Where It All Started — 2023
It began with a simple need: power for a summer house and a workshop.
A small solar array — nothing fancy, just enough to keep the lights on and the tools running. But once the system was up, the questions started. How much energy is the battery actually storing? Is the solar panel efficient enough? What happens when the sun doesn't show up for days?
A small solar array — where the questions began
So a microcontroller went in. Then the sensors followed.
Light sensors — to switch the garden lights on at dusk and off at dawn. No timers, no manual switches. The system reads the environment and responds on its own.
Garden lights that know when to switch on — no timers needed
Temperature monitoring inside the summer house — because anyone who's left one closed up in July knows what happens. A sensor connected to a cooling system took care of that. Too hot? The cooling kicks in automatically.
Then came something more delicate: a smart propagator. A controlled microclimate chamber for planting seeds, where temperature and humidity had to stay within tight ranges for germination to work. The microcontroller managed that environment, adjusting conditions constantly to keep everything just right.
A smart propagator — precision climate control for seed germination
And finally, voltage and current sensing — on both the battery and the solar array itself. Not just to check charge levels, but to understand real efficiency. How much energy was being captured versus how much was being lost. A backup system was added for the battery, ensuring it stayed healthy even during long stretches of grey weather.
Battery and solar monitoring — understanding real efficiency
That system has been running flawlessly for years. No downtime. No babysitting. It just works.
The Realisation
Building that system made one thing clear: if a handful of sensors can reliably look after a summer house, a garden, and a propagator — the same approach can look after just about anything.
Any environment that needs watching. Any equipment that shouldn't fail unnoticed. Any situation where knowing what's happening — right now, not hours later — makes the difference.
What Came Next — Critical Monitoring Solutions (2025)
That's how CMS was born. The same principles — affordable hardware, reliable sensors, automated responses — packaged into a platform that anyone can use.
CMS connects simple wireless sensors to a cloud dashboard with real-time alerts. When something needs your attention, you'll know — whether you're next door or on the other side of the world.
The CMS platform — real-time monitoring from anywhere
No complex setup. No specialist knowledge required. Just the information you need, when you need it.