Wireless temperature logger in final testing stage

The wireless temperature logger is now in its final testing stage. All is looking good for a February release.

There have been some very interesting and challenging issues that we have come up against and had to resolve which I will discuss today. The end result, however, is a product that is great to work with.

The first big issue was our first test site had two clusters that had to be monitored. We always planned to have just a single PC for the test sites but immediately had to ensure the networked version was available.

The next issue was the expectation for immediate alarm notification if particular fridges and freezers were too hot or cold. A wireless temperature logger can do this, provided it is communicating with a PC at the time. On this site, however, all the fridges and freezers were not only a distance away from the PC, but also had metal doors. So we did an adjustment to the boards and we now have the option for external sensors. The main part sits outside the fridge where it can communicate with the PC, and the sensor sits inside the fridge.
This then lead to the problem of not having a perfect seal. We are working around the problem at the moment, but by next month we will have a very thin cable that will allow cables to be run into the fridge while maintaining the seal.

The final issue we had was just the practicality of talking to the logger as soon as possible. We were reprogramming the logger and then having to wait for it to wake up. We added a simple feature that means the logger will automatically communicate with the PC each time it is knocked. So a simple tap on the unit and it will try to talk with the PC.

We will continue to do trials at a number of nearby sites and hope to be selling it publicly in February.