# LaCrosse wireless weather station fail



## abax (Oct 15, 2019)

and I need some advice on replacement. I don't want to deal with LaCross again and
need some suggestions. The sensor will be 130' from my greenhouse to the readout
on the receiver. I have an alarm system for low temps. drop, but I need to be able
to monitor temps. during the daylight hours.


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## Paphluvr (Oct 16, 2019)

Maybe check out Thermoworks http://thermoworks.com. Their devices are meant for cooking but sound like they would do what you want to do. The also have a bluetooth version that can be monitored from your smartphone.


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## Ray (Oct 16, 2019)

Angela, over the years I have relied on two devices.

The low-cost version was a LaCrosse Alerts device. It was very reliable for the 4 years I used it before selling the greenhouse. Beyond that I cannot say.

The more sophisticated device was a home-built sensor/sender coupled to a Sensaphone.

The sensor was a Thermalarm, which is nothing more than a bimetallic thermometer with electrical contacts - one each for low-, and high limits; with the needle being the other. When contact is made on either end, a circuit is closed. To send the signal, I found a place that sells radio frequency (RF) devices. Same technology as a garage door opener. The (wired) "key fob" was in the greenhouse, and when the Thermalarm circuit closed, the fob sent out its signal. In my home office was an antenna stuck to the window (the aluminum siding was good at blocking the signal) connected to a receiver relay that, when activated, would close a circuit connected to the Sensaphone.

The Sensaphone required a connection to a land line, and would first sound an audible alarm in the house. If that was not acknowledged within a selected time period, it would call up to 4 phone numbers sequentially, each dialed 4 times before going to the next.


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## tomkalina (Oct 16, 2019)

Check out SensorPush. I've used it to monitor greenhouse temps and humidity for a year and I'm well satisfied with it. The sensor is only 2"x 2" x 1/2" and it sits anywhere in your greenhouse It will send the info to your cell phone. Also accumulates graphics so you can review data hourly,weekly, monthly, etc. It's a cool device.


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## Ray (Oct 17, 2019)

Sensorpush is a great little device (I have two), but there are a couple of things to consider:

The sensor itself transmits via bluetooth. If it is close enough to your phone for a bluetooth connection, that's great and that's all you need. If it's not, you need a wifi gateway, bt that means you'll need to use their wifi gates way.

The _caveat_ with that is that the gateway must be within bluetooth distance of the sensor and within wifi range of your router.

If that works, go for it. I was an early adopter of their product, and their support was fantastic.


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## abax (Oct 17, 2019)

I'll check out all suggestions. Thank you all. BTW, I gave up
cell phones a couple of years ago because both the Samsung and
the LG4 decided our house was a dead zone...no signal.


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## Ray (Oct 18, 2019)

Angela, I'm certainly no expert, but it seems to me that cellphone reception should have very little to do with the phone, and more with the particular carrier and where their antennas are.

We were in a dead zone as far as Verizon was concerned in out house in PA, but a couple of others carriers had no issue. I remedied that by installing a range extended that took the signal and passed it on via my internet connection. When phones and service matured to the point of being able to use wifi, I didn't even need that.

Here, VZW is fantastic (same phone) while others are terrible.


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## richgarrison (Oct 18, 2019)

Check this one out.... https://www.acurite.com/access-my-acurite-remote-monitoring.html?ref=hp-rev

i've had this one and its predecessor for about 10 years... 5 different temp/humidity sensors in different locations in the greenhouse. It has both a web portal for data as well as phone apps that are just internet based (you don't need to be connected to any mobile phone service, just the internet via wifi - so any old smartphone you have laying around may also work).
Signals are pretty strong and not carried over bluetooth like Ray was talking about... the sensors use AA batteries, so that is why you see 2 in the tables below with no signal (i've been too lazy to go replace them - plus to be honest, i didn't write the names on the sensors, so i don;t know which ones are dead :-( - doh!) They have sales occasionally with multiple temp sensors and the base station. The service is free. Yes if your internet fails, you don't have access to the data as below, but i do believe they have dedicated screens that also receive the sensor signals if that is important to you.

that


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## Ray (Oct 18, 2019)

Good idea, Rich. I have an Accurite 5-in-1 weather station and it works great. They use RF signals, so if you have Low-E windows, you don't want one between the sensor and the receiver.

As Angela doesn't believe in cell phones, a remote weather station like *this one* might suit her needs just fine.


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## Hardwood (Oct 18, 2019)

Hi, In my greenhouse I use the Ambient weather station 2000.
https://www.ambientweather.com/amws2000.html
It allows me to monitor the temperature at 6 different locations, along with rain fall and wind. I like it because I can monitor my greenhouse conditions while traveling. It uses an app on my cell phone or log into my data on a computer.
There is also a display unit for my kitchen counter.
You do need a wifi connection. you may need need to relocate your wifi router so it can "reach" the greenhouse.


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## abax (Oct 18, 2019)

Uh, we really do live back in the woods. I can't get wifi either at
this time. AT&T promises soon. They said that two years or so
ago. I will look into the above suggestions. I really appreciate
the time all of you took to offer suggestions.


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## richgarrison (Oct 19, 2019)

Hardwood said:


> Hi, In my greenhouse I use the Ambient weather station 2000.
> https://www.ambientweather.com/amws2000.html
> It allows me to monitor the temperature at 6 different locations, along with rain fall and wind. I like it because I can monitor my greenhouse conditions while traveling. It uses an app on my cell phone or log into my data on a computer.
> There is also a display unit for my kitchen counter.
> You do need a wifi connection. you may need need to relocate your wifi router so it can "reach" the greenhouse.



How long have you been using this and how reliable is it? especially the sensors.... I've always been looking for various options.. and this looks like what i have just from a different manufacturer... i had issues with the sensors crapping out at the beginning, but haven't had issues for the last 5 years or so...

Thanx all for posting other options fun thread for seeing what folks are doing!


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## Ray (Oct 19, 2019)

abax said:


> I can't get wifi either at
> this time. AT&T promises soon. They said that two years or so
> ago.


Angela, if you have internet in your home, you can have wifi, as it does not come from your provider. What you need is a wireless router, as that's what broadcasts and receives the wifi signal.


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## abax (Oct 19, 2019)

Ray, I'll look into that. Others in this area only have
wifi if they're on a cable system of some kind. I don't
understand the ins and outs, but do know that others
in the area can't get wifi. Frankly, I haven't been all
that concerned about it. I'm lazy and low tech perhaps.


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## Ray (Oct 20, 2019)

Wifi is merely a technology that allows devices to wirelessly connect to the internet. In your home, that is a router that is the intermediary connection that is "hard wired" to however you connect to the internet as a whole.

How do you get the internet?


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## bullsie (Oct 20, 2019)

We have too low a signal here for wifi to work correctly - according to our internet provider. I don't know the 'ins and outs' of this technology, most that we don't have success with 'things' that use wifi.


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## Hardwood (Oct 20, 2019)

Ambient remote equipment uses 915 MHz to connect to the base station. You can buy and connect up to 8 Thermometers - Hygrometers, in addition to the rain gauge, wind speed and direction. distance for reception is from 100 to 300 feet. Metal buildings will block the signal. Enjoy.
https://www.ambientweather.com/amws2000.html


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## abax (Oct 20, 2019)

Ray, I use AT&T DSL.


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## Ray (Oct 21, 2019)

I'm sorry.


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## abax (Oct 21, 2019)

Ray, you caused me to spit my tea. I accept your
sympathy gratefully.


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## richgarrison (Oct 22, 2019)

<sorry... i can't stop my fingers from typing>

the connection/tech you have to your house for internet (DSL) and the way you distribute that network in your home, ethernet/wifi, etc. are separable problems 

although DSL is not a very high speed connection to the internet, your ability to distribute that network in your home is not limited by it. 

If you care, even some geeksquad kinds of help should be able to get you up and running.

If you care... ;-) 

if not (and that is perfectly fine) pick a different thread to read


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## abax (Oct 23, 2019)

Thank you Rich. I really don't care all that much, but
I still enjoyed reading all the threads.


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