Show HN: A home environment sensor from a Raspberry Pi and an e-paper device

Show HN: A home environment sensor from a Raspberry Pi and an e-paper device(visionect-epaper.com)

55 points by matevzmihalic 12 years ago | 16 comments

baldeagle 12 years ago |

$330 for a wifi eink display? The server seems pretty neat though. I imagine there is a lot more complexity there than it seems at first glance.

freehunter 12 years ago | |

I hack electronics as a hobby, and I'm am constantly amazed by the incredible prices of even the simplest screens. I can buy a Nexus 7 that includes a CPU, RAM, video card, SSD, wifi, a battery, and a 7" touchscreen for the same price I can buy a 5.6" non-touch screen at 720p [1]. And no, that doesn't include the battery or any of the tablet hardware. That's just the screen.

There's literally no reason why displays need to be as expensive as they are when a normal person wants to buy them, seeing as how Apple and Google et al have no problem sourcing them for much, much, MUCH less.

[1] http://www.adafruit.com/products/1666

dublinben 12 years ago | | |

Meanwhile, you could buy that Nexus 7 display for only $50 if you could figure out how to connect it to your project.

dublinben 12 years ago | |

A Kindle Paperwhite's display is only $40, so their additional expenses are incredibly high.

http://www.powerbookmedic.com/Amazon-Kindle-Paperwhite-Displ...

benaiah 12 years ago | |

It's unsubsidized by media sales, so the price doesn't seem outlandish at all.

dublinben 12 years ago | | |

None of the e-ink Kindles are sold at a loss. This product shouldn't cost much more than the comparable Kindle or Nook.

JanezStupar 12 years ago | |

When you phrase it like that it sounds really bad.

How about a ruggedized wifi eink display with a fully featured HTML5 application stack, long autonomy and awesome support.

Is that a better value proposition?

dfc 12 years ago |

Kudos to the web folks at visionext-epaper! The site looks superb and functions perfectly for me despite the fact that I have not enabled javascript for the domain. I can not remember the last time I saw a site that looked and worked so well without requiring javascript.

lukashed 12 years ago |

These Cubesensors look awesome. If you're even more into the DIY approach, check out AirPi[1].

[1] http://airpi.es/

doosra 12 years ago |

Does anyone know what kind of sensor can detect levels of pollen in a personal space? Are they available for purchase at a reasonable price?

lvs 12 years ago | |

A particulate sensor can be used to cheaply monitor the appropriate size range for pollen. Of course, it just senses light scattering, so other air polluting particulates of a similar size will be indistinguishable. Large particulates greater than 10 - 100 microns in diameter are likely to be pollen in an outdoor environment, but they can also be combustion related particulates. More information can be obtained from sensors that measure light polarization, which may allow one to differentiate pollen from other particulates of similar size.

chocolate_ 12 years ago | |

A quick Google search leads me to the GP2Y1010AU0F Compact Optical Dust Sensor[1][2], which you can get on ebay for cheap. Hope that helps!

[1] http://sharp-world.com/products/device/lineup/data/pdf/datas...

[2] http://sensorapp.net/?p=479

roel_v 12 years ago | |

Depends on what you call 'reasonable', but the answer is likely 'no'. The 'Air Quality Egg' was a kickstarter project a year and a half ago, but they failed to produce a calibrated device. Measuring particles is doable, it's the calibration that is the issue. Most of these sensors don't show useful measures for air pollution, although most claim they do.