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Friday, 24 April 2026

2026 Green Powered Challenge: Solar-Powered Pollution Monitor

As we learn more about all the nasty stuff floating in the air, it becomes more compelling to monitor the air for pollution levels. [Aleksei Tertychnyi] does just that with pollutagNode2, a solar-powered pollution sensor.

The device uses a Seeed Studio Wia-E5 module for its built-in LoRa low power long-range communication capabilities. Pair that with a cheap 2 watt solar panel and a Li-ion battery, and you have a monitoring device that can stay up indefinitely — or until harsh weather gets the better of it. Even if the solar panel were to be omitted, a full charge would last you about two weeks!

It comes on an open-hardware PCB; no need for giant wire messes, just solder the solar panel, battery, sensor, and anything else you want onto the convenient pads on the side. It also integrates into the existing sensor community nicely via existing LoRa infrastructure. All this combined makes it easy for anyone to deploy one.



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