Does anyone know if there is a fairly simple way to monitor the EKO controller from a remote location... like here at my computer desk. I did run an extra 1/2" conduit with the pex and electric.
Monitoring the EKO Controller Remotely ?
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I don't think there's any way to monitor it directly, but you could add your own temp sensor and use relays to detect circulator and fan power.
I was thinking of the same question and one thing I am considering is putting a camera out in the shed pointed at the controller. Connected to cat5 and my network. You could then allow access thru the firewall to view from youi work computer. You would have to use a relay aqnd maybe a little led lamp to make a viewable fan indicator but I mostly want to see the temp reading and from that I can tell if its running and still has wood.
NoFossil what do you think?
NoFossil what do you think?
Tony H said:
Webcams are pretty cool for a lot of things. We have a client who delivers wood chips to various institutions, and they never call until they're out and it's an emergency. He's thinking of putting webcams in their wood chip bunkers so that he can see when they need to be resupplied.
One of the benefits is that you can see things that might be unexpected - smoke, varmints, leaks, and so on. I'd seriously think about a piece of ribbon that gets pulled sideways when the fan is running, and I'd also want to put a pressure gauge in the field of view. Maybe also a couple of the cheap thermocouple controllers that deerefanatic found on eBay - nice to see stack temp, for instance.
I've got to say those controllers that deerefanatic posted are nice little units. Mine just showed up last night. Great service and fast shipping. Ordered it Thursday afternoon and it was here in maine last night. $57.05 to my door for the controller and 3ft type K thermocouple. I will be using it to monitor my stack temp to turn my combustion fan off when the temp drops below 190 deg. I'll also have it set so in case of an overheat and the stack gets up to 800 it will shut the fan off. Now I might have to find myself a webcam.
Tony H said:
What a great idea Tony! I use internet cameras all the time to keep an eye on our horses. With the cameras I can monitor the horses on my laptop from any location in the world that has Internet access. It has proved to be a great tool. It never dawned on me to use the same setup to monitor the boiler. It's easy, I will do it this afternoon.
Don
What kind of equip do I need to set up a camera ? I have a spare digital video camera, and I run a Mac.
AXIS 2100 webcams are solid and reliable, only do 15 fps but if your watching a gauge or lights/indicators it will be fine. Ebay has them usually around $100 used or less.
This one looks good, I havent used it yet but got screen shots from another ebay buyer of one and he liked it.
(broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=360090120096)
This is the more expensive ver of the one above and works better in low light. Ive got one on order
(broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=330272087739)
If you want the caddy of webcams, this is it, works great and is wireless and is waterproof for outdoor use.
(broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=310085730706)
If anyone does find other cheap and well working web cams, please post what it is.
~ Phil
This one looks good, I havent used it yet but got screen shots from another ebay buyer of one and he liked it.
(broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=360090120096)
This is the more expensive ver of the one above and works better in low light. Ive got one on order
(broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=330272087739)
If you want the caddy of webcams, this is it, works great and is wireless and is waterproof for outdoor use.
(broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=310085730706)
If anyone does find other cheap and well working web cams, please post what it is.
~ Phil
So if you get one of these IP cameras, wire it to your home ethernet switch (or in my case a DSL box), can you view it from anywhere in the world? Is there a password protection that goes with it?
Anyone have a link to one of their cameras that is on-line right now and care to share the address?
Anyone have a link to one of their cameras that is on-line right now and care to share the address?
Yes it can be done, set up to monitor from outside your home on the internet. First your camera needs to be set up and running on your home network.
Second you need to have a firewall/router device for your connection to the internet (not sharing a PCs connection through windows, may be able to do but I dont know how)
3 - Configure your firewall for port forwarding - this will tell the firewall when it recievs a request on port 80 on the outside internet address to FORWARD it inward to the inside IP address of your camera. Need to set this inside address as the forward address. It may also be called a different feature than forward. Could also be PORT MAPPING or something.
4 Then you need to know the outside address of your firewall. You can look in its setup to see what address it got from the internet provider but this most likely will change very often, maybe even daily. You can sign up with dynamic DNS services for free that will allow you to set a name for your router and it will keep track of its address, that way you can surf to it via name.
THis is a very high level description of how its done but if you set your firewall up yourself and are PC savey you will be able to do it. If you have more than one camera you want to watch then you need to CHANGE the IP Port it listens on and do a different forward, so camera TWO would be listening on say port 81 and you would forward port 81 to camera 2s ip address.
~ Phil
Second you need to have a firewall/router device for your connection to the internet (not sharing a PCs connection through windows, may be able to do but I dont know how)
3 - Configure your firewall for port forwarding - this will tell the firewall when it recievs a request on port 80 on the outside internet address to FORWARD it inward to the inside IP address of your camera. Need to set this inside address as the forward address. It may also be called a different feature than forward. Could also be PORT MAPPING or something.
4 Then you need to know the outside address of your firewall. You can look in its setup to see what address it got from the internet provider but this most likely will change very often, maybe even daily. You can sign up with dynamic DNS services for free that will allow you to set a name for your router and it will keep track of its address, that way you can surf to it via name.
THis is a very high level description of how its done but if you set your firewall up yourself and are PC savey you will be able to do it. If you have more than one camera you want to watch then you need to CHANGE the IP Port it listens on and do a different forward, so camera TWO would be listening on say port 81 and you would forward port 81 to camera 2s ip address.
~ Phil
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