With the ads on air purifiers that often rely on expensive proprietary HEPA filters, I purchased an air quality monitor for curiosity to see what our indoor readings are like. The first meter rarely went above 10 except while frying food, so just to rule out a dud, I purchased another that can also log data, as shown on the right.
This PM2.5 monitor is based on the low cost Plantower PMS5003, which can also measure PM1.0 and PM10 particle sizes, unlike the first that clearly gave estimate readings. However, I ran into a few problems – It did not come with any software, I could not set the clock and got nowhere trying to contact the seller. The hygrometer also stopped working, discussed further down.
Continue reading Extracting data from a popular PM2.5 Air Quality monitor
All electric heaters are 100% efficient at converting electrical energy to heat. However, as for how warm they make a room occupant feel, this varies from a lot one type of heater to another. Some heaters are also more efficient at heating an area or minimising heat loss out the ceiling.
When I had a chat with a lady who bought a new Opel car, she mentioned how expensive the in-car Wi-Fi is to run. In addition to paying for an OnStar subscription to enable Wi-Fi access, she must pay for usage. She was surprised to hear that there are other alternatives available that would let her children go online with their Tablets.
Eir’s F2000 router provides IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity, which allows devices to reach websites and web services with native IPv6 connectivity. While the Eir ISP network handles IPv6 routing, unfortunately its DNS servers seem to stutter with IPv6 DNS lookups, particularly with earlier firmware versions on the F2000.
When we had a new hot water tank fitted some years ago, we asked the plumber about solar panels for water heating. The plumber said that while they can cut hot water heating costs, they rarely pay for themselves in a home. The plumber went on to say that most installers exaggerate solar water heating cost savings to sell a complete package.
Three’s Irish All You Can Eat prepay plan sounds great – Just top €20 every 4 weeks and stream away to your heart’s content. But what if you don’t need all that data for a few weeks? Without an active AYCE or 500MB data bundle, Three gobbles credit at a rate of €1.01 per Megabyte!
We have gone through several dehumidifiers over the years, many of which either failed or got too noisy. This time I carried out extensive research, including reading many reviews and use feedback. Based on various user reviews such as on Amazon, most report the Meaco Platinum series as quiet running and energy efficient. Meaco is also one of the few manufacturers that 
Choosing the right antenna is not as simple as picking a random high gain 4G antenna and expecting it to work! There are several types of antennas and connectors. Even the cable type and length can make a difference.