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By gcl8a
#191063
I've used several HIH-6130 temperature/humidity sensors both inside and outside of my house. They all work well out of the box and compare favorably to other sensors. Unfortunately, no fewer than three of them have had humidity failures over time (anywhere from two weeks for my most recent to six months for another). They still report an accurate temperature, so I'm confident the I2C is working properly, but the humidity readings will be horribly inaccurate -- reporting way higher humidity than there actually is.

Attempts to recondition them or let them recondition over time have all failed. They're all being powered with 3.3V in combination with a TI CC2511F32 wireless uC. Again, they all work fine for a while (and some are still going), so I find it nearly impossible that there is something wrong with my code. I've looked at the sensor element as best I can with a field glass, and there's no evidence of anything wrong (broken wires, crud in the cavity, etc.).

The most recent one had been reporting outdoor humidity reasonably well (inline with the weather service, though with variations of course for local conditions). Then this morning, the humidity just jumped to 99.99% and has been pegged there ever since (the current RH is around 75%, according to the NWS). I have another sitting next to me in the basement that is reporting 83%, though the actual humidity is ~60%, according to two other sensors (one HIH-6130; one store bought system that I use to check them).

Have others had similar experiences? Any suggestions on what to do (aside form the obvious, which is to abandon these sensors as unreliable failures)?