Discount ACU_RITE Refrigerator/Freezer Wireless Digital Thermometer 00986

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List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $29.99
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I bought this for our RV refrigerator. We have a wired thermometer but I wanted a wireless type to get rid of the wire from the sensor to the display that runs under the door gasket. I was a little skeptical that a wireless thermometer would work but it worked so well I could bring the receiver in the house and watch the refrigerator cool down the night before we left for a trip. The display has magnets for mounting that don't stick to a our fridge (all plastic door), we just stick the display to our stove cover as its metal and right over the fridge. The remotes have two mounts; a suction cup and a spring clamp. The display has a min/max function, alarms and it's large enough to be seen easily. All-in-all its perfect for our needs.

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I'll preface this by saying I bought this b/c my relatively new fridge seems to hold temperature poorly, so I've had a small mercury type fridge/freezer thermometer (hereafter referred to as "Mercury") since shortly after I bought it. The problem with these is that you have to open the door to read it, and I wanted something that I could have a Min/Max reading throughout the day to note down in case I need ammunition to use against the warranty company. Being able to monitor both fridge and freezer temps is a big plus!

BOTTOM LINE: for those not wanting to read my drivel below -The AcuRite 00986, after a week of use, works great for me... note that I had no battery issues like some have had. See next part...

BATTERY TIPS: doing a Google search on battery characteristics, I found information [link removed by Amazon...] on Alkaline versus NiMH versus NiCd versus other battery chemistries. One of the very useful pieces of info was operating temperature range. Of note: Lithium operates down to -40C (-40F). Alkaline: 0C (32F). NiCd: -40C. NiMH: -20C (-4F). Well, I have a zillion NiMH rechargeable batteries for kids toys and since I really only care if the freezer goes above a few degrees F, then I figured I'd try NiMH for my sensors, before shelling out $$ on the Lithium AAs. Results: my freezer sensor has captured a temp as low as -13F, so I'd say the NiMH option was a smart move. Even if I have to change the batteries weekly, I swap them out with another set of NiMH and put them on the charger for a few hours. So, my advice to you is to get an inexpensive NiMH charger from somewhere ($10 maybe) and a package of at least 4 (~$7-10), but 8 would be nice, NiMH batteries. I'd recommend any low-discharge NiMH, such as Sanyo Enloops. If you really want to cheap out, get NiCd, but they don't have the capacity that the NiMH batteries do. I know the investment is a tad high upfront, but one set of Lithium AAs is $6, and it's single use. With the NiMH, you can use them hundreds of times, and with 2 each in your fridge/freezer sensors, the back-up ones could be in your kids RC car, flashlight, etc. You'll save $$$$$$ in the long run, if you switch your household to rechargeable in general for AAA/AA type applications.

Ok, all the important stuff over, here is the boring, wordy review/information:

I received the AcuRite version (I'm guessing the Chaney branding has gone extinct) of this product, opened it, installed batteries (more about the batteries later), and within seconds, the transmitters were sending temperature information. I let it sit on my desk for a while, and after the sensors stabilized, they were within 1 degree Fahrenheit of each other, and right at what my home thermostat was set to. Good so far!

I then moved to the kitchen and put the sensors in the fridge/freezer, and mounted the display on the side of the fridge next to the freezer. It probably took between 10 and 15 minutes for the sensors to stabilize at the fridge/freezer temps. I bought another mechanical dial type thermometer (Taylor Classic #5924) from Amazon so I could compare the results with the AcuRite and Mercury. I started my "analysis of performance" by placing AcuRite #2 and Taylor in the freezer, and AcuRite #1 and the Mercury in the fridge. They all seemed to line up well, and I monitored things this way periodically over the course of the next few hours. Because my fridge is my biggest worry, I then moved Taylor to the fridge as well, and placed it somewhere else in the fridge away from AcuRite #1 on a different shelf. This way I could tell if temps across fridge were consistent. Again, everything seemed to read similar temperatures, so I'm confident the AcuRite system is A-OK for me.

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I've had this installed for about 1 month. Both transmitters and receiver are working well. The freezer chest transmitter is located on the basememt floor about 10' (below)from the receiver on the main floor and the 2nd transmitter is in my frige on the same floor (2nd) within 15'. All working OK. So far, I can recomend this product.

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I'll keep it short and to the point. It works perfect. It is great to be able to adjust your temps to where you actually want them. The suction cups do not work that very good in my refrigerator but the clips hold onto the shelves just fine. It recommends a lithium battery in the freezer side but so far a standard battery is working fine for me. If you want a wireless unit this is the way to go.

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We bought $1200 worth of grass fed beef and a brand new deep freeze so we thought we better get a alarm since we keep the freezer in our basement. One alarm is for the freezer and the other is only for the fridge since you can't set the alarming beeper for low enough for another freezer. We bought the special lithium expensive batteries figuring we want to do everything possible to protect the meat. It was a little hard to find a place in the house it would read the sensors and we would hear the alarm beep. But we finally ended up having to put the alarm unit in our bedroom since that is basically on top of the freezer. It worked erratically for 2 months, would alarm about once every 10 days and say the temp went up 20 degrees when nobody opening the door or anything, never figured that out but then about a week ago it just stopped working. We reset it, changed the $10 batteries, stood right next to the freezer and no matter what we do it won't work. So this product ended up being a big waste of time and money. Not sure if it can be returned after 2 1/2 months or not.