Pimoroni - MICS6814 3-in-1 Gas Sensor Breakout (CO, NO2, NH3)

This MICS6814 3-in-1 gas sensor breakout enables the user to measure changes in the concentration of gases including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ammonia (NH3). This is a Breakout Garden compatible I2C breakout.

The MICS6814 sensor comprises three semiconductor gas sensors in a single package and can detect three different groups of gases that are referred to in the datasheet as reducing, oxidising, and NH3. The major gases/vapours that the sensor detects are carbon monoxide (reducing), nitrogen dioxide (oxidising), and ammonia (NH3), but it is also sensitive to others, including hydrogen, ethanol, and hydrocarbons.

It can be used to make qualitative measurements of changes in gas concentrations, so you can tell broadly if the three groups of gases are increasing or decreasing in abundance. Without laboratory conditions or calibration, you won’t be able to say “the concentration of carbon monoxide is n parts per million”, for example. There’s more info about the MICS6814 sensor and how it works in this Getting Started with Enviro+ tutorial.

This breakout uses a Nuvoton microcontroller which handles the I2C and analogue-digital conversion, as well as controlling the sensor’s inbuilt heater and the user-controllable RGB LED. The LED could be used to indicate when the sensor is running or to notify you visually of gas concentration changes. It’s Breakout Garden compatible, which means you can use it with any Breakout Garden HATs and pHATs – no soldering required!

It’s useful for incorporating into indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring systems, especially if you’re interested in monitoring agricultural and vehicle pollution levels.

Features:

• MICS6814 analog gas sensor (datasheet and FAQ)
• Nuvoton MS51XB9AE MCU
• RGB LED
• 2x M2.5 mounting holes
• I2C interface, with a default address of 0x19.
• 3V to 5V compatible
• Reverse polarity protection
• Raspberry Pi-compatible pinout (pins 1, 3, 5, 7, 9)

Contents:

• MICS6814 Gas Sensor Breakout
• 1 x (1×5) male header.
• 1 x (1×5) female right angle header.

Dimensions:

• Length: 23mm.
• Width: 20mm.
• Height: 4mm.

Requires:

• Raspberry Pi
• Raspberry Pi Pico
• A Breakout Garden HAT, such as;
• Pimoroni Breakout Garden Mini (I2C + SPI).
• Pimoroni – Breakout Garden for Raspberry Pi (I2C + SPI).
• Raspberry Pi Pico breakout garden.

Resources:

• Raspberry Pi Python library.
• Raspberry Pi Pico C++/MicroPython libraries.
• Schematic.