Home Assistant Temperature Sensor Unlike Any Other (Apollo Automation TEMP-1)

Introduction

If you want to monitor the temperature and humidity of your smart home, there are tons of options, and they all offer basically the same thing. They are mostly just competing on price or brand name. I know because I have dozens of these sensors around my house, and I previously reviewed them all to find the best one.

I’m taking a long at a temperature sensor for Home Assistant that offers something different. The TEMP-1 from Apollo Automation can not only track ambient air temperature and humidity, but also the temperature inside a fridge or freezer, or food in ovens or grills, or water in cooking pot, pool, hot tub, or fish tank. And it also has a built-in RGB light and buzzer for alerting you when temperature conditions are outside the expected range.

Main Points

Features

The TEMP-1 is a temperature sensor built for Home Assistant. It has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth for integrating into your smart home and creating home automations. Like many of the other sensors from Apollo, it includes an onboard RGB LED and buzzer, which can be used for real-time alerts. It has a sensor that measures ambient air temperature and humidity, alongside temperature probe readings.

The 3.5mm jack supports various temperature probe options. There is a short and long temperature probe, measuring 20cm and 1.5m, respectively. Both are flat and waterproof, so you can fit them through small spaces and submerge them in water. Both of these probes can withstand up to 85 degrees Celsius, or 185 degrees Fahrenheit.

In addition, there is a 1m stainless-steel, food-safe probe. This can withstand up to 350 degrees Celsius, or 662 degrees Fahrenheit. This probe is not dishwasher safe, so if you do stick it into food, you’ll need to wash it by hand. All of these probes are sold separately, and may be added at the time of purchase.

The TEMP-1 comes in two versions: battery, and non-battery. Both versions support continuous power over a USB-C cable, while the battery version gives you the option to run it wire-free using a battery, which is expected to last six months. This does not come with a charger or battery.

You also have the option for a magnet mount, which makes it easy to attach the TEMP-1 to a metal surface on a fridge, freezer, oven, or grill. Just be aware that TEMP-1 should not be left outdoors for long periods of time, or allowed to get wet.

Home Assistant Setup

Adding the TEMP-1 to Home Assistant is pretty easy. Supply power to the TEMP-1 > Connect to the device’s WiFi network from your phone or computer > Select your home’s WiFi network > Enter your WiFi credentials.

Then, open up Home Assistant > Devices & Services > the device is auto-discovered by ESPhome in Home Assistant > click configure and submit, and the device is added to the ESPhome integration, and ready for use in your home automations. All of this can be done in about a minute.

Once setup, you’ll see the entities that are exposed to Home Assistant. You can control the RGB light, create offsets for the temperature and humidity, set maximum and minimum ranges for the temperature probe, and choose to get an alert if the temperature falls outside that range, among other things.

Use Cases

Alright, so what are some ways that I’m using this sensor, and how might you want to use it?

Without the probes, you can just use it to monitor the ambient air temperature. For example, you could have it alert you when the indoor air temperature is outside a comfortable range, or trigger your home’s heating or cooling based on its readings. This may also be useful if you have a property or structure that you are not always located at to monitor the environmental conditions.

With the probes, you could use this to monitor a fridge or freezer to ensure safe temperatures for food storage. The flat cable makes it easy to fit through door seals. You could create an automation to alert you if the temperature of your fridge or freezer becomes abnormal.

Additionally, you could monitor things like baking in the oven, or grilling on a grill in real-time. This would not only help you know the exact temperature, but also alert you when the oven, grill, or food is at the target temperature. You could also use it to monitor a pot of water, and notify you when it’s boiling.

If you have a pool, hot tub, or fish tank, you could use this to monitor the water temperature.

For any of these use case, the onboard RGB pixel and buzzer could alert you in real-time about changing temperature conditions.

Likes and Dislikes

I like the multi-sensor approach. I have a bunch of standalone temperature and humidity sensors in my home, and I also have a separate temperature probe sensor. I like how this combines everything into one device. Likewise, I appreciate that there are multiple probe options, from short and long submersible cables, to a food-safe option as well. This makes it really versatile.

It’s also nice that the short and long probes are flat, so they can fit into a fridge or freezer without preventing the door from closing. And I like how the entities in Home Assistant include min and max temperature ranges with a switch for getting notified when the temperature falls outside that range.

In terms of what could be better, I wish the onboard temperature and humidity sensor were closer to reality out-of-the-box, without the need to apply offsets, only to then question how accurate the offsets are that you are applying. The magnet case is really nice, but I wish it just came with the device. Though, I suppose this lets folks decide if it’s worth the extra $3. I also wish it used a more common battery, such as a coin-style one.

Final Thoughts

The TEMP-1 costs $24.99, or $1 more if you want the battery version. The probes are sold separately, and range from $5-$6.

There are a variety of temperature and humidity sensors for Home Assistant that work reasonably well, but they won’t give you all the options and features of the TEMP-1, like the ability to monitor the temperature of food and water, or using built-in RGB lights and buzzers in your home automations. It’s another useful sensor from Apollo Automation.

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Featured Tech

TEMP-1 Temperature Sensor For Home Assistant
https://go.michaelsleen.com/temp-1