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    Freezer monitoring

    I've been having some problems with the breaker tripping on the circuit my freezer is on. It so happened that the last time this happened we didn't know about if for a couple of days and lost some food because of it. I am having the issue looked at by an electrician but I am wanting some additional monitoring even after the issue is resolved with the circuit. I was thinking of looking at a zwave plug in module of some kind because that seemed to be the simplest to get into place with modification to the freezer and is not dependent on wifi. Looking for some suggestions on how best to monitor this and what an event would look like in this scenario?

    #2
    We keep meds in our frig so knowing if the temp gets above a certain temp is really important. Looking forward to hearing from someone who has a solution.

    We currently use these which are useful but only after the fact.
    https://smile.amazon.com/Refrigerato.../dp/B01KQAN1WM

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      #3
      My goal is to end up being able to get an alert if there is a power issue on the freezer.

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        #4
        Track the temperature inside with a temp sensor or monitor power directly at the outlet.

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          #5
          To monitor the power directly, you could use one of these:

          Click image for larger version

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          Then, using EasyTrigger, you could send an alert if the watts has not updated HS in 'x' minutes which would indicate it is not sending data.
          HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
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            #6
            Originally posted by Dweber85rc View Post
            My goal is to end up being able to get an alert if there is a power issue on the freezer.
            You live in Minnesota. Why would you ever worry about a freezer when you live in the nations icebox? Come on about six weeks ago it was -30 degrees F. Kidding aside. I too live here. So I get it.

            You will want to use a wireless thermometer and/or monitor the power level of that circuit. Easy to do, there are a plethora of wireless thermometers and all you need to do is use some sort of low voltage wall wart feeding power into some sort of sensor. There are many options depending on how much DYI you want to do.

            I just did the similar thing with my furnace. Hooked up a relay to the 24v AC line that the furnace power supply creates. If that relay goes off for more than 1 minute contiguous then I have it send an alert. The relays are cheap. Feeding it into my ELK for monitoring...

            RMASONJR;s suggestion for a z-wave power monitor is also a good idea as it gives you an idea to how much your freezer is consuming in terms of power.
            HomeSeer 2, HomeSeer 3, Allonis myServer, Amazon Alexa Dots, ELK M1G, ISY 994i, HomeKit, BlueIris, and 6 "4k" Cameras using NVR, and integration between all of these systems. Home Automation since 1980.

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              #7
              Originally posted by rmasonjr View Post
              To monitor the power directly, you could use one of these:

              Click image for larger version

Name:	screenshot.jpg
Views:	748
Size:	42.5 KB
ID:	1465294

              Then, using EasyTrigger, you could send an alert if the watts has not updated HS in 'x' minutes which would indicate it is not sending data.
              I believe this item is discontinued. Would the Aeotec Smart Switch 7, Z-Wave Plus S2 Wireless Control Socket Zwave Plug for Home Automation, 15A, Gen7 work instead?
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                #8
                The Zooz ZEN15 is a good alternative. We monitor the temperature of our refrigerator, freezer and two chest freezers. We also monitor the energy consumption. Once I figured out the values and cycle frequencies of the compressors, I get a warning if it appears the units are not running and can determine when the refrigerator is in a defrost cycle so I don’t get false warnings when the freezer temperature rises. The chest freezers will alarm at 10 degrees, as will the freezer compartment of our refrigerator, unless it is in a defrost cycle. We also get a warning when the refrigerator is above 40 or below 32. We had a thermistor fail a few years ago and our refrigerator turned into a freezer, ruining a lot of fruit and vegetables.
                HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

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                  #9
                  Many options, here are 2...

                  Easy one:
                  If you have a Zigbee interface (either jokihue, HS4 or zigbee2mqtt) you could use thoses cheap sensors: https://www.amazon.ca/Aqara-11LM-WSD.../dp/B07D37FKGY

                  DIY: (will require most of your spare time for a few weeks to learn and build if you never played with Iot and mqtt)

                  esp8266 board (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3305...E&gclsrc=aw.ds)

                  with ESPeasy firmware on it (https://www.letscontrolit.com/wiki/i...rs.2FActuators)

                  connected to a DS18B20 temperature probe (https://elmwoodelectronics.ca/produc...hoCtnIQAvD_BwE)

                  transmitting to HS4 via mqtt (using the mcsmqtt plugin)

                  I have build few of the aboves monitoring many temperature sensitive places few years ago and they are very reliable (freezer, garage, groud water well, attic ....)

                  Very efficient way but more costly option https://store.ubibot.com/

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                    #10
                    Hi,

                    I use the Arduino plugin for Homeseer along with Arduino ESP8266 board which the ESP8266 board is wifi. I use the TI DS18B20 one wire sensor and run 3, very thin 30 gauge wires into the freezer. The sensor updates I think every 30 seconds or so. I setup an event in HS3 that when the freezer temp exceeds 26F I will get an alert using Pushover plugin or an email. This way if the freezer breaks down but still has power, I will get notification if there is a problem.

                    Hope this helps,

                    Ronnie

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                      #11
                      Click image for larger version

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ID:	1465375 Here we use the Ambient F007TP the transmitter stays outside the freezer. RFXCOM radio picks up the signal and Homeseer can alert us in a number of ways if temps fluctuate. I wish I'd used this as my pool sensor also, they work really well.
                      Blair

                      HomeSeer: HS3 Pro | Blue-Iris 4 on Windows10Pro
                      | Devices: 832 | Events: 211 |
                      Plug-Ins: Z-Wave | RFXCOM | UltraRachio3 | Sonos
                      BLLAN | BLLOCK | NetCAM | Global Cache Pro | Blue-Iris4

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                        #12
                        Qubino devices accept DS18B20 sensors and can be ran from 24V.

                        If you have Zigbee, just about every contact/motion sensor will measure temperature for free. Of course, the batteries will need to be replaced every 4-5 months.

                        Aeotec Smart Switch 7 will work for measuring current/power.
                        The device is new; and so, its reliability is unknown. On connection, Homeseer got a little confused (did not recognize Library V7.12, for some reason, created three color channels and an additional dimmer) but all main functions work.

                        The ZEN15 is one of (very few, if you ask me) ZOOZ's success stories. I've got a lot of them; and they've proven to be very reliable. BTW, they are cheaper than Aeotec; and Thesmartesthouse often has them on sale.

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                          #13
                          I am going to try the zoom zen15 as a starting point. I don't feel the need at this point to go all in on temp monitoring inside the freezer just yet. Thanks!

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by randy View Post
                            The Zooz ZEN15 is a good alternative. <snip>
                            Ooooh. Good call! No assembly required, Z-wave, and the price keeps getting lower.

                            HomeSeer Version: HS4 Pro Edition 4.2.19.0 (Windows - Running as a Service)
                            Home Assistant 2024.3
                            Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro - Desktop
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                            Zigbee Devices via RaspBee on RPi 3b+
                            WiFi Devices via Internal Router.

                            Enabled Plug-Ins
                            AK GoogleCalendar 4.0.4.16,AK HomeAssistant 4.0.1.23,AK SmartDevice 4.0.5.1,AK Weather 4.0.5.181,AmbientWeather 3.0.1.9,Big6 3.44.0.0,BLBackup 2.0.64.0,BLGData 3.0.55.0,BLLock 3.0.39.0,BLUPS 2.0.26.0,Device History 4.5.1.1,EasyTrigger 3.0.0.76,Harmony Hub 4.0.14.0,HSBuddy 4.51.303.0,JowiHue 4.1.4.0,LG ThinQ 4.0.26.0,ONVIF Events 1.0.0.5,SDJ-Health 3.1.1.9,TPLinkSmartHome4 2022.12.30.0,UltraCID3 3.0.6681.34300,Z-Wave 4.1.3.0

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                              #15
                              For everybody's entertainment:

                              Click image for larger version

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                              Zooz ZEN15 in action - measuring my fridge power.
                              Duty cycle is fairly stable; and substantial changes can be used to identify temperature instability.

                              50W blips signify door openings. An announcement can be attached to the event. 'Do not eat too much!" or similar.

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