Temperature monitoring options for multiple tortoise houses?

[Texastravis]

I have multiple tortoise houses and rely on cheap controllers. I had a heater fail on me and kill a tortoise this winter. Does anyone have any good options for temperature monitoring? The inkbird looks decent but it is just Bluetooth so no monitoring from inside the house or at work. I am guessing it just collects data until you collect it with your phone from 10-20 feet away. I was thinking more of a wifi option. I have used the weather station things at Walmart that allow you to monitor temperature from inside but these seem to have range issues and multiple units confuse each other.

 

[Yvonne G]

That's too high tech for me. But hopefully this 'bump' will cause someone else with the knowledge to see and answer your question.

@Markw84 @Tom

 

[Tom]

I have multiple tortoise houses and rely on cheap controllers. I had a heater fail on me and kill a tortoise this winter. Does anyone have any good options for temperature monitoring? The inkbird looks decent but it is just Bluetooth so no monitoring from inside the house or at work. I am guessing it just collects data until you collect it with your phone from 10-20 feet away. I was thinking more of a wifi option. I have used the weather station things at Walmart that allow you to monitor temperature from inside but these seem to have range issues and multiple units confuse each other.

I've run into the same problems. I've resorted to installing cheap digital units from Home Depot that record the daily highs and lows. I have to open each box in the morning, and again at night when I close them all in, so I just check each thermometer every day. Over the years I've had two thermostats stick on. This happened during the day when the boxes were open, so it was no problem. I saw the problem when I was putting the tortoises away and swapped out the thermostats.

 

[Markw84]

I have multiple tortoise houses and rely on cheap controllers. I had a heater fail on me and kill a tortoise this winter. Does anyone have any good options for temperature monitoring? The inkbird looks decent but it is just Bluetooth so no monitoring from inside the house or at work. I am guessing it just collects data until you collect it with your phone from 10-20 feet away. I was thinking more of a wifi option. I have used the weather station things at Walmart that allow you to monitor temperature from inside but these seem to have range issues and multiple units confuse each other.

You are going to have range issues with the WiFi as well, but not as limited as bluetooth. But, as you are looking for, WiFi will enable you to check temps real time from anywhere. You just need to be aware of the range of the WiFi gateway and where it is placed in reference to your router, and the individual units.

The only option I have found that works is the SensorPush. They individual sensors are $50. I use about 20 of them. Have them in all my enclosures, night boxes, and in the box with each clutch of eggs I incubate. They work as is by bluetooth, but have the option of adding a wifi gateway. The gateway is $100 but you only need one to accommodate all your sensors that are in range. The range is dramatically affected by how many walls are between it and the sensor. Towards the front of my house, near my office, the wifi has no trouble reaching all the tortoise room enclosures through 3 walls, but only 50 feet away. The night box in the back of the house through about 6 walls cannot connect. With only 1 wall obstruction the range is about 150 feet.

I do like the ability to see what the temperature actually did for the day or week, not simply the high and low. It produced nice customizable graphs and you can download the data to excel to manipulate any way you wish. For example, I keep graphs of the entire incubation period for every clutch of Burmese star eggs for my TSD research.

I have had a few sensors fail, others still going strong after at least 5 years. The customer service is excellent if you ever have any questions or needs. Despite the few failures, I have not found another option that will do all I need.

 

[Texastravis]

You are going to have range issues with the WiFi as well, but not as limited as bluetooth. But, as you are looking for, WiFi will enable you to check temps real time from anywhere. You just need to be aware of the range of the WiFi gateway and where it is placed in reference to your router, and the individual units.

The only option I have found that works is the SensorPush. They individual sensors are $50. I use about 20 of them. Have them in all my enclosures, night boxes, and in the box with each clutch of eggs I incubate. They work as is by bluetooth, but have the option of adding a wifi gateway. The gateway is $100 but you only need one to accommodate all your sensors that are in range. The range is dramatically affected by how many walls are between it and the sensor. Towards the front of my house, near my office, the wifi has no trouble reaching all the tortoise room enclosures through 3 walls, but only 50 feet away. The night box in the back of the house through about 6 walls cannot connect. With only 1 wall obstruction the range is about 150 feet.

I do like the ability to see what the temperature actually did for the day or week, not simply the high and low. It produced nice customizable graphs and you can download the data to excel to manipulate any way you wish. For example, I keep graphs of the entire incubation period for every clutch of Burmese star eggs for my TSD research.

I have had a few sensors fail, others still going strong after at least 5 years. The customer service is excellent if you ever have any questions or needs. Despite the few failures, I have not found another option that will do all I need.

Mark, this sounds like what I am looking for! My property is a bit big so might need several gateways. Sounds like the Bluetooths have decent range on those units in open field. I currently have a plan in place for installing multiple additional internet access points inside and outside the house and even a point to point antenna to get out to the greenhouse and workshop. So hopefully soon, blanket wifi accross the property should not be an issue.

 

[Markw84]

Mark, this sounds like what I am looking for! My property is a bit big so might need several gateways. Sounds like the Bluetooths have decent range on those units in open field. I currently have a plan in place for installing multiple additional internet access points inside and outside the house and even a point to point antenna to get out to the greenhouse and workshop. So hopefully soon, blanket wifi accross the property should not be an issue.

I have a mesh network that covers my whole house/property. However, the distance from the sensorpush gateway to each device is the limiting range issue. So, yes, I believe you may need additional gateways. I would suggest you email sensorpush. Jonathan is one of the owners/developers and very helpful. Explain to his your circumstances and get his recommendations.

 

[EllieMay]

I had a Momentum WiFi camera in my big tortoise box. It has an app on my phone so that I could look in live anytime. From that, I could see the the digital display for temp and humidity.. The box is about 110’ away from the house and 125’ away from the router.. it worked well but didn’t have alarms for the temp or humidity . Now I have divided that box and built another as well. So I ordered WiFi temp and humidity sensors with probe. They will also connect to an app on my phone and do have alarms... they were less than $20 each but I can’t say how they work yet..

 

[Markw84]

I had a Momentum WiFi camera in my big tortoise box. It has an app on my phone so that I could look in live anytime. From that, I could see the the digital display for temp and humidity.. The box is about 110’ away from the house and 125’ away from the router.. it worked well but didn’t have alarms for the temp or humidity . Now I have divided that box and built another as well. So I ordered WiFi temp and humidity sensors with probe. They will also connect to an app on my phone and do have alarms... they were less than $20 each but I can’t say how they work yet..

What is the brand of wifi sensor you found for $20? Interested.

 

[EllieMay]

What is the brand of wifi sensor you found for $20? Interested.

I found them on eBay and it says they are unbranded... I was mistaken about the probe though.. they are just sensors. Shipped from California. They may actually be down at the box now but I’ll let you know if they are worth a flip as soon as I try them..

 

[Markw84]

I found them on eBay and it says they are unbranded... I was mistaken about the probe though.. they are just sensors. Shipped from California. They may actually be down at the box now but I’ll let you know if they are worth a flip as soon as I try them..View attachment 291400View attachment 291401

Thanks for the info!

That is a knock-off of the inkbird bluetooth one that does have the probe that can be used in water. I have several of those.

It is not wifi. It is bluetooth only. I am using them for some test nest monitoring and they work well as you can bury the probe and mount the unit above on a post. The bluetooth range is very limited, though. I can only get about 50 feet away with nothing in between to get a reading.

 

[jaizei]

I have multiple tortoise houses and rely on cheap controllers. I had a heater fail on me and kill a tortoise this winter. Does anyone have any good options for temperature monitoring? The inkbird looks decent but it is just Bluetooth so no monitoring from inside the house or at work. I am guessing it just collects data until you collect it with your phone from 10-20 feet away. I was thinking more of a wifi option. I have used the weather station things at Walmart that allow you to monitor temperature from inside but these seem to have range issues and multiple units confuse each other.

Which inkbird? Theres one that says wifi with the ability to control temperature from app.
How many separate spaces/houses do you want to monitor? For more than a few, I've seen fermentation/mash controllers either repurposed or just DIYed, though that would be less economical if you only have a couple, or want to just monitor and not control.

 

[Texastravis]

Probably about 10 houses, each with their own temperature controller but currently no way to verify that it is working without peeking inside or holding my hand in to make sure heater is on.

 

[EllieMay]

I didn’t get the offbrand WiFi sensors in yesterday so maybe today.. that price was for two of the sensors so I won’t be out much $$ if they don’t work... but if they do, this could be a huge stress relief.. I like the thought of being able to get notifications on my phone or just pull up an app for some quick reassurance..

 

[jsheffield]

I've tried a couple of different tech solutions, most recently some Govee Bluetooth ones that are $12 on Amazon.