The Pico W Air is a great board if you want to get into environment data logging. It comes with a connection for a PMS5003 particulate matter sensor and Qwiic/QT connector that allows you to connect any Qwiic/QT (I2C) sensor. All powered by the excellent Raspberry Pi Pico W.

Monitor the air quality in your home or outside. Send data through MQTT or poll the data using the board's built-in JSON web API.

Perfect for integrating with your home automation setup. The firmware is compatible with any MQTT broker, including Home Assistant and Node-RED.

Features

• Raspberry Pi Pico W Onboard.
• Connector for PMS5003 Particulate Matter sensor.
• Qwiic/QT Connector for I2C sensors/peripherals.
• 1 Red and 1 Green LED for status or other blinking business.
• 8 Pin header exposing ADC (A1), and 4 other GPIO (GP10, GP11, GP12, GP13), 3.3V, and GND.
• Built-in MQTT client
• Built-in HTML server and JSON API
• Footprint for reset button (fits Omron B3FS-100xP button, button not placed)

Buying Options

PM 2.5 Sensor Kit

Includes the PMS5003 Particulate Matter sensor and a cable that connects the sensor to the Pico W Air board. Plug and play PM air quality monitoring.

90 Degree Headers

The header pins are only needed if you will be using the additional ADC or GPIO pins. These are the loose headers and require soldering.

Built-in Web Interface and JSON API

Just access the board's IP assigned by your network router to access the built-in web page that displays all of the sensor data. You can also query the web JSON API to use the data in other applications.

Easy to Use Firmware

The board ships with CircuitPython firmware baked into the board. All you have to do is connect to a computer and edit the settings.toml file with Wifi credentials and edit any other settings you might want to change. Comprehensive documentation in the Github repository and beginner-friendly code documentation.

Before you start!

Check the firmware version on your Pico W Air and the version available from the link below. If there is a new firmware version, download both code.py and settings.toml to your Pico W Air.

Pico W Air Firmware  

Parts you'll need

The PMS5003 particulate sensor is the heart of this setup but it is not included by default, you have to buy it separately as one of the options from this listing or buy from another seller. I have lots of resources for where to buy the sensor here.

You will also need a power source. Most micro USB wall adapters or power banks will work. If using a power bank, keep in mind that this device pulls very little power when idle and some power banks go into sleep mode. Typical power draw is 70mA to 90mA with the PMS5003 PM sensor and the AHT20 temp/hum sensors connected.

A temperature/humidity sensor is not required but is highly recommended. Adafruit's AHT20 Qwiic/QT sensor is the one I personally use but any Qwiic/QT sensor with a suitable CircuitPython library will work. The firmware has options for the AHT20 sensor if that's the sensor you choose to add to the board.

In summary, this is what you need: - The Pico W Air board (this listing) - PMS5003 particulate matter sensor (additional option) - Power Source (not included) - Temperature and Humidity sensor not required but recommended (not included)