Author Topic: Acurite alternatives? For affordable sensor reporting to IOS devices  (Read 4276 times)

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Offline Broaddd

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I’ve been pretty happy with the smarthub, 5in1 and the simple temp sensors for monitoring various points around the house by IOS device.

But there is that feeling with recent developments that Acurite may continue to have problematic service in future. Maybe I should consider whether to invest in another company’s solution rather than investing in a new Access and more sensors.

Are there any suggestions? I kind of assume good alternatives are more expensive?

Cheers,
B

Offline Bart

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Re: Acurite alternatives? For affordable sensor reporting to IOS devices
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2018, 01:18:47 AM »
I hear ya. I'm pretty close to throwing in the towel with AcuRite. And the problems seem to be all over the place with Access. It's not like there is one common problem among people. Heck, my current issue is that I periodically get rain fall readings when no rain has fallen. And it's not wind causing these false readings, either. A) we've had no real wind to speak of (and I never had this problem with SmartHub), and B) all the readings are the same...56/100". I've had a total of 6 of these false readings over the past 3 days. They see to happen every few hours, and the only way to make it stop was to disconnect power, disconnect ethernet, remove batteries, and then reconnect everything. That seemed to help for about a day and a half-ish, and then it started again. It's either my 5in1 sending false readings, or it's the Access. I'm leaning towards Access since A) I never had this problem with SmartHub, and B) the problem goes away after a full reset of Access. It's definitely not AcuRite's servers, as these same false readings also show up on WU.

What makes it even worse, AcuRite doesn't seem very engaged in the support boards. You'd always see the same employee names in there answering questions, etc, and now I hardly see them at all (if at all).

I'm only going to give them a couple more days to begin addressing the issues I'm having, and then I'm done with them. If it comes to that, I won't have any option but to file a chargeback with my CC company, since getting ahold of them for an RMA seems impossible (since they aren't answering to anything else).

If it comes to that, I will simply go back to my old setup with SmartHub, and use that until they stop supporting it. Then I'll just move on to Davis or Ambient. And if it DOES come to that, they will be supporting SmartHub for another year, so I have plenty of time to research different stations, options, etc.

Offline Bart

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Re: Acurite alternatives? For affordable sensor reporting to IOS devices
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2018, 01:26:24 AM »
And wouldn't ya know it. Just as I was writing my post above, a problem from yesterday just re-occurred. I've lost contact to all 5 of my sensors (5in1 and 4 indoor T/H). When connected, I mostly see 4's the the signal strength. I *might* periodically see one or two go to a 3. Right now, all of them all zeros. All of them. And that's how it happened yesterday. All sensors were connected just fine, and then BAM. All drop out. And the only way to get them back is to restart Access.

Offline vreihen

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Re: Acurite alternatives? For affordable sensor reporting to IOS devices
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2018, 08:14:37 AM »
My 5-in-1 started acting wonky again shortly after last the nor'easter a few days ago.  I'm secretly hoping that a power-cycle won't make it start transmitting again, so that I can put a fork in the whole setup and move on.

The Access stations and WeatherFlow's ultrasonic system were announced within a few months of another, and my 5-in-1 was already flaky at the time.  Knowing Acu-Rite's historic manufacturing times from back in the day of waiting seemingly forever for the original bridge, I hedged my bet on the WeatherFlow figuring that the Access Elite would be 2-3 years out at the time (and the cheaper Access models were non-starters for me IMO).  WF is over a year late with shipping the Sky anemometer, but I do have an Air temp/hum/baro/lightning sensor and the Hub in my hands which is more than I can say for Acu-Rite.

According to their Indiegogo update a few days ago, WF plans to ship the Sky units to backers in April.  That probably means May, and I'm guessing that units for non-backers will be available by July.  Their system uses smart phones and tablet apps (not a console) for display, and the Hub does something unique in that it sends UDP broadcasts of every received sensor observation out on the local IP subnet for all to sniff.  No DNS hacks or putting an interceptor between your SmartHUB and router required, just grab the packets as they are broadcast to your entire home network.  (Somebody that I know :lol: just released a weewx WF UDP station driver V1.00 yesterday, to show how trivial it is to integrate a well thought out station into anything.)

Off to yank the batteries on my 5-in-1.....  ](*,)
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline Broaddd

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Re: Acurite alternatives? For affordable sensor reporting to IOS devices
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2018, 06:16:50 PM »
WF seems a lot more expensive if you want multiple temp sensors around the place.

Offline nincehelser

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Re: Acurite alternatives? For affordable sensor reporting to IOS devices
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2018, 09:08:47 PM »
I'm not sure what your requirements are, but if you're willing to do a bit of coding yourself, something like a Pi with a $20 USB TV dongle and the RTL_433 software would let you read various 433MHz sensors from multiple vendors.

Then you could just write the data to a web page you can access with your SmartPhone.

Here's a list of different sensors currently supported by RTL_433.  You can mix-and-match them to your heart's content.

Supported device protocols:
    [01]* Silvercrest Remote Control
    [02]  Rubicson Temperature Sensor
    [03]  Prologue Temperature Sensor
    [04]  Waveman Switch Transmitter
    [05]* Steffen Switch Transmitter
    [06]* ELV EM 1000
    [07]* ELV WS 2000
    [08]  LaCrosse TX Temperature / Humidity Sensor
    [09]* Template decoder
    [10]* Acurite 896 Rain Gauge
    [11]  Acurite 609TXC Temperature and Humidity Sensor
    [12]  Oregon Scientific Weather Sensor
    [13]* Mebus 433
    [14]* Intertechno 433
    [15]  KlikAanKlikUit Wireless Switch
    [16]  AlectoV1 Weather Sensor (Alecto WS3500 WS4500 Ventus W155/W044 Oregon)
    [17]  Cardin S466-TX2
    [18]  Fine Offset Electronics, WH2 Temperature/Humidity Sensor
    [19]  Nexus Temperature & Humidity Sensor
    [20]  Ambient Weather Temperature Sensor
    [21]  Calibeur RF-104 Sensor
    [22]* X10 RF
    [23]* DSC Security Contact
    [24]* Brennenstuhl RCS 2044
    [25]  GT-WT-02 Sensor
    [26]  Danfoss CFR Thermostat
    [27]* Energy Count 3000 (868.3 MHz)
    [28]* Valeo Car Key
    [29]  Chuango Security Technology
    [30]  Generic Remote SC226x EV1527
    [31]  TFA-Twin-Plus-30.3049 and Ea2 BL999
    [32]  Fine Offset Electronics WH1080/WH3080 Weather Station
    [33]  WT450
    [34]  LaCrosse WS-2310 Weather Station
    [35]  Esperanza EWS
    [36]  Efergy e2 classic
    [37]* Inovalley kw9015b, TFA Dostmann 30.3161 (Rain and temperature sensor)
    [38]  Generic temperature sensor 1
    [39]  WG-PB12V1
    [40]* Acurite 592TXR Temp/Humidity, 5n1 Weather Station, 6045 Lightning
    [41]* Acurite 986 Refrigerator / Freezer Thermometer
    [42]  HIDEKI TS04 Temperature, Humidity, Wind and Rain Sensor
    [43]  Watchman Sonic / Apollo Ultrasonic / Beckett Rocket oil tank monitor
    [44]  CurrentCost Current Sensor
    [45]  emonTx OpenEnergyMonitor
    [46]  HT680 Remote control
    [47]  S3318P Temperature & Humidity Sensor
    [48]  Akhan 100F14 remote keyless entry
    [49]  Quhwa
    [50]  OSv1 Temperature Sensor
    [51]  Proove
    [52]  Bresser Thermo-/Hygro-Sensor 3CH
    [53]  Springfield Temperature and Soil Moisture
    [54]  Oregon Scientific SL109H Remote Thermal Hygro Sensor
    [55]  Acurite 606TX Temperature Sensor
    [56]  TFA pool temperature sensor
    [57]  Kedsum Temperature & Humidity Sensor
    [58]  blyss DC5-UK-WH (433.92 MHz)
    [59]  Steelmate TPMS
    [60]  Schrader TPMS
    [61]* LightwaveRF
    [62]  Elro DB286A Doorbell
    [63]  Efergy Optical
    [64]  Honda Car Key
    [65]* Template decoder
    [66]  Fine Offset Electronics, XC0400
    [67]  Radiohead ASK
    [68]  Kerui PIR Sensor
    [69]  Fine Offset WH1050 Weather Station
    [70]  Honeywell Door/Window Sensor
    [71]  Maverick ET-732/733 BBQ Sensor
    [72]* RF-tech
    [73]  LaCrosse TX141-Bv2/TX141TH-Bv2 sensor
    [74]  Acurite 00275rm,00276rm Temp/Humidity with optional probe
    [75]  LaCrosse TX35DTH-IT Temperature sensor
    [76]  LaCrosse TX29IT Temperature sensor
    [77]  Vaillant calorMatic 340f Central Heating Control
    [78]  Fine Offset Electronics, WH25 Temperature/Humidity/Pressure Sensor
    [79]  Fine Offset Electronics, WH0530 Temperature/Rain Sensor
    [80]  IBIS beacon
    [81]  Oil Ultrasonic STANDARD FSK
    [82]  Citroen TPMS
    [83]  Oil Ultrasonic STANDARD ASK
    [84]  Thermopro TP11 Thermometer
    [85]  Solight TE44
    [86]  Wireless Smoke and Heat Detector GS 558
    [87]  Generic wireless motion sensor
    [88]  Toyota TPMS
    [89]  Ford TPMS
    [90]  Renault TPMS
    [91]* inFactory
    [92]  FT-004-B Temperature Sensor
    [93]  Ford Car Key
    [94]  Philips outdoor temperature sensor
    [95]  Schrader TPMS EG53MA4
    [96]  Nexa
    [97]  Thermopro TP12 Thermometer
    [98]  GE Color Effects
    [99]  X10 Security
    [100]  Interlogix GE UTC Security Devices


Offline TD22057

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Re: Acurite alternatives? For affordable sensor reporting to IOS devices
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2018, 09:55:03 PM »
I'm not sure what your requirements are, but if you're willing to do a bit of coding yourself, something like a Pi with a $20 USB TV dongle and the RTL_433 software would let you read various 433MHz sensors from multiple vendors.

Then you could just write the data to a web page you can access with your SmartPhone.

+1 - IMO this is the way to go.  My 5in1 died last year and the bridge that I had was always annoying to intercept the data from.  I bought temp sensors for less than $10 from Walmart and they are read perfectly by an SDR radio ($25) with the free RTL 433 software.  I convert the data to MQTT and send it to the free home automation software Home Assistant.  You can run Home Assistant on a Pi or anything else and access it anywhere.  And it has plugins for pretty much every piece of home automation and sensor hardware out there.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/AcuRite-Wireless-Digital-Thermometer/45810751
https://smile.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Telescopic/dp/B011HVUEME

 

anything