Freezer monitoring

Hey guys

Just wondering how people would recommend a setup where I could detect if my freezer was left open and/or if it went outside of temperature boundaries?

I know I can get the door open close Thing and I know I can get wireless thermometer, but what in a  thermometer am I looking for so that I could have this Smart setup?

Cheers

Anthony

There was another thread here where they were talking about using Arduino, the SmartThings Shield, and a temperature probe for monitoring a BBQ/Smoker setup. You could use the Multi to detect open/closed - but pending the temp (if it’s a deep freeze and it runs REALLY cold) the multi may stop working if you have it inside the freezer… not sure if your deep freeze runs below zero - but it’s below zero Fahrenheit - the batteries may not put out enough juice to run the multi sensor. BUT - the multi MIGHT work!?

I think the main problem with putting the whole sensor in the fridge is that it most likely blocks most/all of the signal.

The SmartThings Multi-sensor is a door open/close sensor and a thermometer.  If your hub is reasonably close to the fridge, I’m sure it could read the signal through the door and it’d be pretty easy to capture these events.

 

My freezer runs at -6F. I don’t see batteries working well at that temp. My wife was raised on the old myth that batteries keep longer in the freezer and put a pack of them in ours… they all busted and leaked everywhere.

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I don’t know how long the batteries would last in the freezer, but the multi sensor is working great in my fridge :).

 

@Kris, did you just place it in the frig somewhere…or are you actually using it to monitor open/close as well? I’d think it be tricky to get it to sit right around the seals.

Cory, right now it’s sitting in there, but monitoring open-close should be easy (I’ll likely do it sometime this week).   Turns out  some of the shelving nearly touches the door when the door is closed, so I can put the magnet on the front of the shelf and the sensor on the door.

 

I’ll take a picture once I get it mounted.

I have multi’s in both my beer fridge and my main fridge at home. (Mostly to test the new main fridge’s temp - and heck - wanted to make sure my beer fridge was cold enough - needed to cool that off actually!)

 

There is no wireless interference that’s I’ve been able to experience.

Eric, +1 on a beer fridge, I do lots of beer trades if you are not here on the west coast… :slight_smile:

 

I mounted the multi in my fridge today:

 

My multi-sensor “placed” in refridgerator yesterday worked fine and accurately for temperature reporting.

Today, I placed it in the freezer and I get inaccurate temperature reporting, even though it is still “talking”. The freezer is set for +4* F.

Any thoughts? Are there specs on the multi-sensor regarding it’s tolerance range (or perhaps just a reporting error that very low temperatures are reported as higher temperatures or …?). Should/can it rather report “ERROR” rather than a nonsense temp?

2013-04-27 03:09:13 UTC - Fridge Signal (LQI) was: 100% — moments ago
2013-04-27 03:09:13 UTC - Fridge was 64°F — moments ago
2013-04-27 03:09:13 UTC - Fridge Battery was 93% — moments ago
2013-04-27 03:09:13 UTC - Fridge was opened — moments ago
2013-04-27 03:09:13 UTC - Fridge was -54 dBm — moments ago
2013-04-27 03:09:13 UTC - Fridge was inactive — moments ago
2013-04-27 03:06:44 UTC - Fridge was inactive — moments ago
2013-04-27 03:06:44 UTC - Fridge Battery was 93% — moments ago
2013-04-27 03:06:44 UTC - Fridge was opened — moments ago
2013-04-27 03:06:44 UTC - Fridge was -54 dBm — moments ago
( Aside: I the multi-sensor circuit board has several pin-holes (header holes?.. whatever you call them…) on it. Are there specs for these? In other words: I would like to hack the multi-sensor. It is a versatile little device already, but, say, overriding the magnet sensor with an on/off pin signal, would make it useful in many other situations. Or overriding the temperature sensor with a variable capacity/potentiometer would let it act as a dimmer…  )

I’ve been pondering the aeon multi with lithium batteries…maybe I’ll try it.

Verified! I’ve been using the Smartthings Multi in my deep freeze for 11 months without any connection issues and the battery is at 50%. For comparison, the one on my garage door is also at 50%, but has been installed for 1 month longer. So the cold does reduce life a little, but it sure isn’t much. Regarding signal and range, the signal passes through the freezer and 3 walls with a total distance of 35’ to the hub. The Multi is a simple and effective way to make sure your freezer stash of goods is safe!

I had issues getting it to align to use the contact feature, but the Damage & Danger>>Extreme Temperatures warning for the freezer getting to hot is awesome!

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We have a bottom freezer refrigerator where the freezer door sometimes does not slide back in all the way (don’t ask me how I know).
So the important thing for us was to be able to monitor when it remained open, more than temperature itself (because when temperature starts raising, you already lost precious times).

We installed an Ecolink Door & Window Sensor (attached with RC hobby double side tape) under the sliding door and so far it’s been working flawless.
The sensor is a little bulky, but this gives more surface for the double-side tape to adhere to. It also feels sturdy enough to endure the open/close vibrations.

All that’s left to do is set monitoring in the dashboard so that an alert is sent if the door remains opened for more than a minute (no need for added application).