The OW-Server product is positioned as a replacement for the much older HA7Net product. It's significantly less expensive than the HA7Net, is still supported, and provides a streamlined programming interface.
I have both an HA7Net and an OW-Server running in my house supporting two different 1-Wire networks of sensors. Since the same basic RJ11 plug layout is shared across these devices, you can simply unplug a 1-Wire network from an HA7Net and plug it into an OW-Server.
In the initial beta release I've included support for several 1-wire sensor types that I have on hand and can test. Additional sensor types can be easily added by people that have other sensors supported by OW-Server.
Thanks for contributing. I like the idea but not sure if it's an advantage, at least for me, when I can get 2 or 3 zigbee sensors for the price of a single one-wire sensor.
Is this something you already have setup or do you like the presumed reliability of having a wire?
I'm not breaking your chops. I actually love it when people expand the platform, I just trying to understand the benfits, in case I have to sell it to my wife, when/if I decide to jump in.
One wire sensors have been around for a long time. They are now often added to things like Raspberry Pi and Arduino. As generic devices, they can be quite inexpensive. I have been using one wire temperature sensors for several years and connected to an ESP8266 they can connect to HE through Hubduino.
For a large array of temperature sensors, particularly in a tough environment, it's hard to beat a 5-pack of waterproof probes for $13. And that's buying them retail on Amazon. Individual sensors without whips are < $2.
I was drawn to 1-Wire sensors for home use 10 or so years ago when faced with the challenge of monitoring the temperature of the ground loop and domestic hot water superheater loop of our geothermal ground sourced heat pump system in addition to the tank temperatures of our preheat and main domestic hot water heaters.
Gluing inexpensive 1-Wire DS18S20 sensors to the actual pipes and tanks using thermal adhesives and connecting them to the HA7Net via Cat5 cabling was pretty easy and resulted in a maintenance free set of sensors.
Since I had done all of that, I included the same type of temperature sensors in our main and garage attics and outside all without needing to deal with batteries. Which in an attic would be rough both in terms of heat and access. I added a few humidity sensors near the three HVAC thermostats as well.
I haven’t performed a recent exhaustive search for solutions to monitor the temperature of such pipes, but I suspect 1-Wire sensors plus a relatively inexpensive OW-Server appliance or even less expensive adapters + computer are pretty competitive in terms of total cost of ownership. In my situation, since I’m keen to keep reducing the number of apps to run on a home server, going with a hardware appliance works best for me.
The attic was the spot where the DS18S20's became the only way to get temperature for me. I also like them for the outdoors where heat and cold are hard on batteries. With an ESP8266 costing roughly $4 and being able to connect up the 5 pack posted by @rcjordan it is a pretty inexpensive way to get temperature readings from difficult locations.
Do you use any of the other 1 wire sensors? I haven't searched for a long time. There was a real appeal to having a string of sensors on the single wire network.
Just picked up a OW-Server to test, seems to be working great. Also bought a OW-ENV-TH Temp/hud combination unit. OW-ENV - Environmental Sensors. Any possibility of supporting it? I've attached the log when trying to create the child device. They also have version with other features such as light.
