this forum one time, so far no problems.

Yea I think I'm gonna soak it in the 7.0 solution overnight. Since I posted its gone down to 7.3 so hopefully it will read 7.0 in the morning. Also I don't really know the ph of the water I was soaking it in. I know milk has a ph of 6.6 so maybe I could check the calibration that way? Thanks for the reply

That ain't how it works. download the calibration instructions. There is a button you hold to tell it " blupen, make this 7.0". but different models are slightly different.

You need to buy calibration solution. It is at 7.0 ( and I do 4.0 as well).

DO NOT SOAK IT IN CALIBRATION SOLUTION.

The only things you need to soak it in are either KCI SOLUTION or PLAIN TAP WATER. From BLUELAB themselves when I wanted clarification because their booklets says KCI buffer4 or tap water.

They have since contacted printers of the booklets to remove the buffer4 from the leaflet.


Here's how you calibrate.

Step one place pen in ph7 buffer solution and allow the pen to stabilise its reading.

Then press and hold CAL.

7 cal should flash up and it will read 7.0.

Then rinse the probe with tap water.

Place in buffer 4 and allow reading to stabilise.

Press and hold cal and it should set to 4.0.

Remember if the probe dries it dies.


Make sure the sponge in the cap is always wet with tap water.





J

Thank you i also thought buffer 4 would be sufficient to store in. Mine unfortunately dryed after 1 month of purchace and wouldnt callibrate to buffer 4. As a solution i stored in buffer 4 for 24hrs washed under running water re callibrated to buffer 7 then 4 and thankfully it callibrated. A lesson learned, buy kci storage solution.

I gave up on ph pens. My bluelab pen lasted about a year and won't calibrate anymore... just says 'Er'. Contacted bluelab and they made me mail it in and they cleaned and calibrated it and mailed it back. Except it was drifty as fuck and took about 2 weeks before it wouldn't calibrate anymore, not to mention it was completely useless as it had to be calibrated each use.

So, I broke down and bought a Hannah... long story short it is hard to get an accurate reading because the number drifts around too much and after about a month the calibration screw is dialed in as far as possible and it will no longer calibrate.

Always kept the probes wet and stored them with tap water. I am just using ph drops now, which is fine since the ph on my system only needs to be checked like once a week. Eventually when I have a place to setup a sealed room some day, I will most likely just get a bluelab guardian. As for now, I have $190 of junk sitting in a bucket somewhere.

There are great videos on YouTube too. They say you need to calibrate it before the first use, then every 30 days after. I don't use their ph pen, but I do have the ppm/EC pen. It works great.
Blue Lab also has a 6 month-> 5 year warranty on their products, depending on which specific pen you purchased. You also have to register the product through their website.

just a quick update although my meters did re-callibrate now 4 days after, it is pretty much knackered. ive ordered an essentials one cause i rate quality with how robust an item is how reasonable the price is. obviously in this case accuracy is important but im willing to compromise on 0.05 difference in accuracy for a pen that works consistantly. just to add ive got a green and cream ph meter with no name on it its more than 3 years old and was in a box of dirt and crap from last year i spat on the probe to clean it, havent changed the batteries and still it bloody gave me a very close reading on a number of different fluids no drys it dies excuse now that is quality. ive sent the bluelab back so theyll hopefully sort it and send it back. ill still use it for its accuracy but i wont trust it for reliability.

just to add bluelab replaced the pen with newest model and sent a sachet of storage solution. Quality is also good after sale customer care.....

yea soaked over night and ph read 4.0 when i saw it this morning ... tried to calibrate... no go .. Er flashing instead of 4...

i guess its toast huh?

ubi said:

yea soaked over night and ph read 4.0 when i saw it this morning ... tried to calibrate... no go .. Er flashing instead of 4...

i guess its toast huh?

Click to expand...

Mine read Er1 and I sent it back.

BLUELAB said they cleaned it thoroughly and recalibrated it.

Try 24hour soak in tap water. Then recal using 7 solution.

How old is your model?


J

same thing with me... they cleaned and calibrated and sent it back... 2 weeks later it fucked up again and has been sitting in a drawer for the last year.