Im going to be moving from a house with 2 cellar units within 30 ft of each other to 3 cellar units on at least 2 floors, and probably one in the basement. Is there some kind of unit where I can accurately monitor the temps/humidity of all 3? The main floor unit Im not paranoid about as I would notice fault quickly, but Im worried about the two that might be out of sight for a day to several days.
Most of the units on Amazon have horrible reviews, although humidity seems to be the universal shortcoming … anybody have a unit thats decent for this?
Is there anything cool on this front to connect with your iPhone?
What’s your system setup that give you peace of mind.
Anthony,
Thats an interesting device that I havent heard of. Are you using it for wine or integrating any of the other features they talk about in your house? Motion via magnets, and Im not sure how it detects water ( I live 30 feet from a river )?
The expansion into our everyday lives of this type of thing is going to be so cool in the near future…thanks for pointing this one out.
I am not using it yet - they deliver in june. I plan to use it for cellar temperature monitoring and perhaps use the motion sensor for some record of cellar access. Should be fun.
http://www.ambientweather.com/wetx60uit.html
Have this, can access online or with smart phone. Logs temp and humidity
To monitor my cellar temperature, I have a temperature + humidity monitor on a long cord, Amazon.com – it can be programmed to alarm if the temperature or humidity goes above or below certain values. Seems accurate, and if you’re really paranoid Sper sells calibrated units. The nice thing with the long cord is you can hear the alarm (because it isn’t chirping inside the cellar) and you can see the current temperature and humidity without opening the cellar. It does not log remotely, though.
You can build a home automation system, based on Z-Wave, Insteon, or ZigBee (three wireless technologies). These all require a controller which talks to various sensors (like temperature sensors) and activators (light switches, powered blinds, etc.). Controllers are $100-200 and are simple if you’re doing simple things and complicated if you’re doing complicated things. Sensors like temperature sensors are $30-50. A reasonable place to start poking around is http://www.homeseer.com. I have a Z-Wave system from http://www.micasaverde.com and use it to monitor house temperature and turn on/off the furnace. With additional temperature sensors you could monitor your cellar temperatures and humidity, and get emailed or SMS alerts if they go out of range, turn on your hot tub remotely, and so on. I chose that system because it had no monthly fees. I haven’t looked to see if it can graph or otherwise record temperatures, which are probably important if you have three cellars worth of wine.
This is what I am now using, although I have reservations about its robustness.
That said, for about $150 you could hook up five monitors and check all of them online at once.
I am actually going belt-and-suspenders, because in addition to that I purchased one of these: Amazon.com
I have the display mounted at the top of the basement stairs–it could show up to 3 sensors in rotation, so you could use two of these units for at-a-glance monitoring while at home.