remote thermometer ideas?

JimK wibbled on Monday 04 January 2010 21:32

Oregon temp/weather gadget with an extra remote sender. I have one - the remote sender doesn't have a great range, but is better with clear line of sight. Does do Min/Max which may be helpful.

There's probably better stuff...

Some RS232 gadget with a temp sensor (can give you hints if that's of any interest). RS232 travels quite well at low bit rates (2400 will do 100's of yards. Jack into PC in house.

Plenty of wireless thermometers about but they are generally enviromental so might not go up to 90C.

One wire sensors are cheap and easy to use, have few and a cheap PC and log what your heatbank is doing. Inputs outputs etc.

I had a trawl on fleabay and these for e.g. :- itemno 260531949471 look ideal - except I would need to extend the cable to abt 5m - any comments on whether that would work or would extending cable by 500% bring other snags into play?

Cheers JimK

JimK wibbled on Tuesday 05 January 2010 11:25

Can't be absolutely sure - that could be an analogue sender in which case dodgy long wires may throw the reading out but it will still generally work, or it could be digital (eg 1-wire) and not read at all if it gets unhappy, though 1-wire specifically will easily do 5m - it can do a lot more with decent cable.

However, for 5m, I really don't see a problem. I would deploy some screened twisted pair cable (eg mic cable, STP network cable or any reasonable stuff you can get your hands on). Then suck it and see. Do a calibration check against a known thermometer and if it gets wibbly, try earthing the screen at one end or the other.

cheers for the thoughts Tim - when the weather improves I'll order one and have a play - especially at that price!

The cable appears to be twin so I'll see what happens and report back.

Cheers JimK