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Wireless communication from multiple temperature sensors - Interested?

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  • J.P.M.
    replied
    Originally posted by SunEagle View Post
    You take those temp readings every 10 days. Yeah I would call that a PITA.

    Having a fixed temperature measuring device that sends real time data remotely to a computer would be a nice tool for many industries. Although something like that for the Solar PV industry would probably not be high on demand.
    A labor of love. Takes about 8 min./ series. Start 12 min. before min. incidence angle, read/record monitor data, start 2d round of readings 4 min. later and finish 8 min. after that. Hopefully, temps. are symmetric around min. incid.. angle time. All needed for ongoing est. of panel fouling as f(time) - every 10 days til it rains and probably thereafter. Lots of interesting stuff along the way. So far ave. measured temps seem to agree +/- 2 F. or so with an algor. I conjured up. ( FWIW, depending on wind vector panel temps. about 44-48 F. higher than roof amb. which runs about 5-10F or so above ground level amb. Also, working on est. for wind heat trans. coeff.

    Leave a comment:


  • Julian Jameson
    replied
    Thanks Russ.

    Interesting technology but at first glance, appears quite expensive!


    Originally posted by russ View Post
    Look at www.rfxcom.com they and others market this stuff now.

    Leave a comment:


  • russ
    replied
    Originally posted by Julian Jameson View Post
    I recently built a low voltage circuit that enables Bluetooth transmission of data from five wired temperature sensors. This sensors can be installed into your solar heater(s) and the device transmits all the temperature data via Bluetooth (sending human-friendly data every second).

    My questions are: Would you be interested in such a product? And if so, what sort of features would you expect?

    With this device, you can log all data by connecting a Bluetooth enabled laptop, PC or Mac.

    We also have an Android app available for download, where you can see the temperatures in real-time.

    Here's the board, enclosure and sensors (in it's current state):

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]4795[/ATTACH]

    Power connector is USB.
    Two of the sensors are connected by 9' wire lengths.
    Another two sensors are connected by 4' wire lengths.
    The fifth sensor is mounted on the circuit board and monitors the ambient temperature.
    Look at www.rfxcom.com they and others market this stuff now.

    Leave a comment:


  • SunEagle
    replied
    Originally posted by J.P.M. View Post
    FWIW, I currently measure 16 panel temps from under the array in 3 to 5 places each with an infrared thermometer at the min. solar incidence angle every 10 days, PITA, but I don't think there's a big market for that sort of thing just now unless the # of solar whackos increases.

    Best feature : FREE. If so, holler back.
    Besides, sounds like you're trolling for business.
    You take those temp readings every 10 days. Yeah I would call that a PITA.

    Having a fixed temperature measuring device that sends real time data remotely to a computer would be a nice tool for many industries. Although something like that for the Solar PV industry would probably not be high on demand.

    Leave a comment:


  • SunEagle
    replied
    Originally posted by Julian Jameson View Post
    Not trolling for business (at least, not yet!). This is more about a solar air heating enthusiast designing a product for similar people, based on mutual design requirements.

    The device is really intended to monitor inlet, outlet, room temperature and ambient temperature values. However, the sensors could be placed wherever you want inside solar collectors. Also, multiple units can be connected concurrently to the Android app, so monitoring five, ten, fifteen or twenty+ sensors in real-time is possible (as well as logging and graphing that data).

    BTW, I'm intrigued about the infrared thermometer measurements you're recording. Are you measuring through IR invisible surfaces or measuring the surface temperatures of the array casings? I have quite a bit of experience with thermography and understand that with all glazing types, any IR measurements will be surface temperature + any IR reflected onto that surface from the camera side. With regard to any casing that is not IR invisible (e.g. extremely thin plastics), the reading will likely be the surface temperature, possible skewed be reflexivity of that surface.
    Your explanation on using IR cameras is correct. If you point it at an object with a low emissivity or high reflectivity (like metal) you are getting a false reading. Better to have a target like electricians tape or cable insulation which have emissivity above 0.95.

    I had a Level One classification in Thermography a while back but let it lapse. An IR camera is a very good tool to identify issues before they become breakdowns.

    Leave a comment:


  • Julian Jameson
    replied
    Not trolling for business (at least, not yet!). This is more about a solar air heating enthusiast designing a product for similar people, based on mutual design requirements.

    The device is really intended to monitor inlet, outlet, room temperature and ambient temperature values. However, the sensors could be placed wherever you want inside solar collectors. Also, multiple units can be connected concurrently to the Android app, so monitoring five, ten, fifteen or twenty+ sensors in real-time is possible (as well as logging and graphing that data).

    BTW, I'm intrigued about the infrared thermometer measurements you're recording. Are you measuring through IR invisible surfaces or measuring the surface temperatures of the array casings? I have quite a bit of experience with thermography and understand that with all glazing types, any IR measurements will be surface temperature + any IR reflected onto that surface from the camera side. With regard to any casing that is not IR invisible (e.g. extremely thin plastics), the reading will likely be the surface temperature, possible skewed be reflexivity of that surface.


    Originally posted by J.P.M. View Post
    FWIW, I currently measure 16 panel temps from under the array in 3 to 5 places each with an infrared thermometer at the min. solar incidence angle every 10 days, PITA, but I don't think there's a big market for that sort of thing just now unless the # of solar whackos increases.

    Best feature : FREE. If so, holler back.
    Besides, sounds like you're trolling for business.

    Leave a comment:


  • J.P.M.
    replied
    Originally posted by Julian Jameson View Post
    I recently built a low voltage circuit that enables Bluetooth transmission of data from five wired temperature sensors. This sensors can be installed into your solar heater(s) and the device transmits all the temperature data via Bluetooth (sending human-friendly data every second).

    My questions are: Would you be interested in such a product? And if so, what sort of features would you expect?

    With this device, you can log all data by connecting a Bluetooth enabled laptop, PC or Mac.

    We also have an Android app available for download, where you can see the temperatures in real-time.

    Here's the board, enclosure and sensors (in it's current state):

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]4795[/ATTACH]

    Power connector is USB.
    Two of the sensors are connected by 9' wire lengths.
    Another two sensors are connected by 4' wire lengths.
    The fifth sensor is mounted on the circuit board and monitors the ambient temperature.
    FWIW, I currently measure 16 panel temps from under the array in 3 to 5 places each with an infrared thermometer at the min. solar incidence angle every 10 days, PITA, but I don't think there's a big market for that sort of thing just now unless the # of solar whackos increases.

    Best feature : FREE. If so, holler back.
    Besides, sounds like you're trolling for business.

    Leave a comment:


  • Wireless communication from multiple temperature sensors - Interested?

    I recently built a low voltage circuit that enables Bluetooth transmission of data from five wired temperature sensors. This sensors can be installed into your solar heater(s) and the device transmits all the temperature data via Bluetooth (sending human-friendly data every second).

    My questions are: Would you be interested in such a product? And if so, what sort of features would you expect?

    With this device, you can log all data by connecting a Bluetooth enabled laptop, PC or Mac.

    We also have an Android app available for download, where you can see the temperatures in real-time.

    Here's the board, enclosure and sensors (in it's current state):

    IMG_20140907_201714 small.jpg

    Power connector is USB.
    Two of the sensors are connected by 9' wire lengths.
    Another two sensors are connected by 4' wire lengths.
    The fifth sensor is mounted on the circuit board and monitors the ambient temperature.
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