Best Place to get a Thermostat?

[Trinityblood]

Ordered one just after they went live, needed a new X2 capable thermostat and the Spyderweb feature seemed neat enough to spring the extra few bucks.

It’ll be interesting to see how it functions.

edit to add: sales went live at the turn of the year, not sure if any are ‘in the wild’ yet.

I might spring on one too. A minor thing, but I like that it has a red color setting. The other models are blue lit which is harsh on the eyes in a dark room. I see a lot of room for them to improve on and add features for future models. I hope they keep developing it.

An app that lets you read everything the machine is doing and be able to remotely do adjustments to it would be cool. And if someone were to use multiple herpstats if they could connect them all to that one app. Be able to name the herpstats on it so you know which is connected to a specific rack or animals by name. And modernize the fonts and presentation of the data that's shown on the website.

[Bob_Dobbs]

I might spring on one too. A minor thing, but I like that it has a red color setting. The other models are blue lit which is harsh on the eyes in a dark room. I see a lot of room for them to improve on and add features for future models. I hope they keep developing it.

An app that lets you read everything the machine is doing and be able to remotely do adjustments to it would be cool. And if someone were to use multiple herpstats if they could connect them all to that one app. Be able to name the herpstats on it so you know which is connected to a specific rack or animals by name. And modernize the fonts and presentation of the data that's shown on the website.

Those features would certainly be very nice.
Remote access and control via an app like that would really put them in their own league vs their competitors.

This will be my first Herstat, my collection currently has VE-200 and -300s... they’ve been good, but have seen enough here and elsewhere to want to give the Herpstat a try.

might as well start with the ‘huh, that’s neat!’ one vs. the beginner series.

And oddly, for me the -2 Spyderweb is now gone from their site, but my payment is processed and order shows processing. Wonder if they sold out already?

[Mr. Misha]

It a bit archaic to use email and having to login through a browser.

I agree with this. A company like that should have been able to develop an app where you can monitor each Herpstat. Don't know why they haven't evolved... I mean they have wifi plant monitoring apps.

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[spyderrobotics]

I agree with this. A company like that should have been able to develop an app where you can monitor each Herpstat. Don't know why they haven't evolved... I mean they have wifi plant monitoring apps.

I just happened to come across this thread and figured I would respond.


"A company like that "

We are a small company. I develop every Herpstat from writing the code, circuit layout, all design. There is no large team of developers and I am limited by my abilities and time. :^)

Why did I go with a web interface?

Because with the web interface it works on iphone/android/pc and mac. If a change is made it happens once and effects all platforms. Plus then after updates you don't have to run full testing for each platform. I do not have the ability to write apps for apple/android so its a "stay in your lane" situation. This was an ambitious project and did involve advice from others that helped it grow. As far as I know there is no other dedicated reptile thermostat with wifi and its always tough to be first but the decisions I made were the best options for the product so that it could be supported and work for the most amount of people.

One of the other comments: "if someone were to use multiple herpstats if they could connect them all to that one app."

When you set the spyderwebs to upload to our herpstat.com site and use the same email/password for each one they are all grouped with a drop down box so that you can select which device you want to view. So it sort of has this as far as viewing stats.

Being able to control it remotely (outside your local network) is possible but its not a recommended solution. Unfortunately the safety of the device to be open up the world would always be a concern. Currently you can easily remotely view the status and if someone hacked our site there isn't a way for them to tweak your settings. I have always tried to error on the side of safety with my designs. I also feel that if you are making changes you should be where you can get to the device if there is a problem. Maybe at some point there will be better solutions for control remotely but for these new designs I would rather proceed with caution.

I know this is a old thread but maybe it will help explain to others the direction and reasons to anyone else to see's it. As always I am very grateful to the community for the suggestions and love to implement things when I can improve the products.

-Dion Brewington
Owner, Spyder Robotics LLC

[Mr. Misha]

Hi Dion,

I appreciate the response. I did assume that the there's a robust team within Herpstat as the product is the best in the business and the only one that I've bought (which is quite a few) so I apologize if my comment came across as harsh. It wasn't meant to offend.

With that being said, I am aware that multiple products exist with capabilities that are being described and maybe a collaboration could be possible? One that comes to mind would be www.sensorpush.com/. Additionally, instead of building an internal wifi component, is it possible to have a raspberry pi integration or even a usb output that any wifi dongle can be connected?

[jmcrook]

As always I am very grateful to the community for the suggestions and love to implement things when I can improve the products.

My only suggestion/request is to make the H4 and H6 models Redline. Love all of my herpstats, but I just find that the blue display on my H4 is pretty bright at night even dimmed to 30%. More of an aesthetic suggestion than anything because my H2 Redlines look super sharp in my room when I have the red enclosure lights on at night. Aside from that, great products!!


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[spyderrobotics]

Hi Dion,

I appreciate the response. I did assume that the there's a robust team within Herpstat as the product is the best in the business and the only one that I've bought (which is quite a few) so I apologize if my comment came across as harsh. It wasn't meant to offend.

With that being said, I am aware that multiple products exist with capabilities that are being described and maybe a collaboration could be possible? One that comes to mind would be www.sensorpush.com/. Additionally, instead of building an internal wifi component, is it possible to have a raspberry pi integration or even a usb output that any wifi dongle can be connected?

I didn't take any offense. :^) We have been around for a while and its not uncommon people get the impression that we have larger resources but in the end we are a small company and I work with a couple of other companies that build our probes and other parts based on my designs.

The companies like sensorpush have it easy. Because they are not controlling heating and other devices. There is a lot going on with the microcontroller to do all that and handle the wifi and web browser. With the spyderweb models I actually use two microcontrollers that talk to each other because it free's up resources to allow it to do everything. The main processor in the spyderweb is fairly new and there was a lot of learning on my part. There was more than a year of development. I never claim to be fancy with my designs but the goal was to take the reliability of standard herpstat models and add email alerts. That expanded to the webserver. That expanded to uploading to my site. That expanded to graphed history. I've have not used other products like the sensorpush so I didn't have a base to go off of. What you see in the spyderweb is just my tinkering for what is within my abilities and what made sense for my style of programming.

Making a external connection available didn't make sense for me. Its a limited audience and they would have to power the electronics separately and if something goes wrong they will come back and blame the Herpstat. However, I worked with other customers who like to tinker and I built in a json web page that has all the status information in a way they can easily import and use. Several have reported using this to integrate into their own home management software. You still can't adjust the settings with this method and again that comes down to security and liability. Also I opened it up so that you could upload the data to your own site. This is how it works with the husbandry.pro software but I also have examples if someone wanted to upload to their own database.

I am hoping I hit on the main features people need.

[spyderrobotics]

My only suggestion/request is to make the H4 and H6 models Redline.

Unfortunately I discontinued the redlines a while ago. There were several challenges with the redlines and our product line with the new spyderweb series had grown to large and was too confusing for many people not knowing which product to purchase.

The redline enclosure was custom which meant I had to order 2-3 times the quantity of them. This meant building those units up and having them sit waiting for sales. That took a decent amount of space in my shop. It also meant a descent investment sitting there.

The standard black/blue units sold 2 to 1 over redlines.

I liked my redline design but people were definitely divided over it. When we would run out of stock of blue's and I talked to people suggesting the redline many would not consider it. They would rather go without heating. LoL. Then I would get people who had redlines and loved them because it set off the room with the glow system and it was different.

Now with the spyderwebs having a full color screen we include two red themes. One with red background and white text and one with black background and red text. They look sharp and the characters are much bigger and easier to see at a distance. The black background theme would be the best if your trying to not light up a room. There is no glow function of the spyderweb but matching colors on the screen should allow them to integrate into someone's collection without looking too out of place.

I am currently working on a Herpstat 4 spyderweb and with any luck it will happen by the end of the year. However, with the world turned upside down since covid the delays getting parts and getting all the companies on board is much slower so no guarantees.


-Dion

[jmcrook]

Unfortunately I discontinued the redlines a while ago. There were several challenges with the redlines and our product line with the new spyderweb series had grown to large and was too confusing for many people not knowing which product to purchase.

The redline enclosure was custom which meant I had to order 2-3 times the quantity of them. This meant building those units up and having them sit waiting for sales. That took a decent amount of space in my shop. It also meant a descent investment sitting there.

The standard black/blue units sold 2 to 1 over redlines.

I liked my redline design but people were definitely divided over it. When we would run out of stock of blue's and I talked to people suggesting the redline many would not consider it. They would rather go without heating. LoL. Then I would get people who had redlines and loved them because it set off the room with the glow system and it was different.

Now with the spyderwebs having a full color screen we include two red themes. One with red background and white text and one with black background and red text. They look sharp and the characters are much bigger and easier to see at a distance. The black background theme would be the best if your trying to not light up a room. There is no glow function of the spyderweb but matching colors on the screen should allow them to integrate into someone's collection without looking too out of place.

I am currently working on a Herpstat 4 spyderweb and with any luck it will happen by the end of the year. However, with the world turned upside down since covid the delays getting parts and getting all the companies on board is much slower so no guarantees.


-Dion

No worries and that makes complete sense. I’ll cling to my three H2 redlines like the collector’s items they now are haha! You’ve got my business for life regardless. Thanks!


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