The components I ordered for the next iteration of our DIY Smart CO2 Monitor have finally arrived! In this part, we’ll be focusing on cost optimization by switching to more affordable hardware while significantly improving accuracy with the Sensirion SCD41 sensor. This upgrade brings us closer to a production-ready design while maintaining the core functionality we built in Part 3.

In Part 2 of our DIY Smart CO2 Monitor project, we successfully built a proof-of-concept (PoC) using an ESP32-S3, an SH1106 OLED display, a DHT11 sensor for temperature and humidity, and an SGP30 sensor for CO2 and TVOC levels. We also got our first taste of coding with GitHub Copilot. Now, in Part 3, we’ll take a significant leap forward by connecting our ESP32 to WiFi, exposing the collected air quality data in Prometheus format, and setting up Prometheus and Grafana with Docker Compose for long-term data storage and visualization.

Welcome back to the DIY Smart CO2 Monitor series! In Part 1: The Plan & Goals, I outlined my motivation and the overall roadmap for building a custom, smart CO2 monitor. Now, it’s time to dive into the first practical stage: the Proof of Concept (PoC).

For this PoC, I assembled the core components on a breadboard to test functionality and get a feel for the sensors and the ESP32 platform.

The Quest for Accurate & Affordable CO2 Monitoring

For a while now, I’ve been looking to get a reliable CO2 monitor for my home and workspace. We all know good air quality is crucial for concentration, health, and overall well-being, especially when spending many hours indoors. However, my journey into the world of commercial CO2 monitors has been a bit of a letdown.

Welcome to my AI-driven development journey! I’m Chieh-Min Wang, a software engineer passionate about low-level programming and system optimization. This blog represents a fascinating experiment where years of software engineering expertise meets the cutting edge of AI assistance.