5 ms·

Can you IoT an Airwick air freshener? (2020)

44 points by 1_player 5y ago

teekert 5y ago
Should you IoT an Airwick air Freshener? [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26732229 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26732229
- brnt 5y ago
  I never understood the point of these, and their names are misleading: the do NOT refresh your air, they spread scent! If you think you need that, you probably should be cleaning or identify and eliminate a particular source of bad odours, not spraying masking scents into the air like a 17th century courtier in Paris.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > they spread scent! If you think you need that, you probably should be cleaning or identify and eliminate a particular source of bad odours What if you think you need that because you prefer pleasant scents to the neutral absence of noticeable scent, not because of “a particular source of bad odours”?
    - brnt 5y ago
      Then why are they called air fresheners and not scent-generators or something like that?
      - dragonwriter 5y ago
        > Then why are they called air fresheners Because “fresh" has long been considered a descriptor of particular noticeable scents, not the absence of scent (also true, though not as relevant here, of particular tastes.)
      - Kirth 5y ago
        I imagine the "healthy" connotation that the term fresh carries is good for marketing. "generator" sounds industrial, polluting.. makes one wonder if it causes adverse health effects.
        brnt 5y ago
        You're right, and that's why I consider their name misleading: these things are thoroughly unhealthy, and may mask another source of unhealth (bad scent maybe due to hidden mold for instance).
  - cameronh90 5y ago
    Not all odour sources are easily controllable (cooking in open plan apartments, pets, flat mates, toilets, etc.). Increasing ventilation also is not always practical, like when it's -5c outside, or you live on a main road where the air aggravates your allergies. Also many people just like the scents and aren't trying to cover up anything.
    - brnt 5y ago
      Airfilters (with carbonfilters) are quite effective.
    - nix23 5y ago
      You can make a bet that those "scent" are much more toxic as you think. An filtration with an active-coal-filter solves your problem much better.
      - pessimizer 5y ago
        "14,000 estimated to have died from humidifier sanitizer scandal: study" https://koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2020/07/251_293448.html https://koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2020/07/251_293448.html The manufacturer was Reckitt Benckiser, who is also the manufacturer of Airwick. https://www.reckitt.com/brands/air-wick/ https://www.reckitt.com/brands/air-wick/
        nix23 5y ago
        When HN thinks distilled and highly concentrated scents are a good thing ;) BTW: There is ~some proof that geranium is a big allergic-igniter
StavrosK 5y ago
Hah, I did the same thing in much the same way, though IIRC I didn't use a relay, I used the existing circuit board and found the place where their MCU output the signal to move the motor. Pretty nice hack, at least until I realized I didn't want a thing spraying perfume in my house.
- 1_player 5y ago
  Same here, I found this article because I was looking for a time mod so it would spray less often than it does out-of-the-box. And now I'm convinced I should not be spraying any questionable chemical perfume in my house anyway.
- taneq 5y ago
  A long-neglected project on my to-do list is to do exactly the opposite with one of these. I want to use the circuit board to detect movement in front of it and use the motor output to close a relay instead of squirting smelly stuff. The relay would then trigger a button push on my wireless doorbell button and ring the doorbell if it detected movement. I really should get back on that.
  - StavrosK 5y ago
    This would be much simpler with just an ESP instead of messing around with the air freshner mechanism, it'll be more trouble than its worth.
    - taneq 5y ago
      Well now I have to do it, don't I? :P
- floitsch 5y ago
  Me too. I used the existing board and connected myself directly to the transistor. Used http://toit.io http://toit.io to connect the ESP32 to the cloud so I could control it from my phone (with a tiny Flutter app).
matthewfelgate 5y ago
Thanks for the write up because it is really details and helps someone to understand and learn. Good job.
sshagent 5y ago
Next evolution of this is some fecal to air counter, with a voice stating "Alexa, IT IS STINKY"
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  That can be done I think. There are some VOC and particulate sensors that can be had for cheap, and they might respond to human recognizable stink. It would be easier to put a water flow sensor on the toilet though.
  - sshagent 5y ago
    Oh for sure, that makes more sense. It just makes me chuckle that in the future using public restrooms, that people will try not to trigger a response from the 'air freshener AI'.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
nephrite 5y ago
The idea seems trivial. The original Airwick works with batteries so you just hook some SoC to it and you're done. Another pointless pretty toy.
onion2k 5y ago
Using "IoT" as a verb is an interesting and horrible development.
- echelon 5y ago
  They're reading the silent S in IoT as the verb "secure".
amelius 5y ago
Perhaps they can combine this project with this [1] project. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27124671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27124671
Danski0 5y ago
Love the concept but hate the smell of these "air fresheners" that just spray horrible perfume. Thank God for products such as carbonfilters and Yocoair that remove odour instead.
zbuf 5y ago
Not a fan of spreading perfume, but Airwicks are a great source of an aesthetically acceptable case with battery compartment and motion sensor. I have one in each room of the house modified for sensing which is then used to drive a central thermostat.
taner56 5y ago
On HN home page right now: 1. This page - spread Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in your room 2. Monitor air quality in your room[1], including PM2.5, CO2 and VOCs Choose one. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27124671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27124671
TheGrumpyBrit 5y ago
Great write up! While this one probably isn't for me, it's planted the seed of an idea. I have a new kitten who we've just started allowing free roam of the house at night, which is fine until dawn when she thinks we all need to be awake and starts running around like a mad thing at half past stupid in the morning. If I can make one of her noisier toys smart, maybe I can get Alexa to call her downstairs by turning it on, thereby giving us some peace without locking her away all night.
bborud 5y ago
Now hook it up to a methane sensor that is also connected via WiFi and add a loudspeaker - so everytime the sensor sees heightened methane concentrations you spray and play an audio file that says "uh-oh, fart" in a Rainman voice. (Hey downvote me all you want, we're talking about strapping a dual core MCU to an air freshener. It isn't like this was Nobel Prize material to begin with :-))
tibbydudeza 5y ago
Hmm I have one that kills mosquito's - instead of squirting every x minutes it should listen to the sound in the room filtering out my snoring and wife talking to herself , the cats moving about and figure out how many actual mosquito's there are.

44 points by 1_player 5y ago

Should you IoT an Airwick air Freshener? [0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26732229 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26732229

brnt 5y ago
I never understood the point of these, and their names are misleading: the do NOT refresh your air, they spread scent! If you think you need that, you probably should be cleaning or identify and eliminate a particular source of bad odours, not spraying masking scents into the air like a 17th century courtier in Paris.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > they spread scent! If you think you need that, you probably should be cleaning or identify and eliminate a particular source of bad odours What if you think you need that because you prefer pleasant scents to the neutral absence of noticeable scent, not because of “a particular source of bad odours”?
  - brnt 5y ago
    Then why are they called air fresheners and not scent-generators or something like that?
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      > Then why are they called air fresheners Because “fresh" has long been considered a descriptor of particular noticeable scents, not the absence of scent (also true, though not as relevant here, of particular tastes.)
    - Kirth 5y ago
      I imagine the "healthy" connotation that the term fresh carries is good for marketing. "generator" sounds industrial, polluting.. makes one wonder if it causes adverse health effects.
      - brnt 5y ago
        You're right, and that's why I consider their name misleading: these things are thoroughly unhealthy, and may mask another source of unhealth (bad scent maybe due to hidden mold for instance).
- cameronh90 5y ago
  Not all odour sources are easily controllable (cooking in open plan apartments, pets, flat mates, toilets, etc.). Increasing ventilation also is not always practical, like when it's -5c outside, or you live on a main road where the air aggravates your allergies. Also many people just like the scents and aren't trying to cover up anything.
  - brnt 5y ago
    Airfilters (with carbonfilters) are quite effective.
  - nix23 5y ago
    You can make a bet that those "scent" are much more toxic as you think. An filtration with an active-coal-filter solves your problem much better.
    - pessimizer 5y ago
      "14,000 estimated to have died from humidifier sanitizer scandal: study" https://koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2020/07/251_293448.html https://koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2020/07/251_293448.html The manufacturer was Reckitt Benckiser, who is also the manufacturer of Airwick. https://www.reckitt.com/brands/air-wick/ https://www.reckitt.com/brands/air-wick/
      - nix23 5y ago
        When HN thinks distilled and highly concentrated scents are a good thing ;) BTW: There is ~some proof that geranium is a big allergic-igniter

StavrosK 5y ago

Hah, I did the same thing in much the same way, though IIRC I didn't use a relay, I used the existing circuit board and found the place where their MCU output the signal to move the motor. Pretty nice hack, at least until I realized I didn't want a thing spraying perfume in my house.

1_player 5y ago
Same here, I found this article because I was looking for a time mod so it would spray less often than it does out-of-the-box. And now I'm convinced I should not be spraying any questionable chemical perfume in my house anyway.
taneq 5y ago
A long-neglected project on my to-do list is to do exactly the opposite with one of these. I want to use the circuit board to detect movement in front of it and use the motor output to close a relay instead of squirting smelly stuff. The relay would then trigger a button push on my wireless doorbell button and ring the doorbell if it detected movement. I really should get back on that.
- StavrosK 5y ago
  This would be much simpler with just an ESP instead of messing around with the air freshner mechanism, it'll be more trouble than its worth.
  - taneq 5y ago
    Well now I have to do it, don't I? :P
floitsch 5y ago
Me too. I used the existing board and connected myself directly to the transistor. Used http://toit.io http://toit.io to connect the ESP32 to the cloud so I could control it from my phone (with a tiny Flutter app).

matthewfelgate 5y ago

Thanks for the write up because it is really details and helps someone to understand and learn. Good job.

sshagent 5y ago

Next evolution of this is some fecal to air counter, with a voice stating "Alexa, IT IS STINKY"

ashtonkem 5y ago
That can be done I think. There are some VOC and particulate sensors that can be had for cheap, and they might respond to human recognizable stink. It would be easier to put a water flow sensor on the toilet though.
- sshagent 5y ago
  Oh for sure, that makes more sense. It just makes me chuckle that in the future using public restrooms, that people will try not to trigger a response from the 'air freshener AI'.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

nephrite 5y ago

The idea seems trivial. The original Airwick works with batteries so you just hook some SoC to it and you're done. Another pointless pretty toy.

onion2k 5y ago

Using "IoT" as a verb is an interesting and horrible development.

echelon 5y ago
They're reading the silent S in IoT as the verb "secure".

amelius 5y ago

Perhaps they can combine this project with this [1] project. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27124671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27124671

Danski0 5y ago

Love the concept but hate the smell of these "air fresheners" that just spray horrible perfume. Thank God for products such as carbonfilters and Yocoair that remove odour instead.

zbuf 5y ago

Not a fan of spreading perfume, but Airwicks are a great source of an aesthetically acceptable case with battery compartment and motion sensor. I have one in each room of the house modified for sensing which is then used to drive a central thermostat.

taner56 5y ago

On HN home page right now: 1. This page - spread Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in your room 2. Monitor air quality in your room[1], including PM2.5, CO2 and VOCs Choose one. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27124671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27124671

TheGrumpyBrit 5y ago

Great write up! While this one probably isn't for me, it's planted the seed of an idea. I have a new kitten who we've just started allowing free roam of the house at night, which is fine until dawn when she thinks we all need to be awake and starts running around like a mad thing at half past stupid in the morning. If I can make one of her noisier toys smart, maybe I can get Alexa to call her downstairs by turning it on, thereby giving us some peace without locking her away all night.

bborud 5y ago

Now hook it up to a methane sensor that is also connected via WiFi and add a loudspeaker - so everytime the sensor sees heightened methane concentrations you spray and play an audio file that says "uh-oh, fart" in a Rainman voice. (Hey downvote me all you want, we're talking about strapping a dual core MCU to an air freshener. It isn't like this was Nobel Prize material to begin with :-))

tibbydudeza 5y ago

Hmm I have one that kills mosquito's - instead of squirting every x minutes it should listen to the sound in the room filtering out my snoring and wife talking to herself , the cats moving about and figure out how many actual mosquito's there are.