That’s not to say you can’t still use the existing method of powering the device as the BS2 will retain the internal 7.5 VDC power supply and is a “Powered Device” so the power to the unit can be supplied from either the PoE or from the 7.5 VDC power adapter, acting as backup power in case of a PoE power supply failure.

Surely such a notable addition to the product must increase the price substantially. Not true. While the powered BitSight2 (without any included sensors) currently runs $250, the new PoE model sees a modest cost increase of $45, bringing the cost to $295.

In addition to the new PoE option, the Ethernet interface is now a standard full duplex 100mHz port that replaces the old half duplex Ethernet port. This new functionality comes with the same reliability Ravica users expect from their environmental monitoring equipment at no additional cost.

As always, we continue to improve our existing product line by adding features and technologies that our customers need most. We hope many of you find these new sensorProbe options to be as exciting as we do.

Oh, and a little birdie recently told me that we can expect to see a PoE BitSight8 sometime in the near future as well. Stay tuned here for more developments in our line of data center monitoring hardware.

Jon Mills
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Check out our online demo to see some features of the BitSight2 environmental monitoring system.  See the parameters we have selected for use in our own data room.  These parameters are easily customizable to accommodate your specific environmental needs.

This sensor probe works with every intelligent sensor in the Ravica family.  You can connect any of our sensors in any combination to monitor temperature, humidity, water leakage, and airflow including long term graphing, security, detect AC Power Line Voltage, Measure Digital Voltmeter, control relays, and many more.  Our sensors include an integrated data collection and graphing package to spot trends in the airflow, temperature, and humidity.

Dry contacts and drivers are available for monitoring UPS status, security systems, and air conditioning status.

Every sensor comes with our unique autosense feature. Whenever a new type of sensor is plugged in, the autosense will recognize it and reconfigure the BS2 to begin monitoring it. In the event of an alarm or temperature / humidity threshold being exceeded, it has the ability to send alert notifications using Email, SMS (via an email-to-SMS gateway) and SNMP Traps.

From anywhere in the world, you can view your data center’s status via the web interface.  Also, view your data center with the integrated security cameras.

You can map the location of the probes in your data center or facility.  You can integrate this map into your own management applications.

The Ravica line of environmental sensors and products is versatile and reliable.  Feel free to play with the online demo to see some of the available features.  If you have further questions, give us a call any time.

~Angela
207-324-8173
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• Motion Detectors:  Increase the security of your valuable equipment and information.  The Ravica motion detectors are designed to be linked together so that you can link up to ten sensors on a single port.  This means that you can get excellent security coverage, even using the inexpensive BitSight2.  For some great information on setting up the motion detectors, check out Jon’s blogs here and here.
• AC Voltage Detectors:  Valuable for detecting brownouts or complete power outages.  Ravica can send email or text messages to immediately alert you to problems and allow for the quick recovery of power and the protection of data.
• Airflow Sensors:  Make sure that the ventilation equipment that is keeping your equipment cool doesn’t fail without your knowledge.  The SensorProbe provides airflow patterns in a graphical form that allows the user to detect changes that indicate fan failure or maintenance issues.
• Smoke Detectors:  All the Ravica SensorProbes and SecurityProbes can be integrated with SNMP-enabled smoke detectors.  Protect your property from smoke and fire even after business hours.
• Siren and Strobe Light:  Sometimes a stealth text message alert is just not enough.  Alert other employees of safety hazards with a siren and strobe light that can be triggered by the Alarm status on any of the sensors.

Ravica has SensorProbes that can support up to eight different sensors.  Whether you need to monitor a single room or a multi-story office building, we can help you set up an integrated environmental monitoring system that is scaled to your needs and can be configured and controlled from one easy to use web-interface.

If you’ve got questions, give us a call at 207-324-8173.

At first, I gave her a demonstration of the BitSight2 for temperature and humidity monitoring. It has two sensor ports, so she could monitor inside and outside, then view the data via a web browser from inside her house.

Almost jokingly, I then showed her the SecurityProbe with camera capabilities and she loved the thought of being able to see the dogs. Also, with several sensor ports, she could add smoke, water and other sensors, if she discovers a need in the future. Mostly, the cameras were a huge hit. “I can see if they are all huddled up or walking around and being active,” she said.

It’s nice to sell outside of the data room temperature monitoring market.

- Mike

In a previous life, I worked in the building maintenance department at a small university on the west coast.  My job was basically to take all the calls from across the campus when stuff went wrong, and then send someone to fix the problem.

One of the frequent calls I received had to do with the walk-in coolers and freezers in the main dining hall.  It seemed like those things were always going down, and the dining hall had hundreds of hungry college students to serve three times a day — this was a major problem!

With no equipment set up to monitor the temperature and humidity in the coolers, the detection of a problem was left in the hands of the already busy kitchen staff.  By the time the problem was reported and we were able to make a service call, there was a real possibility of major food loss and substantial cost to the university.  If there had been a monitoring system, like the Ravica BitSight2, with a couple of temperature and humidity sensors installed, we would have been able to set the high and low temperature thresholds,  received notifications via email or SMS, and fixed any problem before it reached a critical state.  That would have saved time, money, and lowered the collective blood pressure of both the kitchen and maintenance staff.

There are lots of other situations where Ravica environmental sensors would have been useful for facility management, but I’ll save those stories for another blog.

~Jessica

That’s where the motion detector comes in. It works not only with the SecurityProbe line, but with the BitSight2 and BitSight8 as well. The beauty of the motion detector sensor is that you can daisy chain up to 10 sensors to work off a single intelligent sensor port. And at just $125 per sensor, users can easily cover a good sized data room with motion detection and still have an extra intelligent sensor port on even a BitSight2 for monitoring temperature and humidity.

So keep the motion detector sensor in mind when speccing out a new data room or when adding security monitoring measures to an existing one. It is a very affordable alternative, when it is simply not possible to have eyes and ears on your secure locations.

For more information about our security monitoring solutions, call us at 207-324-8173.

~ Jon Mills
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