I need a creative solution - remote temp warning.

I need a creative (read cheap) way to get a warning if a temperature goes above a certain level at a remote site.

The air con is not on a ups but the server etc have about 2 hours worth of backup (bad power supply in the area). The server room is small enough to heat up fairly quickly if the aircon dies.

I know theres other ways to provide protection but id like to see if i can get this going as an early warning.

It's worth pointing out that everyone I know who's tried the creative way has ended up replacing it with real hardware. If it's worth monitoring, it's worth doing right.

http://www.sensorsoft.com/pricingpage.html

I mean, US$99 - $199 is not a fuck of a lot of money for any business big enough to have a remote site that needs monitoring

I can handle US$99, some of the systems i have looked at were a lot more than that for what is essentially a $10 themometer and a simple email program.

It aint a big business though

Market it as a "centrally heated studio apartment" to Chinese ESL students and just call them every hour and ask how hot it is.

Or, give them a jar of peanut butter, build a pipe from the room to a rat enclosure on your desk.

If it gets too hot the Chinese ESL student will faint, drop the peanut butter and the rat will scamper down the pipe to eat it.

Rat present: green light; rat gone: level 5 alert!

The man DID ask for creative, I'll give you that

I would have thought the remote methlab you need to monitor turns over big dollars???

Putting that personality type to good use, I see

got a lol out of me.

Nah the chinese esl cooks were adding rats to the recipe to bulk it up, it cost us millions in gang payoffs.

The rats dont seem to last long out west anyway there so many feral cats and unfortunately cats are too lazy to rely on for temperature monitoring. or for anything except sleeping on the job. Guess thats why theres so many out west

we use apc

$$$$$$$