Posts: 10,356
Threads: 861
Likes Received: 18 in 15 posts
Likes Given: 18
Joined: Oct 2008
Reputation:
38
Location: Harrisburg, PA
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
•
Posts: 10,356
Threads: 861
Likes Received: 18 in 15 posts
Likes Given: 18
Joined: Oct 2008
Reputation:
38
Location: Harrisburg, PA
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
•
Posts: 10,356
Threads: 861
Likes Received: 18 in 15 posts
Likes Given: 18
Joined: Oct 2008
Reputation:
38
Location: Harrisburg, PA
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
•
Posts: 10,356
Threads: 861
Likes Received: 18 in 15 posts
Likes Given: 18
Joined: Oct 2008
Reputation:
38
Location: Harrisburg, PA
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
Well holy cow, all I can say is I am done with those cheapo starter plastic jobbies after getting some viv readings off this device. My newb dual analog temp/humidity gauge reported 85% RH in the front left portion of my viv. During the first two days of recording the device reported a 96.3% average, with a min of 94.8% and a high of 97.6%. Yikes - this confirms what I have read on this board, these cheapo gauges are lousy. Promptly removed from the viv.
The Lascar website states an accuracy of +/- 0.5 degrees with a repeatability of 0.1 for temp and +/- 3% with 0.1 repeatability for RH (not sure what confidence is associated with these ranges). The room temperature readings seem accurate. The programmable thermostat daytime temp is targeted at 78 and night time is 76. I averaged the 60 data points per hour each day and also calculated the standard deviation for the hour. I then took the median values per hour across 7 days to come up with an estimate of the typical room temperature for the week, as well as the typical standard deviation for that hour. You end up with a room temperature profile that looks like this:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
You can see the stretches where the recorded temperatures are spot on with the programmed targets. The variability during the adjustment periods is expected, and the variability at night can be attributed to the layout of the house; during the day the main zone and 2nd floor zones of our house (open floor plan) are set to the same temperature - at night the upstairs (viv location) drops while the downstairs increases, so the temps upstairs fluctuate more yielding more variable logging results. Overall I feel comfortable with its accuracy at this point. I do have a voltage monitor with temp/humidity logging capabilities that I can fire up, run side by side and compare the differences, but I'll run that in a few weeks after I am done profiling the viv.
So far, the data I have collected is summarized in the following plot - the average values for each location for the 7 days of collection is on the left. Full hourly profiles are the majority of the plot moving from left to right by date of collection. Temperature readings are on top, relative humidity is below. Gradient shading was used for the min/max of the full range extending from room temperature (first block of data) to the first viv location (partial data on right).
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
I'm still messing with the visualization - thinking of some radar plots for the hourly averages for the week and I'd like to work in a section on the number of data points involved. Suggestions on the visualization are appreciated!
I will move the device from the front left of my viv (wettest) to the upper right (driest location) on Friday night and see how readings there compare to the 60% to 70% rh reported by my second analog gauge. Overall the device is chugging along inside the viv (I moved it there last Friday night). I'm impressed with the ease of use. The only caveat is the date recording format of dd/mm/yyyy is not easily recognized by my US copy of Excel so there is some text manipulation required for stats analysis and plotting (easily scripted - not a big deal). Other than that, very easy to use.
Phil - let me know if you would rather that I start a new thread for further data plots. I don't want to hijack this thread with viv temperature analysis (the ultimate purpose of this purchase) but the initial plots illustrating the assessment of the device's performance seem relevant.
•
Posts: 10,356
Threads: 861
Likes Received: 18 in 15 posts
Likes Given: 18
Joined: Oct 2008
Reputation:
38
Location: Harrisburg, PA
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
Heh - yeah big data sets are my day job 
Maybe one of these? PC only software though...
http://www.lascarelectronics.com/tempera...logger=424
Quote:The EL-WiFi-TH sensor measures the temperature and humidity of the environment in which it is situated. Data is transmitted wirelessly via a WiFi network to a PC and viewed using a free software package. During configuration the sensor will search for an existing wireless network whilst physically connected to the PC. It can then be placed anywhere within range of the network. If the sensor temporarily loses connectivity with the network, it will log readings until it is able to communicate again with the PC application (max 60 days at 10 second sample interval). The range of the sensor can be increased by using WiFi extenders.
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
I'm up to 79 days of data collected with the device and it's working great. I sampled 4 areas in my vivarium initially, then I settled on one location for long term monitoring. The stock interface I posted above is probably sufficient for most applications where you want to spot check temperature and humidity values for a few days in a particular location. Longer term views may require more customized approaches, but the data is easily exported to csv and imported into other tools. I have been fiddling with the presentation of the data for a long term presentation - my goal is to look at the changes in the vivarium climate over the course of a year (so I can compare that to the Sipaliwini weather station data I downloaded), which ends up being a lot of data to consolidate. Here's the first 79 days (with a 7 day ambient measurement up front) of temperature data. Each day is a row, and each column is an hour. Each column is the average value of 60 samples taken during that hour. The lightest color is the lowest value, darkest color is the highest. Ambient data is included in the gradient:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
And the first 79 days of humidity data.
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
The large white blocks of time are interruptions in collection from when I forgot to pull the device and download the data. It can buffer approximately 11 days of 1 minute sample interval data (1440 points per day). When it hits the limit it stops collecting. I've started downloading the data weekly now while performing maintenance on the viv. The small white lines indicate changes in position of the monitor.
The monitor is sensitive enough to pick up differences in humidity when my mister engages (00:00, 06:00, 12:00, 18:00) - I'm still working on the gradient so it's hard to see on some monitors. The lightest blue region is the ambient measurement - I can solve my gradient issue by dropping these values from the range, but I really want to see what happens in the winter before I yank them.
You can also see drops in temperature during my viv maintenance windows - this is when I use a hand mister to "power wash" the poop off plants and glass, as well as drain the FB. You can see these more easily in the temperature data when there is a light block in the middle of the day followed by a gradual darkening.
Overall, it seems to be a very sensitive device that is holding up well within the moist environment of the vivarium. It gets misted 4 times a day indirectly, and I have accidentally shot it with the hand mister on occasion and it has not shown any signs of slowing down. It's still on it's original batteries.
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
The second unit I had purchased for my newest viv consistently yields high RH values, typically in the 102% to 104% range. I exchanged email with the vendor and this was their response:
Quote:The sensor that is used in the EL-USB-2 is the SHT11, the accuracy of the logger is +-3%RH but only between 20-80%RH due to the inaccuracy of the sensor outside of that environment. The sensor can be off by +- 5%RH at the upper 90’s as shown in the datasheet. For more accuracy I would recommend the EL-USB-2+, this uses the SHT15 sensor that can be found on the same datasheet. If there is anything else I can do to assist you please let me know.
Keep this recommendation from product support in mind when selecting your unit
This unit is measuring RH values between the mid 90's and low 100's. Here's a sample of the peak raw data:
Quote:1751,30/12/2012 20:40:43,72.0,102.5,72.7
1752,30/12/2012 20:41:43,72.0,102.5,72.7
1753,30/12/2012 20:42:43,72.0,103.0,72.8
1754,30/12/2012 20:43:43,72.0,103.0,72.8
1755,30/12/2012 20:44:43,72.0,103.0,72.8
1756,30/12/2012 20:45:43,72.0,103.0,72.8
1757,30/12/2012 20:46:43,72.0,103.0,72.8
And another sample showing the lower range.
Quote:4070,01/01/2013 11:19:43,77.0,95.5,75.6
4071,01/01/2013 11:20:43,77.0,95.5,75.6
4072,01/01/2013 11:21:43,77.0,95.5,75.6
4073,01/01/2013 11:22:43,77.0,95.5,75.6
4074,01/01/2013 11:23:43,77.0,95.5,75.6
4075,01/01/2013 11:24:43,77.0,95.5,75.6
4076,01/01/2013 11:25:43,77.0,95.5,75.6
•
Posts: 577
Threads: 42
Likes Received: 0 in 0 posts
Likes Given: 0
Joined: Oct 2011
Reputation:
0
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
•
Posts: 577
Threads: 42
Likes Received: 0 in 0 posts
Likes Given: 0
Joined: Oct 2011
Reputation:
0
•
Posts: 1,478
Threads: 92
Likes Received: 5 in 5 posts
Likes Given: 13
Joined: Feb 2012
Reputation:
13
•
|