SparkFun Launches a Dual-Sensor Qwiic Air Quality Board, Powered by Sensirion's SCD41 and SEN55

SparkFun has announced a new indoor air quality sensor, which combines two Sensirion sensor modules — the SCD41 photoacoustic gas sensor and SEN55 particular matter and volatile organic compound sensor — on a single board with Qwiic connectors for solder-free experimentation: the SparkFun Indoor Air Quality Combo Sensor.

"The SparkFun Indoor Air Quality Sensor — SCD41, SEN55 (Qwiic) combines two excellent indoor air quality sensors, the SCD41 and SEN55 from Sensirion," SparkFun's Chris McCarty explains. "These sensors provide a comprehensive indoor air quality sensor that measures CO₂, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), particulate matter (PM1.0, 2.5, 4, and 10), temperature, and relative humidity."

Designed for covering a broad range of elements contributing to air quality, the dual-sensor board uses Senisirion's SCD41 PASens photoacoustic sensor to detect carbon dioxide in a range of 0-40,000 parts per million (ppm) with a claimed ±40ppm plus five per cent accuracy between 400 and 5,000ppm. The sensor also offers a full-range relative humidity sensor, good to ±9 percentage points, and a temperature sensor with ±1.5 degree accuracy.

This is placed alongside Sensirion's SEN55, which measures particulate matter in PM1.0, PM2.5, PM4, and PM10 size categories with a range of 0-1,000μg/m³ and a ±10 per cent accuracy and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with a range of 0-1,000ppm and a ±15 per cent device-to-device variation — delivered to the host device as "Index Points" from 1-500, along with a nitrous oxide (NOx) index measurement. As with the SCD41, the SEN55 also includes temperature and humidity sensing — the latter used to improve the accuracy of VOC sensing.

The two sensors are presented as separate devices on an I2C bus, on a board that has two Qwiic connectors for solderless hookup. "[It] takes care of all the pesky power requirements of the SEN55 and SCD41 with onboard DC voltage conversion," McCarty promises, "allowing a simple, single Qwiic connection for power and communication."

The SparkFun Indoor Air Quality Combo Sensor is now available on the company store, priced at $124.95 before volume discounts; more information is available in the official hookup guide.