! the first wofati - allerton abbey- version 0.7

> temp monitor on amazon

Read this set of complaints carefully.

https://www.amazon.com/Elitech-Temperature-Logger-Recorder-Accuracy/product-reviews/B00MQSCZF2/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=one_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar

I read hundreds of Amazon reviews and while it's true many of them had to be written by... somebody having a really dumb day... the number of similar problems and in one case the testing of 8 of these products (all defective) need to be taken seriously, IMHO. Also, note the time delay it takes the sensor (thermistor) to respond to temperature changes and settle on a reading.

Also, in my personal experience, the DOA rate of new cheap electronics exceeds 25%. So when a new toy arrives, get on it and make it work THE WAY _YOU_ WANT IT TO WORK immediately because there is a good chance it's defective and you want to get that RMA before the grace period runs out.

Caveat Emptor. (or something like that)

Also, it would seem like maybe having remote sensors placed _into_ different places on the wall/floor/ceiling would be more helpful than the air temps in the room. Air temps will be influenced greatly by drafts and air movement - definitely important info but it tests/records the behavior of the building envelope, not the mass. To get the behavior of the mass, the sensors s/b _in_ the mass. Surface temps of the mass would certainly be useful, but, again, they would be influenced a lot by how much radiation the windows for letting out or in and how much radiation from the stove the wall was absorbing; better than plain old air temps, but recording the temp of the mass itself is the question, right?


Regards,
Rufus

I've logged just days short of 8 months of temps in the year and a half I've owned it, a 3 month run and currently on a 5 month run.
I'm using mine to log the temperatures of my hoop house, I turn it on and toss it in the corner and forget about it till I want to see the data.

I'm pretty sure I found it by someone here on permies also using one.
I can't account for the macOS failures as I drive a windows machine and the simple software works for me.

I'd agree that fine grained high frequency logging control freaks would be happier elsewhere, perhaps in the *pi or *duino families.

Edited to add

Perhaps I should have been more verbose in my reason for reccomending it, it's a cheap and easy way to view trending temperature swings. I belive it was designed to log temperatures of shipments, if you have a swing of 70 plus degrees F it probably means someone set your box on fire so the logic of the themometer tries to debounce such a wild swing.

You have to save the parameters every time you download the data, I think thats why it failed to log for some people. As to water tightness, it's splash resistant, not a suppository thermometer😃

I'd guess trying 8 units all failing would be a loose nut between the steering wheel and the seat. What's that Einstein quote again?

Cheap can be worth a gamble. Long as you're aware.

The guy who tested 8 started started out with one that is still working; he just could not get a second one that worked. The point is make sure it works for you immediately you receive it so you can avoid paying for complete duds.  And by "cheap" I meant $200 routers and $170 video cameras as well as the nickle/dime stuff. It's all from China and there is still _no_ way to have confidence in either design or production for any product except to test it yourself and then hope there are not too many bad solder joints that will fail in a few weeks or months. <snip>

Some of the "cheap" stuff is spot on value for certain applications... But only provided it works for a while.


Rufus

The Allerton Abbey 8/20/19

Nicole Alderman wrote: Who did the lovely alder leaf?

English Fred!!!

We bought a pair of the temperature sensors of the type mentioned and used them in a borrowed incubator. My husband did the computer/setting up stuff (the odds of my ancient computer being able to run the software were too low to be worth trying it). He found the instructions a bit vague, but managed to make it work and it seemed to do well at that job the first time around and we're trying it again now. I avoid using incubators as a general rule (Muscovy ducks are quite cooperative about helping me incubate eggs) but we've had some fertility problems I was trying to confirm without disappointing my duck moms.
I find the sensors really helpful because they track the temperatures over time so you see the peaks and valleys. We'll get some meat chicks at the end of the month and they have to use the brooder. We've had issues with the brooder temp spiking in the afternoon despite using temperature controllers to try to avoid that. It will be *really* interesting to see the graph using one of the sensors in that application.

I do hope you get something to do these tests at Allerton Abbey - I've been watching the threads about WOFATI with interest, but I'm a bit of a science geek and am intrigued to see measurements and data!

Wow, that's some serious progress. Looks like you have a great team on board right now.

Jay Angler wrote:We bought a pair of the temperature sensors of the type mentioned and used them in a borrowed incubator. My husband did the computer/setting up stuff (the odds of my ancient computer being able to run the software were too low to be worth trying it). He found the instructions a bit vague, but managed to make it work and it seemed to do well at that job the first time around and we're trying it again now. I avoid using incubators as a general rule (Muscovy ducks are quite cooperative about helping me incubate eggs) but we've had some fertility problems I was trying to confirm without disappointing my duck moms.
I find the sensors really helpful because they track the temperatures over time so you see the peaks and valleys. We'll get some meat chicks at the end of the month and they have to use the brooder. We've had issues with the brooder temp spiking in the afternoon despite using temperature controllers to try to avoid that. It will be *really* interesting to see the graph using one of the sensors in that application.

I do hope you get something to do these tests at Allerton Abbey - I've been watching the threads about WOFATI with interest, but I'm a bit of a science geek and am intrigued to see measurements and data!

I had fertility problems with my duck eggs, and I found out they are super-sensitive to humidity. It must be just right for ducks, but you probably knew that. I just mention it in passing in case you did not know.