First post so please be gentle ! I am trying to reach a decision on how to solve a particular requirement so would much appreciate if you clever folks would give me some suggestions, hopefully polite ones !
I want to monitor the status of various items of equipment in various properties, in simple terms all I need to know is 'change of state' a switch opening or closing. I want to pass all the data from all the properties to a bespoke hosted website.
All the properties have an internet router, most have a Wi-Fi router so for those that don't it could be added easily if needed.
How feasible is it to ...
1) Build a simple 'web server on a chip' using something like Wiznet which when triggered sends a unique ID back over the web (the ID gets looked up in a database so the actual transmission only needs to be a number or short code).
2) Do the same job with a modified WiFi USB dongle - get it to report its identifier back to a Website when triggered.
Needless to say, cost is paramount and I am trying to do this with as few components as possible. If I could run a PC at each location it would be easy. But the budget is a few tens of bucks for each property rather than hundreds.
Is there a way to achieve this using Wiznet / Picaxe or should I be setting my sights on a Zigbee / Zwave module instead with the consequent cost of a specialist gateway? If I could achieve the objective using a standard WiFi router it would be excellent.
Anyone working on anything like this or already done it ?
Thanks in advance for all ideas
scribley
I want to monitor the status of various items of equipment in various properties, in simple terms all I need to know is 'change of state' a switch opening or closing. I want to pass all the data from all the properties to a bespoke hosted website.
All the properties have an internet router, most have a Wi-Fi router so for those that don't it could be added easily if needed.
How feasible is it to ...
1) Build a simple 'web server on a chip' using something like Wiznet which when triggered sends a unique ID back over the web (the ID gets looked up in a database so the actual transmission only needs to be a number or short code).
2) Do the same job with a modified WiFi USB dongle - get it to report its identifier back to a Website when triggered.
Needless to say, cost is paramount and I am trying to do this with as few components as possible. If I could run a PC at each location it would be easy. But the budget is a few tens of bucks for each property rather than hundreds.
Is there a way to achieve this using Wiznet / Picaxe or should I be setting my sights on a Zigbee / Zwave module instead with the consequent cost of a specialist gateway? If I could achieve the objective using a standard WiFi router it would be excellent.
Anyone working on anything like this or already done it ?
Thanks in advance for all ideas
scribley