I’m looking for a temperature probe to monitor the temp of my water lines. Requirements:
(1) local control, so no cloud dependency. Prefer zigbee but zwave acceptable as well
(2) mains powered, not battery powered (tired of changing batteries!!)
Requirement (2) is proving difficult to find. Any recommendations??
Fibaro Smart Implant. Z-Wave.
I've had a little bad luck, but it could be because I chintzed out on the one wire digital sensors. I'd say spend more money there. They were a hassle to change, little wires are involved. You might want to put it in a box, but don't forget, you have to have access to hit the little z-wave button, lol.
Thanks for informing me about the fibraro option! Looks like others have had challenges with the fibraro as well. There’s a Konnected / nodemcu option it seems but looks more involved to set up.
When it worked it was excellent. I used three sensors on a tank. One crapped out. There was difficult access. Anyway, I figured that I really didn't need to monitor it anymore after the sensors showed me how it behaved...when it worked. I've read about crappo sensors, but I didn't pursue it anymore.
This actually sent me looking because I could use something like this as well.
But I wouldn't (at all) expect mains powered. However I could see a handful of reasonable ways to make it so.
Here's one that popped up...sourcing may be a challenge but I haven't exhausted the search yet.
So this might be of Tuya lineage. Might get @kkossev 's opinion given his knowledge there.
Edit: This is the makings of a whole 'nuther thread but it sure seems like there's a heck of a big head of Tuya/Zigbee steam pumping out an awful lot of devices and variants. (No comment on quality, innovation, or IP ownership)
EDIT 3: Something similar showing up on Amazon now. Seems someone from our Community has reviewed it.
I'm still running my 5 sensor DS18B20 nework on the Fibaro, becasue I have not gotten around to test it on the ESP8266 NodeMCU, yet. I have setup two NodeMCU's with DHT22 (temp & humidity), though and they are working well. Alos, tested the digital I/O with a 5VDC relay and that worked well too. The one draw back is the NodeMCU is a WIFI device, instead of Zwave or Zigbee, and I was hesitent to go that route. However, there aren't any real alternatives other than the Fibaro Implant.
The NodeMCU setup is a little more involved, but the hardware is better than the Fibaro. You can power it via USB. The Fibaro is very (too) tiny and the wires are very fine, delicate, and hard to work with. I don't see a practical reason Fibaro designed it that way. You will need an external 12-24VDC power source.
About your questions in the other thread...
The NodeMCU is a small circuit board, that would need some sort of box. Currently I have two mounted on thin foam (pictures) with the DHT22's until my son can 3d print me a box. They are indoor though, so don't need much protection.
Each NodeMCU should be able to handle multiple DS18B20, wired in parallel. I have not tested that yet. It can only talk to one DHT22 though.
You can get the NodeMCU's with USB micro or C connectors. I used Amazon.com
How quickly do you need the probe to respond? I'm thinking if you can deal with a slow response time, in theory any sensor touching the water pipe and insulated with 2" of foam would give you a reasonable reading. You could always take one apart and put the sensor in contact with the pipe.
Or. Wait, maybe you mean that one nodeMCU can only handle one DHT22 board, but that one nodeMCU board can handle two DS18B20 sensors. NOT that two DS18B20 sensors need to talk to two respective DHT22 boards to support them.
One node can only handle one DHT22 (which is a combined temperature and humidity sensor) OR Multiple DS18B20's (guessing at least 4). The DHT22 is NOT required to use the DS18B20s, it is a separate sensor.
The WIFI is local, not cloud, but must be on the same subnet as the HE.
One board will do multiple ds18b20's. For redundancy, I use two boards for the hot tub with 2 sensors each with some basic webcore logic for diagnostics/fault warnings. Not that I've ever needed them.
I use one 12v feed into an external ip66 (?) box, with one usb style 12v-5v converter per board.
This tends to be a subject which isn't well-liked in these forums although I fail to see why.
Performance is rock solid. Cost is through the floor. Who knows. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I just stick with simple options (where possible) which work.
Now I'm just trying to make sure I have all the hardware I need to connect everything up. I see in a video (screenshot below) this guy has some sort of adapter, with the resistor efficiently connected inline. Is this the way to connect the probe to the nodeMCU board and if so what is that little adapter called (link would be awesome...)?
I would just buy some breadboards and insert your nodeMCU on it and then put resister in it. Here is an example where I have a ESP8266 monitoring bed presence which also requires a resistor
I now have the breadboard inside a small snaptop container I got at the Container Store so it keeps dust off.
The breadboard is one option, there are small ones available. I use one for testing. The picture just shows a 3 pole wiring connector (can't tell what variety) used to connect the NodeMCU, resistor, and probes. A number of things could work there. I prefer the WAGO lever nuts Amazon.com. Also, wires with Dupont connectors (the blue wires between the board and the connector) are useful Amazon.com