QingPing Air Quality Monitor Updates for Local MQTT Access

QingPing Air Quality Monitor 2

The QingPing Air Quality Monitor 2 is an Android-based device that features a touchscreen displaying real-time air quality statistics. It also includes an MQTT interface commonly used with the QingPing mobile application and the Xiaomi IoT ecosystem. Switching its reporting from a cloud server to a local MQTT server for integration with Home Assistant can be officially done but requires creating a cloud account. Alternatively, users can accomplish this independently through an ADB interface and some file modifications, as demonstrated by a user.

By default, these devices do not connect when a computer is plugged into the USB-C port. However, this can be easily remedied by enabling Android developer mode. This involves tapping the Device Name line seven times in the About settings section. After this, users can access the Developer Options to enable Debug Mode and Adbd Debugging, which creates the option to connect to the device via USB using ADB and open a terminal with the "adb shell" command. From there, users can launch the QingSnow2 application and the watchdog.sh script that runs in the background, disable IPv6, and edit /etc/host to redirect all standard cloud server calls to a local server.

Interestingly, SSH access appears to be available at this point, complete with root access and the password "rockchip." The MQTT configuration can be found in /data/etc/ within settings.ini, utilized by the QingPing application, so adjustments will redirect all other settings. Naturally, the device also queries a remote server for weather data specific to your location, so any changes will require providing a proxy, something the aforementioned user achieved with a simple MQTT server available alongside other files on the GitHub project page.

Another interesting point is that the cost for such bodies can vary significantly. For example, if you want to build it yourself: €20 for an ESP32-S3 4.0-inch 480 * 480 + heat control device, €20 for the SCD41 CO2 sensor (SCD40 at €15), €5 for a BME280 (Temperature, Pressure, Humidity), €5 for ENS160+AHT21, and €10 for OPEN-SMART PM 2.5. The total comes to around €60. These prices are merely indicative. Programming this combination (without a dust sensor) can be quite engaging.