I have some fridge temperature sensors that I bought from Amazon a few years ago and I wonder if there’s any way that I can make these sensors link to Home Assistant. I expect I will need some kind of device to pick up the signal they are emitting. I wonder if anyone could point me in the direction of such a device.
It really depends on the frequency the devices are using.
433Mhz might be handled by a Sonoff RF Bridge with Tasmota and Portisch. It handles both RX and TX.
Other frequencies might be handled by a YardStick One, which can do RX and TX too, or a RTL-SDR dongle, which only do RX.
I have a couple of hygrometers from Govee to measure the temperature from my freezer and refrigerator and both works just fine with Home Assistant with the BLE integration. Even with the HA in another room it works very reliable.
The one in the fridge is the WiFi model, but I still integrating via Bluetooth.
I know you already have the sensors and might not wanna buy new ones. I think the chances of your sensors to be using Bluetooth are low, but the cost to check this is also low, so in your case I would start enabling the Bluetooth integration and take a look if it can detect your sensors. You can also use some Bluetooth tracker app in your phone to try to find something related to those.
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It is highly unlikely that it is Bluetooth in any version.
The description of the device indicate no features for connecting thirdparty devices, so Bluetooth would be overkill.
It is most likely just a simple RF signal.
Most RF devices have their frequency listed on the devices or an ID that can be looked up on the internet, like for FCC registration.
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I would advise to go with rtl_433 for these sensors, either with:
- an rtl sdr connected by usb to your server
- an esp32 and a cc1101
More info below for the esp32 and cc1101
Do you have type or a link tot that freezer sensor?
I have one of those Fridge/Freezer Thermometers, they work well but I gave up trying to understand how to get them to show up in Home Assistant.
Instead I followed the instructions in this video - Monitor Equipment Temps with the Dallas Temp Sensors, ESPHome, Home Assistant and Grafana - YouTube
It uses ESPhome, an ESP32 or ESP2866 and a couple of Dallas DS18B20 temperature sensors.
The sensors read from -55C to +125C and cost £2 on AliExpress, and the wiring/soldering is simple.
Had them running in my fridge/freezer for about two weeks now and they have worked perfectly. I currently have the sensor wires entering the fridge doors on the hinge side so the seal is always compressed.