The Nest Temperature Sensor is a small but surprisingly powerful accessory for your Nest Thermostat system. If your thermostat is tucked away in a hallway — a room you pass through rather than live in — this little puck lets you shift control to wherever you actually spend your time. Bedroom too warm at night? Living room too cool in the afternoon? The Nest Temperature Sensor solves that problem by feeding temperature data directly from the room that matters most to you.
This guide covers everything you need to know about setting it up, where to place it for the best performance, and the different ways you can mount it — including a few clever options beyond the basic screw-in method.
What the Nest Temperature Sensor Actually Does
Once paired through the Google Home or Nest app, the sensor reports the temperature from its location to your Nest Thermostat. Your thermostat then heats or cools based on that reading rather than its own built-in sensor. You can assign sensors to specific schedules — for example, using the bedroom sensor at night and switching to the living room sensor during the day — all from the app.
It’s compatible with the Nest Thermostat E and the Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen and newer). The 4th gen Nest Learning Thermostat actually includes a 2nd gen sensor in the box.
Setting It Up: The Basics
Before you mount anything permanently, spend a week or two with the sensor in its intended location just resting on a surface. This lets you confirm the placement works well and saves you from leaving a screw hole in the wall if you need to move it. Here’s how to get it connected:
- Open the Google Home app (or Nest app) and tap Add Device.
- Scan the QR code on the battery pull tab. If you’ve already removed the tab, open the back of the sensor to find the code inside.
- Pull the battery tab to activate the sensor.
- Choose the room and thermostat you want to associate it with. The app will test the connection to confirm the signal is strong enough.
Where to Place It
Placement has a real impact on accuracy and comfort. A few guidelines to follow:
- Mount it at chest height. Air temperature varies significantly from floor to ceiling — warmest near the top, coolest near the floor. Chest height gives you the most accurate reading of the temperature you actually feel.
- Choose a room you spend time in. The sensor is most valuable in a bedroom, living room, or home office — not a hallway, bathroom, or utility room.
- Keep it away from heat sources. Avoid placing it near vents, radiators, windows with direct sunlight, or appliances that generate heat. Any of these will skew the readings and cause your system to over- or under-compensate.
- Don’t block airflow around it. Don’t tuck it behind furniture or inside a cabinet. It needs open air circulation to read the room accurately.
Mounting Options
Option 1: Shelf or Table (No Mounting Required)
If you have a shelf or end table in the right spot, this is by far the easiest approach. Just set the sensor down, pull the battery tab, and you’re done. No drilling, no hardware, no commitment. The sensor in the photo accompanying the original article sits on a table near a stairway — a perfectly valid setup for many homes.
Option 2: Wall Mount with the Included Screw
The sensor comes with a mounting screw that aligns with a slot on the back of the device. Drive the screw into the wall — use a wall anchor if you’re not hitting a stud — and slide the sensor onto it. Nest screws are self-tapping, so in most cases you won’t need to drill a pilot hole first. Hard surfaces like tile or brick may be the exception.
Option 3: Adhesive Tape (No Holes)
If you’d rather not put a screw in the wall, 3M Command Strip adhesive tape works well here. One or two strips on the back of the sensor will hold it securely to most smooth surfaces. This is a great option for renters or anyone who wants a cleaner, reversible installation. It’s the same approach used with other smart home sensors like the SimpliSafe Keypad.
Option 4: Mini Floating Shelf
Over the years of running this site, we’ve come across a lot of creative mounting solutions. One worth mentioning here is the use of a small adhesive mini shelf — the kind that temporarily attaches to any vertical surface like a wall or cabinet. It gives you the ease of shelf placement without needing an actual piece of furniture in the room. Useful in spaces like a bedroom where you want the sensor at the right height but don’t have a convenient surface nearby.
Option 5: The Teccle Wall Mount
This is the cleverest dedicated solution we’ve come across for the Nest Temperature Sensor. The Teccle Wall Mount is a small stainless steel adhesive disk with a peg that aligns perfectly with the mounting hole on the back of the sensor. Stick it to any clean, dry, smooth surface — a wall, cabinet, glass, or metal — and hang the sensor on it. No screws, no tools, no holes. It’s a clean, minimal look and works on surfaces where you’d normally struggle to use a traditional screw mount.
Final Thoughts
The Nest Temperature Sensor is one of those accessories that seems minor until you start using it — and then you wonder how you managed without it. The key is placement: get it in the right room, at the right height, away from anything that’ll throw off the reading, and within reliable range of your thermostat. After that, whether you set it on a shelf or mount it to a wall is largely a matter of preference and what your space allows.
If you have questions about mounting options for other Nest or smart home devices, browse around — that’s what we’re here for.
