What is it?

The starter kit includes everything you need to get you started with a home wireless sensor network:

• Receiver
• Desktop Application (MS Windows only)
• 1 sensor (defaults to one Mini-Plant Moisture sensor or select another from the list provided)
• Mini-USB cable

From here the sky is the limit. You can order more assembled sensors, sensor kits or even roll your own. It’s fun and it’s easy. To add more sensors to your Starter Kit click here.

The sensors are an Arduino derived sensor node combined with a 433 MHz transmitter operating in the unlicensed ISM band with a range of 50 – 60 feet typically (15 -20m approximately) depending on the construction of your home and the placement of the sensor. Floors, ceilings, walls, furniture, appliances and people can attenuate the signal. Your mileage will vary. The sensors send a 200 millisecond data burst once an hour (default setting and one sensor).

The Desktop Application is for MS Windows only (XP, Win 7, Win 8 and Win 10) for now. The Desktop is a simple to use graphical application to help you manage all of your sensors. To see at a glance their status and to provide you alerts when a sensor node needs attention. For example, my desktop application is presently configured to give me:

• A pop-up message when my house plants need watering
• A text message if I’ve left the garage door open for more than 2 hours
• A text message if we’ve forgotten and left the oven on
• A pop-up if the freezer is above 10 degrees and a text message if it’s above 15.
• A text message if there is ever water under the refrigerator or washing machine.
• A Pop-up message if the sensor node’s battery voltage is too low.

Also available on this site:

• Receiver
• Mini-Plant Sensor
• Mini-Temperature Monitor
• Mini-Water leak detector
• Mini-Tilt Sensor
• Mini-Light Sensor
• Mini-General Purpose Sensor
• Temperature and Humidity Monitor
• Refrigerator/freezer temperature monitor
• Quad AC Current monitor (monitors up to four circuits simultaneously)
• Wireless MQ2 Combustible Gas sensor
• General Purpose Sensor board
• Motion Sensor
• Range Extender
• USB to Serial Adapter

Why did you make it?

I have wanted to play with wireless sensors in and around my home for years but didn’t find the time until after I retired. This started out as an Arduino learning project for me and got out of hand . As you will see from some of the documentation that I also created a small company to market these devices called Sensible Living LLC. I have half a dozen different types of sensors (Plant moisture, Water Leak, Temperature, Temperature and Humidity, Tilt, Motion, etc.) that all use this same board. Most have been working for nearly two years by now. I also have others in progress for monitoring AC Current, AC power, combustible gases and a module that will monitor up to five plants at once for an indoor garden. All of these were built to address specific needs around my home and for my family.

What makes it special?

It turns out the biggest challenge with a sensor network is what to do with all the data when it starts coming in. For that I created the Sensible Living Desktop Application. It is a feature rich graphical interface that lets you see the status of your sensors at a glance and can alert you when one of your alert conditions occurs. An alert can be anything from a simple Pop-up message, voice message, e-mail or text message to your cell phone. It also provides the ability to see the sensor activity over time in chart form.