Temp sensor for refrigerator suggestions

Does anyone have any suggestions for a temperature sensor to monitor the refrigerator temp? There's no shortage of sensors out there, but I don't know how well they would stay connected to the hub being that the fridge is a grounded metal box. And when you open the fridge, and it creates that bit of fog that could condense inside the sensor, which I could see as an issue as well.

I used a Hue motion sensor for years, but then Hubitat/Zigbee pissed me off, and I got rid of all but one zigbee device.

I've been running a Zooz ZSE44LR since 10/9.
Battery is reading 14%, Zooz doesn't recommend it, but I'm going to run it til it dies as an experiment.

I have it set to send a reading on 1 deg F changes, but that gets a little chatty (+ battery intensive?) during the periodic defrost cycles.

The Hue has a couple of bigger AA(?) batteries and zigbee takes less power than z-wave, although the ZSE44LR is LR.

1 Like

I use old Iris V2 motion or contact sensors, if you have any, and they are rock solid in the fridge and freezer. Been using them for several years now.

1 Like

I have used a ThirdReality zigbee temperature sensor in my freezer since July. I put it in a plastic bag to prevent any condensation. I have not had any issues with it. It connects fine to my hub. The AAA batteries still read 100%.....

2 Likes

I use ecowitt sensors along with an ecowitt gateway. I've had the sensors in my freezers and fridges for 4 years now on the same batteries (standard AA). I also use ecowitt sensors in my pond, and ecowitt soil moisture sensors.

They integrate locally into Hubitat using integrations from @sburke781 and @snell (you can use either one)

4 Likes

I run the new Zooz (z-wave)


sensor in mine, works well. Been in service for several months now.

1 Like

I use the Ecowitt sensors and gateway.

I also use the "Temp Stick"...
https://tempstick.com/

Expensive at about $150, but it has worked flawlessly for several years. It is web-based, but there is an API that could be used to integrate it with HE.

1 Like

Is it the ZSE44LR I mentioned above?
What does your battery % read, and what settings do you use, as far as temp delta?
Alas, mine in the freezer, so tougher duty.
Thanks.

I've been using 3rd Reality Temp sensors with no problem. I run 6 of them in refrigerators and freezers and the zigbee signal punches through the metal doors just fine.

2 Likes

I just have an Aqura humidity/temp sensor in the bottom of the milk cubby on the door.
It stays connected fine but I do have a lot of ZB 3.0 repeaters around the house.

I also recommend Ecowitt weather gear. Iris sensors are smaller but the batteries don't last as long and are more expensive to replace. I am not convinced they are as accurate as Ecowitt sensors either.

How do you get the graph?

I hadn't thought about using a bag. I'll do that.

1 Like

Webcore graphing.

My $0.02: KISS.

I just want to make sure my refrigerator and freezer temperatures are in the neighborhood of what I think they should be. I have a couple of rules that alert me with anything outside of a pretty wide tolerance. I don't want any integrations, other hubs, graphing, AI analysis of trends, nothing. Just, 'does it look like it might be working correctly?' That's it.

The Sonoff SNZB-02P fills the role just fine for me. The relatively-large CR2477 battery lasts at least 12 months* on a 10-minute minimum-reporting cycle and I have no issues getting the Zigbee signal to my hub with a few repeaters in the neighborhood, so I'm happy.

*Caveat/disclaimer: I haven't had a chance to cycle through one entire run with a known-good-quality (read: non-factory) battery yet, so I would expect that number to go up. I did buy a couple of expanded temperature range batteries to test, but I have not yet done so. The regular batteries last long enough that it's not really worth carrying an extra SKU just for this one purpose. It's literally 8' between these sensors and my battery drawer. I can spend the 90 secs per year replacing them both.

So @tpaairman ... Which team are you joining?

Whats Happening What GIF by La Guarimba Film Festival

:rofl: :rofl:

No pressure....

1 Like

I was going to say you had better luck than me then. I tried the SNZB-02 that use the CR2450 battery and they wouldn't last a month.

The link you posted shows a round sensor, the ones I have are square, so maybe they made improvements.

Correct. The 'P' makes all the difference. I had the original versions as well and was not impressed. I am impressed with these 'P' versions. I don't know why they didn't name them differently. /shrug

1 Like

That's easy. Zooz. I have some of their other stuff in the house and always had very good luck with it. So, I'll give it a go here. I hadn't seen temp sensors come up for them before for some reason, so that's why I don't have any of theirs now.

1 Like

Nice. Good to stick with a brand / platform you have had success with already, at the very least to try their sensors first.