AirGradient pre-soldered user feedback

#1

I just received and assembled the pre-soldered kit and have some feedback on the experience. Ultimately I was successful, but the instructions were unnecessarily frustrating. I get this is a DIY type niche product, but if you intend it to be more widely used, these things should really be addressed.

  1. The diagrams don’t show pictures of the actual PCB being assembled, just diagrams. The D1 Mini in particular confused me and I plugged it in reversed. This seemed logical because it had the USB-C port pointing towards the exterior of the device. The diagram was not helpful at all in that.

  2. The device came with two types of screws, and don’t tell you which to use. I tried the longer ones first for the PMS module, which was of course wrong. Not a huge deal but it was unnecessary.

  3. Speaking of screws, I ended up with 4 extra of the stubby ones and 0 of the long ones. Is this intended? Did I mess up? I don’t think I did, but honestly don’t know.

  4. Still on screws! There are zero instructions how to put the case together. It wasn’t immediately visible how to do it. I figured it out, the long screws go into hidden little holes, but instructions were non-existant here.

  5. The delay when the device boots up, where you can hit the button to change OLED naming and orientation, is extremely short. Again I made it work but adding, say, 2 seconds would help a lot there.

  6. Speaking of orientation, the default orientation on the OLED is upside-down. The logo on the case would be upside-down if left alone. Easy enough to reverse it (once you get that ultra-short delay down) but the default should be correct, don’t you think? How many people just left it that way?

  7. While the instructions do talk about flashing, they don’t make it clear that the device won’t work in HomeAssistant without being flashed with ESPhome. So now I need to open it back up and flash it. Normally that wouldn’t be a huge deal but I’m pretty scared of stripping the little plastic threads in the screw holes. Definitely suggest a big bold notification telling people they need to do this-- and it would be very cool if there was some way to do it through your dashboard, too.

#2

The diagrams don’t show pictures of the actual PCB being assembled, just diagrams. The D1 Mini in particular confused me and I plugged it in reversed. This seemed logical because it had the USB-C port pointing towards the exterior of the device. The diagram was not helpful at all in that.

I am assuming that you didn’t look at assembly documentation. I’ve received my kits week ago and it was easy straightforward process. On this page, scroll down to D1 Mini part and take a look at picture for D1 Mini placement The AirGradient DIY Air Quality Sensor (Pro Presoldered-Version, PCB Version 3.7)

The device came with two types of screws, and don’t tell you which to use. I tried the longer ones first for the PMS module, which was of course wrong. Not a huge deal but it was unnecessary.

I had the same thought but did a quick measurement, instead of trying it on sensor, I’ve tried them on the housing first and that was enough to detect. Perhaps I think @Achim_AirGradient can easily add some notes to documentation on screws

Speaking of orientation, the default orientation on the OLED is upside-down. The logo on the case would be upside-down if left alone. Easy enough to reverse it (once you get that ultra-short delay down) but the default should be correct, don’t you think? How many people just left it that way?

My initial thoughts was like “It must be soldered upside down…” but again, documentation has everything about screen positioning and data shown there.

#3

That is the exact page I used. The picture you’re pointing out is not a photograph, it’s a diagram which does not show the proper orientation. Where’s the USB port on that diagram? Nowhere.

Docs did cover the OLED orientation, sure. My point was the default should be correct.

#4

The shape of the D1 mini with the little notch and reset button seem pretty obvious to me for orientation, but a photo wouldn’t hurt.

Not sure what you guys mean by an upside down display. Is that a ESPhome thing? I run Airgradient fw and it’s never been upside down.

#5

No, when you turn on pre-soldered pro board first time the display is upside down. It is mentioned in docs and also in a source code as well. I’m not sure what was the previous versions with a screen on top which is explaining rotation.
Current ones the v3.7 screen located on right bottom corner

#6

Ref: arduino/DIY_PRO_WITH_SENSIRION_NOX.ino at cfc37d2d96e6a761740d672238f3bc2e08498a11 · airgradienthq/arduino · GitHub

#7

@Henri @muhendees Thank you for the feedback and please keep it coming as I am continously improving the instructions.

I already made some improvements in the instructions, for example here.

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There are a few other things that could be improved further in the instructions, e.g. about the software and I will look into this in due time.

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#8

The new instructions are much improved! List of all components is great and the photo would have been extremely helpful.

I guess I did completely miss a step because I didn’t screw the PCB into the top of the case, leaving me with extra screws. I still need to open it back up to flash ESPhome so I’ll do it then. Hopefully the plastic screw holes don’t strip.

#9

I have added a video to the presoldered pro built instructions.

Please let me know if this is helpful and any feedback you might have. I am planning to do similar videos for the other kits.

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#10

Did the D1 Mini need to be flashed before closing up the enclosure?

#11

We test all presoldered kits before shipment so the D1 is already flashed. However, I should probably mention this if I update the video.

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#12

The video is great, although it doesn’t stream very well, maybe put it on YouTube?

The AirGradient only needs to be flashed if you want to use it with Home Assistant. If you just want to hang it on the wall and use their web dashboard, it’s ready to go. Unfortunately you do need to re-open the enclosure to reflash it. I still haven’t done that, although I do plan to.

#13

You might also note to ensure that the ribbon cable placement does not interfere with pressing the reset button through the case.