vThing - CO2 Monitor - Dual Beam - Wifi

[openhardware.io]

https://www.openhardware.io/view/108/vThing-CO2-Monitor-Dual-Beam-Wifi

[alexsh1]

Hi Vladimir,

I think we have had a brief discussion about the monitor on the Domoticz site. Do you offer a more advanced version? I am not really interested in temp and hum - I have enough of these nodes at home. I would rather have a more advanced monitor offering not only CO2 monitoring but CO and other VOC sensors (MICS-VZ-86F, MICS-4514 or MICS-5524) and given it is ESP-12 probably other options which I can complete myself (PIR etc?)

Thanks
Alex

[Vladimir Savchenko]

Hi Alex,

yes, we did
I am doing few things in parallel and eventually at some point of time (hopefully soon) i will have a complete offering
What exactly do you mean with "other options that you can complete yourself" ?
The simplest option is to get some ESP8266 evaluation board and connect some sensors to it - using jumper wires or soldering them somehow.

This is rather for prototyping, so i plan to extend my vESPrino project, with some dedicated adapter board, where one could fit some common sensors, (pir, lux, uv, what else ?) and the firmware would recognize them. It is not as good as an integrated solution, but could quickly solve some sensor defficiencies and not look too prototype-ish.

For CO, what is your use case? Of course i can create some device that integrates one of those sensors, but since CO is a dangerous gas, what would happen if for some random reason the device had failed, or wifi was down, and you relied on it telling that CO has risen? I do not want to take responsibility for this of course So if you do not rely on it for the main CO protection - then it is fine..

For Air Quality and VOC gases, i have both few months ago 100 units of TGS8100, which looks like an AQI sensor similar to the ones from SGH. I hope in the next couple of months to be able to create some breakout board so this one can be easily integrated into devices, and then create a device and driver for it.

Eventually at this point of time i could offer a monitor that has both - CO2 and AQI

And last but not least, measuring the Dust levels seems also to be important, especially in the winter, when the outdoor air is too poluted (though usually you can smell it ). But also for indoor dust monitoring this is important. In fact - this i can add even today.

Regards, Vladimir

[alexsh1]

@Vladimir-Savchenko said:

What exactly do you mean with "other options that you can complete yourself" ?

ESP8266 has got a few GPIOs - it would be good to have an easy access to these.
I'd like to use it to expand and connect a PIR.

This is rather for prototyping, so i plan to extend my vESPrino project, with some dedicated adapter board, where one could fit some common sensors, (pir, lux, uv, what else ?) and the firmware would recognize them. It is not as good as an integrated solution, but could quickly solve some sensor defficiencies and not look too prototype-ish.

LUX, UV, PIR, expansion board for other gas sensors.

For CO, what is your use case? Of course i can create some device that integrates one of those sensors, but since CO is a dangerous gas, what would happen if for some random reason the device had failed, or wifi was down, and you relied on it telling that CO has risen? I do not want to take responsibility for this of course So if you do not rely on it for the main CO protection - then it is fine..

No, I have already a CO sensor in the corridor. I just want to have a backup one.

For Air Quality and VOC gases, i have both few months ago 100 units of TGS8100, which looks like an AQI sensor similar to the ones from SGH. I hope in the next couple of months to be able to create some breakout board so this one can be easily integrated into devices, and then create a device and driver for it.

Eventually at this point of time i could offer a monitor that has both - CO2 and AQI

Precisely, this is what I'd like to have. I am combining a few sensors in other nodes as well. I do not have just a CO2 sensor, but a combined sensor CO2, CO, AQI etc.

And last but not least, measuring the Dust levels seems also to be important, especially in the winter, when the outdoor air is too poluted (though usually you can smell it ). But also for indoor dust monitoring this is important. In fact - this i can add even today.

Which sensor are you using for dust?

[Vladimir Savchenko]

@alexsh1 said:

Which sensor are you using for dust?

I plan to use this one: http://www.gassensor.com.cn/product_detail_en/Particle_Sensor/PM2005
It is around 35-40 eur from the manufactuer, but somehow i tried some cheaper ones that were not laser based and i got random results

Regards, Vladimir

[epierre]

I had the contact with this seller, but an international money transfer was needed and is expensive...

You're courageous th have gone on kickstarter, from memory seeedstudio nearly went down because of an error on a crowdfunding project and had to produce and ship (the more expensive par of it) a remlacement for the first batches...

[Vladimir Savchenko]

@epierre said:

I had the contact with this seller, but an international money transfer was needed and is expensive...

yeah, they also have a minimum order quantity and ship with DHL only, so you have to pay import taxes to EU
so it only makes sense if you order a big quantitiy and then try to resell it somehow
all in all a hobby that at least has some return on investment, compared to other ones i had :))

You're courageous th have gone on kickstarter, from memory seeedstudio nearly went down because of an error on a crowdfunding project and had to produce and ship (the more expensive par of it) a remlacement for the first batches...

ahh .. i didnt know this about them... and in their scale - i can undertand
it happened to me as well but in my scale it was rather a paid lesson :))))