BCSS - Forum

Paul in Essex wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 7:33 pm Where does the hub live?

Currently in my kitchen! That's the nearest room to the back garden but with good WiFi. Conservatory and outdoor sensor about 3 to 4m away; greenhouse about 30m down the garden. The hub doesn't have sensors so it is giving my home temperature as the warmest of the three linked sensors. My house is cold, but not that cold!

30m to the greenhouse is good. Clear or obstructed?

Paul in Essex wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 8:14 pm 30m to the greenhouse is good. Clear or obstructed?

Pretty clear. There's a very overgrown hazel near the greenhouse but you can see it from the kitchen window. At the weekend I will test the outdoor sensor to see how far away it will work from (my garden's about 60m long).

Took some finding on the product website but they reckon the clear range from sensor to hub is up to 120m. I've assumed that will be about half in the real world but should still reach my new greenhouse site, hopefully!

I previously used some wifi enabled ones (there: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B ... UTF8&psc=1), but have switched to the same switchbot one.
So far for me:
-More reliable connection
-No issues with humidity yet (the wifi ones suffered, and one died)
-Longer lasting batteries (at least in the cold, have to see how they perform when it gets hot)

DesertPlant wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 9:35 pm I previously used some wifi enabled ones (there: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B ... UTF8&psc=1), but have switched to the same switchbot one.
So far for me:
-More reliable connection
-No issues with humidity yet (the wifi ones suffered, and one died)
-Longer lasting batteries (at least in the cold, have to see how they perform when it gets hot)

Good to know it may be reliable, thanks.

How far away from the hub is your furthest sensor?

edds wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 9:12 pm

Paul in Essex wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 8:14 pm 30m to the greenhouse is good. Clear or obstructed?

Pretty clear. There's a very overgrown hazel near the greenhouse but you can see it from the kitchen window. At the weekend I will test the outdoor sensor to see how far away it will work from (my garden's about 60m long).

Tested it today and even at the bottom of my garden, just over 60m from the sensor in a straight line of site, it hasn't lost connection. Whether that will be the case as batteries fade and in all weather conditions I don't know yet.

I left the sensor for 2 hours on my shed (where my new greenhouse will be sited) and the connection was perfect (and the temperature was about 2.5 degrees higher than where the sensor had been sitting at the top of the garden where it is higher and a little more exposed!).

I am tempted, I must say. Trouble is I have only recently bought some thermometers for various places - they do connect via bluetooth to an app. But with this I need to remember to upload the data which, of course, I don't, so there are gaps.

edds wrote: ↑Fri Mar 08, 2024 6:57 am

DesertPlant wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 9:35 pm I previously used some wifi enabled ones (there: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B ... UTF8&psc=1), but have switched to the same switchbot one.
So far for me:
-More reliable connection
-No issues with humidity yet (the wifi ones suffered, and one died)
-Longer lasting batteries (at least in the cold, have to see how they perform when it gets hot)

Good to know it may be reliable, thanks.

How far away from the hub is your furthest sensor?

The hub picks up sensors which are in a box in the garage (box with plants, box is isolated with styrofoam), about 5m away, and also a sensor in a box in a greenhouse about 8m away. So not terribly far away, but the wifi one struggled with both, rarely got a signal from a sensor in the box in the garage.