Finally added my outside temp sensor

[Red Squirrel]

This is a project I did in Winter so I did not want to start punching holes through my house when it's 30 below and I doubt the caulk would cure properly. Finally added it today. Made a small hole, put in a piece of pex, passed the sensor through, and caulked the hell out of it at both ends, it's curing now. Hopefully it wont leak. D: Next storm I'll have to keep a close eye, but think I should be fine. I've installed a dryer vent before and it does not leak. Caulk and proper hole angle is key.



Now I get an actual reading on the last entry. Yet another way to check the weather without needing to go outside. Because who would want to do that.

Also another sign Winter is coming, it's 9pm and it's already dark out. I was pretty much racing against the clock finalizing the outside portion.

I may in the future add an outside intake with a damper that opens/closes based on the outside temp, and what it's set at. So when I get AC, say I set the temp to 20 but it's night time so it's 15 outside, then it wont run the compressor, it will just open the damper. Same idea with the furnace, if it happens to be a hot day then it wont run. For now it's nothing more than a convenience of getting a real time temp... and pretty graphs in Pandora. Yeah I know, I'm a geek.

 

[MontyAC]

I just use the Weatherbug gadget. They get my area's temp from the school 2 blocks away.

 

[Lemon law]

For what it worth and no critism of the OP's decision, I did not have to drill a single hole in the wall to acheive the same exact results. As I went to radio shack, spend only $20.00 or so, to get two thermoters that monitored both inside an outside temperatures and communicated wirelessly. As one is mounted inside and the other mounted outside, as I can read both from my kitchen table.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah this is a custom solution, wireless would have been a tad on the harder side. The nice thing with wired though is no external power source needed such as batteries.

 

[Northern Lawn]

It would be pretty scary if in the middle of winter night, you heard something break then saw the temp. in that room fall to -30. Then slowly another room goes to -30 and it gets closer and closer... bah, you'd probably just post about it. Your final thought would be.."I should have added an alarm system"

 

[Red Squirrel]

Haha, got an alarm system too so I'm covered

Actually been working on an environmental monitoring system too. Water leak, smoke, gas etc... Was going to get a premade one but they're freaking expensive.

 

[wirednuts]

I may in the future add an outside intake with a damper that opens/closes based on the outside temp, and what it's set at. So when I get AC, say I set the temp to 20 but it's night time so it's 15 outside, then it wont run the compressor, it will just open the damper. Same idea with the furnace, if it happens to be a hot day then it wont run. For now it's nothing more than a convenience of getting a real time temp... and pretty graphs in Pandora. Yeah I know, I'm a geek.

i love the idea. exactly what i wanted to do when i had a house.

 

[Northern Lawn]

What would be the point unless you could control the temp of each room separately. If possible, I'd also want to control humidity. My Microsoft keyboards started malfunctioning on me this summer. Couldn't figure out what was happening. I even reformat the computer but only my cheap dynex keyboard would. Then I hooked up a dehumidifier and the problem vanished and the room feels much more comfortable.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah the intention of hallway/living room is to set the goal temp based on where I am in the house, but I never end up using it. So if I'm upstairs, I set the temp to check the hallway temp, if I'm downstairs I make it check the living room temp. (It's a split level so the hallway area of the house is always warmer).

The hvac/return temps are to tell the system when to turn off the blower. When the furnace stops, the blower continues until both those temps equalize. Server room is only really for monitoring purposes.

 

[Modelworks]

What did you use for the temp readings, thermistor, DS18XXX, or diodes ?
I have used all three methods and I like the DS18xxx series of chips the best, wire length doesn't matter and you can put 256 sensors on a single wire. Diodes are my least favorite, but a lot of home thermostats use them due to their low cost.

Of course there is the very low tech approach, big thermometer hanging on the outside window


For the curious:
the DS18xxx sensors:
http://www.maxim-ic.com/datasheet/index.mvp/id/2815

thermistor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermistor

diode:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_bandgap_temperature_sensor

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah The DS series is what I used. With this: http://www.canakit.com/catalog/product/view/id/627/s/4-port-usb-relay-controller/

They are surprisingly accurate too.