[Dave K]

Ever fearful of instrument malfunction I had for many years a previous version of this with an external sensor in a mini Stevenson as a back to log temperature and humidity data from outside. For some reason after a battery change I couldn't download any logged data via the serial connection so decided to replace it with this newer version which now has a USB transceiver ( handy now that serial ports on PCs are rarer than hen's teeth ).

German made, this new model seems to be almost unknown in the UK although available from Skyview and Amazon (through 3rd party) but had some good reviews from German users, so I bought one from Skyview and it arrived today after I ordered it on Saturday. I shall give it my own review here for general interest.

The base unit doesn't come with an external sensor so one or more has to be bought separately to use outdoors. It is on the expensive side I suppose for a thermometer/humidity station but the selling point is the incorporated datalogger from which data can be downloaded to a PC.

Cost
Base Unit: approx £75
External Sensor: approx £19 each

The external sensor measures from -40 to +50 °C so should cope with our conditions! It transmits readings every 10 seconds with a range of 100m. It does need to be in a screen ideally as it has no shielding and needs to be protected from rain and direct sunlight.

Quote

The NEW KLIMALOGG Pro temperature and humidity station can record up to 50,000 sets of data and transmit them via the wireless USB receiver (included) to your PC.

Recording intervals can be set at 1, 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes or 1, 2, 3, 6 hours. So recording every 1 minute would give you 34 days worth of data before a download was required. Or once every hour would give you well over 5 years of data before the data would need downloading. Free weather software is included allowing you to view the information in various formats on your pc as well as the ability to export it as a CSV file for use within EXCEL.

The KLIMALOGG can receive up to 8 wireless sensors; each transmitter can be labelled with it's own unique name in the software making it easy to identify and compare records. Sensors are weather proof so they can be mounted In or Outside and transmit up to 100 meters.

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SET-UP

Extemely quick and simple. Firstly the supplied batteries go into the external sensor, which has a small LCD display so that you can see it is working properly, it starts transmitting data straightaway so the next step is to set up the base station (batteries again supplied). I did this quickly enough that the base station "learned" the transmitter and allocated Channel 1 without any more need to delve into the set-up, but if you delay too long before setting up the base station after the external sensor then the set-up to enter "learning" mode looks easy enough. The small instruction booklet is clearer than many I have seen though still quirky as they usually when translated to English.

After a few minutes the unit hadn't picked up the radio controlled time/date signal so I set these manually - easy enough and it was already pre-set to GMT. In the event, it synchronised with the radio control within half an hour anyway with daylight savings correctly applied ( time zone adjustment is possible in any case ).

So, the external sensor is now in the screen outside about 50ft from the base unit with a wall in the way and the base unit is receiving it quite happily with frequent updates to the readings that certainly seem to confirm the 10 second intervals (there is a little icon on the display that shows when data is received).

Alles gut so far then and the next thing to test is the datalogging software and USB transceiver, which I will report on in the next post.

[Dave K]

Right, the PC software isn't included on a CD but has to be downloaded from the TFA website along with the manual, fairly easy to locate on the website ( not sure if there is a Mac version though). Quick and easy to install, and on startup it prompts to be synchronised with the base unit. The USB transceiver which connects to the PC is the same size as a memory stick. The software found the logger for the one external sensor easily enough, synchronised and downloaded the first few datasets.

The logger in the base unit can hold 50 000 sets of data before the oldest is overwritten, so how many days this is depends on the recording interval and how many sensors are in use. My old one stored only 3 000 so this is a big increase. I have set it to 5 minute intervals for now. It has a Mem % display too so you can see when you need to download data before losing any.

If you leave the USB transceiver in with the software running and the base unit in transmit mode then the data on the PC updates wirelessly according to the interval you have set which while not truly "live" is quite cool (possibly uses the batteries quicker though?), and this in testing works with 20ft and three interior walls between base unit and computer (though you need to go to the base unit to press a button to start downlaod) . Alternatively if you disconnect and reconnect some time later it will download all the data in memory on the base unit, I tested this and it worked fine.

The software is admittedly a little basic with no real reporting functionality but the data can be exported as a CSV for storage or analysis on other software. There is a tab to switch between sensors ( I have just Indoors and Outdoors). The screenshot below shows that it does log minimum and maximum temperature but I reckon this is not reset automatically each day ( the base unit displays these too but a manual reset is required) but the whole period of the log. You can use the software to manage the base unit settings, e.g. I renamed Sensor 1 to "Outdoors" (imaginative, huh?) . The unit also has a temperature alarm you can set so a useful function for those who need an "ice alert" or "OMG it's too hot alert" or somesuch. Quite useful for environments which need active monitoring such as a wine cellar (what - you don't have one?!) or greenhouse though by no means unique to this make and model.

Note that one drawback against the old version is that this does not have a +/- calibrate temperature function where you can offset against a known accurate thermometer reading.

Here is the sample screenshot (click on it to enlarge) of the software, as I said, pretty basic. You can see when I moved it from indoors to outside and when a passing shower saw the temperature dip!



Now obviously this is all not much good if the accuracy is off but that will take a few days to equilibrate to outside and evaluate.

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 15 May 2012 - 14:48

[Dave K]

Well because the external sensor doesn't have exactly the same exposure or screening as my Davis VP1 it's possibly not that helpful to compare the temperature readings for accuracy and I dont really have a reference calibrated thermometer. But anyway, in this hot spell the TFA Klima sensor is reading about 2 °C higher than the VP1 at the hottest part of the day and about 0.5 °C higher for the minima. That suggests that careful siting and screening is necessary to prevent readings which are too high ( but not as much as some other AWS readings I have seen!). There are two other temperature sensors in the mini-Stevenson and this one gives readings in the middle of the others, a LaCrosse sensor being up to 1 °C higher still, a Huger about 0.5 °C lower.

Wireless data downloads have worked perfectly and judging by memory usage it can store about 100 days of data from the1 indoor and 1 outdoor sensor.

So I would recommend this unit if you just have a need to record temperature and humidity readings and not the whole paraphenalia of wind/rain/sun etc. It is just a shame that it does not have a function for user set +/- calibration. Also a pity that one external sensor isn't provided automatically with the base unit and just hits the value for money aspect. Reliability of course need far more than 1 weeks testing.

Usability and Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 7/10

I hope this is useful to anyone who might consider purchase

[StratoQ]

I too have used a TFA datalogger in the past. Very similar to the model shown and found it to be pretty good as back up - but I thought there was a bit of a temperature lag when compared with standard LIG thermometers.

But I switched to this little USB logger from Fourier Technologies a while back.

http://www.fouriersy...data_logger.php

I have it suspended from the ceiling of the stevenson screen. I have it set to give readings at every minute. The logger will store enough for about ten days and then overwrite it, if not transferred to PC. So it's really only in case I need a back-up/double check.

Compared with the LIG thermometers, the response time is excellent. Maxes and mins are nearly always in line.

[Dave K]

StratoQ, on 04 June 2012 - 17:52, said:

I too have used a TFA datalogger in the past. Very similar to the model shown and found it to be pretty good as back up - but I thought there was a bit of a temperature lag when compared with standard LIG thermometers.

But I switched to this little USB logger from Fourier Technologies a while back.

http://www.fouriersy...data_logger.php

I have it suspended from the ceiling of the stevenson screen. I have it set to give readings at every minute. The logger will store enough for about ten days and then overwrite it, if not transferred to PC. So it's really only in case I need a back-up/double check.

Compared with the LIG thermometers, the response time is excellent. Maxes and mins are nearly always in line.

Interesting, I suppose the drawback is that if you don't have a laptop you have to remove the logger from the screen for a few minutes to take it physically to connect to a desktop (some of us are old fashioned still!) which will mess up the readings.