I have been doing some experiments on our farm in a remote part of Saskatchewan (it takes me 10 hours to drive there). From about October to late April, there is no-one on the property. We do the best we can to winterize the buildings and rely 100% on electricity to keep things from freezing. In the past, when arriving in the spring, we never knew if there was damage due to a failure with an electric furnace, power being out for extended period, windows broken from a break and enter.... So many things could and have gone wrong over the years. Using a very inexpensive TTN indoor gateway and some Tektelic Home/motion sensors I am easily able to monitor temp, humidity, motion and battery levels in all the buildings on the property. A battery backed power source for my gateway and MicroHard cellular modem provide a clear picture of what is going on even when the power goes out. Simple tools within Power BI make it easy to build dashboards for a quick status report and automatically send email alerts when values cross thresholds. Now if there are problems, I can send a neighbour or repairman to get things fixed and grant access via a Nest lock.
