Tagged: mDot Box, sensors, temperature
Frank A.
Frank AHi,
Yesterday, I was experimenting with my new MultiTech MultiConnect Conduit Starter Kit, and I noticed that the mDot Box was returning incorrect temperature readings. More specifically, the room’s temperature was 20C, and the device started out at 21C, and quickly went up to +24C within 10 minutes.
That begin said, I was wondering if there were any known issues with the temperature sensor in the mDot Box? If so, would there be a way to get around those issues? If not, then it would suggest that there is something wrong with my device. In that case, would there be anything I could do about it (e.g. could I get a replacement device)?
Thank you very much for your time and support. A+
Frank
Mike FioreFrank,
The DotBox has the MPL3115A2 pressure/temp sensor. Here’s the datasheet:
http://www.nxp.com/assets/documents/data/en/data-sheets/MPL3115A2.pdf
The temp accuracy is +-1C @ 25C and +-3C for the whole range. This will account for some of the variation you see. The rest can likely be accounted for by the fact that the sensor is inside the box – the LoRa radio generates a lot of heat when it’s in TX and RX mode especially.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Mike
Frank AHello Mike,
Thank you for your quick response!
Thanks for the link to the pressure/temperature sensor’s datasheet. I’ll have a look at it.
You are confirming what I suspected about the heat generated by the LoRa radio, etc., and this was this topic’s main purpose.
In fact, to be honest, this is not really a big deal for me. I think that it is fair to say that most people using this product (i.e. the mDot Box) are not using it to get precise temperature readings. It is a great experimentation tool, and, as far as I am concerned, I am glad I have it.
Once again, thank you very much for your time and support. A+ 🙂
Frank