AirGradient Forum

POE and Wired networking?

Hardware extensions
#21

Hey guys! Thank you all a lot for commenting on this. We noted all your suggestions.

@Bill1, what you suggested is interesting. Actually, we have a plan on something quite similar (but no information about the Ethernet connection yet). I heard a rumor (yeah, I didn’t sign an NDA, and I hope my bosses won’t find ways to sue me anytime soon) that we are experimenting with something called a satellite. The idea is like a smart home hub (parent device) with child devices connected to the hub. I believe this feature has been added since firmware version 3.6.0, but it has not been used yet. Maybe you can take a look at some code here (from version 3.6.0 and newer): GitHub - airgradienthq/arduino: Firmware of open-source hardware air quality monitors AirGradient ONE (indoor) and AirGradient Open Air (outdoor). · GitHub
Still, this seems to be in its early stages.

For the display-related topic, I also heard that a refreshed version of the AirGradient ONE will have a better and larger display (with a lot more possibilities to show data there).

I will try to bring up the idea of PoE and/or wired connection to the team as well.

@Mike_14.7, thanks for your insights. As a smart home enthusiast myself, I also prefer products with an Ethernet connection. Most of the time, the wireless devices work great, but when something goes wrong, it goes wrong. Especially my Wi-Fi cameras, which sometimes disconnect or have latency, while the stream from an ethernet-connected camera is always solid, with very little downtime since I’ve implemented it.

@Al_ag I agree, using a paperclip or a toothpick is a real pain. I sometimes test the product, which requires pushing the reset button to operate the stuff. It’s quite fine when you have to press it just once, but it’s quite a headache when you have to push it several times a day. I already gave some feedback about the accessibility of the button to the engineering team. Anyway, it seems there is some valid logic behind this (prevent unintentional push, etc.). I think we’ll have to take some time considering and discuss about this.

#22

Thanks Tai for your interest. Unfortunately I lack any skill in writing software.

As a user, I have experience with a weather station. Its monitor is connected by wire locally to a data logger. The data logger is connected by ethernet to my local router and reports a burst of data once every minute over the internet. In addition, I can download historical data from the data logger locally via LAN to my computer and archive the data if I wish to.

I have also used a camera connected by Ethernet using POE.

As more and more people find themselves living in a more polluted environment, and as internet connections become less secure and perhaps less reliable, the ability to have and maintain reliable local monitoring is an important advantage.

It is great to hear that there is interest in being able to connect via reliable ethernet and I do hope to see this option soon.

Bill

1 Like
#23

Thank you for sharing your experience as well @Bill1!

If you have something to share, please feel free to let us know whether you have the skills or not. We are open to knowing all kinds of your thoughts and feedback. Thanks!