Testing new Sensors + AQI

All right!  New sensors are in and I’m testing them out.  Got demo code for most of them working, although I should of read the fine print on a few of the Sensor boards, as they don’t have working code for Python yet… But that’s only the Thermal Cameras and maybe the motion one.. but I’m pretty sure I can get the motion one to work.  

I have been learning about the Air Quality Index (AQI) as well as how this sensor works in approximating it.  For starters, it seems like its more about getting relative changes after a “Burn in” test.  Which is OK to spot differences over time, but I would like to get a more … absolute value as well, so I know how bad it is already!  Guess I’ll just have to compare indoor vs. outdoor for smokey air issues…. not that inside is super smoke free… But it’s a start!  

I’m not recording any of this to a database yet, as I more wanted to play and learn about the sensors before recording.  So as I type this, I have the demo code showing me the approx Air quality inside.  It takes a 5 min burn in period before it starts to show the AQI in the form of a % out of 100.  Inside its been running for approx 5-10 min and its showing a 96%.  I’ll put it outside shortly and see how it drops (I have it running on a battery for moving around without shutting down).  

That’s it for this update.  New sensors will be supported soon AND I’ll be working on the Sensor installer (not the PC app), so there is less fuss getting different sensors working.  

Leave a Comment


NOTE - You can use these HTML tags and attributes:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>