review
MonkMakes Air Quality Kit for Raspberry Pi Measures Temperature and eCO2
By Luc Lemmens (Elektor)
Most of us are now stuck in (private) rooms, so modules for measuring the air quality cheaply are gaining popularity. The MonkMakes Air Quality Kit measures equivalent CO2 and temperature. It is especially designed to be used with a Raspberry Pi 400, but it can also be connected to other Raspberry Pi models using the jumper wires and an included GPIO template.
Thermometers have long been used to monitor room temperature, and in recent years, (e)CO2 meters have become increasingly popular for monitoring air quality. Too much carbon dioxide (CO2) has a negative effect on concentration, and at even higher levels it is bad for your health. This kit measures the quality of the air in a room (how stale the air is) as well as the temperature. It is meant as an add-on for the Raspberry Pi, but it also can be used as a stand-alone device. The board has a buzzer and a bar of six LEDs (two green, two orange, and two red) that displays the air quality. Temperature and air quality readings can be processed by a Raspberry Pi. The buzzer and LED display can be controlled by the host. The kit comes without printed documentation, but it provides a link to the MonkMakes website where the datasheet and instructions can be downloaded [1]. These documents contain all relevant information; they help the user to connect and use the board. Example applications in Python are available for download on Github [2].
The Hardware
Besides the six indicator LEDs and the buzzer — the big square component in the middle of the PCB in Figure 1 — the board contains a power
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