What Can You Monitor/ Control?

What can we do with the included Grove modules in this kit? First of all, we can monitor environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, CO2, and air quality. Then we can control home appliances using a relay and also detect intruders with a motion detection sensor.

For environmental monitoring, we recommend you 2 options.

1.  Grove - AHT20 + Grove - SGP30: To measure temperature, humidity, and air quality (VOC, eCO2)
2.  Grove - SCD41: To measure temperature, humidity, and CO2

However, if you are interested to measure all the environmental conditions, you can choose all AHT20, SGP30, and SCD41. In this situation, you will need an I2C hub because all these 3 Grove modules use I2C for communication, and the Grove Shield only has 2 I2C ports onboard.

When we talk about smart home sensors, temperature & humidity sensor is a must-have! Here we include the Grove - AHT20 I2C Industrial Grade Temperature and Humidity Sensor. You might have heard about the popular DHT11/DHT22, but AHT20 has a more stable performance in harsh environments. In fact, AHT20 is suitable for most industrial scenarios.

• Measuring Range (humidity) 0 ~ 100% RH
• Temperature Range: -40 ~ + 85 ℃
• Humidity Accuracy: ± 2% RH (25 ℃)
• Temperature Accuracy ± 0.3 ℃
• Resolution: Temperature: 0.01 ℃, Humidity: 0.024% RH 

2. Air Quality Monitoring

Air quality monitoring is helpful if you have asthma or allergies. Knowing the air quality in your area is critical to preventing or treating flare-ups. Buying an air purifier is an option, but measuring the air quality in your room can help determine where you put the air purifier. 

The Grove-VOC and eCO2 Gas Sensor SGP30 is an air quality sensor. Based on SGP30, this module provides TVOC(Total Volatile Organic Compounds) and CO2eq output with outstanding long-term stability and low power consumption.  

• TVOC Range: 0 ppb to 60000ppb
• CO₂eq Range: 400 ppm to 60000 ppm

3. CO2 Monitoring

High CO₂ concentrations can affect work performance by causing concentration problems and fatigue. CO₂ concentration also serves as an indicator of the risk of infection with viruses and bacteria. Sensirion's CO₂ sensors enable the development of reliable CO₂ monitors that improve performance and reduce the risk of viral contamination. Grove- SCD41 uses Sensirion’s photoacoustic measurement principle, the CO₂ sensor technology could be miniaturized. The new compact design of the sensor allows easy and flexible integration into air conditioning systems. Apart from CO2 monitoring, Grove - SCD41 can measure temperature and humidity as well.

• CO2 Range: 400 - 5,000ppm
• CO2 Precision: ± 40ppm +5%
• Temperature Range: -10 ~ +60℃
• Humidity Range: 0 ~ 100% RH

4. Motion Detection 

PIR sensors(also known as PID or passive infrared detector) detect infrared radiation emitted by particles. A passive infrared sensor is an electronic sensor that measures infrared light radiating from objects in its field of view. PIR sensors are commonly used in security alarms and automatic lighting applications where PIR sensors allow you to sense motion to detect whether a human is moving in or out of the sensor range. They are small, inexpensive, low power consumption, easy to use, and stable. 

We include the Grove – mini PIR motion sensor, a compact, low power consumption, and cost-effective PIR sensor for applications with relatively less detection distance requirements.

• Detection distance: 2m to 5m.  
• Angle: X=110° Y=90°
• Sesitivity: 120 – 530 μV

5. Relay Control

A relay is useful to control a circuit of high voltage with low voltage. For example, control an appliance that runs at 220V by just using 3.3V. 

An esphome-connected relay can make any device smart. Yes. ANY! By integrating Grove - Relay into an existing home appliance such as a fan, washing machine, coffee machine, light bulb with the help of the XIAO ESP32C3’s WiFi capability, you can simply turn them ON/OFF remotely.

6. Grove - SEN55 All-In-One Environmental Sensor

Grove-all-in-one environmental sensor SEN55 is an integrated Grove ambient sensor, assembling 8 types of environmental signal output, sensing in high accuracy and operating for up to 10 years, born for HVAC and air quality long years detecting applications.  Powered by Sensirion, it represents the leading technology in sensing.

• Comprehensive detection: Support NOx, PM, VOC, RH, Temp all 5 ambient data signal continuously sensing
• One driver for 8 data signals: Deliver 4 types of PM and 4 primary ambient signals through the IIC function
• One wire for all data output: Represent Grove family simplified connection for only one Grove cable required between the sensor and the processor
• Superior sensing accuracy: Calibrate full digital signals to output powered by Sensirion
• Superior operating lifetime: Maintain fine performance for up to 10 years
• Selectable modes for deploying with the edge: Provide Idle, RHT/Gas-Only, Measurement Mode for various low-cost applied edge

7. 24GHz mmWave Sensor - Human Static Presence Module Lite

The use of mmWave Sensor technology can make home furnishing fully applied in intelligent aspects. It can detect human presence and absence, the motion and the direction of motion, object speed, and detected distance. You can utilize its performance to build your own object movement detection radars or build a Home Assistant with human presence detection in combination with the most popular 24GHz mmWave Sensor. These characteristics make it the best alternative to PIR sensors.

• Home Assistant Ready: wiki to walk you through how to integrate it with Home Assistant
• More parameter modulation options: multiple configurable underlying parameter settings to meet the different needs in various scenarios
• Compatible with Arduino Library: adopts UART and provides Arduino library support