IKESP-Air: Calibrating the BME280

After making a few IKESP-Air air quality units an interesting issue became apparent. Due to the heat given off by the D1 Mini, the internal temperature of the unit was consistently a few degrees higher than the ambient temperature of the room in which the device was placed. This is honestly to be expected, airflow through the box is slow, the board sits at the top of the unit as does the BME280, and the heat has to go somewhere. If we want accurate room readings then, we need to account for this.

IKESP-Air

On a trip to my local IKEA for some other project supplies, I happened upon an intriguing item, a Vindriktning air quality sensor. Unlike its big brother, the ZigBee enabled Vindstyrka, it is a relatively simple box, with just a few diffuse LEDs on the front, indicating the “air quality” of a room. In its stock form, its really that simple. It piqued my curiosity as I wondered what metrics it used to determine the local air quality, and more importantly, if it could be hacked.