Airthings Wave is a smart Radon detector, including sensors for temperature and humidity measurements. Additionally, you can simply wave in front of the device to get a visual indication of your radon levels.
This is a project to provide users a starting point (read_wave2.py) to read current sensor
values from the 2nd generation Airthings Wave devices using a Raspberry Pi 3
Model B over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and post it to a webservice in JSON-Format
Table of contents
The following tables shows a compact overview of dependencies for this project.
List of OS dependencies
| OS | model/version | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Raspbian | Raspberry Pi 3 Model B | Used in this project. |
| Linux | x86 Debian | Should work according to bluepy |
List of linux/raspberry dependencies
| package | version | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| python | 2.7 or 3 | Tested with python 2.7.13 and 3.7.3 |
| python-pip | pip for python2.7 | |
| python3-pip | pip3 for python3 | |
| git | To download this project | |
| libglib2.0-dev | For bluepy module |
List of third-party Python dependencies
| module | version |
|---|---|
| bluepy | 1.3.0 |
The first step is to setup the Raspberry Pi with Raspbian. An installation guide for Raspbian can be found on the Raspberry Pi website. In short: download the Raspbian image and write it to a micro SD card.
To continue, you need access to the Raspberry Pi using either a monitor and keyboard, or by connecting through WiFi or ethernet from another computer. The latter option does not require an external screen or keyboard and is called “headless” setup. To access a headless setup, you must first activate SSH on the Pi. This can be done by creating a file named ssh in the boot partition of the SD card. Connect to the Pi using SSH from a command line interface (terminal):
$ ssh [email protected]
The default password for the pi user is raspberry.
In the terminal window on your Raspberry Pi:
pi@raspberrypi:~$ bluetoothctl
[bluetooth]# power on
[bluetooth]# show
[bluetooth]# exit
After issuing the command show, a list of bluetooth settings will be printed
to the Raspberry Pi terminal window. Look for Powered: yes.
Raspbian images usually comes with Python (2 and/or 3) pre-installed.
pi@raspberrypi:~$ python2 --version
pi@raspberrypi:~$ python3 --version
Install dependencies:
pi@raspberrypi:~$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install libglib2.0-dev git
# For Python 2
pi@raspberrypi:~$ sudo apt-get install python-pip
pi@raspberrypi:~$ sudo pip2 install bluepy==1.3.0
# For python 3
pi@raspberrypi:~$ sudo apt-get install python3-pip
pi@raspberrypi:~$ sudo pip3 install bluepy==1.3.0Downloading using git:
pi@raspberrypi:~$ sudo git clone https://github.com/Airthings/wave-reader.git
Downloading using wget:
pi@raspberrypi:~$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Airthings/wave-reader/master/read_wave.py
The general format for calling the scripts is as follows:
# For 2nd Gen Wave
sudo python read_wave2.py SERIAL_NUMBER URL_TO_POSTAfter a short delay, the script will print the current sensor values to the Raspberry Pi terminal window in JSON-format. The output gets as a POST to the given URL (i.e. a Node Red Listener)
| Positional input arguments | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SERIAL_NUMBER | Integer | 10-digit number found under the magnetic backplate of your Airthings product. |
| URL | String | URL to post the data to in JSON. |
| Device | Serial number | Script to use |
|---|---|---|
| Wave 2nd Gen | 2950xxxxxx | read_wave2.py |
Note: The scripts require that your device is advertising. If your device is paired/connected to e.g. a phone, you need to turn off bluetooth on your phone while using the scripts.
| sensor | units | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Humidity | %rH | |
| Temperature | °C | |
| Radon short term average | Bq/m3 | First measurement available 1 hour after inserting batteries |
| Radon long term average | Bq/m3 | First measurement available 1 hour after inserting batteries |
| Light | ? | There is a hidden, undocumented light-sensor inside ... |
Initial release 12-Jan-2022