What is the ambient temperature?  This is a tricky question that when answered correctly involves several answers!

Different things can impact the ideal ambient temperature.  Who or what is inside the room that could be impacting temperature (people, an oven, a light, etc.). The seals around windows, the temperature outside and other influencers such as air flow can all be a factor when trying to determining ambient temperature. If you are painting a car, the ideal temperature depends on the type of paint and on the material being painted.

The ideal temperature obviously depends on the individual or on the application involved. For most, 22 °C (71.6 °F) is the recommended living room temperature, and 18 °C (64.4 °F) is a good bedroom temperature.

Don’t forget about humidity detection.  Although moisture in the room can help make it feel warmer, it generally does not impact the ambient temperature. If it is, we have humidity sensors for humidity monitoring!

The picture that looks like a car vending machine is Volkswagen’s new car storage facility in Wolfsburg, Germany. I bet they must have to make sure the whole facility is kept at an optimal temperature and humidity level at all time. They must have some way to be notified if said temperature and humidity drops below a certain threshold. Now you can do that too.

You  can use a temperature and humidity monitoring sensor to keep tabs of the environment in a local car storage facilities or even your own garage. This way when the temperature and humidity reaches a certain threshold you can be notified via SNMP.

For an added measure you can even put a water sensor in your storage facility to ensure that cherished vehicles are not water damaged. The water sensor is a rope that is placed throughout a facility. When water is detected along it’s length you can also be notifies via SNMP.

As we see the future of cars evolve so must the methods of storing them.

After the strike Amazon lost power and their backup generators did not kick on, it didn’t take long for the reserve battery to quickly deplete. You may not lose your power from something as monumental as a lightening strike, but being preventative is imperative. Losing data due to environmental catastrophes should not be “occasionally expected”. These things can be prevented.

Environmental sensors can be a huge investment for the future of your data center. With a water sensor you can detect any water leaks in the length of the rope. With a temperature and humidity sensor you can prevent both overheating of the servers and condensation. With an airflow sensor you can also prevent overheating of your hardware. The list goes on and on.

The most amazing thing about these sensors is that they are all network capable. You can connect all of these to sensor probes and start to track events through SNMP. With a centralized log management tool you can set notifications through email and SMS to stay on top of any disaster. Now you are ready to tackle the world of databases.

Temperature and humidity sensors will allow construction companies to keep track of peak temperatures and how humid the conditions are. For example, some road construction companies need the outside temperature and humidity of the paving units to always below 89 degrees. This can easily be done by setting a threshold on the water proof temperature and humidity sensor to 89 degrees. Once the threshold breach you can have a siren and strobe light connected to the sensors alarm. This alerts anyone around that the temperature or the humidity breached 89 degrees.

Since most road units have small modular buildings used to manage the project it is perfect to put a BitSight2 in the unit. The BitSight2 will connect to a network and allow temperature and humidity monitoring and trending.

If you work for a road construction company and are interested or just have questions, please leave comments below and I can provide answers.

Today, let’s take a look at an alternative way to use an environmental monitoring device. Monitoring temperatures in a data center or your corporate office is not the only way to use a temperature and humidity sensor. There are plenty of other commercial uses for these products as well. Let’s look at how to use it for a more… chill environment.

Let’s say you were a grocery chain (let’s call them Grocery Mart) and your corporate offices needed to know when a refrigerated or freezer room went too warm for comfort. We had a similar story earlier in 2009 when Larry’s Lobster Shack had its cooler go warmer. If we bring this scenario to a grand scale we can see what an environmental monitor can do to help a grocery chain.

If Grocery Mart installs a Temperature and humidity sensor in their entire walk in coolers and freezers they will have the ability to globally monitor their entire perishable infrastructure and act immediately if anything goes awry. You can even have each store be digitally alerted when their cooler or freezer drops below a predetermined temperature, even after hours. So the manager can be alerted during the night when temperatures change.

Humidity is also an important factor to keep in mind. You need to make sure the freezer has a relatively low humidity. If the humidity is very high than many items will start to get freezer burn and be ruined. Grocery Mart can even put sirens and strobe lights in each store’s inventory room. The sirens and strobe lights can also be activated through the network to alarm when temperatures drop.

This is just one way an environmental sensor can save Grocery Mart from losing their perishable inventory. All of this saves them time, money and peace of mind.

I recently ran into an article in the Chicago Sun-Times describing the peak efficient working conditions of an office worker. In the article they say the peak perfect temperature is 71 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. As I sit here shivering while grasping my hot cup of chai tea, I think, “That would  be perfect right about now.”

The same effect happens in the opposite direction of the spectrum; if the temperature reaches 87 degrees office productivity decreases as much as 10%. Sandra goes on to state that most office buildings often have poorly controlled temperatures. My office experience has taught me to prepare for any temperature whether it be hot or cold because you never know what the temperature might be during the course of one day.

Loss of productivity is bad no matter what the temperature is, but most importantly, it will result in the loss of money annually. To accurately keep your office in peak working conditions its good to get a temperature monitoring device that is more than just a thermometer connected to an air conditioning system.

With a temperature and humidity sensor connected to a sensor probe you can not only trigger your air conditioning unit but you can trend the data over a period of time. This feature is very useful because you need to be able to historically look back while actively monitoring your offices. In the long run you will save your company money and create happier employees.

The first thing to monitor is, of course, the temperature. Our company sells accurate Temperature Sensors that connect to any of our sensor probes. This ensures your servers will not overheat from the hot summer days. According to Data Center Knowledge, Data Center temperature can run hotter than you expect. If you are trying immitate companies such as Google(TM) who has already implemented this energy saving strategy,  A good Temperature Sensor can save you even more money.

Humidity as explained in Angela’s post about data center environment can wreak havoc on your hardware investments. Too much humidity can cause condensation and short out the electronics. Not enough humidity could lead to electrostatic charges which could shut down electronics. Translation:  added financial expense. Try our dual sensor, it can save you big bucks.

It is hard to stay cool during the summer months without air conditioning, data centers are no exception. But having air conditioning units can run the risk of leaking and drippy units can cause water damage to your electronics. Pick up a rope sensor as it can detect any form of water throughout its length.

We are only scratching the surface of the disasters we can help you prevent in your Data Centers. Don’t forget to catch Part 2 for this ongoing series.

While on the road, providing support services to remote offices, a network administrator can receive alerts on events occurring back in the in the core data center. Did someone enter a secure location? Is the temperature skyrocketing because the AC unit failed? There’s no need to wait until to get back to the office to take action. Users can now constantly be in the know

The iPhone app is bundled with their security server software. This is a mobile client that allows you to view live video. This is perfect for remote employees who still need to keep track of sensors in the office. You can also view your environmental monitors and manage access to secure rooms.

The Android app is limited to the ability to read only 8 probe ports. This still allows you to keep tabs on the temperature, humidity or water detections.

Of course these monitoring options are all possible with the devices that Ravica sells. If you have any questions on the above, please give us a call.

Although I think there are a few engineering flaws in the post, the design and concept are stable.

Using natural resources to cool your server room is clearly the next logical step in making server rooms green.

Now, I am not suggesting that you go and implement this type of hack in your company’s server room.  At the very least, this action would get you demoted and sent to the basement where you could display your very own red stapler.  At the worst, you could find your self celebrating the beginning of 2011 looking for new career opportunities.

What you should take from this in the near future is that the design and implementation of server rooms heating and cooling system will be using natural resources like the cold air from outside.  What will make this achievable and- more importantly- practical is the ability to monitor and react to environmental changes.  That is where the technology used in today’s temperature probes will shine.

So, until the future comes, I suggest using your very own Ravica environmental sensor probes to monitor the temperature and humidity in your server room, and to follow these five steps to protect hardware in your data center.

- Jimmy D

If you have more specific questions, we would love to hear from you.

Q:  What kind of web browser is required to operate the securityProbe?
A:  The securityProbe is platform independent.  It works with standard web browsers from host machines running any type of operating system.

Q:  What is the default IP address of the device when I receive it?
A:  The default IP assigned at the factory is: 192.168.0.100.

Q:  Is there some way I can find out the IP address of my unit?
A:  Yes, you can simply press the red reset button on the back of the unit once, and the unit will announce the IP address through the speaker.

Q:  Where can I find the MAC address of the device?
A:  The MAC address of the device can be found on the bottom cover of the device.

Q:  What are the temperature and humidity monitoring ranges for environmental monitoring with the securityProbe?
A:   The device monitors temperature from -31F to 176F, and for humidity from 20% to 80% (non-condensing).

Q: Are warranty and support available?
A:  Absolutely.  securityProbes have a one year warranty and an options two year warranty.  Also, you receive lifetime support for the product.

As always, if you have any questions beyond these about environmental monitoring solutions, you are always welcome to contact us directly.

~Angela
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