After a fair amount of time reading many threads on the interwebs, I have finally given up and decided to ask for some help of my own. I typically don’t ask much on the internet since most people I feel just chime in to say “learn to use the search tool” and are of no help, but here goes.
I have a fairly large aquarium, and I would like to monitor it’s temperature from Smartthings. After reading, it seems my options are to submerge a contract sensor, or try finding a very old contact sensor that does not exist anymore and wire a probe to it. The V2 replacement is also not sold in the US. Then there’s Seneye, but again there’s no integration with smartthings. All of these posts are very old some dating pre 2016, and I wonder if there is any new information out?
Can some one point me in a new direction. Is there a Raspberry Pie option, or something more official? I just can’t believe a water temp sensor is such a hard thing to make “smart”. In a world where we now have smart crock pots (Belkin) how is this something that’s so hard to come by.
I have purchased two of the SmartThings water leak sensors. They work well and report temperature. According to THIS they are waterproof. Not sure how the communication would be underwater. But it may be an easy option for you.
RF (Zigbee, zwave, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc) is greatly effected by water. If you decide to submerge you will want to add a repeating device (mains powered device except some light bulbs) very near by for consistent communication.
Check out the following thread for someone who uses a contact sensor that has temp sensor in it. They added the probe for getting temp data. This would allow you to have the sensor on the outside of the aquarium and submerge probe for testing temp.
Tested my SmartThings water leak sensor in water. It was about 75 feet from the hub and continued to work. It provided water temperature changes as I added hot water. HOWEVER, I did not realize that my sensor is not the waterproof kind and I flooded it. It’s drying now…OOPS!
Hey everyone, thank for all for replying. I can’t help but say I am till blown away at how complex this issue is. I just can’t believe someone has not made a sensor with and external temperature prob of some sort. I was very hopeful when I saw the ST sensor was water proof, but now it seems it’s not and I’m back at square one. Well I can’t wait to see what more of you have to say.
That sensor can no longer be bought (it’s been discontinued) and I can’t even find an old one on ebay, and the second version does not support the external probe.
Your correct, I just finished reading the thread you posted. It starts off talking about withing the same contact sensor I see all over the place that’s discontinued, but reading deeper I did see something new. I noticed the use of a Sonoff and a probe.
Sonoff TH16 Temperature and Humidity Monitoring WiFi Smart Switch and the Sonoff Waterproof Temperature Sensor DS18B20
I just ordered these and can’t even wait to try them.
