Far Watch WATCHERs

Stop press!... x2

(9/18): I've built a new data source (web-server), and have a crudely kludged FarWatchWatcher to watch it. The web page explaining all has code in it which you can have for no money. But you will have to struggle a bit to figure everything out... it isn't well explained, nor is the software "robust", "user friendly", etc. Sorry.

(1/17): There's a new kid on the block. Still pretty "rough and ready", but the first FarWatchWatcher to consider is FW003... which only needs a webpage with two "special" lines in it, and it can fetch, graph, and save data from the web server. The webserver can be an Arduserver. ($16 for the hardware) (FW003, at the time of writing, is free. (Please remind me to change this, and quote "ssdd67", when that changes!)

While it is in many ways "better", it doesn't (yet!) have one of DS45's features: It can't ring an alarm at the "Watching" computer if a value goes out of a defined range.

End of "stop press". The rest is what was here before 1/17....

This page describes DS45, (replacement of DD67), "Far Watch Watcher"... the third leg of a system you can build incrementally to monitor sites remotely.

The application began because of a second premise I am involved with. At times, it is infrequently visited in cold winter weather. If the heating fails, pipes could freeze. I can now check the temperature there any time I choose to, from any internet connected computer on the planet. The computer I use to check the premises doesn't need any special software. That much is possible with "just" FarWatch, explained elsewhere.

Before you read more of this page, if you haven't done so already, check out the overview of the FarWatch system, which will open in a new window if you double click the link earlier in this sentence.

FarWatchWatcher- DS45 (Formerly DD67)

FarWatchWATCHER goes one step further. If you set FarWatchWatcher up on a PC, say on your desk, and leave it running, it will periodically (how often is up to you) do a remote check of distant premises. If the temperature on a sensor you have specified is below a temperature you have specified, a alarm is raised, alerting you to the possibility that there is a problem at the remote premises. FarWatchWatcher will soon also be able to watch a OnOff channel at the remote premise. I use it to watch the electric pump raising water from the remote premise's well. If that pump is running when there's no one in the house, I want to know why, urgently!

Apologies for this somewhat sketchy page... I hope it tells you what you wanted to know... and it if doesn't, there's a way to contact me at the bottom of the page!

You can try FarWatchWatcher for free, but if you find it useful, you will have to register. It is a new product... pricing is not established yet. $20? Pricing to trying it: For now: Free! But you have to set up FarWatch and DS025 before you can use FarWatchWatcher. (See the FarWatch overview page.)

Still reading? Great! You have DS025 running? Time to download and try FarWatchWatcher...

Click here to download zip file with all you need. THE PROGRAM IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT just now. It WILL read and check temperatures, at least. Don't hesitate to get in touch, should you have questions.

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"? The link will take you to the Wikipedia entry.

Ad from page's editor: Yes.. I do enjoy compiling these things for you... hope they are helpful. However.. this doesn't pay my bills!!! If you find this stuff useful, (and you run an MS-DOS or Windows PC) please visit my freeware and shareware page, download something, and circulate it for me? At least (please) send an 'I liked the parallel port use page, and I'm from (country/ state)' email? (No... I don't do spam) Links on your page to this page would also be appreciated!

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