https://blog.insanegenius.com/tag/weatherunderground/Recent content in Weatherunderground on Pieter Viljoen's BlogHugoenMon, 19 Nov 2018 00:16:37 +0000https://blog.insanegenius.com/2018/11/18/purpleair-sensor-installation/Mon, 19 Nov 2018 00:16:37 +0000https://blog.insanegenius.com/2018/11/18/purpleair-sensor-installation/<p>I&rsquo;ve had an <a href="https://www.ambientweather.com/amws1400ip.html">Ambient Weather WS-1400-IP</a> weather station installed for some time, reporting to <a href="https://www.wunderground.com/">Weather Underground</a>. 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&rsquo;s fire season I saw several ads for <a href="https://www.purpleair.com/">PurpleAir</a>, advertising that they collaborate with <a href="https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/purple-airs-250-air-pollution-monitor-gives-government-equipment-run-money">Weather Underground</a>, so I decided to purchase and install a <a href="http://www.aqmd.gov/aq-spec/product/purpleair-pa-ii">PA-II</a> outdoor sensor.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.purpleair.com/install">installation instructions</a> 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.</p>