Bluelab Pulse Multimedia EC/MC Meter | Moisture, EC and Temp

What the Bluelab Pulse Meter Measures, and What It Does Not

Three readings, taken by pushing the probes into the substrate. Conductivity, volumetric moisture content and temperature. It does not read pH, and no amount of looking will find a pH mode on it. The ranges are specific. Temperature covers 5 to 40 degrees Celsius, which is 40 to 104 Fahrenheit, to within one degree. Conductivity runs 0 to 15, accurate to 0.2 across the lower half and to 8% above a reading of five. Moisture covers 5% to 70% in mixed media and coir, to within 5%. The probes are stainless steel, long format, and measure 8 in or 200 mm. One AA battery runs it. Readings pass over Bluetooth to the Pulse app, which runs on iOS and Android in five languages. Data exports from the app for review across a cycle. The single most useful operational fact is what the meter does not need. There is no calibration, no calibration solution and no thirty day reminder to ignore. Warranty on the meter runs one year.

The Pulse Meter Rockwool Limit, and Other Media It Cannot Read

Bluelab are explicit about this, and it decides whether the tool suits your room. The meter does not work in media with large voids, which rules out perlite. It also does not work in media that can be permanently distorted, which rules out rockwool. The reason sits in how the reading is taken. Two probes measure the material between them, so an air void reads as dry substrate. A slab that deforms around a spear never springs back to its original density. That means the second reading is of the channel you made, not the slab. That leaves a wide field where it does work: soil, coco coir, potting mix, other mixed media and nutrient solution itself. Pot size matters here as well. Bluelab set a minimum of two litres, or half a gallon, since probes in a small pot read the container as much as the medium. For a grower on slabs the honest answer is a different tool. Runoff conductivity, or a sensor built to live inside a slab, will tell you more than a handheld spear ever can.

Key Features

• Three readings in one push: Volumetric moisture, conductivity and temperature from the root zone.
• No calibration at all: No solutions and no reminder, unlike every pH meter in the range.
• Moisture 5% to 70%: In mixed media and coir, accurate to within five percent.
• Conductivity 0 to 15: Accurate to 0.2 below a reading of five, and to 8% above it.
• 8 in stainless probes: Long format, 200 mm, pushed straight into the substrate.
• Bluetooth to the Pulse app: On iOS and Android, with data export across a growing cycle.
• Not for rockwool or perlite: Bluelab rule out voided and permanently deformable media.
• Two litre minimum pot: Below half a gallon the probes read the container, not the medium.

Technical Specifications