Recalibrating digital scale?

[pizzaneer]

I bought this MICCA digital scale from amazon last winter. 

After some puzzled feedback from other members re my ball weight, I tried to do some benchmark testing.  I looked up the gram weight of 8 oz (1 cup) water.  According to reference, it should be 236g.

I get 73g.  Yes, I am using the tare function.  This happens every time I try it, regardless of whether the unit has powered on, off, replaced batteries, etc.

Looking at oz weight, I get 2.55 oz ... of course it should be 8 oz.

No wonder I've had trouble duplicating other people's efforts.    My own efforts have been reproducible - but only because I have been using my own "scale of measurement".  At this point I have no idea what my ball weight is - the only thing I can be sure of are my percentages of ingredients.  Even that is problematic, because I can't be sure that small amounts are being read correctly.

Does anyone have any idea how to calibrate one of these scales? I'm stuck with this thing for the foreseeable future.

[AimlessRyan]

That's funny. Sorry, it just is, especially after seeing a thread last night where I think Craig said your dough doesn't look anything like his dough of similar weight (or maybe it was the other way around).

And no, I have no idea how to calibrate it. I use a mechanical scale.

[buceriasdon]

Neither one of my cheaper scales have a way to calibrate. Do you have instructions or can you email the maker?
Don

[Michael130207]

Maybe try taking the batteries out for several minutes, push power button to make sure fully discharged, then put new batteries back in and try it with a known weight.

[scott123]

This is the scale with the tempered glass, correct?  It looks like Amazon no longer carries it, but I found a cached page from google

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GzfEZSw8EegJ:www.amazon.com/review/R39MF8X09MNNAC+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

that shows, out of 19 reviews, this scale has six 1 star ratings. That's not a good sign.

These kind of scales can't be calibrated.  Toss it.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Biggest-Loser-Digital-Food-Scale-6.6-lb.-Capacity/11090896?findingMethod=rr

This isn't the best scale you can buy, but it's twenty bucks and beats the heck out of using a broken scale.

[pizzaneer]

While taking it apart to check its connections- screws right next to the little round "QC PASS" sticker, lol- one of the tiny wires broke off the battery case. Pfft.  Time for a mechanical one.

In case anyone's interested, I used the 73g (read) / 236g (actual) ratio to determine my actual ball weight... 572g!  Of course, that could be wayyy off too.  Water is just the most consistent thing to measure.

Back to look and feel until I find another.  If anyone has a spare they want to contribute, I'd be grateful.

[Michael130207]

If you can't solder it back on then I think you are still way better off with the scale Scott recommended than a mechanical one. Cost and accuracy aside, just consider the tare function. Just like with watches, the modern electrical scales are generally way cheaper, more reliable (present case excluded), and more accurate than their mechanical counterparts.

[AimlessRyan]

If you can't solder it back on then I think you are still way better off with the scale Scott recommended than a mechanical one.

Yeah. I don't know anything about that particular scale (or any other scales on the market), but even though I have a very nice Pelouze mechanical scale, I'd like to have a digital scale just for the tare feature. I get so sick of always having to put so much effort into taring my scale. Even though I weigh most of my ingredients in bowls that all weigh the same, I still have to turn that freaking dial/screw maybe a dozen turns every time I want to weigh something that doesn't work with the Grande fresh mozzarella containers I've saved to make scaling ingredients easier.

Also, I get sick of waiting for the scale to stop bouncing. I get sick of having to tap it to make sure it didn't get stuck 1/8 of an ounce away from the actual weight. I get sick of having to bend over so I can look at the dial from straight in front of it. (If I don't do it, though, I may misread the weight by at least 1/8 of an ounce.)

[weemis]

Yeah. I don't know anything about that particular scale (or any other scales on the market), but even though I have a very nice Pelouze mechanical scale, I'd like to have a digital scale just for the tare feature. I get so sick of always having to put so much effort into taring my scale. Even though I weigh most of my ingredients in bowls that all weigh the same, I still have to turn that freaking dial/screw maybe a dozen turns every time I want to weigh something that doesn't work with the Grande fresh mozzarella containers I've saved to make scaling ingredients easier.

Also, I get sick of waiting for the scale to stop bouncing. I get sick of having to tap it to make sure it didn't get stuck 1/8 of an ounce away from the actual weight. I get sick of having to bend over so I can look at the dial from straight in front of it. (If I don't do it, though, I may misread the weight by at least 1/8 of an ounce.)

it's nice to hear someone bitching about the same things i bitch about in my head. but have no one who will even care, let alone get the things i'm bitching about, around. i love this forum!

[weemis]

this is also why i have two scales. a digital for ingredients and a mechanical for dough balls.

[pizzaneer]

it's nice to hear someone bitching about the same things i bitch about in my head. but have no one who will even care, let alone get the things i'm bitching about, around. i love this forum!

That made me LOL!    Too true!  I can't even say the P word without my wife going into an eye-rollin spastic fit.