Xiaomi Air Purifier 3 - Inaccurate Dust Sensor?

Lmrcee on 25/01/2020 - 11:06

We bought a new Xiaomi Air Purifier 3 and just wanted to check if anybody else with this air purifier or any other one, noticed their machines constantly showing a PM 2.5 reading of 1 constantly. (i.e. essentially no pollution/fine particles in the air).

We live in an apartment in Southbank, Melbourne. We've tried opening the sliding door of the balcony, the hallways outside our apartment, and the reading basically won't move from 1. I think it moved up to 2 momentarily once for a split second. The only time I've gotten the PM reading to move up significantly is by spraying hairspray directly into the sensor.

Does anyone else who has an air purifier have any similar or different experiences in Melbourne? It's probably not the best time to try given the air quality appears to be quite good at the moment, but I wasn't expecting to have a reading so low even when placing the unit outdoors.

Electrical & Electronics Air Purifier Xiaomi

Comments

  • silo on 25/01/2020 - 11:17

    Mine seems to work quite well.. on clear days it's somewhere between 3-10. On smokey days with the doors closed it's usually 20-30ish. When I cook, I've actually seen it shoot all the way to 600 which it seems to cap at.

  • resubaehtgnolhcs on 25/01/2020 - 11:17
    +9

    Are you sure the hair spray hasn't ruined the sensor? Hair spray would leave a glue like film on the senor.

  • Philrocks640 on 25/01/2020 - 11:31
    +1

    Happened to me too - stuck on 1 reading. I've tried turn off/on and trying different modes. Problem seem to have solved itself for now?

    • jzdhgkd on 25/01/2020 - 11:49

      deleted / wrong thread

  • Irrelevancy on 25/01/2020 - 11:47

    Same issue with me - worked for a day or so, now it's just reading 1 all the time! I've tried disconnecting and reconnecting the sensor to no avail. I wonder if it's a software issue!

  • nedski on 25/01/2020 - 13:18

    I have two of these and was initially skeptical that it was working because it had 001. But then we had the bad bushfire smoke day here in Canberra and the thing shot up like a rocket.

    Since then it hovers around 001. But you have to keep in mind a few things, if the outside air is good like 7 particles or something, it doesnt mean your house will have that. Odds are it has sucked out all the bad particles. Also where the sensor is located, so if it is up against a wall, then the sensor isnt going to find any particles.

    Overall I believe it is working fine as the one downstairs does have increased readings when I cook.

  • c64 on 25/01/2020 - 13:24

    surely if you burn a candle or some paper close by it should register

  • nfr on 25/01/2020 - 13:37

    A particle counter costs more than the purifier.

  • Clear on 25/01/2020 - 15:50

    Yup the Xiaomi Air Purifiers are well known to have quite inaccurate sensors unfortunately. You'll generally find that proper dedicated sensors are far more costly and are often worth more than the air purifier itself.

    I generally run my Gen 2 on manual and it works well.

    • Astronaut Joe on 28/01/2020 - 14:11

      I don't know if the AP3 has a more accurate sensor than the previous models or not. From what I have read it could well be a software issue rather than the sensor itself.

      Either way, I consider the reading it gives me as "it was high, now it is lower".

      • nfr on 28/01/2020 - 14:35

        Yeah use the trend not the number

    • mrcee on 30/01/2020 - 22:43

      As an update it spiked to 4 the other day so at least the sensor is doing something. While cooking it also increased to around 50-60 momentarily.

      From my understanding on auto made it only increases in speed once it gets to over 100 or something, so it is pretty useless.

      Manual mode seems like the way to go..

      • silo on 03/02/2020 - 13:20

        That's not the case for mine. Just by listening to the fan, I can hear the first step up is around 30 and it gradually increases more and more till about 100 where it seems to be the equivalent of having the highest setting on. Perhaps we're running different firmware versions?

  • kevorulez on 13/02/2020 - 12:38
    +1

    I have an Air Purifier Pro which showed 10-40 the first few times I ran it. Now it's stuck at 001. I raised a ticket with the seller and returned it for repair. I tried putting the unit in different rooms, different houses, outside, right next to the exhaust of my car, all showed 001.

    • machiavellian on 20/02/2020 - 17:20

      Mine is a 3H with the same issue. Tried everything I could. Now I am returning it. Too bad.

  • BartholemewH on 23/04/2020 - 02:24

    My air purifier pro was showing less than 010 even when measured outdoor aqi was 1000+ during the bushfires. These units are a waste of time and money imo.

  • OzFrugie on 22/12/2020 - 18:24

    Just opened a new 3H model and I am also seeing the sensor showing 1 all the time.
    I tried to put some parfum around the device and still say 1.

    Anyone has found any solutions to the problem?
    I wonder if I can return it to Gearbite for refund if this is a known issue…

  • jelicano on 15/01/2021 - 20:49

    I just picked up a 3H as well and found the same thing.. not convinced that it is defective, I've setup my 3 other 2H all in a row with my new 3H and found that the 3H displays a factor of 10 compared to the 2H's I have.

    Which strangely enough I've only seen any of my 2H go down to 9 but mostly stays at 10 which I've setup automation to turn off.

    When I turn on a scented oil atomizers all my 2H can get to as high as 315 and the 3H displaying 33 and roughly a factor of 10 as the air clears up after turning the atomizer off.

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