Temp and/or Humidity Alert, Email or Text, from the Winecellar. Who makes a good one?

[Walt_Hoehler]

Nobody uses LaCrosse Alerts anymore? It has works well for me and does what Peter is asking for.

http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/products/monitoring-systems

[Mike_Q]

@David Glasser

@Mike Q

I have said it before and I will say it again but I love the EasyLog WiFi Logger. It is made for professional use. It logs for free via wi-fi, can run on the internal battery (6 months of use) or plugged in. It emails you when there are problems/out of set temp/humidity range. Pay $165 for the unit and then never pay anything more again. If you don’t need humidity it is $100.

http://www.thermoworks.com/TW-WiFi-TH

I have no affiliation, just a big fan.

This looks good. Like the plug-in option. But software is PC only, no Mac version.

You do need a PC to set it up initially. Maybe borrow someones laptop? That is what I did. Once set up you can make all changes from the web interface on any device or OS.

[bweimer]

SensorPush uses a WiFi connection to your network and has a pretty cool phone app with temp and humidity alert notifications.

https://www.amazon.com/SensorPush-Wireless-Thermometer-Hygrometer-Android/dp/B01AEQ9X9I/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1511280736&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=sensorpush+wireless+thermometer&psc=1

[Sean_S]

One bonus with the wireless tag. The wireless tag is also a motion sensor. I have one mounted on my cellar door and in addittion to temp and humidity I get notified anytime someone opens and closes the wine cellar door…

Sean

[AndrewH]

@Walt Hoehler

Nobody uses LaCrosse Alerts anymore? It has works well for me and does what Peter is asking for.

http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/products/monitoring-systems

Happy to sell anyone my old one . . . I moved on to the Wireless Tag system, which is more robust. But Lacrosse was nice for what it was, but didn’t seem to have any kind of upgrade path.

[AndrewH]

@Sean_S

One bonus with the wireless tag. The wireless tag is also a motion sensor. I have one mounted on my cellar door and in addittion to temp and humidity I get notified anytime someone opens and closes the wine cellar door…

Sean

Same!

(perfect for parents of a teen . . . )

[AndrewH]

@David Glasser

@John Morris

The Wireless Tag was $83 before shipping for the temperature/humidity sensor and the “tag manager” base unit. The base unit doesn’t transmit wifi, though. You have to connect it to an ethernet or get a wifi range extender for $25. Still a good deal. No cost after that.

How long do the batteries last? Website says from a few months to over a year. Does it send an alert when the battery dies?

It’s supposed to send an alert before the battery dies . . . i.e., low battery.

Those other options look pretty nice too . . . I guess the chips and software for this stuff have become pretty ubiquitous and cheap! Boo to thermoworks for requiring a windows wizard to configure initially - it looks good in other respects.

[Sean_S]

I have 6 of these of 2 different kinds. 3 tags and 3 kumo sensors. 2 of 3 tags have needed new batteries within 1 year. 0 of 3 Kumo sensors have needed it. Alerts are seemless and let you know in advance of battery failures. You also get excellent alerts if the internet goes down and the tag base station loses contact with the cloud etc. My only gripe has been the 2 battteries that needed replacing.

Sean

[John_Morris]

@David Glasser

@John Morris

The Wireless Tag was $83 before shipping for the temperature/humidity sensor and the “tag manager” base unit. The base unit doesn’t transmit wifi, though. You have to connect it to an ethernet or get a wifi range extender for $25. Still a good deal. No cost after that.

How long do the batteries last? Website says from a few months to over a year. Does it send an alert when the battery dies?

It depends on how frequently you set the sensor to measure and transmit. If you transmit every second, it will run down fast. I think I set mine to five minute intervals to conserve the battery.

I only installed mine in April and have had internet issues independent of the sensor, so I haven’t really put the battery to the test.

[David_Glasser]

Thanks Sean and John. I doubt I would need to measure more often than once or twice an hour if the goal is to look for a cooling unit failure. The temps just don’t rise that quickly, even in summer, when the cooler shuts off. And as long as it alerts you when the battery dies I’d be happy.

[dcornutt]

@David Glasser

Thanks Sean and John. I doubt I would need to measure more often than once or twice an hour if the goal is to look for a cooling unit failure. The temps just don’t rise that quickly, even in summer, when the cooler shuts off. And as long as it alerts you when the battery dies I’d be happy.

This is the reason I have redundancy in my system. I use Lacrosse, Wireless Tag and Netatmo. Only if my WiFi fails am I out of luck. I have caught system problems twice that could have put wine in jeopardy.
They are all very cheap.
FWIW.