CCTV for brewing shed?

Hi all,

Does anyone know of a cheap way of monitoring temps in my shed without having to run down there morning, noon, and night?

I have an itc 1000 temp controller for a brew fridge in the shed, but also use a thermostatically controlled oil filled radiator to regulate the general temps in the shed for bottle conditioning.

So there's quite a bit of unattended electric stuff down there, so for safety, but mostly to check beer temps, it would be handy to be able to rig up a camera to monitor the temp, which I could check online, pref with my phone.

I don't necessarily need continuous video. Stills about every 15 mins would do.

The shed is 50 feet from the house, so wifi won't reach (although I could consider a repeater), and I don't want to fork out for another 3g phone contract or whatever. I just want a cheap solution. Maybe wiring up old cctv and running down the garden, if I can get my hands on it.

I suppose one option is to make a hole in the shed door and put the temp readout there so I can read it with binoculars! Another is to get off my **** and walk down there, but daytime I'm at work.

Has anyone bothered with this issue, and do they have any bright ideas that are cheap, please?

with an stc1000 v1.0 you can reflash with the v1.08 stc1000 firmware which adds RF broadcast to box,
https://github.com/matsstaff/stc1000p

you need to solder onto the free solder pads a pin header to a) reprogram the device and b) connect the rf broadcast board.

then you can sit an arduino upto 25m away to listen in and record the temp and relay status of the brew
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...logger&usg=AFQjCNHWd6SvDwHsqdeSZBdiEeDn_aoDOw

All the above needs is the ability to follow instructions, if you get stuck pm me for help.. These days it might be worth looking at using an esp8266 based soc and log directly to an iot server?

the plug n play rf h/w needed http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/433MHz-RF...967162?hash=item3d1ae122ba:g:NGgAAOSwAahXPNsu

Fil said:

with an stc1000 v1.0 you can reflash with the v1.08 stc1000 firmware which adds RF broadcast to box,
https://github.com/matsstaff/stc1000p

you need to solder onto the free solder pads a pin header to a) reprogram the device and b) connect the rf broadcast board.

then you can sit an arduino upto 25m away to listen in and record the temp and relay status of the brew
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...logger&usg=AFQjCNHWd6SvDwHsqdeSZBdiEeDn_aoDOw

All the above needs is the ability to follow instructions, if you get stuck pm me for help.. These days it might be worth looking at using an esp8266 based soc and log directly to an iot server?

the plug n play rf h/w needed http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/433MHz-RF...967162?hash=item3d1ae122ba:g:NGgAAOSwAahXPNsu

Click to expand...

Woo! Thanks Fil. lots of interesting bits there to get my teeth into. I'm not great at electronics but it's great to try something like that and for it to work. Is there a big difference between itc1000 and stc1000?

Ahh No you will need an stc1000 and specifically a V1.0 model there is a link to a known alliexpress suppler at the bottom of the stc1000+ read me doc. buying off ebay amazon is a 50/50 gamble and you can buy one crack the box to find ver1.1 h/w inside which isnt compatible with the above mods.


so your looking at a cost of (off the top of my head)
£15 for a stc1000
£5 for an arduino uno clone
£5 for a arduino data logging shield
£2 for RF boards
£5 dc power brick
??£5 wires resistors leds. solder pin headers
?? £5 box
??£2 sd card or plug into a pc for real time logging..


or make me an offer the v1 logger and its stc1000+ are sat gathering dust here..

Fil said:

Ahh No you will need an stc1000 and specifically a V1.0 model there is a link to a known alliexpress suppler at the bottom of the stc1000+ read me doc. buying off ebay amazon is a 50/50 gamble and you can buy one crack the box to find ver1.1 h/w inside which isnt compatible with the above mods.


so your looking at a cost of (off the top of my head)
£15 for a stc1000
£5 for an arduino uno clone
£5 for a arduino data logging shield
£2 for RF boards
£5 dc power brick
??£5 wires resistors leds. solder pin headers
?? £5 box
??£2 sd card or plug into a pc for real time logging..


or make me an offer the v1 logger and its stc1000+ are sat gathering dust here..

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm thinking it's going to be beyond my expertise to do that project successfully. I checked and have the stc. It's good to know I could do RF. Thanks for the info and the offer.

Braindead said:

http://www.bertusbrewery.com/temp-monitor

Click to expand...

I have a pi somewhere. Food for thought thanks.

I'm thinking about extending my WiFi signal and using an old phone as a web cam somehow. Probably. : )

My wife suggested this years ago, i was having none of it, shes not watching me in my brewing and bottling plant .

I am sure I have seen Bluetooth thermometer talked about on here, not sure why you would need a camera.

Actually why would you need to check so often. Won't the controllers control the temperature?

Tanzanite said:

My wife suggested this years ago, i was having none of it, shes not watching me in my brewing and bottling plant .

Click to expand...

An Englishman's home is his brew shed, Tanzanite!

Leon103 said:

Actually why would you need to check so often. Won't the controllers control the temperature?

Click to expand...

two good points, Leon03, you've really got me thinking.

I will look into bluetooth, would be happy with a temp reading rather than a picture. it's just having already got the stc 1000, I thought I'd use existing stuff and an old phone rather than buy new stuff. But then Bluetooth may not mean new stuff.

With the thermostatic radiator for bottle conditioning in the shed, I set it to 20c but actual temp varies a lot. Though, for the chilly nights it's good enough, it takes the worst out of it. But daytime if it is too hot I would like some warning, so I can nip down if need be.

I suppose another reason for a camera is to make sure the shed isn't burning down ! I have already had a shed fire but that was arson. So I'm a bit paranoid about it.

Your points made me realise that really, I should concentrate on getting proper temp control, and make sure an electrician has approved the serious wiring once it's all finished. Then I can stop worrying about it.

We tend to overthink things sometimes. I kind of like the simplicity of just sticking a wireless IP camera in there looking at the STC1000 readout. Less than 20 quid on ebay.

foxbat said:

We tend to overthink things sometimes. I kind of like the simplicity of just sticking a wireless IP camera in there looking at the STC1000 readout. Less than 20 quid on ebay.

Click to expand...

Thanks, i just checked that out. It relies on a very close WiFi signal, which is not really possible in my shed as it's 50 feet from the house. I keep thinking there's a very simple solution somewhere but I've not quite got there yet.

Imagine .....cctv in your shed...you could make mucky videos of your airlock bubbling! Or some blow off tube erotica...

Clint said:

Imagine .....cctv in your shed...you could make mucky videos of your airlock bubbling! Or some blow off tube erotica...

Click to expand...

Hot fermentation! (but not too hot, we don't want Ester interfering..)

Everyone. I found this! I was going to attach a picture but can't. It's called cleverdog. It's a monitoring Webcam. £20 odd quid. Just needs a wifi connection in the shed and you're away. Use a wifi extender in the kitchen if you have to. You can monitor your brew from anywhere with your phone. Works really well.

cyderspace said:

Everyone. I found this! I was going to attach a picture but can't. It's called cleverdog. It's a monitoring Webcam. £20 odd quid. Just needs a wifi connection in the shed and you're away. Use a wifi extender in the kitchen if you have to. You can monitor your brew from anywhere with your phone. Works really well.

Click to expand...

Sorted -


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv5lDUPADJw[/ame]


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8nYLA_kDGs[/ame]

before buying the cheapest app supported device be mindful of the sort of practices that occur. especially if you give an app blanket permissions to access data and update.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/02/chinese_backdoor_found_in_ebays_popular_cheap_smart_watch/

equipment that uses standard protocols and can be accessed with any s/w may cost a bit more but could be a lot safer.. alternativley buy/recycle a basic brewing smartphone you dont load with real personal info, it needent need credit if working with wifi..