[pm-h] Remote Temperature Monitoring

[Mike Flannigan]

On 7/23/2010 7:56 AM, Mike Flannigan wrote:
>
> I'm looking to remotely monitor a digital thermometer
> connected to a computer.  The computer I plan to
> use has USB and Serial.  I have to use Windows,
> but only because I couldn't get Unix loaded on this
> old computer.
>
> I need to export the temp to a location 1,000 miles
> away.  Haven't decided if I'm using the web, FTP,
> Telnet, or what for the data transfer.  I want flexibility
> where I can write the Perl program to do what I need
> to do.
>
> I'm sending this to you guys in case one of you
> has already grappled with this.  I can see on the
> internet that there are about 1,000 options.
> Please call me or e-mail the list if you can help
> me decide which way to go with this.  Buying
> something from a local store might be my
> best option.  I plan to go to EPO and Fryes
> today to see what is available there.
>
>
> I'm think this one is what I need, but I'm to
> lazy to do all this work:
> http://www.riccibitti.com/pc_therm.htm
>
>
> This one seem really good:
> http://www.spiderplant.com/hlt/index.html
> but that first link says they are out of business.
>
>
> Do these USB powered units work?
> http://www.tomtop.com/pc-laptop-usb-powered-thermometer-temperature-sensor-data-log.html 
>
>
>
snip


Sorry if you guys have already seen this once
before, but I didn't see that it got to the list the
last time I sent it.



Well, I bought this one
http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320569987480
and much to my surprise it works pretty well.
The stupid thing gives temp reading to the 100th of
a Deg F, but it's accurate to 3-4 Deg F at the
best, even with calibration.  That is good enough
for me.

I've had fun programming to capture it's data from
the log file, error check, export to website, etc.
Got Net::FTP working again.


I used GD::Graph::lines to produce these graphs
that are updated constantly:
http://mflan.com/temper/7_Day_Graph.gif
http://mflan.com/temper/24_Hr_Graph.gif
http://mflan.com/temper/1_Hr_Graph.gif

I have a program that runs every 4 seconds and
posts hourly data to the website links above.

Then I have another program that checks my website
for update files.  I can revise the program operation
remotely with these files, or load an entire new program
that creates the graphs above and sends e-mail alerts
on temperature deviations.  Kinda neat the way it
shuts down the program, copies the new one over,
and then reloads the program with a batch file.


I'm not ready to jump to Strawberry right now.  I have
too much mission critical stuff that I can't do without
and don't have time to bring up to Strawberry.


Mike