PurpleAir Sensor Installation
I’ve had an Ambient Weather WS-1400-IP weather station installed for some time, reporting to Weather Underground. During the fires of previous years, I considered getting an air quality monitor, but I could never find anything worth the installation effort. During this year’s fire season I saw several ads for PurpleAir, advertising that they collaborate with Weather Underground, so I decided to purchase and install a PA-II outdoor sensor. The installation instructions are sparse, and the device is not really what I would call rugged or weatherproof. I would not put money on it surviving outdoors for longer than a year, specifically because of the use of a vanilla Micro-USB power plug that offers no corrosion protection. The unit I received came with a Nest outdoor camera power cable, but unlike the Nest camera that uses a watertight plug, the sensor uses an open USB cable. The instructions do say to point the open USB port downwards, instead I opted to seal it in using clear silicone sealer. ...