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Temperature sensors. Why do they have so many issues?

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    Temperature sensors. Why do they have so many issues?

    I don't know why this is such a large issue for me and this is only the second time I have had to ask for help. But homeseer literally has no good temperature monitoring hardware.
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    If your thinking why not use an arduino and the ds18b20. I have. It is plagued with errors and issues. I also like using the star wiring formation not looping. It's a much more reliable system in case of wire damage. I continue to get the ole -127 error pretty much constantly. I can hardly get 2 devices 2 even show up in the device list period. For such a simple monitoring device this should not be this hard. If I was techie enough I would design something my self thats a simple wireless z wave design. But no decent z wave design exists either.
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    I dont really need a full motion and humidity sensor with it and nor am I paying 100's of dollars for a single sensor.
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    My question is if there is any simple hardware out that that homeseer can just monitor ds18b20's. No resistors. No wiring in certain patterns. No worrying about the length of wires (within reason). No star formations. No resistors on data legs. None of that ****. These are combined to form what appear to be many various issues.
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    Also I am aware of the event I can create so the -127 does not effect the system. This is also just another poor work around for something which should be simple and generally now that I want more sensors I have come to a road block.
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    It would be better if each sensor connects directly to its own port for me which I wish it would. Tho it appears I can only create one one wire device....

    #2
    Gee...I use a bunch of Oregon Scientific sensors with the RFXCOM receiver.
    The devices I have just measure temperature and use 1 AA battery for power. I have 6 and have no issue other than the odd collision once in a while. I use the THN132N which only has 3 channels. There are other models that have 10 channels - so the chances of collisions are even less.
    For myself, this is the best solution with minimum to worry about and the batteries last for at least a year...

    Robert
    HS3PRO 3.0.0.500 as a Fire Daemon service, Windows 2016 Server Std Intel Core i5 PC HTPC Slim SFF 4GB, 120GB SSD drive, WLG800, RFXCom, TI103,NetCam, UltraNetcam3, BLBackup, CurrentCost 3P Rain8Net, MCsSprinker, HSTouch, Ademco Security plugin/AD2USB, JowiHue, various Oregon Scientific temp/humidity sensors, Z-Net, Zsmoke, Aeron Labs micro switches, Amazon Echo Dots, WS+, WD+ ... on and on.

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      #3
      I have 21 of the Aeon Labs ZW100A sensors, all connected to USB power throughout the house and outbuildings. I never have a bit of problem with them and they are always very consistent with thermometers I use to test them.

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        #4
        As Robert said and assuming it's available in your country, RFXCOM + Oregon is a relatively cheap way of doing temperature and / or humidity.

        I run 12 of the 10 channel THGR810 sensors here along with a few weather devices and it just works. The THGR updates at approximately 1 minute intervals and I get about a year out of a pair of decent AAA's, however I see there are some solar powered temp only sensors available now.

        For a couple of situations where I need multiple temperature only sensors in the same vicinity, I also have a couple of Fibaro Universal Sensors with 4 waterproof DS18B20's attached. The Fibaro is powered by 12V DC and can be configured to only send when temp changes. Again, these have worked for the last 12 months or so without issue.

        The Fibaro Door/Window sensor can also have a DS18B20 attached which may be an option.

        Paul..

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          #5
          Originally posted by shirec View Post
          My question is if there is any simple hardware out that that homeseer can just monitor ds18b20's. No resistors. No wiring in certain patterns. No worrying about the length of wires (within reason). No star formations. No resistors on data legs. None of that ****. These are combined to form what appear to be many various issues.
          If you want to use ds1820s you must consider the wiring. It's sending fairly fast data and if you get impedance mismatches you'll get reflections which will corrupt the data. Length isn't an issue as long as you make sure that you don't use long (more than 2-3cm) stubs. I've got some strings 30M long with no significant issues related to data loss. I have had problems with damaged wiring.

          FWIW I have 1-wire temperature sensors using an Arduino, 3 EDS HA7nets and an EDS OWServer. I use single strings with multiple sensors on each string, but with very short stubs and parasitic powering.

          The OWserver is the easiest to use. It has 3 isolated 1-wire lines and a better interface than the HA7Nets, however it can't handle as many sensors and it has limited resolution if you use cheap 1820s. My OWservere has one string with 13 sensors on it, about 15M long and one string with only 3 sensors.

          With the HA7nets I use the EDS 6 way splitter which incorporates some matching, but doesn't completely isolate the lines, so a short on one will likely kill data from all the sensors.

          I only have 3 sensors on the Arduino 1-wire input, as I don't think it's suitable for multiple sensors, but it has been completely reliable.

          The EDS interfaces are a bit pricey, but they are a lot more reliable than the USB 1-wire interfaces that I used to use. There are some plugins for Homeseer. I used to use the Ultra1wire plugin, but it has lots of features that weren't useful and didn't have enough error trapping, so it wouldn't catch the 85C when there was a data error. I have written scripts to get the data from the EDS interfaces, which do trap errors adequately.

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            #6
            Although it has probably fell out of favour in the last couple of years there is always the KitsRUs/Quasar 3145 kit, uses older DS1820 sensors but they wire straight to the board and cable length was not much of an issue for me.

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