Unboxing of IKEA® VINDSTYRKA Air Quality Sensor (and function test)

⏬ Short review below — Ikea's new (winter 2023) VINDSTYRKA indoor air quality (IAQ) sensor is a 30–40-euro particulate matter sensor with numeric display. This video shows the product packaging, its content, device features and some functional tests. (NB. Wireless functions were not tested because it is not a job for a tin foil hatter.) Click [㏄] to enable the narration.

Based on the tear-down pictures taken by Oleksii Kutuzov, the product is based on Sensirion SEN54 PM+T+RH+VOC sensor module and the product-specific application is running directly on the Silicon Laboratories MGM210L radio module (no other MCU is present). The sensor is connected to the module with I²C, while Vinka VK1621B segment LCD driver is uses its own 4-wire interface. Note that the predecessor product VINDRIKTNING contains particulate-matter-only sensor PM1006K by Chinese manufacturer Cubic instead.

https://github.com/oleksiikutuzov/IKE...
https://sensirion.com/products/catalo...
https://www.silabs.com/wireless/zigbe...

Although the SEN54 sensor is capable of reporting particle categories PM1.0, PM2.5, PM4 and PM10 separately, VINDSTYRKA displays only the PM2.5 reading (i.e. 2.5 µm or smaller particles, ≤1/30 of average human hair). As a side note, this particular sensor model does not measure NOₓ like the full-featured member of the series, SEN55. Numeric VOC concentration is not displayed simply because the sensor reports only relative "VOC index" (vs. average of 24 hours). Even numeric VOC measurement would have had little use because VOCs may be released also from natural sources; the usefulness of the tVOC arrow is even less?

0:00 Unboxing
1:50 User's guide
3:07 Operation
4:38 Particle test (paper)
5:10 Particle test (smoke)
6:10 VOC test (butane)
7:22 Temperature & humidity test (gas flame)
9:06 Comparison with other devices (T and RH only)

The display test reveals unused symbols, 🌳 and 🌻 (apparently for outdoor mode and pollen level). May be Ikea has a plan for a wireless outdoor air quality sensor that will display its measurements on VINDSTYRKA?

As a conclusion, what do you actually get when buying VINDSTYRKA? Basically you get a toy with more appearance than performance: the device measures those IAQ parameters that are pretty cheap to measure but with somewhat inferior accuracy/resolution. For example, having detailed particle size information (i.e. how dangerous the particles are) or carbon dioxide measurement instead of the almost useless tVOC arrow would have helped much more in improving the indoor air quality in most homes. However, even a basic CO₂ sensor may have doubled the product price – not to mention an accurate nondispersive infrared (NDIR) CO₂ sensor.
(👉 Compare the price of the "reference device X" containing a single-beam dual-wavelength NDIR CO₂ to VINDSTYRKA, 9:06.)

#unboxing #ikea #iaq