Re: Record temperature to computer via serial port

[eschuylerTAKE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

"Alex" <samalex@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>Hi Everyone,
>
>With electric costs going so high, I want to start monitoring the
>temperature in my home via the computer and see the best way to program
>my A/C to come on and off during the day and at night.  I figure the
>best way is to rig-up a temperature gauge to the computer via serial
>port and write a small Linux script to take the temp and drop it into a
>file with a time stamp.
>
>Can someone suggest such a device which would give me this information?
> I assume they are floating out there, but searching Google mainly
>returned outdated pages for such devices (some going back to 1999) or
>just plans on how to build one.  Though I don't mind building such a
>device, I've never built something like this from the component level
>before.
>
>Thanks for any suggestions or ideas on this ...
>
>Alex

Alex,

If you can do some simple soldering, take a look at the Temperature Data
Logger Kit at
http://www.electronics123.com/s.nl/it.A/id.379/.f?sc=8&category=69662
It comes with one sensor, but can handle up to four. It outputs the
temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius in a simple format that's easily
logged on a PC. It's cheap too, only $21.80 + S/H.

A similar device which also keeps track of high and low temperatures for
each sensor can be found at http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/VK011K (kit
at $29.95) or http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/VK011 (assembled/tested
at $39.95).

Regards,
Eric