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Comment by l1am0 | Hacker News Reader

This feels like old news. Built such a thing for a german hacker initiative like 7years ago. Back then sub 50€ and still runs.

Data available at luftdaten.info

https://sensor.community/de/sensors/airrohr/

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We built those and got them running one evening at a Meetup in Erlangen - looks like they had to switch to a temperature/humidity sensor that requires soldering the pins on, because the ones we used back then came ready to plug in, not a soldering iron in sight.

I can vouch for that. A friend built one of these and since it worked really well, so I and some others built five more last year. Make sure to put a piece of window screen over the openings of the tube to keep insects and spiders out. If you have enough dexterity, you can even hide the screen inside the opening of the tube to make it less unsightly.

I have the same sensor but I don't trust those values at all. Especially after a few years when the sensor has dirt suckes in.

Not sure how to calibrate those. I didn't buy 3 of them to measure the accuracy.

These measurement devices have a limited lifetime and I think it is really the intake of dust and dirt that limits how long they can be used. That's why they're not running continously but for some seconds every few minutes (because flowing air will carry dust much more easily). If it's clogged up with dust or dirt, it really might be at end of life. I keep the electronics and sensor of mine in a closed box if I am not operating it.

Yes. But I can't see that, the sensor will still output values regardless of being clogged up. Not sure if I can open the device without destroying it, haven't tried. The power runs all the time as long as the USB cable is connected, but it's only a Serial-USB converter.

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