4 ms·

I got the ikea sensor, I’d say it’s way more accurate than you need for personal use. I wouldn’t use it as a scientific instrument but it’s well good enough to

I got the ikea sensor, I’d say it’s way more accurate than you need for personal use. I wouldn’t use it as a scientific instrument but it’s well good enough to see if the room is ventilated enough. I was shocked to see just how fast CO2 climbs while in a room, and how just opening the window just a crack was enough to restore the room to baseline co2. The thing runs on usb 5v so the power consumption is negligible. It also plugs in to home assistant great.

p-e-w 4mo ago
> The thing runs on usb 5v so the power consumption is negligible. There’s a huge leap from that to the power consumption being low enough to be integrated into a smartphone, as demanded by OP.
- progval 4mo ago
  I don't think power use is the issue. I have this cheap CO2 sensor: https://www.domadoo.fr/en/devices/5882-heiman-zigbee-air-quality-sensor-co2-temperature-humidity.html https://www.domadoo.fr/en/devices/5882-heiman-zigbee-air-qua... which draws 0.5W. This includes thermometer and humidity sensor, Zigbee transmission, and acting as a Zigbee router, but it gives us an upper bound. It also measures continuously (picks up someone breathing on it within 10s), which is overkill. A phone could measure CO2 levels once every 10 minutes which would average under 0.01W, so that would work. However, this assumes the sensor would fit in a smartphone, which is not a given. And these things need air flow. And they also wouldn't work while the phone is in a bag or a pocket.
  - nnevod 4mo ago
    >A phone could measure CO2 levels once every 10 minutes which would average under 0.01W, so that would work. Not sure about that, at least NDIR sensors have to be at certain elevated temperature to work and they do some preheating when you turn them on from standby. So it's not possible to just measure less often as then energy would have to be spent on heating the sensor.
- ac29 4mo ago
  I've got a NDIR CO2 sensor about 6 weeks into a supposed 1 year battery life, still reporting 100% battery. Power use is very low since it only fires up the CO2 sensor every 30 mins.
odiroot 4mo ago
Can it work with Zigbee network or is Matter/Thread required?
- embedding-shape 4mo ago
  I'm using a bunch of IKEA's "smart home" stuff, all via Zigbee+HA, works great. Look for the Zigbee icon on the package, and the pairing for Zigbee vs their own home controller might have slightly different pairing sequence on the device, otherwise it just seems to work.
  - deleted 4mo ago
    [deleted]
  - microtonal 4mo ago
    ALSTUGA does not work with Zigbee. They recently overhauled their lineup and replaced all Zigbee devices by Thread + Matter. Some of the new devices (mostly those who support TouchLink, e.g. some of the lights) have a secret pairing mode with which you can use them with Zigbee, but it's only a subset of the new products.
    - embedding-shape 4mo ago
      > They recently overhauled their lineup and replaced all Zigbee devices by Thread + Matter. Uuh, seems not keeping up with social media finally backfired. That sounds horrible! So far IKEA been a great experience when it comes to HA+Zigbee stuff, and I started buying stuff relying on they'd keep just keeping up with that, really sad to hear they've changed course. The "secret pairing mode" stuff sounds the same as currently/before though, but they only do so for a subset is new and hope they again change their mind.
      - microtonal 4mo ago
        Yeah, I bought a bunch of INSPELNING smart plugs when they were clearing out the inventory. The new GRILLPLATS switches are more compact though, which is nice.
microtonal 4mo ago
I have HA send me a notification to ventilate my office when the air reaches 1000ppm CO2. The IKEA ALPSTUGA is often off by 300ppm even under 1000ppm. If I'd use it, I'd be getting notifications at 700ppm. It is a thermal conductivity sensor, which is a very indirect way of measuring CO2 and is very sensitive to environment factors. You only get somewhat good readings in lab conditions. Don't by the ALPSTUGA for anything but very rough trends, there are much better affordable options.
- Gigachad 4mo ago
  Within 300 ppm is more than good enough. Realistically 1000 ppm is not that bad. The average meeting room is multiples of that. Also in my experience it’s much more accurate than that.
  - microtonal 4mo ago
    I notice that thinking becomes less clear when going above 1000ppm, so I let HA send a notification at 1000ppm. With ALPSTUGA it would send already at 700ppm. By the way, above 1000 the divergences become even larger due to the inaccuracy also being 10% of the ambient CO2 concentration (in optimal circumstances, probably larger IRL). So, suppose you want to be notified at 2000 ppm, the IKEA sensor might already do so at 1500 or 1600 ppm and it continuously drifts, so it's not like you can use a particular offset. Besides that, what's the point? There are much better meters in a similar price class. As an additional benefit, they can last months or up to a year on two AA batteries. ALPSTUGA is an inferior product.
    - summm 4mo ago
      Can you recommend some?
      - microtonal 4mo ago
        Mentioned two here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48783879 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48783879

p-e-w 4mo ago

> The thing runs on usb 5v so the power consumption is negligible. There’s a huge leap from that to the power consumption being low enough to be integrated into a smartphone, as demanded by OP.

progval 4mo ago
I don't think power use is the issue. I have this cheap CO2 sensor: https://www.domadoo.fr/en/devices/5882-heiman-zigbee-air-quality-sensor-co2-temperature-humidity.html https://www.domadoo.fr/en/devices/5882-heiman-zigbee-air-qua... which draws 0.5W. This includes thermometer and humidity sensor, Zigbee transmission, and acting as a Zigbee router, but it gives us an upper bound. It also measures continuously (picks up someone breathing on it within 10s), which is overkill. A phone could measure CO2 levels once every 10 minutes which would average under 0.01W, so that would work. However, this assumes the sensor would fit in a smartphone, which is not a given. And these things need air flow. And they also wouldn't work while the phone is in a bag or a pocket.
- nnevod 4mo ago
  >A phone could measure CO2 levels once every 10 minutes which would average under 0.01W, so that would work. Not sure about that, at least NDIR sensors have to be at certain elevated temperature to work and they do some preheating when you turn them on from standby. So it's not possible to just measure less often as then energy would have to be spent on heating the sensor.
ac29 4mo ago
I've got a NDIR CO2 sensor about 6 weeks into a supposed 1 year battery life, still reporting 100% battery. Power use is very low since it only fires up the CO2 sensor every 30 mins.

odiroot 4mo ago

Can it work with Zigbee network or is Matter/Thread required?

embedding-shape 4mo ago
I'm using a bunch of IKEA's "smart home" stuff, all via Zigbee+HA, works great. Look for the Zigbee icon on the package, and the pairing for Zigbee vs their own home controller might have slightly different pairing sequence on the device, otherwise it just seems to work.
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
- microtonal 4mo ago
  ALSTUGA does not work with Zigbee. They recently overhauled their lineup and replaced all Zigbee devices by Thread + Matter. Some of the new devices (mostly those who support TouchLink, e.g. some of the lights) have a secret pairing mode with which you can use them with Zigbee, but it's only a subset of the new products.
  - embedding-shape 4mo ago
    > They recently overhauled their lineup and replaced all Zigbee devices by Thread + Matter. Uuh, seems not keeping up with social media finally backfired. That sounds horrible! So far IKEA been a great experience when it comes to HA+Zigbee stuff, and I started buying stuff relying on they'd keep just keeping up with that, really sad to hear they've changed course. The "secret pairing mode" stuff sounds the same as currently/before though, but they only do so for a subset is new and hope they again change their mind.
    - microtonal 4mo ago
      Yeah, I bought a bunch of INSPELNING smart plugs when they were clearing out the inventory. The new GRILLPLATS switches are more compact though, which is nice.

microtonal 4mo ago

I have HA send me a notification to ventilate my office when the air reaches 1000ppm CO2. The IKEA ALPSTUGA is often off by 300ppm even under 1000ppm. If I'd use it, I'd be getting notifications at 700ppm. It is a thermal conductivity sensor, which is a very indirect way of measuring CO2 and is very sensitive to environment factors. You only get somewhat good readings in lab conditions. Don't by the ALPSTUGA for anything but very rough trends, there are much better affordable options.

Gigachad 4mo ago
Within 300 ppm is more than good enough. Realistically 1000 ppm is not that bad. The average meeting room is multiples of that. Also in my experience it’s much more accurate than that.
- microtonal 4mo ago
  I notice that thinking becomes less clear when going above 1000ppm, so I let HA send a notification at 1000ppm. With ALPSTUGA it would send already at 700ppm. By the way, above 1000 the divergences become even larger due to the inaccuracy also being 10% of the ambient CO2 concentration (in optimal circumstances, probably larger IRL). So, suppose you want to be notified at 2000 ppm, the IKEA sensor might already do so at 1500 or 1600 ppm and it continuously drifts, so it's not like you can use a particular offset. Besides that, what's the point? There are much better meters in a similar price class. As an additional benefit, they can last months or up to a year on two AA batteries. ALPSTUGA is an inferior product.
  - summm 4mo ago
    Can you recommend some?
    - microtonal 4mo ago
      Mentioned two here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48783879 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48783879