Multi room thermometer sensors

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Multi room thermometer sensors - show in one place

funnyfela

350 posts

Ultimate Geek

#289919 8-Oct-2021 23:07

Not sure what exactly I'm looking for, have googled but can't word it properly it seems.

My workplace has 2 'areas', with about 5 HVAC controllers between the areas. I'd really like to have multiple thermometers around the areas to show the temps across the areas, and the data flow into anything (website, app, and ability to assign thermometer a to Zone A1, thermometer b to Zone A2) or even overlay onto a floor diagram. I'm not too fussed, just trying to be techy about it instead of just generic thermometer on the wall. Happy to run cables (have lan cable already to the areas left over from old project)

Does this sorta thing exist? It doesn't have to control the HVAC haha I'm not ready to mess with that (4 different types of controllers too so no thanks)

If you have to run heating in winter, you don’t own enough computers.

Ge0rge

2055 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2792035 9-Oct-2021 07:48

Depending on how geek you want to get, have a look at an ESP-01S with a temp.sensor attached to it. Flash with Tasmota, put one in each area you want to monitor and have it use MQTT to push the info back to a Raspberry Pi with a screen attached. Put home assistant on the pi and you've pretty much got what thousands of people have got for monitoring their homes.

davidcole

6036 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2792037 9-Oct-2021 07:54

Yeah I thought about this.

I can’t think of a really simple eco system…but then again Shelly do a bunch of temperature sensors and you can usb power them. Then just use the Shelly app natively to view them all.
might be a relatively simple solution that does not require the set up of home assistant or openHAB or any other framework like that.

Not too expensive. Not diy, doesn’t require any special hubs or anything. The only thing I’ve found, and you can see by the picture is 2 of them go offline every so often, I just have to power it off and back on.

Previously known as psycik

Home Assistant: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix, Home Assistant with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave, Shelly Humidity and Temperature sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4 4k, ATV4, HDHomeRun Dual
Server Host Plex Server 3x3TB, 4x4TB using MergerFS, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Proxmox Server with 1xW10, 2xUbuntu 22.04 LTS, Backblaze Backups, usenetprime.com fastmail.com Sharesies Trakt.TV Sharesight

mattenz

190 posts

Master Geek

#2792046 9-Oct-2021 08:23

Ge0rge: Depending on how geek you want to get, have a look at an ESP-01S with a temp.sensor attached to it. Flash with Tasmota, put one in each area you want to monitor and have it use MQTT to push the info back to a Raspberry Pi with a screen attached. Put home assistant on the pi and you've pretty much got what thousands of people have got for monitoring their homes.

I would go for ESPHome if you're using Home Assistant.

k1w1k1d

1526 posts

Uber Geek

#2792058 9-Oct-2021 09:58

Arlec Grid Connect is the easy to setup non tech DIY system I use at home to monitor temperatures and humidity. Available from Bunnings.

Temp/humidity sensors are battery powered. The hub is USB powered, so just use an old phone charger. Sensors and hub communicate by Bluetooth. Hub connects to our wifi system and I can check temperatures using the app on my cell phone from anywhere.

Probably not techy enough for hard core nerds, but it does all I want.

richms

28189 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2792163 9-Oct-2021 12:05

xiaomi have bluetooth sensors that will go straight to a phone/tablet, or you can add a gateway and that will put it into the cloud with some limited logging abilities, and you can also run them off a home assistant or similar if you want more granular logging.

Dirt cheap too, Only concern is bluetooth range issues.

PB has them here and here for the gateway hub cheaper on aliexpress but you're in for a loooooooong wait.

Richard rich.ms

mattenz

190 posts

Master Geek

#2792164 9-Oct-2021 12:07

richms:

xiaomi have bluetooth sensors that will go straight to a phone/tablet, or you can add a gateway and that will put it into the cloud with some limited logging abilities, and you can also run them off a home assistant or similar if you want more granular logging.

Dirt cheap too, Only concern is bluetooth range issues.

PB has them here and here for the gateway hub cheaper on aliexpress but you're in for a loooooooong wait.

I would also be concerned about maintaining the batteries, the cost and hassle add up as you get more devices.

PANiCnz

990 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2792226 9-Oct-2021 13:38

Home Assistant with a cheap Zigbee controller and the Xiaomi sensors (not to be confused with the bluetooth version) would be my pick. Once the data is in HASS you can log it to InfluxDB etc.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

timmmay

20581 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2792286 9-Oct-2021 15:43

How about a really simple solution. A basic weather station like this $50 one (I have one), label maker for where the sensors are. Not as fancy, but it will cost next to nothing.

MarkM536

309 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2792466 9-Oct-2021 21:58

My suggestion is Home Assistant running on a Pi and multiple ESP32 or ESP8266's (other flavours as well). Only because I have it myself, I look at the other mentioned brands and think what data collection/cloud services they may use. Home Assistant on a Pi is all local (unless you enable Home Assistant cloud).

Home Assistant for this is easy to setup and ESPhome has an example code already. Literally all done for you.

I have had this ESP32 with a DHT11 temp/humidity sensor out the window for the past week.

If you are happy to run cables, you can even stick multiple of these DHT11 sensors with the GPIO pins on the pi. That makes it one unit with no WiFi needed (ESP's are Wireless only).

Pi is the most expensive bit, ESP's are anywhere from $6 onwards (model dependant). Cheapest from AliExpress. Surplustronics charges $11.50 for a ESP8266.

Food for thought, going down Home Assistant route for this might be overkill unless you want to tinker with more devices and automations.

Later if you do want to mess with controlling the HVAC there'll be a way in Home Assistant to do so. Maybe another ESP board controlling the HVAC with IR? (If it supports an IR remote).

Handle9

11394 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2792598 10-Oct-2021 02:41

mattenz:

richms:

xiaomi have bluetooth sensors that will go straight to a phone/tablet, or you can add a gateway and that will put it into the cloud with some limited logging abilities, and you can also run them off a home assistant or similar if you want more granular logging.

Dirt cheap too, Only concern is bluetooth range issues.

PB has them here and here for the gateway hub cheaper on aliexpress but you're in for a loooooooong wait.

I would also be concerned about maintaining the batteries, the cost and hassle add up as you get more devices.

My Xiamoi zigbee sensors have lasted 2 years and are still showing 99% battery.

Handle9

11394 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2792599 10-Oct-2021 02:44

PANiCnz:

Home Assistant with a cheap Zigbee controller and the Xiaomi sensors (not to be confused with the bluetooth version) would be my pick. Once the data is in HASS you can log it to InfluxDB etc.

This is exactly what I do. It works well.

Handle9

11394 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2792600 10-Oct-2021 02:49

If you are looking to do any sort of accurate temperature measurement you need to be very careful where you mount your sensors. They all need to be mounted at the same height (typically 1500) and pay particular attention to corners and the throw of the HVAC diffusers. If you have a diffuser directly washing the sensor then it will give you absolutely meaningless readings. Similarly if you have sensors mounted in direct sunlight they will give nonsense readings as they will not be measuring the air temperature.

Google for HVAC sensor temperature mounting instructions to get it right.