Digital Scale Issues

[Lpart]

Tearing my hair out guys. I have arthritic fingers plus finger surgery and find a balance beam scale to be almost unusable for me. I tried a Hornady Lock N Load auto charge this summer and it was very inconsistent and I had no faith in it. Returned it. I have used a Dillon scale for many years but it finally crapped on me just as I was loading for an imminent hunt 3 weeks ago. Called Dillon and they sent a new one. Terrible. The readings bounced around like someone was playing music on it. Sent it back. Drove 2 hours each way to get a Hornady Lock N Loan bench scale. Still inconsistent. Sometimes when I trickle in powder the reading actually goes down a tenth or two. Frequently when I am almost there for example reading 40.5 when I want 40.6 I will put in one more kernel of powder and it jumps to 40.7 or 40.8 and stays there. If I have a tray of powder sitting there and the reading hasn't changed for 30 seconds or so I will take it off and put it back on and it invariably reads a tenth or two less and stays there. I have a clean environment. No other electricals, no flourescents and I always use the tray cover. Overhead light is a LED and it is about 8 feet away. Bottom line I have no confidence in it. I also close all the heating ducts in the main house and turn off my overhead in another room while loading.

Any suggestions would be welcome. Hornady says send this one back and they will check it out. That makes two for them in the last three months and I am not enthralled with that idea. I also tried a Gempro a couple of years ago and found that to be way too sensitive as well and couldn't get consistent readings.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Do you have a cell phone nearby? Maybe in your pocket? I've been using a Pact scale and while it isn't perfect I've come to understand its behaviors. However before I dump the charge in the case I'll lift it off the scale and set it back on a couple times to see if it comes up with the same reading.

 

[dok7mm]

The problem may be the scales, but more than likely, it is electrical interference. Probably your power supply. I had to buy a line conditioner/surge protector combo to solve my problems.

The quality of scale, also, could be your problem. The gempro is a decent unit, except it takes longer to settle on final value. It needs plenty of warm up time to stabilize, prior to weighing. I turned mine on 24 hrs prior to using or left it on continually when doing a lot of reloading.

Solved all problems with line conditioner and A&D 120i scale.

 

[Kmccord]

I have a RCBS Charge master that I have had since 2001 I will say this, you definitely need to go through the motions of calibrating it each time you start a reloading session or change powders. I also have my old balance beam scale I setup at the same time and use it to verify charges match, if off it is usually a .1 or .2 gr, and will add kernels to bring it up to exact charge. I always let the balance beam scale tell me the true weight before loading the cartridge. If you have a Trickler and balance beam scale it would be a way to double check your charges.