EYE on NPI – Sensirion SEN66 Environmental Sensor Node

This week's EYE ON NPI features a new 'everything' sensor, the Sensirion SEN66 Environmental Sensor Node (https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/s/sensirion/environmental-sensor-node-sen6x) . This is a highly-anticipated update to the SEN5x (https://www.digikey.com/en/videos/s/sensirion/eye-on-npi-sen54-environmental-sensor-node) goes hard on gas sensing, with VOC, NOx and CO2 sensors built in. You can even update to the SEN68 and get formaldehyde HCHO sensing! What we like about this series is the complete solution for all kinds of environmental sensing with a single cable. Sensirion is one of our fav sensor companies: from classics like the SHT45 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/5665) to the popular SGP30 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/3709) and the high quality SCD30 (https://www.adafruit.com/product/4867) we have made breakouts for many-a-sensor from this company. Lately they've started to do fully integrated products - like the SEN5x series (https://www.digikey.com/en/videos/s/sensirion/eye-on-npi-sen54-environmental-sensor-node) that we covered earlier on EYE ON NPI. The SEN54 series has particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10) dust sensing, plus temperature, humidity, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), with the SEN55 adding NOx. We saw this sensor often paired with an SCD30 (https://www.digikey.com/short/d1h3t1n4) or SCD4x (https://www.digikey.com/short/zmh2zjz3) to add CO2 sensing. Those folks will like the look of the SEN6x series as now we get CO2 sensing in all but the lowest-cost SEN60. One thing to note with CO2 sensing is that once a week it needs to 'self-calibrated' by letting it sense fresh outdoor air which will be ~400ppm. This isn't a bad idea for your health either. Another new sensor added in the upcoming SEN68 is formaldehyde, which integrates the SFA30 (https://www.digikey.com/short/2d5fb8rt). If you've used the SEN5x series, (https://www.digikey.com/en/videos/s/sensirion/eye-on-npi-sen54-environmental-sensor-node) you're probably familiar with their connection interface: a JST GH 6-pin cable is used to connect and provide power and I2C data connection. However, one thing to note is that the cable is the same but the pinout has changed. Power is now 3.3V instead of 5.0 and there's no UART interface, so the SEL pin is not available. For that reason, if you'd like to use the same cable, go for it - but the circuitry will need to change...for example we're revising our SEN5x breakout (https://www.digikey.com/short/h0jffnm2)! We like that, just as with the SEN5x series, the SEN6x (https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/s/sensirion/environmental-sensor-node-sen6x) uses plain I2C to communicate. This makes it easy to integrate with any microcontroller or microcomputer, and the added CRC helps avoid accidental data corruption from EMI or loose cables. The interface is not just to each individual sensor - there's only one I2C address and command structure and once you initialize the sensor you can read all values at once for 'timestamped' consistency. The commands are easy to implement, but if you want a head-start, check out the Sensirion GitHub account (https://github.com/Sensirion?q=sen6&type=all&language=&sort=), they have code in C and Python for a 5-minute quick start. Excited to check this fancy new combo-sensor out? You're in luck because DigiKey has the Sensirion SEN66 Environmental Sensor Node (https://www.digikey.com/short/0d4jt424) in stock right now for immediate shipment! Order today and DigiKey will ship it you in an instant - you will be sensing up a storm by tomorrow afternoon! See at DigiKey https://www.digikey.com/short/0d4jt424 See Sensiron's video https://www.digikey.com/api/videos/videoplayer/smallplayer/6371044300112 Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ -----------------------------------------