These are good fun – FC-22 Harmful Gas Detector
I just received 2 of them – they run from 5v, using around 0.7 watts. I just bought them on a whim as we were busy joking about cat poo. At the time our new cat Chloe (ragdoll) was having stomach problems and smelling like one’s worst nightmare. So as you do I sent off for these.
So I plugged it into my NSCOPE this morning…. It has 4 connections – ground, +5v, analog out and digital out. There’s a tiny pot on the board and you can set the trigger level for the digital output – so that really doesn’t mean much – but the analog output is fascinating.
While the digital output sits at 5v by default, the analog output in my office generally sits at around 0.5v
As you do, I opened just about everything I could find in the office. It did not seem much bothered by an open flame, but it did NOT like acetone. My freezer spray seemed to have a slight effect but the best one was Evostik – I hardly had the top of and it was going mad – and took several seconds to settle down, picking the smell up in the air at about the same time as I was feeling dizzy (I had some floor foam tiles to stick on wood the other day and so for the first time in many years I bought a can of Evostik – I’d forgotten just how horrible that stuff is – it works a treat but the smell makes you feel ill).
Apparently it also picks up propane, hydrogen and natural gas. I tried the nearest I had – butane from my blowtorch and sure enough – immediate reaction. Oh – and Ronseal Stain Block – which contains acetone – picked that up immediately.
I could see one of these sitting permanently in my workshop. Around £1.20 from Ebay (for some reason DealExtreme want £4 for them and some guy in Britain, proudly displaying the British flag was trying to get £8 for the same thing!!)
At £1.20 is it worth NOT having one in your workshop/office! I’ve not yet tested it on cat-poo – I guess I’ll have to wait for the opportunity.
try having some perfume around andd see what it makes with it !
it reacts to some particle size, but this you cannot say what it belongs to…
Evostik – do not use near a naked flame! I know of someone who, many years ago, had a flash over whilst sticking laminate down in his new kitchen.
That would not surprise me Bill. My dad used to use the stuff for everything – that and laminate which by the time he was finished the entire house was laminated… but when he was in full swing construction the place smelled awful. Strangely I don’t remember feeling quite as ill as I do now when I open the can up. Not had any for many years then I had to do this flooring job. It is as powerful an adhesive as ever but not recommended without good ventilation.