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Infernal PH Meter - calibration query - and a note to Tom S

OK - I don't want to make a long story longer - but here goes. I have a Hanna Piccolo - its been fine for about 3 years . I store it in storage solution. I have recently cleaned it with a cleaning solution. I also replaced the batteries. It calibrates fine at 7.00ph and at 4.00ph. It measures wine ph fine. ... but when I try to use it to measure TA - i add NaOH solution in drops and watch the ph rise until it reaches 7.23 - above which it will not register - no matter how much NaOH I add. This is a recent development - and it worked fine on my last batch of wine in September.

So the question is - does this behaviour sound familiar? - is the electrode pooched?

- are there any homegrown mixtures of high ph - ie. alkaline which I could calibrate or at least check over 8.0

- Finally Tom S you mentioned you didn't like the probe-to-meter contacts (agreed) and that you soldered them. - Well my _other_ hobby is diy tube amps - so I have the tools to solder - but I would love to see a picture of what you did to your Piccolo - because maybe I just have a contact issue?

Steve in Vancouver PS - this is a thanks upfront to Tom S for all the contributions to the NG. Even if you don't get around to this little post - your support to this NG is ongoing and virtually without peer - and I often include your moniker as part of my google searches through this NG.

Reply to
ss
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Steve, If your are using a 0.1 N sodium hydroxide solution for TA measurements, the pH of that solution is 13. If you are using a 0.2 N solution, it's pH is

13.3. Lum Del Mar, California, USA

Reply to
Lum

Steve,

Here is Hanna Canada's tech support page:

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You can also email tech support with the model and issue description too, they are very helpful and very prompt.

Before you solder the leads, try cleaning the connections with a red rubber eraser (not a pen eraser, use a pencil eraser, they are less abrasive)

The electrode is a very high impedance and a little corrosion or dirt can cause issues. Mine was never very stable, but I would not give up on yours until I cleaned it, heard back from Hanna and soldered it as a last resort.

Remember to clean off all the rosin if you solder, use rubbing alcohol followed by grain if necessary. (I'm a component level instrument repairman.) The easiest way to get rosin off is to take an acid brush and snip off most of the bristle length, leaving about 1/4" of bristle. Wet and scrub the connections, it comes right off. If the humidity is high you may get a white film, just keep wiping it off and follow up with grain if need be.

Hope that helps. Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

Joe - thanks for the suggestions - I hadn't thought of Hanna tech support. I also appreciate the notes on soldering those leads - although I would agree it is a last resort. I tried putting the probe into my Sodium Hydroxide solution last night - got a reading of about 10.72 which atleast shows the instrument is not "stuck" but either the solution is diluted (it was recently purchased but who knows how long it had been on the shelf).

Your notes on cleaning the rosin reminds me I should go back to some tweaking I did on my tube preamp a month ago and go over the solder connections with a little cleaner! :^) - bottlehead forever!

Steve in Vancouver

Reply to
ss

Steve, That kind of makes you think the probe is working. You can check the normality of the NAOH with potassium Acid Phthalate and Phenolphthalein, maybe it's just off...

On the tube amps, my brother is a guitarist and loves tube amps too. I used to work on a pretty big one years ago, it was 250,000 VA in,

180,000 out. The outputs were about 5 feet high and water cooled. (It was a Ling amp, we used it to driver shakers in a vibration lab.) Now that was a cool amp. Not too portable though,it's input power was 3 phase 4160VAC and it was around 20 ft long...

One of the guys would play music through it on holidays. When we shook really big 'stuff' pretty hard the vibration went through the bedrock and into buildings several hundred feet away.

It was impressive. And it wasn't the bigest one Ling made... :o)

Joe

:^) - bottlehead forever!

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

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