With a Wemos D1 mini (ESP8266) MCU that costs around USD 2.00, you can pretty easily make the Vindriktning WiFi connected and get the data to a backend [1].
You just need to solder three wires, and there is enough space within the enclosure to fit the D1 mini inside.
This would then allow you to get the exact measurements and to better understand if the "green" is more on the lower end or the higher side.
> It can be seen that all three sensors correlate very well but that the Vindriktning only shows about 65% of the PM2.5 values of the other two sensors and thus seems to considerably understate the air quality.
I think here you mean "overstate the air quality" right? Or "understate the air pollution"
Hi author! Nice write up and good analysis. However I think you missed something in the analysis.
The sensor is only accurate to +-20uG/m^3 this also means it can never reach a reading of healthy air according to the WHO specs... I think that is a bigger issue that the traffic light UI.
Apologies for picking on this issue. I am very thankful you took the time to create this article and look at the all the specifications.
Are there any non expensive sensors you could recommend? I care about the indoor air quality but it gets very pricey. I have Awair at home but it covers only one room and the unit runs $300 a piece :(
I assume you're in some way connected to the site maintainers (or it's just you). Please, tell them the site is broken, as it does not display anything without JS.
There's nothing dynamic on the page (in fact, on most pages on the site). It's mostly text and images, a user doesn't need to run your blobs of code to see them.
It would be great to hear some alternative suggestions for a consumer air quality meter that is accurate, reliable. I.e. are the AirThings products good? Or do you have any other recommendations?
Informative article with fair, fact based, conclusions.
I'd like to add that:
- The VINDRIKTNING is extremely consumer accessible ($11.99, good build, simple traffic light system).
- It may be put into spaces that previously had no particulate air quality monitoring.
- The spouse-acceptance-factor is extremely high (unlike e.g. a couple of circuit boards wired together off of Aliexpress).
There are other consumer friendly offerings, but they aren't affordable (e.g. Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor 4x cost, Airthings 10x cost). That being said, IKEA could fix their traffic-light system's cut off points for free and should consider it.
I would be very careful with this kind of evaluation. There are lots of sensors that perform well vs reference instruments but not in the field.
If you want real evaluations, SCAQMD (the folks in charge of air quality for southern california) do evaluations of commercially available, low cost sensors, both against reference instruments and the lab.
You can see what i said is true from the table - lots of sensors that are very well correlated with reference instruments in the lab, but suck horribly in the field.
I would think you would be better off submitting the sensor in question to them, and letting them put it through its paces.
(They publish within a month of finishing testing, and testing takes ~8 weeks)
I think I’ve plugged this here before. Sensor is an open community trying to track pollution. You can build your own sensor by ordering a dozen or so parts for 50-100 USD off AliExpress or Amazon (or wherever else you’d prefer because there’s really nothing extraordinary here). Some sensors even go down to 1 micrometer. The firmware is built to distinguish between 1, 2.5, and 10 micrometers. I believe AQI is the standard metric that is used for the map’s visualization.
It requires minimal technical expertise, no 3D printing, no soldering, and minimal configuration.
It’s a noble mission, and I find the granularity of data for both pollution and temperature far more telling than the estimates of more centralized systems.
Does anyone know how amazon's new unit fares? It monitors PM 2.5, CO, VOCs, temp, & humidity for 70$. I wouldn't buy one considering the source, but I am interested in how effective it is.
The article already mentions connecting a Wemos D1 mini, which lead me to searching for a howto. Stumbled onto this excellent article by my old friend Guy, complete with assembly pictures: https://style.oversubstance.net/2021/08/diy-use-an-ikea-vind...
Was super easy to follow instructions and get the same steps done.
Can you/your friend point out what kind of lovelace widget is that? Named: Our VINDRIKTNING chart after normal cooking, that helpfully has 3 gradients (green/orange/red)?
Really glad this was published. I was looking at airgradient solution for PM2.5 monitoring, but while thinking - saw this @ IKEA and bought it. And it is in my short term plan to wire it with Wemos D1 so I plot values and make sense on whether IKEA air purifier helps anything or not. Because if I follow the LEDs, it's chaos - it can be RED for hours with purifier nearby. And the same without purifier - colors just like to change in my house.
I have a question about precision: If the precision ±20μg/m³ - isn't it actually normal that they "extend" the green led up to 35μg/m³ then? Because that 12μg/m³ is maybe 32? Uh, looks like not even PMS5003 can reliably show you that green line with a high confidence, doesn't it?
Btw here is a nice thread that shows you how to wire it up with Wemos D1 and connect to Home Assistant. People compare their readings with other meters, too. But someone says he bought multiple of those and even those show different numbers. Someone sees IEKA values 10x higher (for lower values, but within specified accuracy) than other sensor https://community.home-assistant.io/t/ikea-vindriktning-air-...
But at least they FOLLOW the plot of more accurate sensors. I see value in that. I want to know if air purifier helps something or how much it helps.
I have a Vindriktning with the ESP8266 makeover sitting on the desk behind me, feeding its data into my Home Assistant instance. So far it's working great, except for one annoying detail: I'd much prefer the forced airflow fan to be on at all times, since the constant on-off cycling (around every ~10s) is quite audible and distracting in a quiet environment.
I don’t think using the brand new WHO guidelines is very fair. Not sure when it was released, but regardless this product was likely completely designed and manufactured before the WHO guidelines were published, just a few months ago.
Also, Airnow.gov still has a published scale that is worse than the IKEA product. https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/. Green is 0-50, Yellow is 51-100, Orange 101-150, and Red 151-200.
The choice to display anything under 35 μg/m³ as "good" does not seem unreasonable at first glance. Indoor PM2.5 can often be higher than outdoor so that the yearly average will be pushed down by time spent outside and there is no need to have <5 μg/m³ inside too. Also, by the author's admission the unit also measures particles larger than PM2.5 which are less harmful. There's no point in having a unit that will flash orange or red for almost everyone almost all of the time.
I think it was a conscious design decision to reduce false alarm rate. Assuming that this low cost device can be/become very inaccurate, then the designers had two choices:
1) Report all alarms as detected. Eventually, the device becomes a red LED which users learn to ignore.
2) Report a problem when the device is reasonably sure there is a problem. Green light does not necessarily mean that the air quality is good, but when the LED becomes red, it should be taken seriously.
As I mentioned in the article it really depends on the length of the exposure and how you use the sensor.
Yes in many places in Europe or North America, the outdoor air quality is most of the time good.
However -unfortunately- there are also many places where the outdoor air quality is very unhealthy most year round and then an annual exposure to 35 μg/m³ vs 5 μg/m³ makes a big difference.
It's almost incredible that for something as "simple" as an air quality sensor, particularly in relation to PM2.5 (the most important metric for most buyers, IMHO), there's no simple answer as: product X costs $50 and provides 99.X% accuracy; product Y costs $200 and provides 99.9X% accuracy.
Two years ago, during one of the most intense fire seasons in California, I spent a few hours studying different solutions, and ended up buying a refurbished PurpleAir sensor. It seemed to work great, but I felt it was a bit too expensive for what it was doing, too bulky, and in general not as easy to use for the ordinary person as it should be.
Same problem with home air filters - if you want to purify the air in your house, there's too many snake-oil solutions out there, and few that are worth the spending.
Yes...formaldehyde exposure is a big issue in the US. Not many know of it. I bought a new construction house, so it has new carpet, paint, cabinets, wood flooring etc has an off gas effect. I honestly it's criminal to allow builders to build like this, or material to be manufactured like this. That "new car" smell, that smell when you open up new furniture made of plywood (the glue contains formaldehyde) .
There are threshold laws in the US and Europe. There are laws from OSHA that regulate where you work - but no laws that regular where you sleep! It's all driven by money, of course...material with lower formaldehyde cost more to manufacture. Just walk into a Sherwin Williams and compare their paint. The highest ones are eco friendly "Low VOC" (volatile organic compound) - so industry definitely knows about it.
The numbers in my house were effectively off the charts and OSHA would be closing down your employer if you had this exposure at work.
Remediation for this is essentially allow to off gas, keep windows open. Off gassing also is impacted by humidity, so may be low during winter but high in the summer or when it rains.
Air filter DOES NOT fix this. The amount of air moved by a HVAC is peanuts compared to just opening windows for a few minutes.
You would be surprised how much particulate certain cooking methods produce, your home can go from 0 AQI to forest fire levels for a few hours without a filter.
With the right filter and sensor, you can keep your AQI in the single digits consistently and react appropriately to particle buildup. If you have a CO2 sensor as well you can react to CO2 buildup which is something I have experienced plenty of times in a modern apartment (not necessarily dangerous levels but levels high enough that cognitive effects should be expected). It is hard to keep indoor CO2 levels anywhere near outdoor levels without forced ventilation with the outside or living in a large house.
I have a xiaomi air purifier with AQ detector. Scrubber seems to to help with allergies. Detector itself is pretty much a glorified smoke detector Tamagotchi toy for me. I haven't found much use for it other than to keep numbers as low / nominal as I can. For which living in a pretty clean part of the city with good air quality means being more mindful when I cook to reduce smoke. That said the high AQ alarm has saved me a couple times from leaving stove top on / burning pots. Kind of paid for itself in that sense.
There was a time when my air quality sensor (a Temtop device) showed suspiciously high PM2.5 in the kitchen. It turned out the kitchen oven had too much oil build up inside and required cleaning. And no, I tried both cheap and expensive air purifiers; none of them could beat opening the kitchen window or turning on the range hood (a dedicated one, not the kind attached to a microwave). In this particular case, it was also a good reminder to clean the oven.
My sensor was working fine for a few months. It’s located near the area I smoke, so whenever I’m smoking it changes to red quickly. And after a few minutes (10 or so) it’d go back to green.
But for past few weeks it’s stuck at red. I disassembled it and cleaned the intake hole (which is covered with a fabric) and it worked after. However it went back to displaying red again all the time.
So my question is whether this sensor needs frequent cleaning? If so what are the alternatives?
Out of curiosity, and with no judgment intended, what is the purpose of the air quality sensor if you are actively smoking? Is it a mechanism for you to determine whether the smoking is exposing other members of the household to second-hand smoke, etc.?
I only ask because it seems to me (with no concrete research) that the smoking risk is much greater than generalized air quality risk.
I don't really have much experience with the PM1006K in the Ikea sensor but it is not untypical that PM sensors can get "stuck" and showing high concentrations.
Sometimes it helps to blow compressed air inside to push out any dust that might cover the optics but that also often does not help too much or only temporary.
I wish I could find a home executable mold spore test procedure that will give me spore counts by types. Most of the consumer tests are next to worthless. I think all I need is a fan with known volume of flow through some .3 micron filter paper, then I can check it under a microscope (guess the filter paper could use a grid, unless my hemocytomer will cast shadow through the paper.
Playing devil's advocate, this device is obviously made for mass market($11.99), what if the WHO/AQI "Good" numbers are too hard to achieve for general consumers?, the buyers of this device might be venturing into clean air for the first time and the last thing they want to see is "orange/red" ALL the time.
The color guides seem similar to the IQAir AirVisual Pro and Apple’s weather app. Like the article mentions this is likely to be inside and most useful for alerting when cooking has caused significant particle emissions, that’s what I use my AirVisual for.
When I was looking into air quality a year or two ago, I realized that the color-coded "AQI" so popular are not precisely a scientific analysis, as they are a blend of different measurements, with cutoffs specified by committee. Different countries have different formulas for AQI. That doesn't make them wrong, but it makes them not a "gospel truth".
I have a Dylos rigged up inside my apartment, feeding particle measurement data to a serial port, which stores the data on my own cloud. I don't bother with AQI.
[+] [-] ahaucnx|4 years ago|reply
With a Wemos D1 mini (ESP8266) MCU that costs around USD 2.00, you can pretty easily make the Vindriktning WiFi connected and get the data to a backend [1].
You just need to solder three wires, and there is enough space within the enclosure to fit the D1 mini inside.
This would then allow you to get the exact measurements and to better understand if the "green" is more on the lower end or the higher side.
[1] https://github.com/Hypfer/esp8266-vindriktning-particle-sens...
[+] [-] namdnay|4 years ago|reply
> It can be seen that all three sensors correlate very well but that the Vindriktning only shows about 65% of the PM2.5 values of the other two sensors and thus seems to considerably understate the air quality.
I think here you mean "overstate the air quality" right? Or "understate the air pollution"
[+] [-] accountofme|4 years ago|reply
The sensor is only accurate to +-20uG/m^3 this also means it can never reach a reading of healthy air according to the WHO specs... I think that is a bigger issue that the traffic light UI.
Apologies for picking on this issue. I am very thankful you took the time to create this article and look at the all the specifications.
[+] [-] 404mm|4 years ago|reply
Are there any non expensive sensors you could recommend? I care about the indoor air quality but it gets very pricey. I have Awair at home but it covers only one room and the unit runs $300 a piece :(
[+] [-] zibzab|4 years ago|reply
If the sensors have been calibrated in software, wouldn't you get the uncalibrated values?
[+] [-] ZoomZoomZoom|4 years ago|reply
There's nothing dynamic on the page (in fact, on most pages on the site). It's mostly text and images, a user doesn't need to run your blobs of code to see them.
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] jb1991|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] balaji1|4 years ago|reply
Currently in Bay Area where air outside seems good but these apartments seem poorly ventilated, old fixtures, old floors, lots of electronics, etc.
[+] [-] wnevets|4 years ago|reply
https://getuhoo.com/
[+] [-] newman314|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smusamashah|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pingec|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Someone1234|4 years ago|reply
I'd like to add that:
- The VINDRIKTNING is extremely consumer accessible ($11.99, good build, simple traffic light system).
- It may be put into spaces that previously had no particulate air quality monitoring.
- The spouse-acceptance-factor is extremely high (unlike e.g. a couple of circuit boards wired together off of Aliexpress).
There are other consumer friendly offerings, but they aren't affordable (e.g. Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor 4x cost, Airthings 10x cost). That being said, IKEA could fix their traffic-light system's cut off points for free and should consider it.
[+] [-] DannyBee|4 years ago|reply
If you want real evaluations, SCAQMD (the folks in charge of air quality for southern california) do evaluations of commercially available, low cost sensors, both against reference instruments and the lab.
See http://www.aqmd.gov/aq-spec/evaluations
You can see what i said is true from the table - lots of sensors that are very well correlated with reference instruments in the lab, but suck horribly in the field.
I would think you would be better off submitting the sensor in question to them, and letting them put it through its paces.
(They publish within a month of finishing testing, and testing takes ~8 weeks)
[+] [-] zahma|4 years ago|reply
It requires minimal technical expertise, no 3D printing, no soldering, and minimal configuration.
It’s a noble mission, and I find the granularity of data for both pollution and temperature far more telling than the estimates of more centralized systems.
Check out the map and guide here:
https://sensor.community/
https://sensor.community/en/sensors/
[+] [-] ortusdux|4 years ago|reply
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W8KS8D3?&linkCode=ll1&tag=andro...
[+] [-] flybrand|4 years ago|reply
We love seeing the innovation going on in this space - any suggestions on how we could better support this growing awareness of the value of IAQ?
[+] [-] micheljansen|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jve|4 years ago|reply
Can you/your friend point out what kind of lovelace widget is that? Named: Our VINDRIKTNING chart after normal cooking, that helpfully has 3 gradients (green/orange/red)?
Thanks.
[+] [-] jve|4 years ago|reply
I have a question about precision: If the precision ±20μg/m³ - isn't it actually normal that they "extend" the green led up to 35μg/m³ then? Because that 12μg/m³ is maybe 32? Uh, looks like not even PMS5003 can reliably show you that green line with a high confidence, doesn't it?
Btw here is a nice thread that shows you how to wire it up with Wemos D1 and connect to Home Assistant. People compare their readings with other meters, too. But someone says he bought multiple of those and even those show different numbers. Someone sees IEKA values 10x higher (for lower values, but within specified accuracy) than other sensor https://community.home-assistant.io/t/ikea-vindriktning-air-...
But at least they FOLLOW the plot of more accurate sensors. I see value in that. I want to know if air purifier helps something or how much it helps.
[+] [-] AdrianoKF|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] solomonb|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gedy|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dahart|4 years ago|reply
Also, Airnow.gov still has a published scale that is worse than the IKEA product. https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/. Green is 0-50, Yellow is 51-100, Orange 101-150, and Red 151-200.
[+] [-] stdbrouw|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] srg0|4 years ago|reply
1) Report all alarms as detected. Eventually, the device becomes a red LED which users learn to ignore.
2) Report a problem when the device is reasonably sure there is a problem. Green light does not necessarily mean that the air quality is good, but when the LED becomes red, it should be taken seriously.
[+] [-] ahaucnx|4 years ago|reply
Yes in many places in Europe or North America, the outdoor air quality is most of the time good.
However -unfortunately- there are also many places where the outdoor air quality is very unhealthy most year round and then an annual exposure to 35 μg/m³ vs 5 μg/m³ makes a big difference.
[+] [-] simonebrunozzi|4 years ago|reply
Two years ago, during one of the most intense fire seasons in California, I spent a few hours studying different solutions, and ended up buying a refurbished PurpleAir sensor. It seemed to work great, but I felt it was a bit too expensive for what it was doing, too bulky, and in general not as easy to use for the ordinary person as it should be.
Same problem with home air filters - if you want to purify the air in your house, there's too many snake-oil solutions out there, and few that are worth the spending.
[+] [-] Foivos|4 years ago|reply
You can still use it to get a rough idea of your air quality and it is definitely "better than nothing (or not having it)".
[+] [-] dsizzle|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fma|4 years ago|reply
There are threshold laws in the US and Europe. There are laws from OSHA that regulate where you work - but no laws that regular where you sleep! It's all driven by money, of course...material with lower formaldehyde cost more to manufacture. Just walk into a Sherwin Williams and compare their paint. The highest ones are eco friendly "Low VOC" (volatile organic compound) - so industry definitely knows about it.
The numbers in my house were effectively off the charts and OSHA would be closing down your employer if you had this exposure at work.
Remediation for this is essentially allow to off gas, keep windows open. Off gassing also is impacted by humidity, so may be low during winter but high in the summer or when it rains.
Air filter DOES NOT fix this. The amount of air moved by a HVAC is peanuts compared to just opening windows for a few minutes.
California has regulations: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/composite-wood-prod...
[+] [-] colechristensen|4 years ago|reply
With the right filter and sensor, you can keep your AQI in the single digits consistently and react appropriately to particle buildup. If you have a CO2 sensor as well you can react to CO2 buildup which is something I have experienced plenty of times in a modern apartment (not necessarily dangerous levels but levels high enough that cognitive effects should be expected). It is hard to keep indoor CO2 levels anywhere near outdoor levels without forced ventilation with the outside or living in a large house.
[+] [-] dirtyid|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kccqzy|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prashnts|4 years ago|reply
My sensor was working fine for a few months. It’s located near the area I smoke, so whenever I’m smoking it changes to red quickly. And after a few minutes (10 or so) it’d go back to green.
But for past few weeks it’s stuck at red. I disassembled it and cleaned the intake hole (which is covered with a fabric) and it worked after. However it went back to displaying red again all the time.
So my question is whether this sensor needs frequent cleaning? If so what are the alternatives?
[+] [-] renewiltord|4 years ago|reply
I only ask because it seems to me (with no concrete research) that the smoking risk is much greater than generalized air quality risk.
[+] [-] ahaucnx|4 years ago|reply
Sometimes it helps to blow compressed air inside to push out any dust that might cover the optics but that also often does not help too much or only temporary.
[+] [-] giantg2|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] djanogo|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GatorD42|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thecal|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pnathan|4 years ago|reply
I have a Dylos rigged up inside my apartment, feeding particle measurement data to a serial port, which stores the data on my own cloud. I don't bother with AQI.