Internal Sensors for Domoticz

Step-by-step how-to guide install the Internal Sensors on Raspberry Pi with the latest Raspbian Buster image and Domoticz.

This how-to is part of a bigger series of Domoticz how-to’s on sancla.com!

As most know by now, the Raspberry Pi 4 has the reputation to run hot. Perhaps hotter then we want, even with an idle CPU with Domoticz… One way to resolve this problem is cooling this beast.

In my humble opinion, the Flirc passive cooling case has been the best accessory for the the Raspberry Pi 4 one could buy (and for only € 20,- it’s a bargin): https://www.tinytronics.nl/shop/nl/raspberry-pi/behuizingen/flirc-raspberry-pi-4-behuizing-aluminium-zwart
In this how-to we utilize this case and it has been running for over an hour at approx 40° Celsius with Domoticz, i-love-this-case!!

Flirc case for the Raspberry Pi 4
Flirc case for the Raspberry Pi 4

However, besides making sure your Raspberry Pi 4 gets proper cooling, it doesn’t hurt to monitor the temperature in Domoticz. Doing so also enables you to configure alerting if the temperature gets to high and cool down your Raspberry Pi with a big bucket of conductive water…..

This tutorial has been verified with:
Domoticz 2020.1

Prerequisites

Tested with

  • Raspberry Pi 4 (MEM 2GB with 16GB sd-card)
  • Raspbian Buster Lite 4.19, Februari 2020
  • Domoticz Stable 2020.1 (compile date 22-3-2020)

Configuring internal sensors in Domoticz

In Domoticz, go to hardware and add a new device:

  • Name: Raspberry
  • Type: Motherboard sensors
  • Data Timeout: 10 minutes
Adding the Motherboard Sensors in Domoticz
Adding the Motherboard Sensors in Domoticz

After a couple of minutes, the internal devices are starting to appear under devices. Click on the green button to enable the monitoring of the device. You can give it a any name you want, such as “Internal Temperature” for example:

Motherboard Sensor devices appearing in Domoticz
Motherboard Sensor devices appearing in Domoticz

The temperature of your Raspberry Pi is now visible in Domoticz under temperature. You can take the same steps for the other sensors should you wish to monitor them.

The internal Raspberry Pi temperature in Domoticz
The internal Raspberry Pi temperature in Domoticz with the Flirc case

As shown in above image, you can configure “Notifications” for each enabled device. So you receive a notification if your Raspberry Pi is starting to run to hot:

Configuring notifications for the internal temperature sensor in Domoticz
Configuring notifications for the internal temperature sensor in Domoticz

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