3-In-1 WiFi CO2 Detector

In essence, this is an excellent CO2 detector, the only thing wrong with it is its user manual (ain't that always the case?). After I posted a review criticizing their user manual, the manufacturer politely asked me to help them write a proper user manual, which I did. Here is the real user manual for the AIMENT CO2 detector with Wi-Fi connectivity. Full disclosure: my job is writing technical papers for average users: 1. To use the AIMENT CO2 detector, its internal battery has to be fully charged. To charge the unit, plug it into any USB charger (any ordinary cell phone charger will do, but some "smart" and/or "fast" chargers, such as Samsung fast chargers may not work). Make sure you use the supplied USB cable. The smaller end plugs into the CO2 sensor on its right side. Be sure to insert the plug fully! 2. While the CO2 detector is charging, the battery icon on the top right should flash one, then two, then three small squares showing that it is charging. At the start of charging, it will light up one square of the little battery icon, then two, and then all three. Toward the end, the first two squares will be on at all times, and only the third one will flash. Finally, when fully charged, the battery icon's three little squares will stay ON and will stop flashing, even with the charger disconnected. 3. When the unit is powered OFF, its screen is blank, showing nothing at all. To turn the AIMENT CO2 detector ON, press the middle button on top of the unit and hold for about two seconds. The detector's screen will light up. Pay attention to the small battery icon in the top right corner - if low, recharge the AIMENT CO2 detector immediately as explained in step 1. When powered ON, the detector displays "500" on its screen. This is not an actual CO2 value, but a sign that it is measuring CO2 levels, temperature, and humidity. The detector takes about 30-60 sec to show true CO2 values - at that point, the number 500 will change to actual CO2 values for the room it is in. 4. It is imperative to calibrate the AIMENT CO2 detector prior to its first use. This has to be done outside, preferably in nature where CO2 levels are lowest. To do this, first, turn the unit OFF by pressing the middle button and holding it until the detector is OFF. (if there is nothing displayed on the unit's screen, then, it is already OFF). Once outside, in nature or a park, press and hold all three buttons on top of the AIMENT CO2 detector until "200s" shows up on the screen. The best way to calibrate the AIMENT CO2 detector is to go to a park, turn off the unit, press all three buttons, wait for the "200s" to appear on the screen, and then place the unit on a table, or similar, clean surface away from people and animals and in a shade, away from strong sunlight. The unit will count back, like this: 200, 199, 198, etc/ Once the counter reaches "0", the calibration is done and the AIMENT CO2 detector is ready to use. 5. The lowest possible CO2 values are found in nature and they are around 400-450. Any place else, especially in enclosed spaces such as schools, hospitals, airports, airplanes, etc, will have higher values. Generally, values below 700 are excellent, and values above 1500 are poor. Your AIMENT CO2 detector has a built-in alarm set to go off once CO2 levels reach 1500. To change the value of CO2 at which the alarm will go off, double click the power button (middle button on top of the unit) and then change the value with "-" and "+" buttons. To turn off the alarm, press the "+" button on top of the unit and hold. To turn the warning alarm OFF entirely, press "+" and hold for a few seconds. This should turn OFF the warning alarm. NOTE: if the alarm warning comes ON, pressing "+" while the alarm is going off will only turn it off temporarily. 6. Since CO2 levels point to the quality of ventilation, they can be used to estimate the quality of indoor air including the presence of other gasses and particulate matter. Generally, a poorly ventilated space will have a higher number of viral, mold, and other particles in the space where there are a lot of people, than in a space with lower CO2 value and good ventilation. Your AIMENT CO2 detector uses an NDIR (Non-dispersive Infrared) sensor. This is the best type of CO2 detection technology and is therefore comparable in accuracy to professional units. 7. Wi-Fi: AIMENT CO2 detector can connect to a smartphone or a similar device via Wi-Fi. It connects via a local Wi-Fi network; it does not use a direct link but establishes a connection via a wireless router using only 2.4Ghz frequency (NOTE: 5Ghz network will not work with AIMENT CO2 detector). a) To connect your AIMENT CO2 detector to a smartphone, first download the "Tuya smart" app. This app can also be used to control other "smart" devices in ones home, such as intelligent power plugs, light switches, etc. The app is easily found by typing "Tuya smart app" in the google search bar. Click on "install" to install the app on your phone. NOTE: Installing Tuya Smart App from a personal computer requires that the smart device is connected to the computer first. b) Once the Tuya smart app is installed, press and hold the "-" button on top of the AIMENT CO2 detector to turn on Wi-Fi search mode. The Wi-Fi icon in the top left corner of the AIMENT CO2 detector will start flashing to indicate that it is discoverable - it will stay in that state for about 1 min. To connect your phone to the AIMENT CO2 detector, start the "Tuya smart app" and press "Add device". Tuya smart app will start searching for your AIMENT CO2 detector. Soon, on your phone's screen, it will display a small, round button that says "CO2" on it. To the right will be a blue "+" sign. Press the "+" sign to add the AIMENT CO2 detector to the list of connected devices on your smartphone's Tuya Smart App. Tuya smart app will change the screen and display your network credentials: the Wi-Fi login and password if those are already saved on your phone. If so, choose "OK" and your AIMENT CO2 detector is now connected to your phone! If you have not remembered the Wi-Fi login credentials on your smartphone, you will need to enter them manually. c) The AIMENT CO2 detector only sends the data when it is turned ON and connected to your phone via Wi-Fi and when CO2 levels have changed by more than 10 ppm. The Tuya Smart App logs the data only on the hour (e.g. at 6 am, 7 am, 8 am, 9 am...) If the AIMENT CO2 detector is OFF, or if the Wi-Fi is OFF on the CO2 detector, or if your smart device is OFF, or if the Tuya Smart App is not running, or if the network is down, there will be no data received by Tuya Smart App. When Tuya Smart App is running as a background process on a smart device, the data is logged. NOTE: If the Tuya app stops providing real-time updates on the smart device screen, quit and re-start the Tuya app. On the restart, it will provide the current data as well as the logged data. Due to delays caused by data upload to the smart device, the Tuya App will always lag behind the CO2 detector's screen by about 5 seconds. Tips: - To save batteries, you can turn OFF the display of the AIMENT CO2 detector, but leave the detector ON and running. Usually, this is done to allow for logging data via Wi-Fi. To do this, press "-" button (left button on the top) once. The display will turn blank, but the detector will stay ON. If Wi-Fi was ON prior to turning OFF the display, it will stay ON while the display is OFF. - To switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit, press the "+" button (right button on the top) once. - To ensure that Wi-Fi data is being sent to your smartphone, the Wi-Fi symbol in the upper left corner of your AIMENT CO2 detector needs to be ON (solid, not flashing). To turn the Wi-Fi ON, press "-" and hold for a few seconds. The Wi-Fi symbol will flash for a while, making the CO2 detector discoverable, and at that point, the smart device will have to be connected to it as described above. Only during this discovery and connection can the AIMENT CO2 detector's Wi-Fi be turned ON, permanently. Once connected via Wi-Fi, the Wi-Fi icon on the CO2 detector will become solid and stay ON which means it will send the CO2, temperature, and humidity data to your smartphone. - The battery may have to be fully charged more than once to reach its full capacity. Once charged to its max capacity, it should provide enough power for about 24 hrs of non-stop running time with display OFF. Having the display ON will significantly reduce the battery performance. It is therefore best to turn the display ON only when necessary and then turn it OFF immediately. - To see if the CO2 level warning alarm is turned ON, look for the sound icon in the top right corner of the display (it is to the left of the battery icon - looks like a small speaker). If you can see the speaker icon, your alarm is ON and will warn you when CO2 level reaches the threshold you set it at (default alarm threshold is 1500). To turn the alarm OFF entirely, press the "+" button (right button on top of the unit) and hold it until the speaker icon disappears. - To change the CO2 alarm threshold, double-click (press twice quickly) the middle button on top of the unit. Current alarm threshold will appear with first two numbers flashing. Press "+" button to increase this value, or "-" to decrease it. Note: do not press and hold either "+" or "-" buttons as they will do something else in that case (e.g. turn OFF the Wi-Fi feature etc). There, a proper user manual which should go a long way toward your full enjoyment of this wonderful product!

It needs to be charged all the time and it is not worth it

First, as someone else mentioned in reviews, keep in mind this tracks Carbon DIOXIDE -- it does NOT track Carbon MONOXIDE. I also read that too quickly at first and was thinking it would be for carbon monoxide. I'd never paid much attention to carbon dioxide readings in the house -- or even knew to track it -- but I ended up looking into it and why you'd even track it, and found it interesting. I've been finding it weirdly fun to have this detector around. I glance over now and then out of sheer curiosity to see the stats. It has a really nice, very easily readable display which seems to track real-time, because it will fluctuate by a couple numbers as I watch it, especially humidity and temperature. It's given me impetus to open the windows and air out my home when the CO2 goes higher and I realize it's a little stuffy inside. It's also been nice to have in my room where I've started using a dehumidifier - it gives me an idea of if it's working and how well. I don't have a way to test the accuracy of this for any of its points, but I don't have any reason to believe it's wildly inaccurate. It seems to be about what I would expect, generally, with the humidity and temperature. The app was easy to install and it's easy and simple to use. It basically just checks every hour for the readings, and tracks it for you. You can look at an overall overview or you can choose to look at any of the individual readings (temp, humidity, or CO2) on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. I've included some screenshots as examples. I've only used this a few days so it doesn't have a ton of data to work with yet. I've been keeping it plugged into a USB-C cable because I tend to do that with my electronics. When I didn't have it plugged in, I didn't pay enough attention to be able to give you an exact length of time that the battery worked. I think it was a day or less, but I'm not sure. I don't THINK it was 40 hours but I really didn't notice when I left it unplugged so I can't say for sure. I was thinking it seems a little expensive (because I'm cheap), but when I checked Amazon for other similar products, this seems to be right in the general range of cost. Some other sites seem to have cheaper ranges, but I don't know how good any of those detectors are. All I know is, this detector works great! While I, unfortunately, can't verify its accuracy (which, to be fair, is a really important factor in making the decision to purchase it) - I can at least say that for me, it's been really nice to have, and it's very easy to set up if you read the instructions in the images on this listing. I'm very happy to have this in my home.

Have to keep it charged as the battery won’t last 6 hrs of charge. Readings would surge to 1700 for no reason which is very annoying. If it keeps doing that probably would just throw the unit not worth keeping it. Not worth the buy.

Aiment's Smart Air Quality CO2 with Wifi monitor is a really useful sensor that is a slight pain to set up for additional features. Someone else has gone through all the steps you need to make this work with a phone and network as well as calibrate so I won't repeat them here; the only thing I would say is that calibrating this is a pretty important first step - you don't want to have the first use of this being in a grocery store, for instance. The goods news is that even without that you can indeed use this without linking it up to your phone, although you may get some strange looks and the longitudinal data won't keep. All in, I wish this was available during the depths of the pandemic; airflow matters a lot, and some pathologists I'm friends with were using CO2 monitors to determine whether it was safe to be in a particular location. 4 stars.

This is a great little gadget. I’ve been using it ever since I got it about a week ago and it is actually helping me and my family become more educated and aware of air quality and CO2 buildup (and what causes it to rise) throughout the house. For a long time I’ve been concerned about unhealthy air in our house and now I have a way of actually measuring it and even taking care of it (like keeping a window or door open while cooking or when sleeping in a small room). I was amazed to see CO2 levels rise steadily throughout the night in a child’s bedroom (caused by breathing) and reach very unhealthy levels when windows and doors are shut, and how quickly it reverses when a window is opened. I found that cooking (on a gas stove) raises CO2 levels extremely fast even in a large space like our kitchen, and again, how fast an open window would bring those levels back to normal. This particular CO2 detector feels very well built and has a really clear display with only relevant information showing, allowing you to view its reading across a large room. The one thing that could be improved in my opinion is everything that has to do with connecting this device to the app in order to get its data on your phone. I found the instructions for doing this unclear and I spent too much time trying (unsuccessfully) to connect. But besides that, to whomever finds any interest in seeing first hand what you and your family are breathing in your own home, and along the way becoming smarter about this subject, I highly recommend getting this device.

it mostly works but the app and all the software it uses has a very heavy link to China. you can't query the data, you can't setup notifications for free ... the app itself is very primitive and mostly useless I would have never bought this if i knew it's so limited. UPDATE - the seller reached out and offered a refund since i am not happy with the product. I respect that, always glad to see good customer support and the desire to make the customer happy.

This product should either come with a longer power cable or a longer battery life , does not come with the power supply to power the device just a short cable.