Sensor Debugging
This has been a back-bench project for a couple of months but I thought I’d share some progress on how difficult physical computing can be. Here’s an example of sensors going bad: Notice all the bouncing of CO2 and tVOC?  That’s not good. Is the CCS881 dying? Did a software update to linux break something? […]
Another Self-configuration Example
Two sensorBoxes in my office, located about 6″ apart in a low-air-flow part of my office. My office sensor, not reset in the past three weeks vs. sensordev resetting baseline every 10 minutes. I’m really not sure why the office one is bopping up and down every minute, but resetting baseline every 10 min fixes […]
Self-configuring sensors self-configure, and that’s a problem
Little backstory on the sensorBox project. Things were going well until early in the Summer when the sensors threw out what I’d call garbage data. CO2 levels so high I should have headaches on a day whet the windows were all open is when I thought, “maybe I’m getting exactly what I’m paying for: sensors […]
Properly Securing a Pacsafe
I’m a pretty big fan of Pacsafe gear, I use their wallet, a laptop bag, and motorcycle bags. I use their laptop bag when I’m on the road because hotel safes are not secure. Suffering cabin fever I decided to pick locks and see how quickly I could open the cheap locks we use around […]
More natural gas (bad) news
We’re designing a new house and talking a lot about a functional kitchen. I think we’re leaving the world of gas stoves, and while we’re at it, gas ovens. The electric stoves from the past are awful but the induction stoves available now are great. We also want to go solar as much as possible, […]
The Unexpected Long Term Effects of a Pandemic
How’s your life going? Are you where you thought you’d be now if you look back to a couple of months before the 2020 elections? Or to the early days of 2020 when America First thought China had declared biological war? It’s made a mess of my sideline business, but I’m recovering and adapting and […]
Moog Werkstatt Eurorack adapter
Back when i started the Moog-friendly enclosure, I got a bit sidetracked and started thinking, “How can you mount something not Eurorack-friendly to a Eurorack?” Well, it turns out to be a bit of a pain, not to install, but to operate. The install instructions have all the details to consider before you buy one […]
sensor box and particle detection
Installed a couple of particle detectors that count particle sizes of 1.0, 2.5, and 10.0 microns. Looking at these values along side CO2 and tVOC in the kitchen is one functional test. Last night I used Alton Brown’s “Election Night Steak” recipe, and on the printed copy I’ve written “only cook in summer” because of […]
“sensor box” update
For the past few weeks I’ve had sensors in my studio (2nd floor) and kitchen (first floor) and data collection has been interesting. Some things I’ve learned looking at the data I’ve collected. I’ll post some images to illustrate these in the future, but just wanted to share my notes with other people. The best […]
The “sensor box” project
Digging through sensors I already have, I discovered that my Sparkfun Qwiic Ideation Kit came with an Environmental Combo sensor that can detect temperature, humidity, CO (carbon monoxide), and VOC (volatile organic compounds).  The list of VOCs is long but NO2 is in the list. What’s Qwiic? It is a standard from Sparkfun for I2C […]