CORE Temperature Probe — Food temperature probe for guided HACCP checks

Frequently asked questions

Do you make anything beyond loggers — meters, gateways, handheld probes?

Yes. The Cellular Water Meter is an ultrasonic meter with its own 4G modem and managed SIM, so there is no gateway and nothing to pair; your distributor links it to your account. The BLOCK WiFi Water Meter reports flow and consumption over your own 2.4 GHz network. MODGATE brings Modbus RTU and TCP equipment registers into LF Cloud, and the LF M-Bus Cloud Bridge reads wired M-Bus utility meters. The CORE probe spot-checks food core temperature, Agrimax reports soil moisture, temperature and conductivity, and LoggerFlex Halo shows live conditions on a round display at the point of use.

What is the difference between the EDGE and BLOCK families?

EDGE is the sealed, display-equipped line: ambient temperature and humidity, external probes down to -55 C, CO2, plus pharmacy and in-transit variants. Every EDGE unit has an on-screen display, an audible buzzer and a visible on-device alarm, and most models come in matched WiFi and cellular pairs. BLOCK is the industrial and retrofit line: one compact WiFi housing with sensor ports for fluid pressure, current clamps, pulse counting, 4-20 mA loops, differential pressure and light. The principle is swap the probe, not the device, because calibration lives with the plug-in sensor, so recertifying means a new probe rather than an RMA.

What are the EDGE variants and what does each one add?

Essential logs ambient temperature and humidity at ±0.2 C. Essential PLUS adds one external temperature and humidity probe so the measurement point sits away from the logger. Thermo ships with two detachable digital probes covering -55 C to +125 C for freezers and cold rooms. Pharma ships with two NIST-traceable probes rated -20 C to +50 C. Air adds CO2 alongside temperature and humidity. EDGE Lite is a compact min/max WiFi thermometer reading ambient temperature and one external probe at ±0.5 C. GEO adds LTE with GPS tracking for shipments in transit. Most variants come in matched WiFi and cellular pairs.

My CORE probe connected but will not take a reading. Why?

Almost always because the account has no ingredients. CORE needs at least one virtual measurement point — in LF Cloud press the + button, then click Add a virtual measurement point near the bottom of that same pop-up, and name the ingredient. Without one the probe connects and then has nothing to measure against. Two other CORE-specific points: its setup hotspot is named CORE, not Datalogger, and the Serial and DUID shown by the gear button stay on screen for only three minutes. The display sleeps to save power, so press any button to wake it.

Does a freezer or cold-room install shorten battery life?

Yes, to a degree. Extreme cold and extreme heat both reduce cell efficiency, so a unit logging inside a deep freezer will not match a bench figure. Keep the device inside its stated operating range, use lithium cells where you can, and where the enclosure allows it mount the logger outside the cold space on an external probe. One thing that is not a fault: the EDGE display pauses updates below 0 C to protect the screen, so a static display in a freezer is normal and the device is still recording.

Can I get a battery-life figure for my exact configuration before I order?

Yes, and it is the right way to specify a fleet. Rated life is a function of your recording interval, sync interval, alarm rate, radio type, signal strength and temperature, so a single headline number tells you little on its own. Send those settings, the environment and the number of monitoring points to your authorized LoggerFlex distributor, or talk to an engineer through the contact form, and you get a recommended configuration with an expected runtime attached. Hardware is configured and quoted per application rather than sold from a list.

How will I be alerted if a reading goes out of range?

LF Cloud dispatches an automated phone call, an SMS and an email at the same time, to an unlimited number of recipients. Alarms cascade down your contact list until someone acknowledges, so an excursion calls your phone day or night. EDGE models with a display also raise a local alarm, an audible buzzer and a visual alert on the screen, so staff on site see it even if nobody is looking at a phone. On cellular units the built-in eSIM keeps alarms going out when your Wi-Fi drops.

Do I have to ship the device back to have it recalibrated?

No. Because calibration lives with the sensor, you replace the probe rather than the logger. Order a newly calibrated probe from your distributor, unplug the old one and plug the new one in. There is no RMA and no lab shipment, which is how the swap avoids monitoring downtime and keeps renewal costs low. Because LF Cloud flags an approaching expiry, a probe swap can be scheduled into a planned maintenance visit rather than handled as an urgent job after a certificate has already lapsed.

What is the difference between the Pharma probe and the standard external probe?

They are not interchangeable. The NIST-traceable Pharma probe is a narrow-range probe starting at −20 °C, shipped in pairs with EDGE Pharma and sized for vaccine and pharmacy refrigerators; take its exact upper limit from the EDGE Pharma datasheet. The standard external digital probe used on EDGE Thermo and the probe-equipped BLOCK models covers −55 °C to +125 °C for freezers, cold rooms and process work. Both are rated ±0.5 °C. Pharma copy also describes an ethanol-buffered probe that tracks product temperature rather than air, so routine door openings do not raise false excursions.

How do returns and RMAs work?

Returns and RMAs run through the distributor that supplied the device. They raise the claim, handle the logistics and confirm the terms that apply to your order. Start with the product manual, and if the device is genuinely faulty, talk to an engineer through the contact page so the fault is diagnosed before anything ships. Note that calibration is not an RMA: NIST certificates are issued to the sensor, not the device, so you renew by plugging in a newly calibrated probe instead of sending hardware away.

How do I order spare probes, accessories or NFC tags?

Through the same distributor, on the same quote. The public catalog lists loggers, meters, gateways and soil sensors; probes, flood-detector kits, sensor extensions, dry-contact cables and covers are specified with your configuration or ordered as spares, so give your distributor the part number of the device they fit. Replacement calibrated probes are the normal way to renew a NIST certificate, and they ship without taking the logger out of service. Microthermo NFC tags are single-use, so plan quantities per shipment and ask your distributor about order quantities and lead time.

Do I have to ship devices back for recalibration?

No. The NIST-traceable certificate is issued to the sensor, not the device, so renewal means buying a newly calibrated probe and plugging it in. Nothing goes back to a lab and the installation stays live. Certificates are valid for 3 years in use, or 5 years on the shelf. EDGE supports optional NIST certificates on up to two external sensors per device, the E-INK display shows certificate validity with a 60-day countdown as expiry nears, and LF Cloud emails reminders before it lapses. Order replacement probes through the distributor who supplied the loggers.