Refrigerator Temp Monitor

How long did the hue motion sensor end up lasting for you? Also what is the model number? I see a Hue motion sensor on amazon but there is no mention of it being able to measure temperature. Thank You!

It's the older indoor version, model SML001.
I put it in a plastic zip lock bag back and popped it into the freezer door of my side by side back in Feb '21.
Batteries are at 60%
It's still ticking away:
edit: I didn't realize this was an old thread, lol.
image

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it was an old thread yes but it seemed most revelant to what i need to do. thank you for the reply! Wasn't sure if you would after all this time!

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For what it's worth, I experienced rapid battery depletion when depending on the coin battery in the sensor, so I wired it to an external AA battery pack that lives under the fridge.

I ran into other issues, though. The temp in the fridge seems to vary dramatically depending on location. It can't be close to cold intake from the freezer at the meat drawer, can't be too close to a wall containing heaters (yes, your refrigerator may have a heater in it to control humidity), and can't be too close to the shelf where we may put in a casserole dish that is initially 200 degrees F.

Ideally the sensor should be in a liquid that dampens the volatility and more accurately reflects the temperature of the contents. I may try that someday when I'm up to my wife asking, "Why is there this little white box at the bottom of the milk?".

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If you put a Zigbee contact sensor on the door, then it should last a considerable length of time.
Enclosing the sensor in plastic, (so as to prevent the internal battery contacts from forming condensation) will also increase the life of your sensor.

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There's a post on here somewhere regarding this....

Great read.

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If it's all too hard and won't work well... perhaps just setup a reminder to check the fridge each night before going to bed? I know it's not a sexy HA solution.... but if that's what works... If not, that's cool (pardon the pun)... Just an idea...

Also, I am notified if the Hue sees an illuminescence of more than 5 lux for a minute.
I just checked it out. I had it set for 100 lux, which apparently was too much.
It does prove conclusively, however, that the light does indeed go out when the door is closed. :slight_smile:

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You didn't sit and open and close the fridge really quick 20-30 times and try to see if the light was off?

:grin:

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Or get a small child to.... No, no, don't do that....

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When I was a kid, we had a refrigerator that had a rocker handle in the middle of the door. Push down on left, door opened on the left. Push down on right, door opened on the right. As well as wanting to know if the light went out when the door closed, I really wanted to open the door on both sides at once.

If I could had a penny for every time my mother said, "quit playing with the refrigerator door," I could afford all of the toys I want to buy.

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Somehow I expect all your money would be spent buying one of those fridges :slight_smile:

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Wrong.

TWO of those fridges. :wink:

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I bought one of these to try out and ended up buying 2 more. They’re fairly big and heavy which seems to keep them from rapidly changing temperature, but temperature reporting only works well if they’re usb powered. That’s how I am powering them and they report temp every 1 to 4 minutes (selectable in driver).


I don’t have the light sensor plugged in, but might be able to use it for sensing when the refrigerator light is on, not sure.

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You have them plugged in, inside your fridge and freezer? Running a cord into them from outside?

Where there’s a drill there’s a way. And silicone caulk of course. This is the garage fridge/freezer and chest freezer.

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This is the only Z-wave or Zigbee temp sensor I've found to be really, really good, but only when plugged unto AC power. Does a nice job of detecting leaks with the plugin "rope" sensor, but that thing takes forever and a day to dry out when it gets wet.

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I use hue outdoor motion sensors in steel clad fridges and freezers connected to either a Hue or directly and they run for a couple of years reporting temperature every 5 minutes like clockwork.

They also have Motion and light sensors so can detect if the door is open as a bonus.

I use 25+ hue motion sensors indoor and outdoor as they are the most robust, reliable temp sensor and have extremely good battery level reporting and only need new batteries every 2 years.

I keep a camel camel camel alert on both the indoor and outdoor ones. I bought 8 external ones for £17 each when they suddenly dropped price for a couple of day.

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I love 'em too.

It's unreal that it keeps working so long at -1F temps.

I hear you about stocking up: you never know when something's going to be discontinued.

What's a camel camel camel alert?

Find an item on Amazon you are interested in.

Find the BSID code on the product page

Go to https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/ for Uk

Paste the BSID

Select the price you want to be alerted for if it drops in price, enter an email address and you will be alerted if the price drops.

Basically I have a list of stuff I am interested in but not in a rush for and add them to Camel alerts :slight_smile:

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