Airthings for Business

Make healthier decisions to increase productivity and energy levels, resistance to illness, and much more.

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Introduction

pal-berntsen-profileCongratulations on taking this important step towards healthier buildings. Airthings for Business provide solutions to keep track of your indoor air quality. You can make healthier decisions to increase productivity and energy levels, resistance to illness and more.

Thank you for ensuring that students and teachers have monitoring capabilities to perfect the indoor air quality. This landing page will inform you about the products, installation method as well as how to use the Airthings for Business solution.

Click the section you want to go to

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The solution

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Installation

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What's in the box?

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Getting Started

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Support

What is Airthings for Business?

Airthings for Business provides a set of solutions to monitor Indoor Air quality in buildings ranging from schools to commercial buildings. We are developing the hardware products as well as the software solution fully in-house.

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The View Plus for Business

The View Plus for Business is an Indoor air quality monitor that provide instant information about the CO2, Temperature and Humidity levels;

co2_sensor_icon_EN-US_RGB_Outlines-21 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is most commonly mentioned when talking about global climate, but in this context it’s the CO2 that we breathe out that is worrisome. As CO2 becomes concentrated indoors, levels rise, causing headaches, restlessness, drowsiness. At schools or the office, studies show that high levels of CO2 causes poor decision making, difficulty performing tasks and more. We recommend keeping CO2 levels below 1000 ppm.


temperature_sensor_icon_EN-US_RGB_Outlines-23 Temperature is highly related to comfort but also impacts our ability to learn and focus. It also impacts our mood and the ideal indoor temperature is often referred to as 22 degrees celsius.


humidity_sensor_icon_EN-US_RGB_Outlines-22 Humidity, the amount of water vapour present in the air needs to be maintained between 30-60%. Too much humidity can cause mold and too little (dry air, in other words) can help the spread of infectious diseases.

Additional information

  • The device measures data continuously and every 5 min it wirelessly passes on the information to a hub where it's forwarded to the cloud solution and made available in an online dashboard.
  • The CO2, Temperature and Humidity live data is shown on the E-Ink display and historical data can be accessed through the online dashboard.
  • The View Plus is powered with 6 x AA Lithium batteries.
  • The CO2 sensor requires 7 days of calibration after a start-up or reset, before the measurements are fully reliable and requires a fresh baseline reading for at least 30 min during these 7 days (i.e. when the building is not in use). The calibration is fully automatic.

The Hub for Business

The Hub for Business is the central point of an installation and connects up to 25 devices to the cloud, through an internet connection. In large deployments, it’s not uncommon to have several Hub for Business to improve coverage and robustness. The hub is powered with an included power supply and requires an ethernet connection (cable included).

B2B_dashboard_sideThe Dashboard

The Dashboard is your portal to insight about the indoor air quality. You will need to be invited to the business account in order to use the Dashboard. Once invited, please click "Join now" in the invitation email. 

  1. This will take you to a page where you create a password. Click “Create Account”
  2. One the confirmation page, please entered the passcode you now received in your email 
  3. After validation, you will get to the login page where you can use your email and new password
  4. After login, you should be presented with the invitation;
  5. After accepting, you get full access (ready to install devices in the Buildings section)

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The dashboard will allow you to:

  • Monitor your indoor air quality
  • Analyze live and historical data
  • Manage buildings and set alerts
  • Generate and share insight reports

The dashboard is continuously being updated with new features and insightful modules that will improve the overall experience. These updates are automatically deployed through the cloud, and do not require any action from your end.

 

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Installation

View plus_WallTo install the products in the most efficient way, we recommend you install a Hub for Business first, then the View Plus for Business devices in the rooms with close proximity. The SmartLink radio signal has a typical indoor range of more than 50 meters indoors (Hub to View Plus). The signal can normally penetrate 10 drywalls (non-load bearing walls), or 3 thick walls or floors. Then move on to the next location and start over with the next hub. Please read through the installation guidelines before you start the installation.

What's in the box

Hub for Business

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Hub for Business

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Charger and plug adapters

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Rubber bumper pads

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Double-sided tape

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Ethernet cable

View Plus for Business

View Plus for Business - Product Technical Specs - Dark Grey

View Plus for Business

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6 x AA batteries (pre-inserted)

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Double-sided tape

Installing the Hub

1

Register the hub

2

Start-up Hub for Business

Step 1

Register the hub

  1. Login to dashboard.airthings.com with your newly activated account
  2. Remove the mounting bracket at the back of the Hub for Business by slightly lifting it up and pulling it out.
  3. Locate Serial Number and Device ID at the back of your device
  4. Follow on-screen instructions to add and register your Hub for Business
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Product_tech_specs_mount device 2 (1)
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Step 2

Start-up Hub for Business

  1. Connect Hub for Business to your Ethernet cable, one end of the cable to the Hub for Business port, the other end to the ethernet outlet.
  2. Connect Hub for Business to power socket
  3. Wait for Hub for Business firmware upgrade to be completed. This may take 10 to 70 minutes.

Light indicators

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Product-feature-icons_dark-grey_Hub turn on

Power Supply: Green when there is power to the Hub for Business

Product-feature-icon_dark-grey_Hub cloud

Cloud: Green if Hub is connected to cloud. Off no connection OR if no successful transfer to cloud occurred within the last 6 minutes

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Airthings SmartLink: Green when sensor data is received within the last 6 minutes

Installing the View Plus

1

Register device

2

Mount the View Plus

Step 1

Register the device

  1. Login to dashboard.airthings.com
  2. Locate Serial Number and Device ID at the back of your device behind the mounting bracket.
  3. Go to Bâtiments section and choose the building you want to install products in. Select “Ajouter”
    Follow on-screen instructions to add and register your device. Choose View CO2. Give it a purposeful name that helps identify where the device is located.

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Step 2

Mount the View Plus

  1. Bring the device to the room you want to monitor with the battery tab still inserted.
  2. Remove the mounting bracket at the back of the device.
  3. Pull the battery tab to power the device. The device will start connecting to the nearest Hub for Business. Once the device is confirmed in good radio range to the Hub for Business, you can permanently mount the device.
  4. Your devices should be wall-mounted 150-170 cm above the floor. Mount the device at least 1m away from exterior walls, doors, air supply/exhausts, mechanical fans, heaters or any other significant sources of heat or cold. The devices should not be mounted on the ceiling.
  5. We recommend using 3 pcs of 4mm countersunk screws (not included) to mount the bracket to the wall.

During initial start-up, the View Plus display may show sensor elements not supported on the product. This is dummy data and will be updated as the device gets new configuration from the hub.


HubSpot Video

 

Getting started

airthings-for-business-bundleOnce the products have been installed it may take a day until the solution is up and running with up-to-date software. The complete solution is accessed through dashboard.airthings.com (invitation only).

Language settings

The first thing you need to do when you access the account, is to change the language settings. The default is in english, so please navigate to  Account -> Overview -> Edit Info and change language to Francais.


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Configure Dashboard

Now you are ready to explore the Airthings Dashboard. The welcome screen “Dashboard” is your personal dashboard tied to your user. You can configure your dashboard by navigating to “Dashboard” in the menu on the left-hand side.

You can add new tiles or create a public dashboard in this view with the option up to the right corner.

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Public Dashboard

The Public Dashboard is a personalised dashboard for a public audience, which can be shared with a unique URL and displayed on any digital screens you wish, for example a large monitor at the school entrance ? This is a great way to communicate to everyone in the building that their indoor environment is healthy and safe

  1. Open your Airthings dashboard
  2. Click the  (+)  button on the top right-hand corner
  3. Select "Add public dashboard"
  4. Give it a name and turn public sharing on
  5. Click the "public" button on top of your newly created dashboard
  6. Copy the link or preview your public dashboard


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Devices

This view will list all your devices tied to the locations you have access to. Real time data is presented here together with battery levels and signal strength to the closest hub. Here you can also validate that the signal strength is good (recommended to have a higher signal than -80 dBm for optimal power consumption). You can also click on a device to get to the device page for historical data.

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Configuration of the View Plus

If you intend to show real-time data in the display of the View Plus or modify the sampling intervals, you can configure this in device settings. Simply click on a device, and then the settings up in the right corner and it will take you there.

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Public sharing is an opt-in feature that generates a unique URL for each device. In order to activate it for a device, go to the Device Page and click the Edit pencil in the top right corner and select Edit Device. In the Device Settings you can toggle public sharing, download the QR label for printing.

 

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Display Option

You can configure the screen on the View Plus, which will take up to 30 min before it changes on the actual product. There are more options available later, as we develop new cool ways of presenting data. It will be possible to have CO2, Temperature and Humidity on the display at the same time.

 

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Buildings

This view will allow you to upload floor plans where you can map out the sensors to get a better visual overview of the installation. Add a floor plan by;

  1. Select a building
  2. Press the + in the top right corner to upload a new floor plan
  3. Add devices and draw coverage areas on the floor plan! (Video: https://vimeo.com/380465706)

 

This will help you keep the View Plus well organized.

You should also define the building information under the settings of the building.

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Here you can set the opening hours of the building that will be used when generating insight reports, where only the usage time is considered. The opening hours will also be used to optimize power consumption of the View Plus devices (lower sampling interval outside operating hours).

 

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Insights

The configurable insight reports can be used to summarize the indoor air quality across multiple sensors in a building, with a clear overview of min and max values over selected time range. The insight reports allow you to get in-depth information on the measurements within opening hours and outside opening hours, which is relevant to compare the ventilation efficiency. It’s also possible to download and share the reports.

Alerts

The alerts allow you, or someone else, to be notified when a sensor measures an air parameter above or below a set threshold, or when your device has gone offline.

How to set-up an alert with email notifications

  1. Go to Alerts and click Add Alert to create a new alert.
  2. Give your alert a name and add the email recipients of the alert notifications.
  3. Select the devices or buildings to include in the alert.
  4. Select the sensor thresholds to trigger the alert.

 

Examples; 

  • Send an alert when the CO levels in a classroom go above 1 500 ppm - really stuffy air!
  • Send an alert email to maintenance if the indoor temperature goes under 10 °C - maybe the heating stopped working?
  • Send an email alert when a device goes offline for more than 1 hour - this could mean that the battery died, the device has been stolen, or it has fallen and is broken?


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Integrations

Integrations can be used to extract data towards 3rd party systems, with the use of REST API or Webhooks. We do not anticipate that this functionality will be used by the schools of Quebec. An introduction to this can be given upon request.

Account

User and account settings are found here with functionality to:

  • Change language
  • Change units
  • Change password
  • Update organization information (Admin)
  • List all public devices
  • User Management to invite more users (Admin)

Support

We are happy to help you with any questions or concerns you might have. Our support is currently only available in english. If you write in french, we will do our best to provide a timely response but there may be some delays due to translation.

Technical support is provided through our business dashboard chat client (dashboard.airthings.com). It is the little function down in the bottom-right corner when you are logged in.

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Initial response time within 24h, with general availability within office hours: 9AM-5PM (CET). You can also send an email to business-support@airthings.com.

FAQ

I don’t get the “accept” option when I have created my account.

If you are on the school network, your local IT team may have blocked parts of the Airthings solution. Please make sure that the following API destinations are approved by the IT department:

  • https://web-api.airthin.gs/
  • https://organization-api.airthin.gs/v1


 

Can I install the View Plus devices before the Hubs?

We recommend installing hubs first, to make sure the View Plus devices do not consume unnecessary power during installation. 


 

Can I purchase Consumer products and add to the ecosystem?

The Airthings Hub for Business only works with Airthings for Business devices. Connection to consumer Airthings devices could upset your subscription and cause additional charges. Please do NOT try to connect with any devices other than Airthings for Business devices.


 

Why is the Cloud icon is not lit on the hub?

Generally, there is no need to configure the network settings on the Hub, but there may be some limiting factors on the client network side (i.e. firewall). The Hub is using DHCP, port 443 for HTTPS communication to Cloud. Check your network settings and make sure the hub is able to reach the URL https://hub-api.airthin.gs/. The easiest way to verify this is by connecting your computer to the ethernet cable being used by the Hub and entering https://hub-api.airthin.gs/ in the in your web browser address field. The connection should be OK if you get the text {"message":"Forbidden"} in the browser.


 

Why is the Smartlink icon is not lit on the hub?

The Hub for Business will not connect to any devices before it has been registered in the dashboard. Make sure you register the Hub for Business to your Airthings account at dashboard.airthings.com. The Hub for Business conducts a registration check on start-up, so to avoid issue register the device before powering the Hub for Business. Also verify that the View Plus devices are in range of the hub. The SmartLink radio signal has a typical indoor range of more than 50 meters indoors (Hub to sensor device). The signal can normally penetrate 10 drywalls (non-load bearing walls), or 3 thick walls or floors.


 

Can I generate a report to share measurement data and analysis with parents and teachers at the school?

Yes. The Airthings for Business Dashboard contains an IAQ reporting feature, allowing you to export your data into a PDF and share your IAQ data in a professional, yet easy to understand method.


 

Do the sensors have to be calibrated?

No, Airthings sensors are factory calibrated and self-calibrate during use. The drift is within our stated measurement margin of error.


 

What are the different thresholds, and what are these based on?

The thresholds we use are based on WHO and EPA’s guidelines related to indoor air quality. 

Here are the thresholds we use in the Airthings for Business Dashboard:

 

afb-dashboard-thresholds


 

I do not have a local network to connect the hub through, what do I do?

Using the ethernet cable to connect the hub to the internet is the primary interface. The Hub also comes with a backup option that uses a built-in eSIM that will connect the Hub to the Internet through cellular connection (2G/4G), assuming there is coverage. Just make sure that the ethernet cable is not attached when the Hub is started and it will default to using cellular.

Airthings

Established in 2008 in Norway, Airthings is a global tech company led by a team of experienced scientists, engineers, developers and visionaries, with a common goal: to educate on the prevalence of indoor air contaminants, and develop accessible technology solutions to help people stay healthy.

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