cheap wireless temp/humidty sensors and linux s/w

["Harondel J. Sibble" <help pdscc com>]

Howdy folks, a bit of an odd one I hope someone can solve for me. 

I am looking for small, battery powered, hopefully wireless temperature and 
humidity sensors I can locate throughout my apartment and have monitored by 
one of my linux boxen. 

One option I know of is X10 based systems, however, they are extremely 
expensive, as in ~us$200 per node. That is out of the question. I also know 
of the Dallas I buttons, however IIRC they require manually pulling the data 
from the sensor via a special reader wand. I want it completely automated. 

Now, why do I need this? Well like a bunch of other list members I have 
multiple computers running 24/7, this contributes a lot to the heat levels in 
my apartment. To combat the heat, I used to run about 1/2 dozen large and 
small fans 24/7. This was a problem as its noisy and raises my hydro bill. My 
hydro bill is already double what it was 6 years ago (and still rising) 
before I had all these computers. Now, I considered putting in A/C last 
summer when the temperature in my bedroom got up to 36C one day last summer. 

However I found something more economical (hydro wise) and that wouldn't make 
my already dry apartment even drier like an A/C unit. It known as an 
Evaporative Cooler aka swamp cooler or swampie. Basically it works by drawing 
air through a wet pad and as the water evaporates it lowers the temperature 
(just like sweating does) in the surrounding area.  This is great especially 
in the winter when it is dry as running with the fan on full tilt (about 
150watts) it can take my bedroom at 30% humidity to like 60%+ humidity in 
space of 20-30 minutes. The unit holds 3 gallons of water and can exhaust the 
tank in about 12 hours. So... that means that moisture in some areas of my 
apartment can get pretty high. I remember one morning waking up to find my 
bedroom at the 75% humidity level after leaving the unit running all 
night.... 


Anyways the point of this ramble is that I'd like to tie control of the unit 
into my X10 system based on the humidity levels througout the apartment. The 
unit is presently run through an X10 appliance module so I can turn it on and 
off remotely. 


Now using Mr. House it is dirt simple to turn on and off an X10 module based 
on certain conditions. However last time I looked Mr House didn't support any 
cheap temp/humidy sensors other than the Dallas i-Buttons. So, does anyone 
know of a cheap sensor or sensors I could use.  Wireless would be prefered, 
I'd even accept infrared and as a last resort I'd use wired sensors, but then 
I'd have to worry about signal strength over the wire and all that. 


Thanks in advance. 

Harondel J. Sibble 
Sibble Computer Consulting
Creating solutions for the small business and home computer user.
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