Is there an off the shelf wi-fi enabled thermocouple?

[John Ackerly]

I'm looking for an inexpensive way to remotely monitor when a wood stove is on. Ideal contraption would be a battery operated unit that could be attached to lower side of a stove with magnets. Accurate temperature readings are not important. I simply want to know when stove is operating and be able to track it remotely. One application would be to use in indoor air quality studies so that spikes in PM could be compared to when stove was lit. It could also data log hours a stove was used in a season. If there isn't an off-the-shelf battery powered version, what is next easiest way to do this? Thanks for any suggestions or leads.

 

[jrems]

Look for some built for grills/smokers. There are some that might fit the bill

 

[hierony]

I'm not familiar with any such off-the-shelf contraption, though I wouldn't be surprised if something could be roughly repurposed--like a wifi-enabled home or weather temp monitoring...

If you want scientific/field equipment level, I know Decagon Devices has dataloggers & thermal sensors that run off AA batteries that can just chill in the field for months. Wouldn't be the cheapest option though.

It is quite possible to build such a thing, but that depends on your skills. If you don't mind a little soldering and programming, a small microprocessor, TC wire, and a thermistor for reference temp could get you going for pretty cheap. An arduino w/ a wifi shield could work; or a raspberry pi; or some other micro-power device. There are quite a few tutorials out there.

I would suggest not attaching the main device to the bottom of the stove as the extra heat could decrease the charge life of the batteries (higher self-discharge with higher temps).

 

[begreen]

Maybe contact the folks at Auber Instruments and see if they have something that would do the job or something in development.
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=441

 

[velvetfoot]

I know I can tell when my stove is operating by looking at the temperature in my stove room via wifi thermostat. You would need password. and the 'subject' would need to have that wifi thermostat.

 

[John Ackerly]

Decagon Devices[/URL] has dataloggers & thermal sensors that run off AA batteries that can just chill in the field for months. Wouldn't be the cheapest option though.

Thanks. Just contacted Decagon.

 

[John Ackerly]

I know I can tell when my stove is operating by looking at the temperature in my stove room via wifi thermostat. You would need password. and the 'subject' would need to have that wifi thermostat.

View attachment 191967

This may be the way to go. I wonder if you can set up a wireless thermometer right above stove and not hook it up to anything, but just use it to monitor room tempurate? I have a Nest, which is a bit expensive, but others may do this even better. Thanks!

 

[John Ackerly]

just found one option that may be good and I went ahead and bought it - $103 for the data logger and hi temp probe. (broken link removed to http://www.thermoworks.com/TW-USB-TC). Its not wi-fi enabled, so you have to plug it into your computer periodically. One application we need this for is to monitor when stoves are being used in Navajo homes in southwest, and those homes won't have wi-fi anyway. I should have it next week and will let folks know how it works. If anyone has ideas for even cheaper options, would love to hear them.

 

[MisterFixIT]

I made one using a Raspberry Pi3. Most of my other Pi projects are Ethernet hard wired but I didn't have any convenient wire run to the stove area so I just use the WiFi onboard the Pi3. Its a open build soldering project but you are probably looking for something off the shelf.

 

[Rickb]

I use a igrill 2 for my smoker....

This is a mini:
http://www.cabelas.com/product/iGri...gclid=COzg5tKFrNECFYa1wAodGGkE1A&gclsrc=aw.ds