*Tiny* RS232 temp sensors!

[DavidL]

No pricing info available yet as it was just released to Beta. Pricing isn't available until a production rollout. No date on prod rollout either, until we start getting feedback from beta testing on what other features are requested to make this a desireable plugin. For example first feedback for MLDatabase was to support ODBC connections (instead of just SQLExpress). That was then added a couple of days later based on that feedback.

As a "general" statement, ML1WirePro won't be an "expensive" plugin, but I anticipate it will be on the lower price scale as it requires more of an advanced user so won't necessarily be a mainstream product that most Cinemar customers will want to purchase.

But, free while in beta So, if you have any interest, this is the good timing to see if it fits a need.

 

[hult]

Sorry Spanky, but the Elk Temp Sensor has just been relegated to non-visible locations only status.

I just got my qkits VK011 temp board & sensors in the mail (get temp over RS232 - CQC driver exists). My god these things are TINY!

Here's a pic next to a business card. Honestly, the wiring is going to be thicker than the damn sensor, now I have a whole different problem to solve (how to patch up the hole in the wall without the sensor falling through).

Bye bye big ugly elk temp sensor on the wall of the MBR that the wife hates, hello tininess!

The TO-92 package used for the Dallas /Maxim 1-wire DS18x20 thermometers
http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/1-wire/

that IVB shows are also typically used for National LM34/35's analog temperature sensors and are larger than typical thermistor beads in wide use, so the sensor size itself is not unusual.

Unfortunately Maxim has chosen not to migrate some of the 1-wire devices from the current 6" wafer to 8" wafer. This leads to many 1-wire devices being "Not Recommended For New Designs" (NRFND) and doesn't bode well for new product development.

Maxim's 1-wire Product Engineer wrote me that their approach is to stockpile a 5-7 year supply for "existing customers". I dunno what that means for the DIY supply chain. Perhaps one of the vendors of 1-wire devices could comment.

My experience with 1-wire has been rocky, in part because I used them when they first came out (my 1-wire weather system dates from ~1999) and there were devices including the early versions of the DS1820 thermometer that were flat-out flakey. Reliability has improved partly through evolution of the design and partly through better understanding of installation constraints. Also while most devices have good resolution, actual accuracy is not so good for many purposes IME.

I use and can recommend Peter Anderson's 8-channel 1-wire + 12-bit ADC +DIO boards:

http://www.phanderson.com/iom135.html
http://www.phanderson.com/iom136.html

... Marc

 

[gregoryx]

With all the 1-wire expertise on this thread: is it possible to have more than one device monitoring a buss-full of 1-wire devices? Can I have a PC gather the data at the same time another PC or an Elk (if that's working now)?

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Gregory;

Check out these xAP threads below:

http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t...p;highlight=xap

http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=1590