Sensors
sensors

Relatively inexpensive, transportable and deployable sensors are produced all over the world for a variety of analytes. Broadly defined, sensors respond to a physical or chemical property, providing an interpretable output. For our purposes, a main distinction of a sensor versus a sampler is that sensors do not require laboratory-based analyses, and provide outputs in near-real time. Though we often think of sensors as part of the electronics field, plenty of analog sensors have been available for decades. Common analog sensors include things like mercury thermometers and classic barometers. Common digital sensors include things like voltmeters. In Public Lab, we're interested in a broad variety of sensors, both analog and digital, designed for measuring chemical and physical properties in air or water. ###Air Sensors There are a ton of different air sensors on the market these days, with common analytes including carbon monoxide (e.g. smoke detectors), temperature, humidity, particulate matter, and more. Some of these sensors require a digital interface with a controller and data logger, others are analog. Please see more information [here](/wiki/air-sensors) and check out air sensors in the table below. Please add more sensors that you've used! [embed table] ###Water Sensors Water sensors are available for several analytes, such as salinity, pH, and depth. Like air sensors, water sensors may be digital or analog. Any digital water sensors that are meant to be deployed will require water-tight enclosures for the electronic components. Please see more information [here](/wiki/water-sensors), and check out and add more sensors to the table below. [embed table]...


Author Comment Last activity Moderation
cfastie "Kina, Thanks for the great information. Liz, It might help to know more about this project. What is the time frame for deployment? What has been tr..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
liz "Please give me a call at +1 336-269-1539 " | Read more » over 6 years ago
liz "OK awesome @kinasmith and @cfastie ! What would be helpful for me to do as a facilitator to help Nick get all the way there? Here's some ideas: 1) ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
kinasmith "this is actually an excellent solution to this problem without adding additional parts/complexity. The 1.1v internal reference is much more stable ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
kinasmith "I'll just chime in here for a second as someone who has worked a lot with arduino dataloggers and ADC's, etc. I agree with @cfastie on all points...." | Read more » over 6 years ago
Bronwen "Apologies for the mass tagging here, I know a lot of you have been in the mix providing great support and advice so far, but if anyone feels they h..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
cfastie "There is a very simple way to read the HCHO sensor with a resolution of about 10 ppb, assuming the range of the sensor is 0 to 1000ppb. (Out of the..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
Alastair_ "8-Bit resolution is fine i'd think, you just need to amplify the signal. Any first year electrical engineering student worth her salt can design th..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "I'd like to try to get input from some of the many people at http://publiclab.org/contributors/datalogger who have almost certainly interfaced thei..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
nshapiro "Thanks so much, Chris! So it does look like the relationship is linear between output and ppb. here is what a friend writes who has used this tool ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
zengirl2 "Unfortunately this is out of my league. You might try posting on Adafruit's forum asking about signal, but they won't be able to speak for the sens..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
cfastie "I think it is par for the course that a random proprietary sensor will not work gracefully with an Arduino. In this case, it might be that a standa..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "Thanks, Nick - yeah, i think the ADC stuff is more complex than it should be! Maybe we can recruit some help to get a basic Arduino sketch for thi..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
nshapiro "Ah okie thanks! this is all waaaaay over my head. thanks for the clarification re:professional sensor outputs. I think the precision is higher than..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "As to your other question about professional sensors -- I think there's nothing super special about the sensor you have, and almost any system (ard..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "Sorry, Nick I think it may still be an open question whether the manufacturer provides greater precision than this. Do you know? And I think the p..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
nshapiro "Thank you, Chris! This is extremely helpful, although a bit disappointing that none of the DIY data loggers would work without serious fiddling or ..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "@nshapiro - I think this is a provisional "yes" -- thanks @cfastie! Which is to say, a good follow-up question for the company is "how much resolut..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
cfastie "Any Arduino-based data logger should be able to read the signal from that sensor and save the reading at regular intervals. The main obstacle is th..." | Read more » over 6 years ago
warren "The MiniVol is a few thousand dollars, i think used: https://publiclab.org/minivol but the samples cost a good bit to process (see page) And the T..." | Read more » almost 7 years ago
warren "If it's helpful, this page helps with the context of "prototyping kits" to ensure people know things are "in the testing phase" -- https://publicla..." | Read more » almost 7 years ago
warren "Oh no! I recycled the sour cream containers. We'll have to go eat some sour cream now. :-) I'm hoping it'll be possible to attach these to a stake..." | Read more » almost 7 years ago
zengirl2 "@cfastie love the MacGyver example--laughed so hard at this. @warren ty for bringing this up during the recent weekly call. I knew this language ra..." | Read more » almost 7 years ago
warren "Interesting!!! " | Read more » almost 7 years ago