thermometers?

I'm looking to put thermometers in several rooms, reporting back to the central controller. So... anybody know of any off-the-shelf solutions that don't involve running new wires? The closest thing I've found is weather stations with PC interfaces and a remote sensor, which are (a) expensive, and (b) give me only a single extra sensor. Something I could put in a junction box and power from the house 110 would be great.

Ideal would be an INSTEON module, since I'm using that for everything else. Second choice would wi-fi, since that's the other network I've got in the house.

At the moment, my best bet is looking like building something with an XBee radio module, which just seems ridiculous. Somebody must have done this before!

Reply to
Joe Pfeiffer
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A commercial $75 solution is the HSM100 - Z-Wave Multi-Sensor which incorporates motion, illumination (light), and temperature sensors in one battery-operated, wireless module.

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As I understand it, one has to run Z-wave on HomeSeer to make the light and temperature work.

One can hope that SmartHome comes out with an upgrade to their 2420M INSTEON wireless motion sensor to provide temperature, humidity and light sensing,.

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... Marc Marc_F_Hult
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Reply to
Marc_F_Hult

I use a bunch of Oregon Scientific wireless temperature and temperature/ humidity sensors + an RFXCOM 433.92 MHz RF receiver + Heyu software

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running on a Linux PC system.

Reply to
Charles Sullivan

Is that the THGR268? Might be the way to go...

Reply to
Joe Pfeiffer

The THGR268 will work, up to 3 units. Beyond that you'll need to select a different model which transmits at different intervals. Otherwise there will be signal corruption when 2 units repeatedly transmit at the same time.

How many sensors do you expect to be using?

Reply to
Charles Sullivan

Oops, thought I saw that it transmitted on a value change... I'm looking at roughly half a dozen.

At the moment, putting a thermistor on an XBee module is looking like my best option...

Reply to
Joe Pfeiffer

You could add THGR800 for up to 3 more or RTGR328N for up to 5 more or THGR810 for up to 10 more.

Reply to
Charles Sullivan

Thanks -- that's very helpful! But they don't seem to have anything that looks like a permanent installation...

Reply to
Joe Pfeiffer

I'm not sure what you mean by "permanent installation".

Are you perhaps thinking of AC powered sensors? If so there are other options supported by Heyu, e.g., RFXSensor

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which can be powered with either battery or a wall wart. You can use up to 8 of these, and if convenient for some locations you can wire up to 7 additional sensors to each transmitter.

Smarthome's TempLinc 1625

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might meet your requirements but they've unfortunately been discontinued. It's possible you might find enough still on dealers' shelves.

Reply to
Charles Sullivan

I'm thinking in terms of an in-wall installation -- the best of all possible worlds would be if I could replace an existing junction box with a 2-gang, put the sensor in the new part, and power it off the AC.

Reply to
Joe Pfeiffer

I don't know of any such device. In any event although you might put a power supply module inside the box (assuming it meets code to do so), the temperature sensing element at least would have to be on the outside, open to the ambient air and probably somewhat remote so it's not influenced by the heat from the power supply. And you'd want the sensing element to be around 5 feet off the floor, not down at the level of most residential AC receptacles.

Reply to
Charles Sullivan

Have you looked into using Insteon thermostats , not for control but just for their remote thermometer function? You'd need to provide power equivalent to that available from normal thermostat wiring, which I think may be only a very small transformer.

Reply to
Charles Sullivan

One thing about in-wall is making sure you get a real reading. It needs to have proper air flow. The wall itself could be conducting heat/cold from another spot (the room on the other side of the wall, for example) or a close duct.

You'll notice on a thermostat it is mounted off the wall with lots of vents.

Reply to
J Miller

Right. Another thing to avoid if possible is mounting on an outside wall. The house insulation may be good but it's never perfect.

Reply to
Charles Sullivan

Do you mean the Venstar thermostats? Those are looking like the best products I've come across -- a small transformer should indeed supply power. These are looking like $160 a pop, however..

Reply to
Joe Pfeiffer

Lots of good points there, thanks

Reply to
Joe Pfeiffer

That's what I was thinking of. Pricey, yes, but you have some very specific requirements.

You might try contacting Smarthome to see if they have any less expensive recommendations. A lot of electronic thermostats seem to have the capability for remote temperature sensors and these could perhaps be used stand-alone.

Reply to
Charles Sullivan

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