Do not buy a Wireless Tag for a freezer!

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wand...@gmail.com

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Jan 25, 2020, 12:53:08 AM1/25/20
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So this is pretty useless as a freezer temperature monitor.  Three days?  I need something that lasts months.

Do NOT buy a standard Wireless Tag temperature sensor if you plan to place it in a freezer!!

Tag Name: Freezer

Last battery reading was 2.58 volt, current notification threshold is set to 2.63 volt. IMPORTANT NOTICE: To avoid risk of flash memory corruption, a permanent damage repairable only by returning the tag to manufacturer, please do not leave a lower than 2.4 volt battery in a tag for extended period of time. If you plan to store a tag, you must take out the battery. 

JimBo CA

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Jan 25, 2020, 10:01:48 AM1/25/20
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Mine last a least 6 months. Is this with the original batteries or your replacements? 

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JimBo CA

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Jan 25, 2020, 11:23:15 AM1/25/20
to Wayne Linton, Wireless Sensor Tags
Yes, I've been using these
Energizer CR2032 Batteries, 3V Lithium https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002RID4G


On Sat, Jan 25, 2020, 8:18 AM Wayne Linton <wayne.l...@gmail.com> wrote:
It's a new Regular tag with original battery.  Motion sensing off.  The
freezer is around -18C +/-.  6 months would be perfect - did you replace
it with Lithium Ion?

David Abigt

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Jan 25, 2020, 1:07:34 PM1/25/20
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Had one the Wireless Sensor Tag (13-bit Temperature and Humidity) tags in my freezer for right at a year now and I have a bad habit of replacing the battery only after sensor goes offline. Batteries are only lasting me a little over 2 months though in there. Not had an issue with replacing the battery late on any of the other 8 either. Though it does seem some of them are starting to use batteries faster and rechargeables seem to be a bust. Data here on both types. https://automation.rmrr42.com/2019/05/rechargeable-batteries-for-your-iot.html

Wayne Linton

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Jan 25, 2020, 3:27:08 PM1/25/20
to JimBo CA, Wireless Sensor Tags

As per JimBo's post (thank you), I purchased some Energizer lithium CR2032 and have just now replaced it in the tag.  I'll monitor performance and let the forum know how it goes.

Six months would be great to cover long vacations or wintering in the south.  Anything less, like say 2 months, would not be sufficient for that purpose and is at the stage of becoming too much of a nuisance to bother.

The battery that came with the regular tag was a Panasonic brand, and I will assume not lithium since it lasted less than a week in my freezer.

Which begs the question - If lithium batteries perform much better, why would the company not use them in the stock products?  It would provide for a better customer experience instead of frustrating new users like me.

Catman

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Jan 29, 2020, 11:42:07 AM1/29/20
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I have also found that the Energizer batteries are a lot better and last longer than any other brand.  I found a dealer on eBay that sells them in bulk with fresh dates, so the overall cost is greatly reduced.  The original batteries didn't last very long as best I can remember.

I currently run 10 sensors and have one in my refrigerator and HAD one in my freezer for a while.  The battery in the refrigerator last about as long as all the others, probably because my refrigerator is near the tag manager.  The one I had in the freezer would go through batteries 2-3 times as fast as all the other tags.  My freezer is 60 feet away from the tag manager, in the garage, with lots of obstetricals.  I'm going through an electrically noisy closet and two stucco walls with wire mesh, metal tool chest, and some wood cabinets.  Being inside a double walled metal box does not help reception also.  I think the tag's Receiver Mode was always switching from Low Power to Setup Mode dues to the communications challenges.  I think communications challenges and to a lesser exstent the freezing temps is what would kill off the battery so quickly. 

I purchased my 10 tags about 1 year ago.  I do not have them set to Buffer mode and they update every 10 minutes.  I don't keep close track, but I have replaced all my batteries once and some twice in the last year.  I could probably squeeze a few more months out of them by turning on buffer mode, but I prefer the faster updates without that mode.


Wayne Linton

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Jan 29, 2020, 12:03:45 PM1/29/20
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Thank you Catman,

My tag manager is maybe 6 meters away with no obstacles.  I don't know how to check to see if is switching from Low Power to Setup Mode but I will look into that.

I recently changed the setting to record every 30 minutes (which I assume is transmit), and is set to monitor/check the temperature every 5 minutes (the maximum setting for the tag).  I tested buffering when set at 10 minute record but during the six hour test nothing ended up on the graph - I don't know what that was about.

On the battery charge graph, left to right, you can see the new battery installation, steady decline at 10 minute recording, the six hour gap when buffering, and the voltage level recording every 30 minutes since.  It has sort of leveled out just over 2.6v.  I'll see how long it lasts.

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Zhiheng Cao

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Jan 29, 2020, 2:29:35 PM1/29/20
to Wayne Linton, Wireless Sensor Tags
Please refer to  https://store.wirelesstag.net/pages/support#lowtemp_battery

The low battery threshold is 2.63V by default, this does not take into account if the tag is in a hot place or cold place. 


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Zhiheng Cao

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Jan 29, 2020, 2:30:12 PM1/29/20
to Wayne Linton, Wireless Sensor Tags
The threshold voltage for notification of low battery is 2.63V by default, this does not take into account if the tag is in a hot place or cold place.  

Wayne Linton

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Jan 29, 2020, 2:50:32 PM1/29/20
to Zhiheng Cao, Wireless Sensor Tags

Thank you Zhiheng,

I'm thinking now that the External Power Sensor unit inside the freezer with an attached external battery outside the freezer would have been a better option.  I need months of monitoring without worrying about the battery.

There might even be an option of including a plugged-in USB charger into the mix to give continuous power to the sensor, such as this:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/1944

An 'official' recommended solution for freezer application would be useful to many of us with this requirement.

JimBo CA

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Jan 29, 2020, 5:06:08 PM1/29/20
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This graph is my home kitchen freezer which is past due on my usual 6 month replacement schedule
and as you can see it's still going strong, but is going to be replaced this weekend, although I have 2
external battery versions that I may try in the freezer's.

image.png

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Wayne Linton

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Jan 29, 2020, 5:27:26 PM1/29/20
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JimBo, that is impressive!!  Then there is certainly hope that this little (8-bit) tag with a new Lio battery will last six months @-18C+/- in my kitchen upright freezer.  That suffices for my needs.

I have another (top load) freezer in the basement for which I want a tag - I may purchase the external battery one for that and hang the battery outside the freezer.

Dennis Cortez

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Jan 29, 2020, 5:31:51 PM1/29/20
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I hope the tag would be redesigned and powered by a 3.6v lithium battery. I am a datalogger supplier and we have dataloggers that last for almost 2 years in battery life inside a - 25C cold storage. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/wireless-sensor-tags/443d69b0-6ea2-02a5-6771-4f7fc98f5dae%40gmail.com.

Zhiheng Cao

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Jan 29, 2020, 6:14:08 PM1/29/20
to Dennis Cortez, Wayne Linton, Wireless Sensor Tags

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Goldcas SAS

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Jan 29, 2020, 6:58:53 PM1/29/20
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This is impressive, I´m running 40 sensors inside different industrial freezers and coolers and none of them can achieve even 4 months of battery life. Would you share your set-up?  I mean your update frequency (mine is every 10 min with 13 data points feature enabled) and monitoring enabled every 5 min. Currently using sony CR2032 batteries.

JimBo CA

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Jan 29, 2020, 7:40:14 PM1/29/20
to Goldcas SAS, Wireless Sensor Tags
Sure.  The one I posted is a Pro, with update every 5 minutes, temperature and humidity monitoring enabled, check temperature/humidity every 15 seconds,  motion sensing disarmed, no special options enabled (like buffering), and receiver mode = Low Power.  Using The Energizer Lithium batteries I posted earlier https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002RID4G

While we are discussing batteries, does someone have a good tool to use to open the Tags?  The link in the FAQ to a tool at Lowe's no longer works...  


On Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 3:58 PM Goldcas SAS <sop...@goldcas.net> wrote:
This is impressive, I´m running 40 sensors inside different industrial freezers and coolers and none of them can achieve even 4 months of battery life. Would you share your set-up?  I mean your update frequency (mine is every 10 min with 13 data points feature enabled) and monitoring enabled every 5 min. Currently using sony CR2032 batteries.

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Goldcas SAS

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Jan 29, 2020, 8:37:27 PM1/29/20
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I use a regular flat and sharp screwdriver (being extra careful when prying out the back cover to not scratch the PCB or hit any SMD component). By the way, you say you're not using data buffering? Does that mean that the Energizer ones are responsible for longevity?


El miércoles, 29 de enero de 2020, 19:40:14 (UTC-5), JimBo CA escribió:
Sure.  The one I posted is a Pro, with update every 5 minutes, temperature and humidity monitoring enabled, check temperature/humidity every 15 seconds,  motion sensing disarmed, no special options enabled (like buffering), and receiver mode = Low Power.  Using The Energizer Lithium batteries I posted earlier https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002RID4G

While we are discussing batteries, does someone have a good tool to use to open the Tags?  The link in the FAQ to a tool at Lowe's no longer works...  


On Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 3:58 PM Goldcas SAS <sop...@goldcas.net> wrote:
This is impressive, I´m running 40 sensors inside different industrial freezers and coolers and none of them can achieve even 4 months of battery life. Would you share your set-up?  I mean your update frequency (mine is every 10 min with 13 data points feature enabled) and monitoring enabled every 5 min. Currently using sony CR2032 batteries.

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JimBo CA

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Jan 30, 2020, 11:55:53 AM1/30/20
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Thanks, I use a small sharp flat blade as well, but still would like to find a non-metal tool.

The only other setting I didn't mention is wireless settings are set "For long range tag only" Frequency 431.2MHz, Response Time within 2.5 sec, and Extra Error Checking not enabled.

I started using those batteries based on reviews I read and since I've been happy with them I haven't tried any others.


On Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 5:37 PM Goldcas SAS <sop...@goldcas.net> wrote:
I use a regular flat and sharp screwdriver (being extra careful when prying out the back cover to not scratch the PCB or hit any SMD component). By the way, you say you're not using data buffering? Does that mean that the Energizer ones are responsible for longevity?

El miércoles, 29 de enero de 2020, 19:40:14 (UTC-5), JimBo CA escribió:
Sure.  The one I posted is a Pro, with update every 5 minutes, temperature and humidity monitoring enabled, check temperature/humidity every 15 seconds,  motion sensing disarmed, no special options enabled (like buffering), and receiver mode = Low Power.  Using The Energizer Lithium batteries I posted earlier https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002RID4G

While we are discussing batteries, does someone have a good tool to use to open the Tags?  The link in the FAQ to a tool at Lowe's no longer works...  


On Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 3:58 PM Goldcas SAS <sop...@goldcas.net> wrote:
This is impressive, I´m running 40 sensors inside different industrial freezers and coolers and none of them can achieve even 4 months of battery life. Would you share your set-up?  I mean your update frequency (mine is every 10 min with 13 data points feature enabled) and monitoring enabled every 5 min. Currently using sony CR2032 batteries.

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darby427

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Jan 30, 2020, 12:24:32 PM1/30/20
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I've been using wireless tags in the freezer and deep freeze for about 2 years now.. have them report temperature and humidity every hour and if it goes above a threshold get an alert. They have been working great.

Wayne Linton

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Jan 30, 2020, 1:30:28 PM1/30/20
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Thank you all for your responses to this thread.  From these and from the Support page, I have gleaned what I expect are the tag settings that will extend battery life the longest for my 8-bit wireless tag in the freezer (averages -18C).

Using the web-interface, settings summarized below:

(Battery: Energizer Lio)
Right-arrow icon: Receiver Mode: Low Power
Right-arrow icon: Special Options: Do not flash LED during transmission: Enabled
Right-arrow icon: Special Options: Buffer multiple data points: Disabled
Settings Cog-wheel icon: Wireless: New Setting Response Time: within 2.5 sec
Settings Cog-wheel icon: Wireless: Use extra error checking NOT enabled
Motion sensor: Disarmed
Light: off

Note: when I tried the Buffer multiple data points option, my temperature graph showed nothing over a period of six hours.

For my freezer tag, I have set information gathering at these rates:

Temperature: Check temperature every 5 minutes (max available)
Record: Every 30 minutes

Note: some users are checking and recording freezer temperature points at faster rates and still have battery life in the range of 6 months or better.

For even longer battery life, an alternative to using the regular Wireless SensorTag for low-temperature use is the External Power Sensor with the connected external Lio battery stored outside the freezer.

Chris b

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Feb 20, 2020, 2:36:00 AM2/20/20
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My batteries are going on 3 years and still at 107% left.
What I did is I had a water sensor that the battery went dead on,  so i removed the battery and installed to d batteries.  These are cheap batteries as well.  This can be done with any tag.  



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bse...@gmail.com

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Aug 14, 2020, 4:43:10 PM8/14/20
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I also got hit with the CR2032 batteries only lasting a couple of days so I am interested in providing external power to a sensor, preferably plugged in versus battery powered.
The External Power Sensor looks interesting, but there is no USB port inside my freezer to plug it in ! So this is not a plug and play solution for a freezer.   Maybe I can a USB power port inside the freezer.  

I would prefer the sensor be powered with a female micro USB connection or even a USC-C port.  The power cables for things like Raspberry Pi's, Wyze Cameras, and many other devices could be used.  These all have pretty flat power cables.  I prefer not to have a cable through the door seal of the freezer, but a flat power cable may work OK.

Has anyone run external power to the inside of the freezer ?  If so, to what sensor ?  Details please.


On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 6:14:08 PM UTC-5, Wireless Sensor Tag Support wrote:
On Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 2:31 PM Dennis Cortez <denzc...@gmail.com> wrote:
I hope the tag would be redesigned and powered by a 3.6v lithium battery. I am a datalogger supplier and we have dataloggers that last for almost 2 years in battery life inside a - 25C cold storage. 

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Goldcas SAS

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Aug 30, 2020, 4:29:35 PM8/30/20
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13 USB sensors purchased had firmware issues, had to send them back for guarantee and fixed (international shipping). 6 out of these 13 sensors will not charge battery, something burned inside of it so I have to replace the battery when is low and not able to recharge with the USB sensor itself. Bad experience with these USB ones. 

b...@benhelps.me

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Dec 9, 2020, 1:51:49 AM12/9/20
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Interesting, admittedly it was a while ago, but I had a wirelesstag water sensor (didnt have anything else to use it on) in a -16C metal freezer 20m away from the tag manager, polling every 10minutes. It was lasting comfortably several months between batteries. Of course, given the temperature you had to take any report of when it needs replacing with a grain of salt (given electrons can move less at that temperature).

Zhiheng Cao

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Dec 9, 2020, 2:30:37 AM12/9/20
to b...@benhelps.me, Wireless Sensor Tags
Never heard of USB (external power) sensor burned inside and not charging battery except those people who bought cheap LiPo battery packs from places like Amazon with + and - terminal wired opposite, plugging in while ignoring the +/- marked on the case.  Anybody else have issue with  USB (external power) sensor not able to charge the 1000mAh battery bought from us? 

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