Unstable readings from DS18B20 temperature sensor

Hi everyone,

I recently picked up a DS18B20 temperature measurement module to log temperatures in a small Arduino project. The idea is to measure ambient temperature in different rooms and eventually expand it to multiple sensors on the same 1-Wire bus.

Setup Details:

• Arduino Uno

• DS18B20 module (3-pin version with onboard pull-up resistor)

• Connected to 5V, GND, and digital pin 2 for data

• Using the OneWire and DallasTemperature libraries

• Simple sketch to read temperature every second and print to Serial

Now here are my issues:

• The sensor sometimes returns -127°C or 85°C, which I know are error codes

• Readings fluctuate by 1–2°C even in a stable room environment

• When I connect a second DS18B20 module, only one of them reports consistently, the other drops out randomly

• Occasionally, the Arduino freezes when reading multiple sensors

What I’ve tried so far:

• Verified wiring and ensured common ground

• Added a 4.7k pull-up resistor externally, even though the module claims to have one onboard

• Tried both 5V and 3.3V supply

• Adjusted delay between conversions (750ms vs 1000ms)

• Tested with both parasitic power and normal VDD mode

My questions:

1. Is it normal for DS18B20 modules to need an external pull-up resistor even if one is included on the board?

2. How do you usually stabilize the readings so they don’t jump around by a degree or two?

3. For multiple sensors on one bus, is there a best practice for wiring length and layout to avoid dropouts?

4. Is there a recommended sampling rate for stable results (every second vs every few seconds)?

Thanks in advance for any advice, hoping to make this stable before I scale up to more sensors.