Tag: Ikea PM2.5 Sensor

Hacking The IKEA VINDRIKTNING PM2.5 Sensor With Tasmota | Voltlog #394

Welcome to a new Voltlog, in this video I’m gonna show you how I hacked the IKEA PM2.5 sensor which is normally just showing good or bad values using LEDs into a fully smart wifi enabled MQTT sensor running Tasmota firmware. And while I was doing that I also added a BOSCH BME680 air quality sensor because there is so much available space inside this enclosure and it almost felt like a perfect match for the PM2.5 sensor. But before I show you how I did that, make sure to smash that like button for the youtube algorithm.

So IKEA sells this PM2.5 sensor for cheap, something like 10EUR, it runs from a 5V USB Type-C port but it only shows results using some LEDs shining from green to orange to red for very high concentration values. But if we take a look inside the sensor after removing the 4 phillips screws we discover that there is plenty of available space inside for adding our own circuitry and it appears to be using a standard PM2.5 sensor module with serial output over UART. This is then read by a small microcontroller which controls the different LEDs and handles the small fan that pulls fresh air over the sensor intake.

So with that in mind I started looking through my box of wifi modules and found this ESP8266 based module which seems like a good candidate to install in this box. If you are a regular viewer of the channel then you must know about my mailbag videos where I show all kinds of sensors and modules and in fact those videos might be your best source for discovering new and interesting electronics modules, sensors and tools so if you are new to the channel, you must check them out.

Now by installing this ESP8266 based module inside this unit, we could connect to the TX pin of the PM2.5 sensor module and just read it’s data at the same time with the on-board microcontroller. I’m not sure if this particular sensor needs any commands for initialization at start-up but in any case that would be taken care of by the on-board microcontroller and we would just be reading the sensor data.

InTheMail | Voltlog #393

Let’s start the mailbag with this tiny PIR motion sensor switch. This little guy is rated for 12V up to 2A load so it’s got an input, you supply 12V to that and it acts like a switch for the output with a 2A load capability. It comes with these connectors witches makes me think it’s meant to be used as part of led installations, maybe for custom furniture or cabinets because it has this mounting bracket and that’s probably how I am going to use it, to light-up this warm white LED tape that I have built into a piece of furniture. This is rated for indoor use only so don’t go using this outdoors as water will get in and corrode the electronics inside. Same as usual links for all of the items shown in this video will be placed in the description below and while you are down there, why not smash that like button, because it really helps increase the chances of this video being seen by more people, it’s just how the algorithm works.

Next up I got some transparent heatshrink, I needed some of this recently so I got two different thicknesses, Sometimes you just want to be able to see through the heatshrink part or you might just want to insulate some metal rod without adding any color so the easiest way to do that is to use some transparent heatshrink.