Help automating my Ionic Breeze Air Purifier

Projects General Guidance
1

Hey guys.

I bought an a cheap chinese Arduino nano to automate the button on my air purifier since the button on it broke anyway. I popped open the unit and there was a PCB controller which looked to gate (what I'm guessing is 5v) to another ground wire. I had seen a video on youtube of someone repairing one of these exact units mentioning this.

To prep my controller, I made a simple script that'd turn a pin on and off every second, testing it ahead of time on a cheap LED light. Everything was OK ahead of time.

When I connected the micro controller to the purifier, it powered on (which it will only do if these connections are bridged), but the executing code did not trigger it on or off.

I did not have a battery to power the micro controller, so instead I used a very shitty laptop I did not care about to power the nano via mini-usb bus power. I noticed that even while UNPLUGGED, the nano still powered the Air Purifier on whenever the connections were inserted to the nano pins.

This kind of confuses me. Does that mean that this connection is greater than 5v? Do you think it's forcing something like 12 volts into the micro controller, causing the connections to bridge while unplugged somehow? They shouldn't be making contact incidentally-- I used shielded female wires to connect them to the frayed wires.

When inverted, it doesn't power on whatsoever since they negate each other. So the connected wires are definitely correct (+ -)

A disclaimer: Other than following a few different series of online tutorials, this is my first home hack I am attempting without guidance. I took an extended break for a month or two on learning electronics enthusiast stuff while I focused on programming in Python for another big robotics project.

btw, digital pin 2 and the ground pin are connected to the positive and negative on the unit. I think that goes without saying. I tried other digital pins as well, thinking the PWM or something else might be conflicting but nah, same thing.

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2

I'd replace the broken button by a new one.

3

DrDiettrich:
I'd replace the broken button by a new one.

The purpose of the micro-controller was not just to replace the button, it was to add automation. I was going to add a humidity sensor since the air purifier will turn itself off in the bathroom whenever someone takes a shower and it never turns itself back on. My roommate and I like to use it here because that is where we keep the cat litter box (smells bad man).

Plus, the original PCB for the button had a thin membrane on it which I believed help bridged the connections. The membrane was trashed.

4

aspen1135:
This kind of confuses me. Does that mean that this connection is greater than 5v?

A DMM can answer your question.

5

I think that all these modern air purifiers have the conveniences and disadvantages. At one point to clear the air that we breath is very important because we know the degree of pollution in the whole world. But at the same times, all air purifier have some negatives points that bother me. For example recently one of my friend told me about the ozone generator that he bought. He said that ozone generator removes odors very efficiently, so it’s a useful tool. But you need to know how to use it right, because ozone is dangerous and it is highly reactive toward organic material. I thought about to buy an ozone generator for my house too, but after I read this article Why You Shouldn't Build an Ozone Generator at Home - Damage Control I have some doubt about this purchase.