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.

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 Airflow Sensor is placed in the air stream path, allowing users to monitor the status of the flowing air.  This device measures the presence or absence of air flow, then the sensorProbe environmental monitor displays the measurement using a graphical display via its web interface.

In addition to an on/off indicator, it also graphs the analog values over a period of time.

An SNMP interface is also provided for alarm/normal status and to get the current analog value.  When an alarm condition is activated, the description and location of the fault can be sent via email.

Check out some features of the Airflow Sensor:

• On/off alarm signal of airflow
• Airflow data graphically displayed of over time
• Accurate, cost effective flow sensing
• Operates from a single +5 V DC Power Supply which powered by the sensorProbe
• 2 LEDs indicate the status of Airflow and that the sensor is securely plugged into the sensorProbe
• Electronics mounted in a small plastic case
• Sensor type – open/closed contact switch
• sensorProbe auto detects the presence of the airflow sensor
• Up to 2 airflow sensors per sensorProbe2, 8 per sensorProbe8 and securityProbe
• Full autosense including disconnect alarm
• Data graphically displayed via a web page

For more information about Ravica equipment to monitor your data center, home, or business, call Ravica at 207-324-8173.

~Angela
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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
207-324-8173
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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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Understanding how humidity in data centers affects electronics is an obvious requirement for Data Center Managers because it has a direct effect on a company’s bottom line.  Ensuring that your business has ideal data center humidity levels impacts the lifespan of equipment and can decrease utility costs.

Too little moisture in a data center can potentially lead to electrostatic discharge, which can trip internal sensors and shut down electronics.  This interruption requires time and manpower to repair.  Translation:  added financial expense.

Too much moisture in a data center can lead to condensation on equipment, which can cause them to short out or work overtime to eliminate the moisture.  This requires the use of more utilities.  Translation:  added financial expense.

Controlling the moisture content of air in the room is vital to sustaining equipment and bottom line.  Ravica is here to help you monitor your data center environment. 

Our product line is designed to help you protect your infrastructure from environmental hazards.  Our Temperature and Humidity Sensors have both temperature and humidity measuring capabilities in a single sensor.  This extends the capability of our SensorProbes to measure up to 8 temperature and 8 humidity sensing parameters, just by connecting 8 dual sensors.

Ravica can also help monitor your facilities for water leaks, voltage surges, smoke, and access.  We offer simple, reliable, and affordable solutions to protect your assets. 

Call us today to find out how cost-effective it is to protect your company’s data.

~Angela
207-324-8173
www.Ravica.com 
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