Here is a quick look at what we have been working on over the past few months, including a big one: Air Lab firmware v1.0 is here, bringing particulate matter sensing, longer battery life, and the groundwork for over-the-air updates.
Battery Run Time
Automatic light sleep and a long list of power optimizations let you tune the battery run time to your needs. With all sensors running, an Air Lab lasts 10 to 17 days on a charge. The gas sensor is by far the most power hungry component, so measuring VOC and NOx less often pushes that to 26 days, and switching the gas sensor off entirely gets you past 70 days.
Have a look at the power settings in the Air Lab Console to find the balance that works for your setup.
PM Extension
The new firmware supports the Bosch BMV080 PM2.5 sensor, which you can add to your Air Lab through the extension port using the SparkFun Air Quality Sensor breakout. Once connected, PM2.5 measurements are available on-device and in the Console, right alongside the other readings. The full tutorial is available in the Air Lab manual.
More in This Release
Since you might enjoy the details, here is the rest of what came with v1.0:
- Groundwork in the firmware for over-the-air updates, with support in the Air Lab Console to follow.
- Display and sensor rates are now freely configurable, and the device estimates the resulting battery life for you.
- The SGP41 gas sensor runs continuously by default, with duty cycling now opt-in through the gas window.
- An attached PM sensor is announced to Home Assistant automatically.
- A network watchdog recovers stalled Wi-Fi connections, and Wi-Fi transfers are noticeably faster.
- New defaults: a 60 second sleep rate and a 5 minute long-term interval, which retains about a day of history.
- A French translation joins the existing languages.
There is plenty more, including a long list of bug fixes, in the full release notes. To update, connect your Air Lab over USB and open the update page in Studio using a Chromium-based browser. The manual walks you through the steps.
Monitoring CO2 in Your Bedroom
Air quality in the bedroom is a common issue. In particular, the CO2 we exhale while sleeping builds up quickly in a closed room. We made a new video so you can come along for an investigation into monitoring air quality in the bedroom.
Feedback
If you have questions or run into any issues, don’t hesitate to reach out or join the conversation on GitHub.
That’s all for now. Thanks for your continued support!