Vekotinverstas (Gadget Workshop) organised air quality sensor (called AQBurk) workshop on 2019-10-01 in Brussels at Helsinki EU Office. Here you can find related links to the data, instructions, source code etc.

Instructions

Configure and install AQBurk following these steps in this order:

1. Connect AQBurk to network. You should do this inside your home or office because you need a computer, tablet or mobile phone to complete.
2. Measure distance from wall socket to installation location, so you can be sure power wire is long enough.
3. Mount the AQBurk box on the window’s outside surface after cleaning it first.

Connecting AQBurk to network

AQBurk uses WLAN (Wi-Fi) connection to send the data it gathers to an internet cloud server. When switched on, it tries to find pre-defined WLAN. If it can’t find it, AQBurk will create own WLAN hotspot called AQBURK_9000xx, where xx is box number between 01 and 10. Use your PC, smart phone or tablet to connect this network.

If connection is successful (sometimes you have to switch off and on your WLAN several times until connection works), a popup window (a captive portal) or similar will open. First click Configure WiFi button:

And then in next window select desired WLAN by clicking it in the list and then set password in the lower form field. Double check that password is correct. You can write it down in clear text and then copy-paste it into the form.

Verifying connection

Currently the only way to check that data streams as wanted is to go to the web page, which shows the data in real-time:
//iot.fvh.fi/grafana/d/dH-ENBtWz/aq-sensor-brussels?orgId=6&refresh=30s
The web page may look like similar to the picture. Check that there is a legend for your unit in format Bxx where xx is the number of yours and there is fresh data for the unit in the right side of all graphs. You can refresh the view by clicking ”refresh button” in he top-right corner.

 

 

 

Setting up installation location

Measure distance from wall socket to desired installation spot. Consider possible curves caused by window and other objects. If there is no wall socket near enough, you can use extension cord. After you are sure wire reaches the wall socket, clean the desired mounting point with window cleaner. Fit AQBurk first on desired, already cleaned location and verify that wire is still long enough. Remove green cover from 2-sided adhesive tape.

Carefully mount box to installation location pipe downwards.

Then plug the power on.

Technical details

AQBurk sends the data from sensors connecting to local WLAN. After the connection is established it connects to an MQTT broker on server broker.fvh.io. Then a Python script listens and receives all data messages and stores the data into InfluxDB database.

The source code

The source code of AQBurk’s software can be found in Github:
//github.com/VekotinVerstas/DemoSensor

If you want to try to compile it and re-flash AQBurk (maybe you want to use your own MQTT broker or HTTP server as endpoint) you need to use Arduino IDE and install all required sensor and other libraries (see source) using Arduino’s library manager.

In settings.h you must enable SDS011 by uncommenting following line:
// #define SDS011_USE // Comment out if SDS011 is not connected

In addition you must check that all #defines below MQTT settings are correct or BACKEND_URL is correct if you plan to try HTTP server.