erasei
Member
After having my HA system set up about a year now (w800rf32, cm11a, linux server, motion sensors, window/door sensors, various lights and appliances, and garage doors) it's time to start on Phase 2 of the master plan. Environmental awareness and landscaping control.
As with my current setup, I'll be rolling my own system out of the various parts. I'm pretty handy with electronics and a soldering iron and I do enjoy going off the beaten path. With that said, I'm wondering if I can get some advice on how to do temp and humidity sensors in a pretty efficient and cheap manner.
Ideally, I'd like to have 4 temp sensors and 3 humidity sensors. One of each just hanging out in the house for 'ambient' conditions. One of each in my cigar humidor. A temp sensor outside in the garden, and a temp sensor in the garage, I was thinking up next to the furnace to both detect when it fires up, and to get ambient temps out there (my water heater is right beside it). The other humidity sensor would go into the basement. I have some 'stretch goals' of rain and soil moisture sensors as well.. but not really necessary. I'll just use the local weather forecast via internet to determine irrigation patterns.
I own the house so wiring up a 1-wire system is do-able, but I'm not sure about the run out to the garden. It's only about 50' from my equipment cabinet to the garden, so wireless 'feels' like a better route. However, all of the wireless sensors are stupid expensive and require an additional receiver (RFXCOM, Oregon Scientific, etc).
I have several temp and humidity ICs from previous projects where I'd order a couple extra 'just in case', even ordering more is really cheap, only a few bucks tops. I have a whole bunch of PICs laying around too, but the problem is getting the data back to the server.
The w800rf32 receives RF communications from the x10 devices.. are there any existing modules that allow you to send your own data through them? I haven't seen anything like that. I guess if I wanted to really get my hands dirty I could pick up an RF transmitter IC and dive into the x10 RF specs and just have the PIC talk directly to the w800. Doesn't seem like a weeknight project though (more like several weeks of work for a newb to the protocol like me).
Anyway, I hope I haven't rambled too much. Any advice is appreciated.
As with my current setup, I'll be rolling my own system out of the various parts. I'm pretty handy with electronics and a soldering iron and I do enjoy going off the beaten path. With that said, I'm wondering if I can get some advice on how to do temp and humidity sensors in a pretty efficient and cheap manner.
Ideally, I'd like to have 4 temp sensors and 3 humidity sensors. One of each just hanging out in the house for 'ambient' conditions. One of each in my cigar humidor. A temp sensor outside in the garden, and a temp sensor in the garage, I was thinking up next to the furnace to both detect when it fires up, and to get ambient temps out there (my water heater is right beside it). The other humidity sensor would go into the basement. I have some 'stretch goals' of rain and soil moisture sensors as well.. but not really necessary. I'll just use the local weather forecast via internet to determine irrigation patterns.
I own the house so wiring up a 1-wire system is do-able, but I'm not sure about the run out to the garden. It's only about 50' from my equipment cabinet to the garden, so wireless 'feels' like a better route. However, all of the wireless sensors are stupid expensive and require an additional receiver (RFXCOM, Oregon Scientific, etc).
I have several temp and humidity ICs from previous projects where I'd order a couple extra 'just in case', even ordering more is really cheap, only a few bucks tops. I have a whole bunch of PICs laying around too, but the problem is getting the data back to the server.
The w800rf32 receives RF communications from the x10 devices.. are there any existing modules that allow you to send your own data through them? I haven't seen anything like that. I guess if I wanted to really get my hands dirty I could pick up an RF transmitter IC and dive into the x10 RF specs and just have the PIC talk directly to the w800. Doesn't seem like a weeknight project though (more like several weeks of work for a newb to the protocol like me).
Anyway, I hope I haven't rambled too much. Any advice is appreciated.
