data logger

Brad White_184

http://www.onsetcomp.com/products/data-loggers/u12-006

Something this simple plus cable sensors and the software should work nicely for a simple setup. If you need more, check the WEL.

This model is about $100 for the unit and would get to over $300 with software and multiple sensors.. check them out. When you go to two such loggers and multiple sensors the WEL looks very good.

Steve_147

data loggers

I'm looking for a data logger to measure and record multiple( 4) supply and return temp. on boiler systems. Any recomendations? Thanks Steve

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Can you give a rough idea of how much you're willing to spend? Also is this critical information or more along the line of a hobby?

Most datalogging equipment out there is geared to critical industrial use and gets VERY expensive VERY fast. I use a wireless weather station (LaCrosse WS-2010) with a number of extra sensors and a computer interface. Despite the fact that the computer interface can be persnickity at times, I'm quite pleased and the cost wasn't too bad. Data output with the supplied interface software is quite limited and you can't view multiple logs on the same graph. You can output the raw data, but you'll need some decent computer skills to use it with a spreadsheet or a purpose-written program.

Have you visited this site? The homeowner who made the system now sells the interface and other components at what appears to be an extremely reasonable price. I'm very seriously considering assembling one with literally over 100 sensors for myself.

jp_2

Onset hobo data loggers

http://www.onsetcomp.com/

Steve_147

data loggers

This is for my boiler system at my home,vitodens 100, but would like to be able to use it to troubleshoot problem systems Priced at under $500

David Nadle

Short term or long term logging?

If you need to log temporarily and you have a laptop or pc you can leave near the boiler for the duration, you can find very affordable data acquisition kits at www.dataq.com.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

At under $500, and unless I've missed something in MANY hours of web searching, your only chance is that system from www.ourcoolhouse.com (If you have the electronics knowledge you could make your own interface at lower material cost, but again it looks like a true bargain.)

Such will be FAR from portable however.

Fairly inexpensive self-contained dataloggers are available (they're often used in refrigerated shipping containers and sterilization chambers) but recording time is quite limited and most, if not all, sense air temperature with no way to sense surface or fluid temp via immersion or a well. The cheapest (say around $30) are one-use "disposable" devices, but these DEFINITELY measure air temp only.

Steve_147

I have som simple data loggers for room temp/humid but,I was hoping to find somthing that could conect to 10k sensors or simple thermisters

Brad White

I second the Onset Hobo's

I use them all of the time in my business and have for years. Very reliable and good customer service. The Our Cool house WEL, though, is next on my list for long-term stationary installations.

Dan_51

The Our Cool house WEL

I've installed the WEL from OurCoolHouse. Very easy to set up. Took less than two hours to wire 7 temp. sensors and configure the system. Very nice to be able to remotely monitor the system via the WEB. It also has the capability to send email to you if you want to trigger an event (i.e. low temperature). My system can be viewed at

http://welserver.com/WEL0061/

Not finished with the system yet. I want to add run time monitoring of the pumps, boiler, etc. All very straight forward with the WEL.

MIke_Jonas

This is what I use..

Buy a Fluke 54-2, a couple pipe clamp probes and the Flukeview software for easier display/readings/comparison/charts/graphs. Will eat up the 500 simoleans, but it will have many other uses and will have great re sale value. I know you said (4) temps, this will only do (2) at a time.

BC_3

WEL

I'm another satisfied WEL user. User friendly as long as you're technically minded and VERY capable considering its price point. It now handles up to 128 devices which can be power meters, run monitors, temp sensors, humidity sensors etc. One of the major selling points for me is that if you don't mind some fine soldering you can diy the temp sensors for 2-3 bucks apiece (I have 50 and counting).

2 potential drawbacks depending on your application: It is not for "mission critical" logging - if the internet connection goes down there is no backup (although I've never had any issues with the unit itself). Also if you need fast real-time data rates, it may not be adequate - the 1-wire sensors are polled every 6 seconds, and data is logged every minute. If you need faster data rates, dataq makes good low cost stuff as someone mentioned.

I'm not sure portability is a major problem - as long as the place being monitored has a broadband connection, it is baically just a matter of plugging it into the router and hooking up sensors - it is very easy to set up. If you put connectors on all your sensors instead of hard-wiring them I think it would be as portable as most units.

CC.Rob_5

and a third for Onset

I have four Hobos logging right now at various places in my house, and have long experience with them in harsh environments (under water, under ground, etc.). Great stuff. Very portable, good simple software, the works.

scott markle_2

I was wondering what you are looking to elucidate, with this data logging.
What is it about the operation of the boiler that makes you feel you need to watch it over time this way?

Unfortunately, some of the more interesting parameters such as flow rate and burner modulation will not be easily measured.

I'm interested in how low mass boilers function when heating loads are below minimum modulation. Seems to me that a modern modestly sized structure is almost always going to have loads that are below this input, at least with the current crop of mod-cons.

Continuous circulation, load matching burners and full reset seem to be the stat of the art. We can see from a graph of indoor temperature how conventional on/off thermostatic results in a 2 or 3 deg. sine wave of overshoot/undershoot. Logically there is some inefficiency to this, However a question that I would like to examine is; if the load and soak cycles of this sort of sine wave operation can actually have an efficiency gain, particularly when a boilers min. output is higher than the structures design requirements.

In a high mass system such as a radiant slab or cast iron it seems to me that allowing this mass to cycle up and down in temperature may have an advantage over maintaining it at a constant (reset) temperature (under certain conditions.) My observation is that in a low load structure a mod con is forced to cycle frequently. By allowing the mass of the emitters to cool off between burner cycles it's my thought that a more effective heat sink for the next burn is created. This cooler heat sink is also more effective in extracting latent heat, because of lower return temperatures. Longer burns are also inherently more efficient than short cycles. As far as comfort it's my feeling that a modern structure is inherently more comfortable (draft free) and that a 3 deg. Sine wave is not a big deal as far as comfort is concerned.

I'm currently running a Vitodens 200 set at it's fixed min. modulation, by means of a Tekmar steam control, Which is essentially a time interval reset device, as opposed to temperature reset. The system is high mass radiant. maybe 30k load. This is working great and has completely eliminated the absurd amount of cycling that I was experiencing with the original setup.

How to validate if this approach is more efficient I'm not sure. I think sometimes our own sences and intuition make an excellent/imperfect data logger. You just can't prove your conclusions. A cheap data logger would be interesting, I wonder about the Lego NTX block.

Steve_147

Mostly I want to be able to see the relationship of temps. on the four sides of the low loss header. Also to see how much time the boiler return is below dewpoint. The system is a single zone fintube BB with an indirect and a Tekmar 256 sending the demand to the Vitodens 100

Doug_7

Temperature Graphing and Logging

After a lot of searching I found USB-TEMP from Measurement Computing at www.measurementcomputing.com

8 channel input device plugs into the USB port of any computer. I hook up some Tekmar 10K Thermistors and can record up to 8 channels.

Tracer DAQ software turns your computer into a fully-configured strip chart recorder.

Hardware and software cost $500. Works great - all you need is an old computer. A Thermocouple based system costs $300.

Very flexible graphing - you can set scale and data collection rate etc..

Lots of other data logging devices on this web-site.

I purchased it on-line.

With a $20,000 annual gas bill (Multi-Family Building) I can pay for such a device pretty quickly with the savings on increased efficiency in my heating and air conditioning.

Doug