Remote Temperature and Humidity Monitoring Solution

[MichiganFrog]

This evening Sibi and I got a shelf installed under the window of our tortoise shed, and I set up a remote temperature and humidity monitoring solution that was built based on the weather station project up on the homepage of windowsondevices.com. I modified the sample code extensively, and it sends temperature and humidity readings out to the cloud every 15 minutes. I've got software running at home that pulls the telemetry down from the cloud, and I'm currently working on making it send SMS alerts if the temperature goes out of bounds (80 - 90 degrees for our Sulcatas).

The whole setup is illustrated in the photo below. I'm using an inexpensive wifi extender for networking, which is a great solution to work around the limited support for wifi dongles on Raspberry Pi / Windows 10 core IoT. In case you're wondering why it's installed by the window, it's to ensure that signal can get out the window to the router in the house. After all, it's a metal shed, so the Faraday cage effect could be a problem otherwise.

In case you're a software developer and don't mind building something yourself (it does require soldering), I'd highly recommend this solution. It was a lot of fun to build and a great learning experience. Most important, we can now rest assured that our torts are comfy cozy in their insulated shed.

 

[sibi]

We get text messages whenever the temps go below 80 degrees or above 90. It can also give us readings on humidity, which is particularly important when it drops too low. The best part is that Matt can code any readings he desires. In the winter months, if there's a power failure in the middle of the night, we can be alerted immediately.

Basically, you could be miles away from where your torts are, and if temps/humidity drops, you get a text message on your cell phone! What a great idea!

It may not look pretty, but it works perfectly. Btw, there is a housing unit for this, if you have a 3D printer. We don't.

 

[MichiganFrog]

Here is the latest photo of the complete temperature / humidity monitoring solution with battery backup connected. Altogether, I'd estimate that this cost me less than $200.00 to build.