Fawthrop Posted June 16, 2025 Posted June 16, 2025 Hi, We're looking at getting a singular Vape sensor for one of our toilets as a test for how well they work. We've bought one but had to return it as for Wireless connection you have to put username and password in to connect, but the device didn't support that. We've looked at a few more fairly cheap vape sensors but all use the same style app and don't support our method of logging in.. Does anyone know any vape sensors that can connect this way wirelessly? The main things that they're looking for is mobile notifications when an alarm goes off. Wireless is optional but preferred, and pricing would hopefully be between £100-250. So far any using the Tuya Smart app or Hestia App don't work. Thank you
synaesthesia Posted June 16, 2025 Posted June 16, 2025 Being blunt, unless you go for the proper ones (Halo, Verkada), you'll be getting the same consumer grade rubbish. If you need them, you need to pay for them.
Fawthrop Posted June 16, 2025 Author Posted June 16, 2025 2 minutes ago, synaesthesia said: Being blunt, unless you go for the proper ones (Halo, Verkada), you'll be getting the same consumer grade rubbish. If you need them, you need to pay for them. I think they're looking at getting a cheap one to test how well they work by putting it in the hotspot of where most reports of vaping happen, and if all goes well getting proper ones installed. I saw one say that either Halo/Verkada do a trial period to see how well they work - Is this still something that's offered? Not sure who the company on here is that deals with these.
synaesthesia Posted June 16, 2025 Posted June 16, 2025 It's not so much the hardware that does the gruntwork, they nearly all have the same sorts of sensors in. After tearing down a couple of cheap ones and finding out they were charging 200 quid for something you could literally put together for £20 even without buying in bulk, it all boiled down to how the software was polling and reporting the data. There's clearly more in the better ones but I'd love to know what's inside!
Net-Ctrl Posted June 16, 2025 Posted June 16, 2025 We can arrange for you to test some Verkada trial equipment in your own environment and play around with the alerts/management functionality. Wi-Fi only ones are going to be tricky to get right - typically, bathrooms are out-of-scope for WI-Fi deployments, and the environment is harsh on Wi-Fi with cubicle design. Verkada/HALO are both PoE - the downside being they are more expensive and you have to allow for cabling into an environment that may not have accessible/available Data Points. If you would like to discuss Verkada and our approach - send me a PM and I can arrange this for you. Regardless of the route - a really key thing to get right is to have discussions on the 'Why' with all levels at the school and effective communication of this to staff, students, parents. COuple with - a clear plan of who is dealing with the alerts, and what happens next.
synaesthesia Posted June 16, 2025 Posted June 16, 2025 22 minutes ago, DWilson1997 said: Vape Guardian | Vaping Detection and More I would avoid this company like the plague. I wrote up details on this previously complete with a teardown of their £18 devices.
DWilson1997 Posted June 16, 2025 Posted June 16, 2025 1 minute ago, synaesthesia said: I would avoid this company like the plague. I wrote up details on this previously complete with a teardown of their £18 devices. I mean, they work and are cheap... tick all the boxes for me!
synaesthesia Posted June 16, 2025 Posted June 16, 2025 1 minute ago, DWilson1997 said: I mean, they work and are cheap... tick all the boxes for me! And the last time I checked, sending all that data outside of the EU via the consumer grade home-IOT app. 1
Fawthrop Posted June 16, 2025 Author Posted June 16, 2025 2 minutes ago, synaesthesia said: I would avoid this company like the plague. I wrote up details on this previously complete with a teardown of their £18 devices. Would this be something you could share with me? Over DM if it's not something that is public on Edugeek currently.
synaesthesia Posted June 16, 2025 Posted June 16, 2025 Can't seem to find it - it may be on here somewhere under their previous name SMF Systems.
mikes Posted June 23, 2025 Posted June 23, 2025 I'd be interested too out of curiosity but no big rush. I wasn't involved in it but our school looked into getting vape detectors but the quote was so much money we couldn't go for it!
synaesthesia Posted June 23, 2025 Posted June 23, 2025 24 minutes ago, mavhc said: Damn, your edusearch-fu is greater than mine, even when I am searching for myself
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