Whats the latest in wireless dual fridge temp monitors

Wicket, we have a similar "Engel" unit and it works OK. Sometimes a bit of a pain to get working initially (sequence of turning on receiver and then transmitter) but once communicating all good. If Phil wants to have two units (for two separate fridges) there might be a little problem as I don't think the receiver/transmitters have multiple frequencies to switch between. OK for a single fridge scenario. Might need to investigate further about multiple fridge applications if that's what you're after Phil.

Cheers

Rob K

I was think along similar lines. Always a problem if you have two garage doors if you get them at different times and they need to match colours etc.

I think that I saw this unit on ebay. 110 x 70 mm is rather large for two to fit into a floor console etc.

I do have them in my ebay watch list. Not disregarding them att.

Also prefer 12V.

Thanks wicket.

Those ones described are a pain - loose signal and it does not just regain signal - you have to pull the batteries and reinsert them in the sequence described above. A real pain.

Phil I have two from Jaycar in Fyshwick - these work great BUT they run on the same frequency so cannot be used near each other. These have long range and can be used between car and trailer/van.

Jaycar Wireless Thermometer

Garry If I was still working I could gave used the lab to change the frequency. But retired and not so steady with a soldering iron and surface mounted components I may give them a miss.

Maybe two of very similar design may do the trick!!

Thanks mate.

Phil

I have one of those, Engel branded.
It's now a useless piece of junk.
Was never happy with it, nor any other where the
transmitter & batteries are inside the fridge.

Batteries don't work well in the cold, fridge shields the RF signal,
& connections are poor at the best of times.

Recently bought 2 Two Zone units.
Transmitter has an LCD display & remote sensor, so the batteries & transmitter stays outside the box.

Work like a dream & the 2 units don't upset each other.

Doesn't need to be up on the screen like the website pic BTW.

http://www.twozone.com.au/thermometer.html

Cheers.

Phil How do you think it would perform if the batteries were removed and power supplied by wire from outside the fridge and freezer areas?

Just assume that I can do this. What do you think?

Phil

Realistically,
I don't think the cost Vs. inconvenience of batteries as opposed to hard wired is worth the saving.

If the cost of batteries is an issue to you, as it is to me with multiple led torches, 5 electronic flashes & some slave remotes, consider rechargeable.

Presently I have 15 sets of 4 Packs of Rechargeable AA's.

People involved in photography know well of Eneloop batteries.
They hold their charge a long time in storage (Like 9 months).

Much more cost effective & provide better life per charge than alkaline disposables, which are around $1.25 each last time I looked.

A 4 pack of Sanyo Eneloops is about 20 bucks.

1/2 of mine are now 7 years old & still perform like new.

Photographers generally know of them, but the gereral public don't.

My recommendation for anyone interested:-

Eneloops

And a decent charger:-

Powerex Charger

And store them in these:-

Battery Storage Cases

Cheers

Phil

Opps,

Just thought I'd add to that list.

10 TV etc remotes
2 Wii controllers
2 GPS's
1 Scanner
2 Power usage monitors
5 cordless mouse & keyboard sets
4 Led work lights
4 fridge monitors.

All powered by Eneloops.

Seems the 15 packs are just the spares in my camera bag.

Cheers.

Phil

Yep cost of batteries is not the issue. We have three batteries under the bonnet and this is what they are there for. To provide car 12V (single battery) and 4WD accessories (dual batteries). All controlled by Redarc equipment.

Having to carry them and remember to change and charge them is something we have almost eliminated from the car.

In your list above we will forget the items we don't need to carry batteries for. The only thing in our car that we actually need batteries for is one hand held torch and the camera (built in flash) for which we take extra battery packs and a spare 6V battery for the hand held torch.

No Tv's etc and no computer/IT stuff and the GPS/nav box is mounted in the dash and runs of car power.

The current fridge monitors, which are mounted on the fridge, run on "fridge" power.

If we take the mobile and/or sat phones with us then they can last a month easily without recharge as we don't use them and they are switched off. They are there for emergency only and with good batteries both have ages of work in them even after a month.

I want to do the same for the wireless fridge monitors, if we get some that is.

Almost independent of batteries which is my real goal. Don't even take the inverter or battery charger any more. All power packs can stay home as well as the usual power board and extension cord. No 240V equipment any more. Even the impact wrench is 12V

Why have you got 12 TV remotes for the 4WD! You nicely slipped that one in hey!! Lets forget the house stuff okay.

Phil

PS Not meaning to "crowd" you with a long answer. Just went through our system for info.

Phil

Sorry but you didn't answer my question. Forget whether using batteries is good or bad. That is my decision. Batteries start to die as soon as you install them. The car's power is a lot more reliable and using a simple circuit I can supply a steady, regulated voltage from the car's 12v.

The question was:
"How do you think it would perform if the batteries were removed and power supplied by wire from outside the fridge and freezer areas?"

Phil

I can't see why it wouldn't work just fine.

The transmitter uses 2xAAA's, the receiver 2xAA's.
All you'll need is a simple 3 volt reg.

I've used a few of these:-

Adjustable Reg

Another one

They'd fit easily in the battery compartment.

Cheers.

Phil

You said earlier "Batteries don't work well in the cold, fridge shields the RF signal,
& connections are poor at the best of times."

That is what I wanted you to address.

The electronics are simple. Been doing it for 50+ years.

Don't worry about it.

Phil

Like I mentioned,

"Transmitter has an LCD display & remote sensor, so the batteries & transmitter stays outside the box."

There would be no need for the transmitter to be inside the freezer cabinet, as it has its sensor wired externally.

It will also work with both the sensor and the transmitter in the cabinet, but due to the shielding the range will be reduced.
That said, it seems much more effective than any other wireless
Thermometers used.

Also, if you did put the transmitter in the cabinet, in the cold,
it will be running on the full 3 volts from the regulated supply, not the possible 2.something volts from a pair of frozen AA's, so that will help too.

I Agree electronics are simple. Only been doing it 45+ years.
These day's like reaching in a draw for a pre-made module.

Interesting to notice that Engel seems to have branded a identical unit overseas. Haven't seen it out here.





Cheers.

2 of the dealers on the TwoZone website listing WA are Engel stores, one other independent, also in WA.
No dealers listed in other states, so a simple call or two to get pricing and arrange a sale / post.

Thanks Phil and Les.

Only installing this in the car with a maximum range of 5 meters. and

Les, I need to fix some things in the car before I order. These is a rattle in the steering column that has become quite "rattling" (read annoying) after the recent trip, so we are looking at either/both the rack and/or the column itself. Also need to change the shockies. Everything else has been changed over the years trying to find it. Only happens on uneven surfaced roads and tracks. Damned annoying and no doubt, will be costly, but we are not going to sell. Can't afford to buy new on the pension mate. Besides I don't want a new car with all it's "smart" electronics. I prefer to be in control.

Thanks guys. Looks like we will get a couple of these: WS-09 temperature monitor

Phil

That's a cool looking unit.
No batteries & transmitter inside the fridge.

Guess it's not present in the photo.

Looks good Matthew.

Pity about the colour. White on a black console!!!! But at least I could paint if after it is out of warranty. Batteries could be replaced with 12V to 6V or 3V circuitry.

Interesting. It may sit in front of the four Sarah switches that we don't use.

Phil

For others here is Matthews idea: CHANEY INSTRUMENTS 00986A2 ACU WRLS FRIDGE THERM

I have one of those, on recent trip worked ok for a couple of weeks then one of the transmitters lost some range, may have been the batteries dying as the unit was in the car freezer, the other unit was in the caravan freezer and it worked ok, for the entire trip with the receiver either in the car or the caravan.

I will most likely but another of the same before our next trip simply because I often forgot to relocate the receiver from the van to the car and visa versa, will then leave one unit in the car and one in the van as the transmitters transit at random intervals having two unit in close proximity should be a problem same as has two senders and one receiver.

Above should read having two units in close proximity should not be a problem.

I had one of these for several years and it is quite good. As HKB says the freezer one loses range after a while. It is important to put really good quality batteries in the sensors. I think that issue would affect all transmitters to be honest though.

It has temperature alarms which was handy.

I stopped using it because the sensors kept getting knocked around and lost to the bottom of the fridge and one got damaged. I didn't have a fridge problem in the time I used it, so left it.

vk1DX

Those ones pictured are "acru-rite'. I seem to remember getting mine from somewhere obscure like Fishpond, but can't remember now. Google will help you.

I have an onboard fridge and a freezer and have found them reliable. They recommend using Lithium batteries which seem to be able to handle the cold temperatures better than the others. I just use normal batteries in the receiver. You can get Lithiums at Woolies etc ..

OBJ

Ah Now I know why she flipped. You were in the back getting a beer!!!! Right mate?

Yeah.....My fridge wouldn't loose a degree between visits, even if it was turned off! LOL
Besides its a good way to get the Mrs to get you another beer........hey love can you just check to see if the fridge is still running............Oh, and while ya there, grab us another beer hey?

Too late when you go to get a beer and it isn't cold...........

Not if ya get a beer often enough.......

The reality is you go to your fridge several times a day you would soon know if things were not a cold as usual well before it lost to much temperature. Besides it is not hard to look at the temperature gauge on the fridge and the best check is does the light come on. I have lost power to my fridge a number of times (mainly knocked the plug out) but always found it before the beer got warmer than icy.

Wicket, if you have a look at the bottom of the ARB page it has a fridge compatibility list, so I would say it is only ARB fridges, pity....

Especially when they mention the "compresssor status". It may only be the latest ARB models as well.

Phil

See post lower down.

Was looking them also.
Nice display, pity they only suit ARB fridges as they are obviously wired internally with the required bits to take the optional wireless transmitter and display receiver.

I hope the likes of Engel follow suit with something similar.

Do you run them off 12V or still with the aa and aaa batteries? How easy is it to link the two fridges when you power them up?

Did you ever get any strange measurements when near other cars that may have them fitted as well?

One thing I have against them is that the whole remote is in the fridge. I only want the temperature probe in the fridge. Last trip the freezer was chock full and it would have been difficult to have a remore even as small as this one (51(H) x 63(W) x 25(D)mm) in the freezer.

But we will look at them Andrew. Thanks for the review.

Phil

Actually running 6 wireless temperature/weather monitoring devices within the boundaries of my yard.

All within the 300 meg range I believe.
Never see any strange readings on any of the receivers, so they must be doing something to avoid interfering with each other.

Phil

I was thinking about in convoy or a crowded camp site with others maybe running the same sensors etc. Maybe some pairing is used and not mentioned in the ad. The units I am looking at are different from these that Andrew mentioned. These don't have separate probes.

Phil

Thanks for the post Batt's.

We need a system that can use one control and at least two fridges. That eliminates this one and any other single unit system.

Phil

Yes, looks good but check out the specs. No idea of how big they are or what they run on. The base station may even be 240V AC based. For that money I would think they are a bit lazy with their specs. I couldn't even find the specs with Google. Not keen on dealing with them.

Thanks for the idea mate.

Phil

Yep, I thought they were a bit light on with info. There was another unit on their site as well.

As our good friend Michael would say: "Tell him he's dreaming!!!".

Phil

Glad I got the light weight version made of plastic & not 3 mm steel plate one.