Hi all, I though I’d share a little project that I tackled last week. It’s a Wi-Fi enabled gas sensor that will trigger audio alerts as well as SMS to several phone numbers when a gas leak is detected.
Full project details here:
Let me know what you think and I’d love to hear suggestions on how to improve it.
-Stefan
I like this project, and i have in a box somewhere the same sensor ready to build my own!
Looking at your photos i notice the photon is mounted on some black foam, if its the stuff it ships with it is conductive, to stop static during transport and is not suitable to leave on and will probably effect your readings too.
You’re right, that is the stuff that they ship it on. Before I used it in there I had the same thoughts about it being conductive but I gave its try anyway. Turns out it’s not, readings were super stable so I used it in there. Not that it would make a difference, in my case it’s wrapped in electrical tape, but the pins of the photon still punch through.
Nice project!
One thing though. In my house I had sensors like these:
They use the same sensor as you use in your project. What I noticed with these sensors is that they do not have an ambient temperature sensor. If I started baking something in my electrical oven, which was 2 meters away from the sensor, it would go off because the temperature ‘suddenly’ increased. I don’t know how your project handles cases like this. Also, I noticed that the life of these sensors is short, very short (3-6 months), could be bad luck though.
So far we did some cooking and it never went off. I tried not to mount it in direct path of the steam and the best location for that was under the cupboard next to the stove. I tested it by turning on the gas for a few seconds and it was pretty fast to react. With regards to the life of the sensor, I didn’t know they may have such a short one. Thanks for bringing that up. I will report back if it stops working.
You may find that it is particles which are causing the sensor to react not temperature. I know that my
particle counter will go up 30x when using my electric oven. If I put the oven on self clean
mode the numbers go even higher.
This is the sensor I use which has never had any false alarms :
http://www.thiscaringhome.org/products/co-gas-alarm.php
I absolutely agree with you Rockvole. Mine also gets triggered by some disinfecting cleaning wipes or the kettle. I strongly recommend that anyone interested in a reliable and professional gas sensor should buy a commercially available one manufactured by a company that knows exactly what it’s doing. This one is more of a proof of concept. We’re here to exchange ideas, advance what can be done with the IoT devices in different areas and ultimately having fun while doing it. However that should not replace reason and sane judgement.