Best options for a battery powered air quality monitor that can read PM10?

From doing some research it seems like this is a bit of a rare thing, but I’m looking for an air quality monitor I can leave for a week or more without needing to charge the battery. Sampling frequency doesn’t matter, i.e. it’s ok if it only takes a reading every 15 minutes, and it seems like that’s my best bet fo long battery life, but it seems like a lot of monitors don’t have that option? The only one I’ve found is the Atmotube, but I’m wondering if there are other options out there for something with similar or greater battery life.

Hi @m0nkeya1r,

Thank you for joining and great question!

If sampling frequency isn’t important to you, then there are a few choices. I tried a few Temtop devices and wasn’t the biggest fan due to the low sampling rate, but I believe this could be ideal in your situation (they have fantastic battery life). While most of them seem to focus on PM2.5, there are some that also monitor PM10.

The Atmotube Pro is also worth considering (as you have already), but the battery life is a bit short for your use-case (7-10 days from my experience).

Does the device need to be portable? I ask because there are some solar-powered devices that could work if the setup you are looking for is static.

Hey yeah I saw the Temtop and it looks like the P100 and M100 do PM10, I just couldn’t find a ton of info on their battery life. It doesn’t need to be portable, we’re trying to track down an insulation issue in our attic so the idea would be to leave it up in the attic and track the particulate levels to see if something is stirring up the insulation.

Based on a short search, it seems like they may have much shorter battery life than the other models so they probably aren’t ideal. From the looks of it, they are more desk-based monitors (which, therefore, take measurements more frequently and have a shorter battery life). Models like the S1 and M10 have great battery life, but they don’t feature a PM10 sensor/measurements.

That is quite unfortunate - I wonder why they made this decision.

I see, thank you for the further clarification! Unfortunately, that’s still tough - something like a solar-powered device wouldn’t work (which was my other idea).

Would powering a monitor via a power bank be an option? I’m not sure how long most monitors would last with a power bank, however. I’ll keep thinking on this and let you know if anything comes to mind!

At the moment, I think the Atmotube may still be the best bet. Perhaps an Atmotube with a portable battery bank so you can extend the life by (hopefully) a couple more days?