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Temperatures
The post by Jon about having lost power to his bus and subsequently no A/C prompts me to post the following because I did just recently wonder about how I could be sure that all works as intended while away from the bus. In particular, I am talking about the fridge/freezer. I have been living in the bus for the past 10 months and the fridge and freezer are in full use. Particularly, the freezer because sometimes we buy in bulk when the price is right. Now, I have a reason for being away from the bus for a week and later this year once more for as much as 2 months. It is impossible to eat everything that is in the freezer and needless to say, that raises concerns about “what if…” – I heard a horror story at Parliament a few months ago, when Rick May told me about a bus they could enter only with gas masks on when it was discovered that the food had gone way beyond bad. Well, I sure do not want to ever have such an experience. Anyways …
I found a wireless, Internet connected remote temperature and humidity monitor and installed the same today. It took a while to get it all going but now it seems to work very well. Part of the setup is creating alerts where you set threshold values for when you want to be notified via email and text. I tested this for several hours by setting the threshold very low. After a while, my phone started to ring frequently as I was receiving text alerts and emails every 10-15 minutes. It probably took about 30-45 minutes for the alerts to become active, so there was some time hen I was wondering if this worked at all. The frequency can be specified and since resetting the threshold I have not gotten any alerts for a couple of hours. This is exactly what I want. No alerts because it means no problems.
Unfortunately, the thermostat gateway does appear to require a wired Internet connection. That is a matter of plugging it into a router. I tried setting it up using WiFi using a LAN cable to WiFi conversion box but that did not work. I do have a router so this was no issue. Obviously, it also requires an Internet connection. I do have that specifically for the bus. So it is always on.
The product is made by La Crosse and sold on Amazon, amongst other places. I bought the starter package consisting of the gateway and one dry sensor measuring temperature and humidity. I bought an extra dry sensor for use inside the bus to provide temperature readings which would alert me to the A/C not working properly.
The product does not come with an app but they do have a mobile web page that allows you to view all data on your iPhone/iPad or other smartphones as well as PC. You just have to bookmark the page and have your login information “remembered” to avoid the need for frequent log-ins.
Finally, what everyone wants to know, the cost. $78.00 for the starter pack and $40.00 for the 2nd sensor.
Copy and paste this link into your browser
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0081UR76G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This price includes 1 year of free monitoring alerts for 1 sensor.
Adding a 2nd sensor as I am doing requires an upgrade of the monitoring service. The cost is $12 per year or less if you buy longer terms.
Considering that the contents of the freezer is worth m-a-n-y times this cost, I feel the subscription cost is quite reasonable.
In the absence of alerts, you can always, at no cost, visit the web page. This is also a secondary safety feature because it will allow you to get piece of mind when you login to your account. The information is being updated every 15-20 minutes and it shows on the web page when the last update was transmitted. That will tell you if the system is working. The following photo taken during the test phase shows you what it looks like on an iPhone.
Not to confuse you, there can be 2 temperature readings. The first one is by the thermostat sensor itself and the second one is from an attached probe (detachable) on a 6 feet long cable.
This comment makes me wonder whether I really need the 2nd sensor I bought. Perhaps, I can keep the thermostat outside and leave the probe inside. That would provide me with bus temps and freezer temps. Food for thought.
Anyways, making a long story short, I am happy to have found this solution.
Cheers,
Ronald
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1 Reply
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I did what I was wondering about in my original post. That is to say, I moved the thermostat outside. Now I am getting the inside bus temperature reading and the inside freezer reading. Makes sense because why would I need 2 readings from inside the freezer. Good thing about Amazon is that they offer hassle free returns. They even provide you with the return shipping label.
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