Air Quality and Environmental Board for micro:bit

The Kitronik Air Quality Board provides a complete air monitoring and reporting solution for the BBC micro:bit. The wealth of onboard sensors and connection points allow you to collect extensive air quality data that can be stored in onboard memory and displayed on the OLED screen or transferred to a computer for analysis. Kitronik has also produced online MakeCode tutorials that are designed to introduce you to all of the key features of the board, see the ‘Resources section below for links.

The Air Quality Board is perfect for the classroom. Run short or long-term classroom experiments, such as; monitoring air quality throughout the year, with and without the heating on. You can then use the collected data to produce graphs and more. Alternatively, it would make a great addition to an office/workshop, let science inform you when it’s time to open those windows or remind you to ventilate your work area!

The board includes an integrated Edge Connector for your BBC micro:bit to easily slot into. The onboard sensors allow readings for temperature, pressure, humidity, air quality index, and eCO2. The real-time clock (RTC) and 1Mbit of onboard EEPROM memory enable timestamped data logging and long term data storage. There are also 3 status ZIP LEDs onboard which be used for visually displaying data. 3 of the BBC micro:bit’s pins (Pins 0,1, and 2) are broken out to 0.1” pitch solder pads allowing for additional sensors or outputs. There are also 3V and GND pads for providing power to these devices.

The board can be powered via either the 3xAA battery holder or the micro USB connector. The voltage supply is controlled using a power switch, with a green status LED to indicate when the board is turned on. The board also produces a regulated 3V supply which is fed into the edge connector to power the inserted BBC micro:bit, removing the need to power the BBC micro:bit separately.

The board also features a connection point for a solar cell that can be used alongside rechargeable batteries to keep your experiments running for longer. NOTE: Please ensure the correct rechargeable batteries are fitted before charging, they should be NiMh.

Kitronik has produced custom MakeCode blocks to make the task of coding as straightforward as possible. You can add our custom blocks to the MakeCode editor by clicking on the cog icon in the top right of the editor and selecting Extensions. You can then type and enter Kitronik into the search bar and then click on the tile for the Air Quality Board blocks. The custom blocks will now be added to the editor’s blocks menu. These blocks can also be added to the menu via this URL; https://github.com/KitronikLtd/pxt-kitronik-air-quality

Features

• An all in one Air Quality monitoring and reporting solution for the BBC micro:bit
• Measure temperature, pressure, humidity, air quality index, and eCO2
• Pins 0, 1 and 2 are broken out to solder pads for additional I/O
• The board features a black and white 128×64 OLED display screen and 3 status ZIP LEDs for visually displaying data
• The real-time clock (RTC) and 1Mbit of onboard EEPROM memory enable timestamped data logging and long term data storage
• Online MakeCode tutorials that introduce you to all of the boards key features
• Run long term monitoring experiments in the classroom throughout the school year
• There is an integrated edge connector for the micro:bit to slot into
• The board also features a connection point for a solar cell that can be used alongside rechargeable batteries to keep your experiments running for longer
• Kitronik has produced custom MakeCode blocks for convenient and straightforward coding
• It can be coded with MakeCode/Javascript/Python

Contents

• 1 x Kitronik Air Quality Board for BBC micro:bit
• 1 x 3xAA battery holder
• 1 x USB Lead

micro:bit not included

Dimensions

• Length: 68.5mm
• Width: 48mm
• Height: 28.5mm
• PCB Thickness: 1.6mm

Resources

• Datasheet
• Online MakeCode Tutorials:
• Read temperature, pressure, and humidity
• Using the OLED display
• Set and display date and time
• Data logging and data transfer