thermometer ideas

[ewelin]

This morning I woke up to find out that our stand up freezer in the basement was left ajar and we lost quite a bit of meat that had thawed... Mostly stuff that was on the door which included some game meat that was given to us by my father in law. So I'm bumming and don't want to experience this again... so I was thinking there should be an easy way to monitor the temperature. All of the automation in my house is Insteon right now all controlled by Home Control Assistant v9. Anyone have any good suggestions on how I could monitor the temp? I couldn't find any Insteon Thermometers that would report back a value, I could only find ones that had triggers, and I rather a value so I can see what the actual temp in there is and set different alerts based on the temp.

In addition, I'm thinking it might be cool to have a thermometer for our aquarium as well, so looking for suggestions for a water proof temp sensor as well.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Rupp]

I use the Oregon Scientific wireless temp and humidity sensors with the RFXCom receiver with HomeSeer to get temps from the fridge, crawl space, attic, outside, bathrooms, etc. Not sure this app works with these sensors though. The receiver is from here:
http://www.rfxcom.com/receivers.htm

 

[ewelin]

does these sensors work with the W800?

Also how long do the batteries last in those sensors. Right now I've been eyeballing the RF Sensors from rfxcom.com, but the currency conversion isn't great right now :-(

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Here is a contact closure sensor you might be able to use with your existing Insteon 'triggers' that you mentioned you have in your original post.

 

[ewelin]

Here is a contact closure sensor you might be able to use with your existing Insteon 'triggers' that you mentioned you have in your original post.

Well I'd actually prefer something that gives me the actual temp. I know I could get a contact closure sensor, but I rather get the actual temp, so like I said above, I can have different warnings based on what the temp is.

 

[Rupp]

does these sensors work with the W800?

Also how long do the batteries last in those sensors. Right now I've been eyeballing the RF Sensors from rfxcom.com, but the currency conversion isn't great right now :-(

No they do not work with the W800. You need one of the 433.92MHz receivers to pick up the Oregon stuff.

 

[ewelin]

No they do not work with the W800. You need one of the 433.92MHz receivers to pick up the Oregon stuff.

Thanks for that... I know HCA supports the W800, that's why I asked... maybe I'll inquire to see if they can add support for the rfxcom devices.

 

[Michael McSharry]

No they do not work with the W800. You need one of the 433.92MHz receivers to pick up the Oregon stuff.

Thanks for that... I know HCA supports the W800, that's why I asked... maybe I'll inquire to see if they can add support for the rfxcom devices.

If your HCA supports the xAP protocol over the LAN then you can get the Oregon senosrs connected via xapmcsRF. You still need a RFXCOM hardware receiver to read the long packets at 433 MHZ.

 

[fleetz]

No they do not work with the W800. You need one of the 433.92MHz receivers to pick up the Oregon stuff.

Thanks for that... I know HCA supports the W800, that's why I asked... maybe I'll inquire to see if they can add support for the rfxcom devices.

If your HCA supports the xAP protocol over the LAN then you can get the Oregon senosrs connected via xapmcsRF. You still need a RFXCOM hardware receiver to read the long packets at 433 MHZ.

Hi Michael,

How difficult would it be to get ASCII strings happening from the RFXCOM reciever? Thinking Oregon > RFXCOM RX> ????ASCII generator >ELKM1 XSP serial expander. Obviously the ASCII???? is the missing link.

Would be really neat to get the Oregon temp sensors working with the ELK. I have just bought some Oregon gear ...pool temp sensor, external sensor and the gear works really well. Having a convertor that would recieve the long packets from the RFXCOM RX and spit out eg "Long packet temp23 > ASCII 23 would be neat.

interested in your thoughts.

Regards,

Fleetz

 

[Ira]

Which OreSci temp sensors are you guys talking about? I've got several of the THGR810 wireless sensors that I use with the WMR100, but I never thought about using them in a freezer/refrigerator. The manual says...

It is recommended that you use alkaline batteries with this product for longer performance and consumer grade lithium batteries in below freezing temperatures (0ºC / 32ºF). Do not use rechargeable batteries.

How much battery life can you get out of a sensor that is always below freezing?

Ira

 

[ewelin]

Which OreSci temp sensors are you guys talking about? I've got several of the THGR810 wireless sensors that I use with the WMR100, but I never thought about using them in a freezer/refrigerator. The manual says...

It is recommended that you use alkaline batteries with this product for longer performance and consumer grade lithium batteries in below freezing temperatures (0ºC / 32ºF). Do not use rechargeable batteries.

How much battery life can you get out of a sensor that is always below freezing?

Ira

I was actually thinking about putting the remote sensor in the freezer and having the unit itself outside of the freezer.

 

[Rupp]

You need to use one of these type sensors and simply place the sensor inside the unit.
http://www.weatherconnection.com/mfgproduc...082&mfgno=1

 

[Ira]

Which OreSci temp sensors are you guys talking about? I've got several of the THGR810 wireless sensors that I use with the WMR100, but I never thought about using them in a freezer/refrigerator. The manual says...

It is recommended that you use alkaline batteries with this product for longer performance and consumer grade lithium batteries in below freezing temperatures (0ºC / 32ºF). Do not use rechargeable batteries.

How much battery life can you get out of a sensor that is always below freezing?

Ira

I was actually thinking about putting the remote sensor in the freezer and having the unit itself outside of the freezer.

The remote sensor has batteries, too. If you put it in the freezer, how long will its batteries last?

Ira

 

[Rupp]

Did you see my post with the link? You only run the wire in the freezer.

 

[Ira]

Did you see my post with the link? You only run the wire in the freezer.

I saw it. It was a little confusing because you said "simply place the sensor inside the unit" instead of the probe/wire.

That suggests drilling a hole thru the freezer. With my luck I would hit a wire or a refrigerant tube.

Ira