Freshliance Temperature Humidity Data Logger, USB Reusable Temperature Humidity Recorder with PDF CSV Report, Digital Refrigerator Thermometer Hygrometer for 35000 Points High Accuracy, TagPlus-TH

I want to monitor a home build solar water heating system. I bought this and thought I could set it for 6 months monitor and was a use once and throw.I was pleasantly surprised when I read it's instructions to find that once data has been downloaded, it resets and you can replace the battery and re-use it!

Don't waste your money

useless

Work very well and provide a comprehensive report. Perfect.

This temperature/humidity data logger is a novel item and I was most interested to give it a test.The logger itself is small, with a removable cap revealing a USB plug. When switched on, the display cycles around ºC max, ºC min, % max RH, % min RH (each pair of reading being displayed twice). Great accuracy is claimed without calibration, and a certificate of validation (a test certificate) lasting 2 years from testing is provided.Plugging into my Mac’s USB port brought up 2 files; (1) the validation certificate as above, and (2) a data report comprising charts of configuration information, temperature and humidity data and a graph. Not a bad presentation for printed (pdf) material but could be improved by one of the many standard graphing packages.The manual states that to configure this logger, it is necessary to download software from the manufacturer’s web site and run it on a Windows (no version stated) PC. I declined such a risk and so could not investigate the configuration possibilities, relying instead on the defaults. It would be better for the configuration to be done from the item’s internal web page, similar to that of a router, not requiring bespoke software.The manufacturer is aiming at the “cold chain shipping” industry and perhaps they will succeed. My line of work required instruments that were more physically robust and where calibration was all-important.

Freshliance Temperature Humidity Data Logger, USB Reusable Temperature Humidity Recorder with PDF CSV Report, Digital Refrigerator Thermometer Hygrometer for 35000 Points High Accuracy, TagPlus-THThe small and portable unit measures humidity and temperature at intervals during the day. Power is via a CR2032. I would have preferred AAA but 2032 is one of the easiest button batteries to obtain and is small. Waterproof to IP67. Complies with EN12830.Connect it to a PC via USB. In Linux the data logger is detected and open with file manager can be selected from the pop up menu. The file manager shows two pdf files. One is a certificate of validation and another is the current data report. I assume that Windows and Apple are similar.Out of the box the report shows temperature and humidity at 5 minute intervals. There is no instruction sheet but the Amazon page and the website give a lot of detail. Mention is made of some additional software for Windows users, but it also says that no software is necessary. There is built in software for showing maximum and minimum and average temperature and humidity in the logging run. In order to reset the logging run to start a fresh log one would need the Windows configuration software. It does other things to. Could be that not building the configuration software into the device is a security measure, as a Linux home user I do lose out here.I tried to use the device with an android mobile via OTG but could not get it detected. The distributor suggested the BlueTag TH20 bluetooth data logger as appropriate for mobiles.*I have been getting weird readings of temperature and humidity this year, dependant on where in my flat the readings are taken. I tried a low cost humidity / temperature meter but this is so much nicer, the data report helpful.

My interest in this particular logger stemmed from the vendor's claim - "Built-in USB interface. No software required, automatically generating PDF or CSV reports easily."I interpreted that, I think with good grounds, to mean that it could be operated always and entirely via its own user interface and that logged data would be available in CSV form just by plugging the stick into a suitable host and copying off the CSV file(s) generated.However, this is only partially true. You cannot use the device at all without first downloading and installing additional software from the manufacturer, as is made clear in the supplied instructions. If the device is new or its battery is changed, it needs to be initialised again using that software before use. This seems unnecessary to me, a default mode of operation should have been possible with it, even if that meant correcting timestamps manually in the generated data.My days of purchasing items that require bespoke software (and cloud services, although that doesn't apply here) to operate, which may or may not be available in the future as and when those vendors disappear or choose to drop support are (almost) behind me. And frankly, I'm getting increasingly guarded about being forced to install software from "just anywhere".All that said, when the device is operating it offers a good level of functionality for the price. I found the factory calibration to be acceptable and more importantly, linearity and repeatability were very good. Probably a good choice if you've no objection to using the manufacture's software.