Just as I had given up on getting the repaired units back from Slovakia, brand new replacement units appeared in my postbox. And that was not all – the replacement units are the latest tech offering from Beehivemonitoring. The new units have rubber lid seals (these should keep the moisture out) and also come with integrated solar cell to keep the rechargeable battery topped up. Well done Peter and Beehivemonitoring.
The rubber water/moisture seal is clearly evident in the enhanced enclosure.
Having topped up the sim card, it was time to calibrate the scales unit. The Beehivemonitoring app on my phone uses two point calibration, i.e. zero load and a user selectable load. With no load on the scales the ‘Zero’ was set.
Scales Calibration
Next, a ‘calibrate’ load of 5kg was selected through the phone app. A light plastic bucket was cleaned and 5 Litres of water (water density is 1000 kg/cubic meter or 1 kg per litre) was added to bring the weight up to 5 kg. The plastic bucket was placed symmetrically on the pair of scales arms and the ‘calibrate’ tab on the app was pressed. This simple procedure calibrates the scales.
Next steps – place scales under hive and secure solar powered GSM units the hive roof.