We are currently planning our next production batch of units and have had some good orders following on from the conferences.

Note however it does take around 8 weeks for us to order the parts in, have all the various components manufactured, assemble and test the units before shipping. 8 weeks from now takes us into September.

So if you are considering systems for the new season, please get your orders in by next Friday ordering deadline (24 July) so we can plan appropriately and have systems available for you for the start of the season. (Northern hemisphere readers will be too busy at the moment to notice this message.)

In NSW talk to Mark Page: mark.page@valley-industries.com.au, phone 0458 522 240

In QLD / VIC talk to Graham Beech: ntbees@gmail.com, phone 0437 179261

Rest of the world, talk to Christian Walsh: christian@hivemind.co.nz, phone +64 21 846 445 

We are always trying to improve the system so based on feedback from customers we have made some improvements to the wireless scales which will make them even easier to install and use.

The user input knob is now a push stick on the side rather than a button you turn from the front. This is a lot less fiddly to operate, particularly with gloves on.

The arrow clips that held the battery box in place are replaced by a cable tie which is easier to slide out of the way and won't fall on the ground and get lost (which I have done myself several times with the arrow clips). The serial number is now on the side of the battery box (rather than the bottom) so you can tell which scale is which without having to take the scale or battery box out.

We have also improved the signal strength between the scale and the hub to give you more flexibility about where you locate things and make it easier to have a good data connection between scales and the hub.

You will also now be able to tare the scales (set to zero) by pushing the button 10 times, for those of you that requested that feature.  

For those of you with 8 frame hives there is now a clear mark and the load cells have been repositioned slightly so you can more easily trim the scales to the right size if desired. If you let us know before ordering we can do this for you.

We are also trying to improve the usability of the data the system provides and particularly as more people have multiple sites being monitored, looking at individual charts is not always practical.

So we have now implemented auto alerts where you can go in via the "Edit Hub details" link from the "my hives" page and set thresholds for all scales connected to that hub. The system will then send you an e-mail and/or text if any of your hives on that hub go over/under the weights specified. You can also set temperature and battery warning notifications. 

Remember to click the update details button when you are done making changes.

On this page you can also give the hub a label that means something to you. 

Note these features are now available for all hubs including existing systems.

We have plans for a dashboard to show an overview of all your systems on one page so if you have specific things you would like to see on such a page please let us know.

Thanks to the many of you who did support the Indiegogo campaign for the WiFi scales and app. It was a good exercise and we made some good connections during the process.

Bit of a pity that we couldn't get enought people on board in order to develop it this time around but we will keep in on the back bench and hopefully can look at it again it in the future.

For hobbyists just a reminder that you can use our existing hive scales by themselves as a stand alone tool, to read out the weight of your hive whenever you push the button.

Get in touch with Mark, Graham or Christian (details above) if you want to know more.