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I'm the founder of AirGradient and last year we have decided to focus our company on open hardware air quality monitors that we produce professionally. Our out
by ahaucnx 3y ago
I'm the founder of AirGradient and last year we have decided to focus our company on open hardware air quality monitors that we produce professionally.
Our outdoor monitor Open Air has been designed from the start as an open hardware project with a beautiful plastic injected enclosure to demonstrate that open source hardware can look and perform on the same level like traditional products.
We do also work intensively with research institutions around the world to test the monitor and ensure that the monitors are as accurate as possible [1].
Happy to answer any question that might come up.
[1] https://www.airgradient.com/research/ https://www.airgradient.com/research/
- dano 3y agoA battery backed solar powered unit would be ideal for installation where power is not readily available. Scheduled WiFi or the addition of LoRa would also be a benefit. Nice project.
- chsreekar 3y agoDo you have an indoor version?
- ahaucnx 3y agoYes, we also have a popular open-hardware, open-source indoor air quality monitor that measures CO2, PM, Temperature and Humidity. You can also get an optional TVOC module that can measure chemicals and NOx. This version we currently only sell as a pre-soldered kit [1] but it is very easy to assemble (no need to solder anything) and you just need to plug a few modules together and close the enclosure with a few screws. [1] https://www.airgradient.com/kits/ https://www.airgradient.com/kits/
- ted_dunning 3y agoTheir indoor version came first. I use several of them in my house and love them. I particularly love the open source nature of them that allows me to redirect their data reporting to my own homebrew data systems. About to buy some more of them, in fact.
- wodenokoto 3y agoI think the website is very unclear about what you get, other than part names. What can the pro do that the normal can't do? Can I connect the TVOC to the non-pro?
- ahaucnx 3y agoThe TVOC module is only for the PRO indoor kits. The BASIC kit does not have space for the TVOC module. The PRO comes with a nice plastic enclosure, has a larger display and due to its larger size measures temperature and humidity more accurately (since there is more space, the temperature sensor has more distance to active components that heat up).
- kingsloi 3y agoAwesome work! Do you have any plans to add/track gas pollutants? I run a similar open source app specifically for my little community in Gary, IN https://millerbeach.community https://millerbeach.community and run a RAMP monitor provided by a local company Sensit Technologies, and a PurpleAir II and have about ~4 years worth of data in 15 min intervals. I've been meaning to swap out the PurpleAir with another, but I'll swap it out with this instead!
- ahaucnx 3y agoWe started testing electrochemical NO and NO2 sensors from Alpha Sense in our lab and are in the early stages to design a unit that would also measure these gases but we are many months away to have something in the market.
- declan_roberts 3y agoI can’t wait for this, especially with how often gas stoves are in the news lately.
- KirillPanov 3y agoThe EPA limit for NO2 is 100ppb; have you found a sensor that can reliably report levels near that threshhold for less than $500? I haven't. Also the ones that don't require frequent recalibration seemed to be even more expensive.
- CommanderData 3y agoI'm struggling to see the benefit of your product. Apart from the outdoor element. You can buy a 4 in 1 air monitor from Amazon for half the price (Co2, PM, Temp and Humidity) i.e. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Indoor-Air-Quality-Monitor-Multifunctional/dp/B0C7D2PPCY https://www.amazon.co.uk/Indoor-Air-Quality-Monitor-Multifun... There are others with 6 in 1 with app control for less. Aren't there other sensors that would be more useful providing better insights on pollutants and health you could provide at a premium that these cheaper monitors can't.
- ahaucnx 3y agoWe use high quality sensor modules like e.g. the SenseAir S8 NDIR CO2 sensor that is made in Sweden and also Sensirion modules from Switzerland. These are much more expensive than less accurate sensor modules that you find in many other monitors.
- ted_dunning 3y agoThe sensor quality and the open source nature make a lot of difference there.
- aequitas 3y agoThis is the cheapest option I found that would do MQTT or allow me to include my own HTTP endpoint for scraping Prometheus metrics over WiFi.
- cyberax 3y agoHow good is the calibration for your temperature and humidity sensors? I'm absolutely miffed by the poor-quality sensors that are off by 10% humidity and 2-3C of temperature. I bought several sensors to try and find the best ones, and now like a man with two watches I'm never sure what the actual time is.
- ahaucnx 3y agoMost of the times the sensor modules are actually pretty accurate but the heating up of the enclosure e.g. from heat radiated by the MCU creates the issues. In our indoor monitor it took us several months to get the airflow through the enclosure right so that the temperature and humidity sensors are very close to ambient.
- RobotToaster 3y agoMy Xiaomi one has exactly that problem.
- Havoc 3y agoYep. Recently superglued a temp ensor straight onto the back of an ESP32. Seemed like it would be ok given two pcbs with low thermal conductivity in between. ...5 degrees diff. Damnit.
- cvwright 3y agoThis is random but I’d love to hear more about what’s involved in designing an enclosure and getting it manufactured at scale.
- ahaucnx 3y agoThe tooling for the plastic enclosure was quite complex and time consuming. If there is interest I can write a blog post about it.
- smokelegend 3y agoThat would be a interesting topic! If you write it, people will read it! I am one of those many people who will read it. "Sharing is caring"
- starky 3y agoIn general with injection molded parts the process has a few steps: 1. Design Starting from a set of requirements and what has to go into the enclosure you start working on the design. Here you are often working with other teams that influence the design. These could be other mechanical designers working on interior components, electrical designers working on PCBAs, industrial designers that want to make the exterior aesthetically pleasing and nice to interact with. The parts is designed with many factors in mind. What material will you be using? How does the part take into account good injection molding design practices (consistent wall thickness, avoiding undercuts, drafts to enable release from the mold, etc.)? How do the parts mechanically fit together? Normally you will be making prototypes at this point (e.g. 3D prints). Once you are happy with the design you create drawings and send a 3D database and the drawing to vendors for quote. 2. Design For Manufacture (DFM) Once you get the quotes back and choose a vendor you start the DFM process with your supplier. Their tooling engineers take a look at your design and provide a document with their feedback telling you where your design needs changes in order to be manufacturable. Part of this is running the part through simulations where they simulate how the plastic fills the mold to identify potential issues. You go back and forth until both parties are satisfied with the design before giving approval to start tooling. 3. Samples/Testing About 6-8 weeks later the vendor has finished the tool and done some tooling trials to dial in their process before sending you the first off tool (T0/FOT) samples. At this point the parts are generally not textured and may have some defects. You inspect the parts and provide feedback about what needs to be improved. At the same time the parts will be tested to see if there are any design issues, if something needs to be changed there you issue the vendor a tool mod report and they quote the costs to make the changes in the tool before sending updated samples for inspection/testing (usually called T1, T2, etc.). Once you are satisfied you have the vendor send the tool for texturing and get samples that are hopefully the final design and appearance. 4. Production Once the design is done approval is given to start buying the parts in high volumes for production.
- mplewis 3y agoWill it be possible to get a DIY kit for the outdoor monitor? I would be interested in 3D printing my own case at home.
- ahaucnx 3y agoYes should be possible. Please contact us via our contact form on the website.
- PeterStuer 3y agoThe Sensorcommunity (formerly luftdaten project) is very popular in Europe with over 10k sites active. It seems very similar to your approach (oss for both hardware and software). How does your approach differ from theirs? Will both interoperate? https://sensor.community/en/ https://sensor.community/en/
- iampivot 3y agoBuilt one of the Airgradient Pro a few weeks ago, it works a threat! The bundled usb-c cable didn't work though.
- ahaucnx 3y agoThis is interesting. Can you please contact our support I would like to learn more about the failed cable. Thanks!