Jon00 Particulate Matter Sensor (Air Quality) Project for Homeseer 3 & Homeseer 4

[jon00]

This project allows you to construct a Particulate Matter Sensor (PM2.5 & PM10) for outside (or inside) your home and import the data directly into HomeSeer. It uses the design from Luftdaten.info (German) using a NodeMCU v3, SDS011 Fine Dust Sensor and optional Temp/Humidity/Pressure sensors which are all available from Amazon, Ebay or AliExpress (cheaper).

Because construction is designed for non-programmers, software for the NodeMCU is provided and just needs to be loaded on the board. Your data is uploaded to Luftdaten.info where it is stored and can be used to display graphs of pollution over time. The data is not identifiable unless you opt-in and allow it to be plotted on a world-wide map to show pollution levels and assist with sensor deployments across the world.

Local data from the sensor can also be imported to HomeSeer devices (as seen below) using the script on my site.



English Home Page for Luftdaten.info can be found here.

Construction manual for the Particulate Manual Sensor can be found here.

Additional details can be found in this document.

Active Sensor Map can be found here.

For ease of construction, their design uses PVC pipe to house the components. If you have/access to a 3D printer and want a more professional housing, I used this design from Thingiverse which uses an off-the shelf electrical junction box. This design includes a DHT22 Temperature/Humidity Sensor and a BMP180 Pressure/Temperature Sensor. There are also other case designs on Thingiverse which may be suitable.





The script is available from my site (click on my banner below). Any problems, please let me know.

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[brientim]

Thank you for the write up. Environment monitoring has become very popular recently and globally growing in interest. I have been using the Uradmonitor A3 for a few year and this feed Homeseer. It is about to be relocated into a stevenson screen located in the backyard.

More recently, sometime last year, I purchased a cheaper ECOWITT WH0290 Air Quality Monitor PM 2.5 Sensor as a secondary data point which isn’t integrated with Homeseer.

I was going to purchase a PurpleAir but there were numerous reports of issues and hence stayed away from that.

I am curious to know what was the total cost of this unit as this looks like a very viable solution for measuring both inside and outside.

[jon00]

Thanks. All the components cost under $30 (USD) including Pressure, Temperature and Humidity sensors from AliExpress. You do need a 5V USB PSU (old phone charger) plus whatever you use for the housing.

[brientim]

That is great and very cost effective compared to the alternatives. I AliExpress so time to start putting in some orders.

[jon00]

Great - please let me know how you get on!

[langenet]

+1 a list with links would be wonderful.

[jon00]

+1 a list with links would be wonderful.

Did you check the links in my first post?

[langenet]

Right... sorry about that. I was looking at this thread on my phone and didn't see the hyperlinks.

[prsmith777]

USB connection isn't practical for me. Is there a network version available?

[jon00]

NodeMCU boards use Wi-Fi. USB is just used to supply 5V to the board and initial programming.

[brientim]

Parts ordered and it is now just the long wait until they make their way to Australia.

[jon00]

Parts ordered and it is now just the long wait until they make their way to Australia.

It will be worth the wait ;-)

[jon00]

Parts ordered and it is now just the long wait until they make their way to Australia.

Any progress on this?

[baudfather]

Thanks for putting this script together jon00 - is there a way to have HS display the US AQI scale as well (most commonly used in North America)? Just got mine up and running yesterday (still waiting for the temp sensor), just have to find a nice box to get it all into and a long power cable for it. Cheers!

[jon00]

Thanks for putting this script together jon00 - is there a way to have HS display the US AQI scale as well (most commonly used in North America)? Just got mine up and running yesterday (still waiting for the temp sensor), just have to find a nice box to get it all into and a long power cable for it. Cheers!

I would have to take a look. I believe you need the average reading for the last 24 hours to do the calculation. It would also only be able to calculate on PM2.5 and PM10 as it does not have sensors for ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide or nitrogen dioxide.