How monitoring works
Sap Spy is three pieces of hardware and one app. Start with one hub and grow a mainline at a time; nothing you buy first is wasted later.
The all-in-one for your main collection point. Vacuum, tank level and temperature every five minutes. Cellular, with the SIM already activated for the US and Canada, or Wi-Fi where you have it. A rechargeable battery that lasts two to four weeks, topped up by USB, a solar panel or a 12 V battery. Text alerts to up to three phones.
The long-range, low-power link between your sensor nodes and the cloud. Wi-Fi, Ethernet or cellular back-haul; 110 V, PoE or solar power. One gateway covers a large woods; add more gateways for more ground.
Three ports, any combination of vacuum, tank level, water meter or pressure sensors. Put one at the end of each mainline and the app shows you which line dropped, so you walk to the leak instead of looking for it.
Which one first?
I only need to watch the pump house.
Start with a Sensor Hub.
Plug the sensors in, turn it on, and you have the status of your pump house on your phone in under 30 minutes. Vacuum, tank level and temperature, over its own cellular link.
Sensor HubI want nodes on my mainlines, now or down the road.
Start with a Gateway.
A gateway lets Sap Spy scale to a producer of any size. Lose vacuum at the end of one mainline and the app shows you exactly which one, so you fix the leak, save the walk, and keep every tap pulling.
GatewayAlready have a hub? Add a gateway and nodes any time; they all show up on the same screen.
How it works
Vacuum, tank level and temperature from day one. It arrives with the SIM activated. Turn it on.
End of each mainline, each releaser, the sugarhouse tank. Three sensors per node, any mix.
Live readings, a timeline you drag through the season, and a text or push alert the moment a line drops.
What to buy
| Operation | Start with | Then add |
|---|---|---|
| One pump house, up to a few thousand taps | One Sensor Hub | Solar panel if there is no power; a tank sensor per tank |
| Several mainlines you want to watch one by one | A Gateway and a Node per mainline end | A hub at the pump house for tank level and vacuum at the releaser |
| Several pump houses or remote woods | A hub at each, or a gateway with nodes | Relay control for pumps and generators, protection valves on vacuum lines |
Service: $75 per season per cellular hub and $250 per season per gateway, first season included. Wi-Fi hardware has no service fee. Every device ships active; take it to the woods when it arrives and watch it connect.
Planning a system?
How many taps, how many mainlines, where the pump house sits and what cell signal you get there. We answer with a quote and a layout, no obligation.