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Charging humidity beads

dan7876dan7876 Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 47

Keep reading about people charging their humidity beads.  How is this done?  My 2oz 65% tube came from heartfelt w/no documentation or instructions.  Currently I just have the tube in my humi (which is still seasoning from the other day), presumably they will charge by grabbing the water from the dish inside?  Or do I need to directly do something to them to get em rolling?

Also - today's day 3 in my seasoning process.  Things seem to be going nicely, my digital hygro is reading 69%, 71 degrees F.  At what point should I take out the dist water dish and just let the beads do their thing?  Honestly not being impatient (though I am looking forward to loading her up, got a big shipment from ccom today!)...  :)

Comments

  • dutyjedutyje Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 2,263
    Did you buy the A/C adapter for your beads? Just plug them in and let them sit for 8 hrs.. they're good to go.

    There are actually instructions with the beads -- they're printed on the packaging that's stapled to the top of the plastic bag they came in. Here's what I do.. I pour some distilled water on a spoon. I dribble the water onto the tube of beads. I let them absorb into the tube over about 5 seconds. I rotate it a bit, and do the same thing. After about 3-4 of these, you should see that most of the beads have turned clear. That means they're charged. If most aren't charged yet, repeat until they are. Don't charge all the beads, or you'll risk running a high humidity.

    The beads probably aren't charging quickly or fully enough in your humi. You'll need to be a bit more proactive about getting them to soak up water.
  • Smoke=FireSmoke=Fire Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 682
    Charging the beads is quite simple...buy a simple small spray bottle from Wal-mart of some such and spray distiled water onto them. Be warned; with the tube, if you take of the cap and spray directly in the end, you will more than likely over saturate the beads too rapidly, and they split. This will not affect their ability to work, but when the beads split small enough, little peices fall out the holes in the tube and litter your humi. Spraying the outside of the tube I have found does not charge the beads in the middle very well, so use your best judgement on what your needs are.

    As for seasoning, 3 days in my opinion is not enough. I cannot stress enough that patience is the order of the day in seasoning a humidor. Grab some tupperware and put your sticks in that with the beads, and wait it out on the seasoning; at least a week, longer is better. The RH reads fine right now, but putting new sticks in and removing the water will make it plummet.

    When you do put "fresh" cigars in your new humi, only put a few in a day; 5 or so. Again, patience is key here. Let the humi recover from each new batch of cigars for a day, than 5 more.

    This way you will have less fits from your humi, and fewer dips and/or spikes in RH. Hope this helps! :D And welcome to the boards.
  • dan7876dan7876 Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 47

    Thanks for the tips guys...no worries, I'm really not gonna force the time on the humidor.  Seriously.  No, really.  Okay, fine.  I want to, but I won't.  I've got about 50 new friends coming from ccom today, they'll stay in their water-pillow bags until next week, when I'll start adding them to the humi in small groups.

     

    As for the beads, I didn't order the AC adapter, so I'll charge them a manual.  Must've been a factory mistake with the bead directions (or it fell off in the box and I missed it).  No biggie, now that I know how to work em.

  • dutyjedutyje Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 2,263
    The A/C adapter was a joke :)
  • dan7876dan7876 Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 47
    Ha...guess you got me on that one.  :)
  • madurofanmadurofan Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 6,152
    I charge my beads by soaking a paper towel in distilled water and wrapping it around the beads and gently squeezing. Seems to work ok.
  • dutyjedutyje Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 2,263
    That's a pretty good idea, Maddy.

    I actually just took apart the disc humidifier that came with my hunidor. I took the green foam out and threw it away. The humidifier is the same black plastic thing you always see, but it's also got a mesh screen that sits on top of the foam. I kept the mesh screen in, and dumped my half ounce tube of beads into the disc. All but about a dozen or so fit in. I put the humidifier back together and now I've freed up some floor space in my humi! That, and it will be a breeze to re-charge them. I'll just open the humidifier and dribble the beads with distilled water.

    Got the idea here

    Also, good bead instructions can be found here
  • dutyjedutyje Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 2,263
    Also, I love that the humidifier disc attaches to the top of my humidor via a magnet rather than the stupid velcro that eventually becomes unglued.
  • kuzi16kuzi16 Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 14,471
    dutyje:
    Also, I love that the humidifier disc attaches to the top of my humidor via a magnet rather than the stupid velcro that eventually becomes unglued.
    i took the foam out of mine and put beads in it. i dont charge those. they are my over humidification prevention system
  • DiasFlakDiasFlak Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 342
    nice great concept kuzi!
  • kuzi16kuzi16 Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 14,471
    the holes in those "pucks" are usually bigger than the beads so i put the beads in some new nylons i stole from the wife and shoved that in the puck.
  • j0z3rj0z3r Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 9,403
    You guys have got some interesting charging methods. I use the tubes myself, and when I need to recharge I just pull one of the caps off and dribble some distilled water ( only distilled water ) into the open end. Then I replace the cap, rotate and shake the stick to distribute the water and shake real hard to get the excess out. Now, this might not work for everyone as I live in a pretty dry area, so I don't have to contend with excess ambient humidity in the air and just let the beads get as much water as they'll hold.
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