Checking thermocouples in WMC

[bmblank]

Hey all, this may seem strange, and I'm not entirely sure where to ask, but i think this is the closest area of interest, so here goes...
Basically, I have a wood boiler with storage for heating my house. What I'd like to be able to do I'd stick some thermocouples around (one in boiler, one in heat storage tank and one in flue, for example) and be able to monitor them thru media center. It'd be cool to select a tile and there's a series of gauges on the tv showing them all. If also like to be able to check from away from home.
I looked online and found this little LAN thermocouple controller, and it seems like the dev write some sort of windows interface for it, but i guess I'm not entirely sure of its capabilities out how it interfaces.
http://www.pcsensor.com/index.php?_a=pr ... uct_id=108
I'm well versed in thermocouples and test equipment, but when it comes to coding and scripts and stuff i start to get lost. Anybody see a way i could make it happen? I'd love for my boiler to email me when the stack temp drops below 350 and say "fire is going out, you better stoke it!"
I could also see this used for current outside temp, or maybe monitor the temp of the server room or something.
Sadly, the next coolest thing i could think of is a webcam in my boiler room focusing on a bunch of digital readouts. That wouldn't be nearly as cool. Plus then i wouldn't be able to set up alerts and whatnot. If anybody has any ideas if appreciate the input.
Thanks
Ben

[foxwood]

It sounds like the device can upload data to the PCsensor.us website and you can access the data by logging in to that website, even if you don't want to install software on your PC. It sounds like accessing the data directly from the unit itself wouldn't be too hard, but judging by the quality of the descriptions on the website, you might not get much help in figuring out how to get information directly from the unit (though I'm sure that there are hobbyist sites like TGB with a wealth of information.

If you can access the information reasonably easily, getting it to display in WMC is certainly do-able, though not exactly childsplay. There's are some plugins for displaying the status of Ceton tunersthat might be adaptable for your needs, and there have been a few Home Automation plugins, but that whole area seems to be a small fish in a pretty small pond!

[bmblank]

I was also concerned about the descriptions. I'm not opposed to other hardware if anybody has any ideas.
I also considered putting together something in labview. I could get a small usb data logger and draw up a nice interface in labview, but i think I'd still be in the same boat trying to make it work with media center. I'd rather not run the logging software on the wmc server, do then another computer is necessary. That's why that standalone unit I'd kind of attractive.
Price is nice too. I'd rather not spend too much if i can get away with it.

[foxwood]

You might want to see if there are any Home Automation forums where you might find people that have used this gear - at those prices I imagine they might be quite popular (I'd definitely pay $15 for a USB thermometer, just to play around with), and you could find out how easy or hard it is to get access to the data.

[guppy]

Not sure if this is of any help, but Danno100 was able to figure a way to overlay the actual outside temp onto his blue iris security cam. This just sounds sorta similar to what you are trying to accomplish.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... =blue+iris