RE: Re: Room temperature measuring system

["Pete Church" <yahoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Martyn,

=20

That looks very appealing =96 although the price is a little high.  Having
=
a
web interface sounds good as it will mean I don=92t have to keep a PC on in
the house to log the data =96 I can presumably do that remotely over the
we=
b.

=20

Will have to work out what the payback on that would be vs a Dallas one
wit=
h
a low power PC (which could also be running some other HA stuff I haven=92t
thought of yet=85)

=20

Cheers

=20

Pete

=20

_____=20=20

From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Martyn Wendon
Sent: 16 December 2009 19:59
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Re: Room temperature measuring system

=20

=20=20

Hi Pete,

IMHO the Quasar unit is a bit of a beginners introduction to Dallas 1-wire=
=20
sensors - I started out with one and added more as I needed more
temperatur=
e

sensors, eventually running out of COM ports (4 Quasar units).

I recently changed to something a bit more advanced in an
"HA7NET"=20
(http://www.embedded
<http://www.embeddeddatasystems.com/HA7Net--Ethernet-1-Wire-Host-Adapter_p_=
2
2.html>
datasystems.com/HA7Net--Ethernet-1-Wire-Host-Adapter_p_22.html)=20
which is an ethernet enabled 1-wire interface (they also do a non-ethernet=
=20
version). I went for the ethernet version as I wanted to not rely on any=20
physical connection to a PC.

It's leaps and bounds better than the Quasar units as it supports more=20
sensors (both in terms of type and quantity) and has 3 separate 1-wire=20
buses.

So far I've wired one of the ports into a 24-port CAT5 patch panel using
bu=
s

type wiring so that each port can then be patched into my CAT5 cabling
that=
=20
goes around the house to 20 odd temperature sensors. At the remote ends
I=20
use a mixture of either temperature sensors soldered onto standard CAT5=20
patch cables, or crimped into RJ45 plugs, or just screwed into choc-block
o=
n

the ends of the CAT5.

Works well so far, it has a web interface and there's plugins for things=20
like HomeSeer and HouseBot. I use mine with a simple Perl script that
polls=
=20
for the reading from each temperature sensor every minute and outputs it=20
using the xAP HA Protocol where it's then picked up in xAP Floorplan for=20
display and data storage.

Hope this helps!

Martyn

----- Original Message -----=20
From: "Pete Church" <yahoo@petechurch. <mailto:yahoo%40petechurch.co.uk>
co.uk>
To: <ukha_d@yahoogroups. <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 7:04 PM
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Re: Room temperature measuring system

Hi,

I'm just looking into the same issue as I want to keep a track of the
temperatures around my holiday home to try and work out the most efficient
heating regime whilst vacated. I'm looking at about 16 sensors which would
imply 4 of these Quasar units. However I thought that the whole point of
1-wire was that they worked as a bus and you should be able to link them
together and just have one interface that polls all devices.

Dallas (or Maxim-IC as they are now) do a couple of interfaces (DS9097U,
DS9490R) that appear to do the same thing as the Quasar one but can work
with more than 4 sensors and cost about the same.

http://www.maxim- <http://www.maxim-ic.com/quick_view2.cfm/qv_pk/2983>
ic.com/quick_view2.cfm/qv_pk/2983

Am I missing something about the Quasar one?

www.Audon.co.uk sell the Dallas ones for c.=A325 as well.

Any advice/comments gratefully received.

Thanks

Pete

_____

From: ukha_d@yahoogroups. <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
com
[mailto:ukha_d@yahoogroups. <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
com] On Behal=
f
Of
Paul Gordon
Sent: 15 December 2009 22:02
To: ukha_d@yahoogroups. <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
com
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Re: Room temperature measuring system

OUCH! - that's a heck of a premium to pay just to have it wireless... - how
many sensors do you get? - how many does it support maximum?

The Quasar kit costs about =A327 (built & tested), and sensors are
about =
=A34
each. (I have it on good authority that the DS18S20 sensors can be had a
lo=
t
cheaper, and in some cases can be got for free if you request
"samples"
direct from Dallas)

Even if you pay full price for 4 sensors, that gets you a fully-loaded
4-zone temp probe for less than =A345, and all you need to run it is a few
=
of
the cores from a CAT5 cable to each measured location... - an entire 305m
drum of CAT5 cable can be had for about =A335-=A340 - and since it only
use=
s a
maximum of 3 cores, you can STILL use the remainder of the pairs for other
purposes if required, - and that could include 100MB Ethernet, which only
requires 2 pairs (Gb Ethernet needs all 4 pairs IIRC)...

If 4 zones isn't enough, just duplicate the above, - as long as you have
enough RS232 COM ports to connect to, you can run as many of these as you
like for =A345 a time (I run 2 of them to give 8 zones into Homeseer, -
although they're offline just now as I've changed my serial port server
&
need to engineer an alternate power supply for them).

Still, you pays yer money & you takes yer choice...

Paul G.

-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@yahoogroups. <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
com
[mailto:ukha_d@yahoogroups. <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
com] On Behal=
f
Of
jabberwockpl
Sent: 15 December 2009 21:18
To: ukha_d@yahoogroups. <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
com
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: Room temperature measuring system

> On a side note - I'll guarantee that you'll wish you put more Cat5 in
in
the future to each room - even if it's left coiled in an accessible wall,
you'll be grateful you did!

Duly noted... I'll check with my installers if it's still possible. I got
four connections for the living room and the work/study room, one
connectio=
n
for kid's room, guestroom and our bedroom.

I found out that Oregon Scientific system might be what I need - GBP 190
fo=
r
the station and GBP 29 for transmitters is not exactly dirt cheap, but I
guess it will pass SWIMBO's inspection...

------------------------------------