Has anybody used these current Chinese moisture meters?

[d.sebens]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/2470549237?sid=6539f6e0-afd9-4e30-b78e-fe8eaef38e7a

These are all over Walmarts marketplace. I need a new one and am unsure what to get?

 

[weee123]

Looks similar to the one ive got it works.

 

[gthomas785]

A moisture meter is really just an ohm meter. The sort of thing I would trust China to make. As long as the pins stick into the wood without getting bent it'll work fine.

 

[blades]

I switched from a pin type to a pinless type which has greater depth penetration than the pin type. typically the inexpensive pin types are not built robust enough to get much penetration. Course you can solve that by making an adapter that uses screws to to get better depth. without forcing the pins on the meter into the wood. nominal cost difference. Most of the simple ones are calibrated for around 65 + degs F of the items to check. that means you need to bring a piece inside and let it warm up to room temp before checking. I have never seen a chart to correlate temp/ reading differences. expensive units can be recalibrated to compensate for temp.

 

[d.sebens]

I switched from a pin type to a pinless type which has greater depth penetration than the pin type. typically the inexpensive pin types are not built robust enough to get much penetration. Course you can solve that by making an adapter that uses screws to to get better depth. without forcing the pins on the meter into the wood. nominal cost difference. Most of the simple ones are calibrated for around 65 + degs F of the items to check. that means you need to bring a piece inside and let it warm up to room temp before checking. I have never seen a chart to correlate temp/ reading differences. expensive units can be recalibrated to compensate for temp.

Interesting on the pinless. I figured that would be less ideal for firewood since I assumed it needs a straight smooth face like lumber to get its reading.

 

[bigealta]

I switched from a pin type to a pinless type which has greater depth penetration than the pin type. typically the inexpensive pin types are not built robust enough to get much penetration. Course you can solve that by making an adapter that uses screws to to get better depth. without forcing the pins on the meter into the wood. nominal cost difference. Most of the simple ones are calibrated for around 65 + degs F of the items to check. that means you need to bring a piece inside and let it warm up to room temp before checking. I have never seen a chart to correlate temp/ reading differences. expensive units can be recalibrated to compensate for temp.

Screws? what do you do? screw into splits and then put pins on the screw heads?

 

[gthomas785]

Yeah pinless meters won't work on firewood unless you saw/plane it down to a flat surface.
The pin type meter reading will be dependent on insertion depth. If you use screws, you've gotta get the spacing and depth correct, deeper is not better as all the tables are based on a specific contact depth and spacing.

 

[d.sebens]

Most of the time I just knock them together and listen to the sound, or hold them against me cheek. Sometimes I want a real reading though. I was using my free one that came with my lopi but I messed it up by pushing too hard. The pins are not screw on. They are soldered to that holder and if you push too hard you will push the pin into the meter. Then even if you pull it out it will move in when pushing.

 

[Eman85]

Makes you ask the question...are there any US made moisture meters? I usually use a calendar and a hot fire to check the moisture of my wood.

 

[blades]

Yep you need a pretty smooth flat spot with the noncontact units. As mention above the pin mounts in a lot of inexpensive units leave a lot to be desired. Yes there are USA made units - professional units can get quite pricy, Lot of bells and whistles that us lowly wood burners would likely never use.