Anyone else want to weigh in on Foobot, especially comparisons of accuracy with other sensors? As far as $/sensors go, it seems to be the best available, but the Amazon reviews are extremely polarized between love and hate, with the haters citing both bugs in the apps (not too relevant to us since we’d be using the API, I suspect) but also claiming inaccuracy (a big concern).
New project I missed: the ‘Mpod’/‘MAQS’. Homepage: http://maqs.pbworks.com/w/page/43556955/FrontPage Calibration/evaluation paper: http://www.atmos-meas-tech.net/7/3325/2014/amt-7-3325-2014.pdf Does not seem to be commercially available.
Also of interest: snuffles.org is a wiki attempting to collate air quality sensor data: http://www.snuffle.org/doku.php?id=m-pod&do=index Does not seem well organized so there’s no page listing just devices.
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In a LW discussion of possible CO2 effects on cognitive performance, one user reports using a CO2/humidity/temperature meter. It doesn’t have data logging, but there is a $170 version, the “TIM12 Desktop CO2 & RH/T Monitor/Data Logger” (data sheet). This is not as good a deal in terms of price per variables as some of the others, but perhaps it’s worth the premium?
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One downside to Foobot on closer inspection: they claim to measure CO2 but apparently it’s actually just algorithmically estimated from the VOC sensor (http://help.foobot.io/hc/en-us/articles/205890791-Foobot-s-sensors). Which is no good if you want to do something like correlate fluctuations in CO2 levels with cognitive performance…
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That’s correct. The same sensor is used for both VOC and CO2. I asked the Footbot folks about the VOC/CO2 and how to obtain CO readings a few months ago and this was their response:
CO is included in VOC’s measurements, so there’s no reading you can get for it. Regarding VOC/CO2, there’s no specific CO2 sensor as it’s a value deducted from VOC measurements and complex algortihms. I must tell you that CO2 isn’t a pollutant - if not in too much quantity - but is a confinement index. So when it rises, it simply means you need to open windows.
Not ideal, so if you want to dig deeper into VOCs you may have to combine the Foobot with some additional sensors.
I recently started getting worried about indoor air quality too. My brother smokes when he comes over and I can notice the significant difference of the air quality after he leaves. I literally JUST bought this monitor off of Indiegogo. It’s called iBaby Air : https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ibaby-air-smart-air-quality-monitor-ion-purifier#/
I’m hoping they ship it fast, it was only $79 so I thought why not? I bought this other little device called Atmo Tube, it’s pretty cool and small but it doesn’t offer air purifying, this iBaby Air has air purifying.
Any other suggestions for now? What can I do to improve the air quality for now? I sometimes wake up coughing a lot, then the cough goes away once I leave to work.
Hi there,
Speaking about air quality monitoring & health, there is another competitor to talk about: AirVisual.
The app provides you with air quality everywhere you are, and the AirVisual Pro is a very efficient air quality monitor.
Have you tried it? Looks like this device measures both PM2.5 and CO2, which is just what I have been looking for!
@ejain I would definitively recommend it, I am using it for quite a while and it’s working very well!
It gives indoor and outdoor PM2.5, CO2 as well as other data (temperature, humidity…). You can read the data through the the monitor, the app, and it is collaborative because you can share this data to all AirVisual users in order to increase the worldwide data coverage.
I looked at their API, but as far as I can see you can only get the current measurements, so the device/service doesn’t keep track of past measurements?
Sure it does! Take a look at these screenshots,it gives hourly, daily and monthly historical data on many metrics.
Great! But can you export your historical data?
Exactly! All the monitor historical data is downloadable.
Now that’s what a call an access policy. Made me look them up to see, who are these reasonable people? I can’t really tell much, but it looks like the founders are in Switzerland.
Poor air circulation in building reduces cognitive function.
On average, cognitive scores were 61% higher on the Green building day and 101% higher on the two Green+ building days than on the Conventional building day
On average, participants had 4.7 times the odds of reporting a lack of air movement, 1.4 more symptoms (p-value = 0.019) and a 2 bpm higher heart rate (p-value < 0.001) for a 1000 ppm increase in indoor CO2 concentration. These findings suggest that occupant health in green and conventional buildings is driven by both environmental perceptions and physiological pathways.
Very good paper. Recent. List of sensors (even if most are DIY or EXPENSIVE). Overview of indoor environment quality.
DIY instruction manual for making a full fledged sensor array on the cheap for participatory science.
Workers in green certified buildings scored 26.4% (95% CI: [12.8%, 39.7%]) higher on cognitive function tests, controlling for annual earnings, job category and level of schooling, and had 30% fewer sick building symptoms than those in non-certified buildings.
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I found this useful; it’s a recent section of a COVID-19 aerosol FAQ containing links to assessment of CO2 monitoring devices:
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Thank for the FAQ link. The CO2 monitor they recommend is the Aranet4 Home which is 250$ on Amazon. I wrote the authors of the FAQ to see if they completed the comparison they were working on. “We are working with multiple colleagues to test other analyzers in the market”. Ill update with what they respond with.
Not sure if this has been posted, but the AQMD is a regulatory agency that tests the accuracy of consumer air sensors. You can compare the accuracy of devices here:
http://www.aqmd.gov/aq-spec/evaluations/summary-pm
The PurpleAir is one of the best in my opinion. $250, extremely accurate, and easy to extract the data.
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I got a response from author and sent me this link