5 ms·

Most purifiers on the market with built-in sensors are unreliable to measure. They usually go for cheap IR sensors without flow control. Your results will vary

Most purifiers on the market with built-in sensors are unreliable to measure. They usually go for cheap IR sensors without flow control. Your results will vary wildly depending on conditions (temperature and humidity affect measurements a lot). I personally like Xiaomi purifiers for their affordability and noise level. If you're concerned about measuring pm2.5 in your space, you should consider buying a good entry level monitor like the laser egg or air visual (acquired by iqair not so long ago). Don't hesitate to ask more questions, air quality had been my main business for the past 4 years.

sundvor 8y ago
We have a Coway AP-1008DH, and it's interesting to see how quickly it comes on when cooking. Probably cheap sensors, but it appears to be a good device overall. I see that Air Visual ship to Australia; could this be a good way to assess the pollution levels at the school we're considering moving our son to (see my other response in this thread), or could there be cheaper options? Thanks!
- sberder 8y ago
  We do work with a lot of schools here in SEA. not in Australia yet but AFAIK the market is probably not ready yet.
roel_v 8y ago
Are there air quality meters available at affordable prices (say, <= $100) that can easily be integrated with home automation systems? (like, have an api, or that connect to cloud services so that I can capture the traffic?) Also, any recommendations on outdoor sensors? There have been a few crowd sourced efforts over thale last few years, but I've not been very impressed by them.
- sberder 8y ago
  I don't know of any cheap outdoor sensors, they are more tricky than indoor as wind (air flow in the sensor), temperature, humidity and dust become more of a prominent problem. For a cheap sensor, laser egg publishes API endpoints to get latest data. You can also fairly easily add a plantower to an arduino/raspi kind of setup. Pantower is a sensor that will give you reliable output OOTB, can be improved but good enough.

sundvor 8y ago

We have a Coway AP-1008DH, and it's interesting to see how quickly it comes on when cooking. Probably cheap sensors, but it appears to be a good device overall. I see that Air Visual ship to Australia; could this be a good way to assess the pollution levels at the school we're considering moving our son to (see my other response in this thread), or could there be cheaper options? Thanks!

sberder 8y ago
We do work with a lot of schools here in SEA. not in Australia yet but AFAIK the market is probably not ready yet.

roel_v 8y ago

Are there air quality meters available at affordable prices (say, <= $100) that can easily be integrated with home automation systems? (like, have an api, or that connect to cloud services so that I can capture the traffic?) Also, any recommendations on outdoor sensors? There have been a few crowd sourced efforts over thale last few years, but I've not been very impressed by them.

sberder 8y ago
I don't know of any cheap outdoor sensors, they are more tricky than indoor as wind (air flow in the sensor), temperature, humidity and dust become more of a prominent problem. For a cheap sensor, laser egg publishes API endpoints to get latest data. You can also fairly easily add a plantower to an arduino/raspi kind of setup. Pantower is a sensor that will give you reliable output OOTB, can be improved but good enough.