The Accurite Therm/Hydgro Mod

Smithers · #1 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 01:40 AM

O.K. everybody, I knew there had to be a way to make this cheap Thermo/Hygro better. Then a friend of mine gave me the motivation to do it. I gave him my word that I would do it first thing in the morning, and I did, it just took a little while with the pictures and all.

Problem with this thing was that it had to be in the enclosure to measure both the temps (In/Out) and the humidity (%). My friend told me that this was no good and I should find a solution. So not only did I do that, but I decided to share this cheap mod with all of you as well.

Here is what you will need...Soldering Iron (15w) and solder, Razor blade, Two small screw drivers and a pair of small pliers (mine were Craftsman).

Start by taking the back case of of the Accurite.
Notice how the sensor at the end of the wire looks just like the on on the circuit board, they are even marked in/out.

So now, unsolder the wire from the circuit board.

Then unsolder the Hygrometer sensor and the other Temperature sensor.

Figure out what lengths of wire you will need to run and cut the original wire to the appropriate lengths. Strip about 1/8" of wire covering off and solder the section with the original sensor back to the out on the circuit board. In my previous picture you can see I already did this.

Next, solder the other sensors to the other wire sections after stripping and then solder the corresponding wire (make sure to put the temp in the temp spot and same for the hygro) to the circuit board.

Use hot glue on the end of the temp sensor to keep the wires from touching. You will see how they did this from the factory, when you take it out of the plastic part that says SENSOR.

Pass the wires through the back and Hot glue them in place after reattaching the back cover.

When you are finished, you will have three external sensors, 2 for temp and 1 for humidity. It will look something like this. Then you can measure temps for warm side and cool side as well as Humidity with the unit mounted outside of the enclosure.

I hope this pictorial can shed some light on how to do this simple mod, it should be a sticky as it will reduce the amount of money we all have to spend on temp/hygro sensors. But most importantly, it will prevent our Herps from coming into contact with the equipment we use and potential hazards they pose.

I would like to give special thanks to Will Bird from Extraordinary Ectotherms - Ectotherms.net - Home
He is the person that gave me the motivation to do this today.

96Blacksunshine · #2 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 02:05 AM

Wow, pretty innovative idea. Good tutorial also.

DaveDragon · #3 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 02:16 AM

Great job!!! I'm tired of the snakes knocking the Accu-Rite over!

angrybananapeel · #4 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 02:32 AM

I like that, but my soldering skills are horrible. My motivation is somewhat lacking as well. I'll definitely do it, eventually, I think. I think that's worth some rep points.

Sakara · #5 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 02:48 AM

that's pretty cool

I just have mine set up in the cage with the gauge on the other, hahaha... i'll have to try this

Smithers · #6 (**permalink**) 05-22-2009, 11:46 PM

O.k. Finished the Second one today and wanted to share some stuff I learned to make it easier for you all too.

First thing, soldering is easy and a 15W soldering Iron is $8 at Radio Shack.
If you "Tin" the ends of your wires, it makes it alot easier to work with.

Simply heat the wire and apply solder at the same time.

It lets you attach the wires faster and this causes less heat transfer to the circuit board.

Then I used a cordless drill to enlarge the stock location where the original wire went out. This was much better than passing it out the rear vent. It made it look better too.

I went slow and timed myself and it only took me 1/2 an hour to complete this mod.

Good luck and I hope this saves some of you some money.

BRITTani · #7 (**permalink**) 05-22-2009, 11:54 PM

Good job, my accurite dies everytime I mist -_-

DaveDragon · #8 (**permalink**) 05-23-2009, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BRITTani

Good job, my accurite dies everytime I mist -_-

Our 5.5 ft Dumeril Boa knocked hers into her water bowl. I dried it out and replaced the battery and it worked. A BP tried the same thing with not so good results.

BRITTani · #9 (**permalink**) 05-23-2009, 02:04 PM

I have one that I can replace the battery and another that died...waited 2 months in my closet and miraculously came back to life..and died again. Now nothing seems to revive it.

Smithers · #10 (**permalink**) 05-23-2009, 03:19 PM

That means you have spare parts then

DaveDragon · #11 (**permalink**) 05-23-2009, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smithers

That means you have spare parts then

GOOD POINT!!!! I threw out 2 last month!!!

WVW · #12 (**permalink**) 05-23-2009, 08:40 PM

wow, awesome write up! sticky this!

LooseAFur · #13 (**permalink**) 01-27-2010, 04:25 AM

I did this and the inside temp gauge isnt reading the probe its still reading the temp of where the unit is itself. I tested this obviously by putting the probe in the fridge which showed no temp drop. Then putting the unit in the fridge. The temp then went down. Any suggestions?

toothdust · #14 (**permalink**) 06-25-2010, 07:58 AM

Seems like a very useful mod. I just picked one of these up. Will give it a shot and update with how it goes. Thanks!

OwnerSince2010 · #15 (**permalink**) 04-21-2011, 03:29 PM

Does this work with any other models?

The one in the picture isn't sold anywhere near me, and really don't feel like paying $10 shipping & handling for a "cheap solution"

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