For those of you who want a more permanent solution: solder together the output pins of the sensor marked E and Coll (as seen here 22:31). The idea is that the IR LED (A-Cath) shines IR light on the spray nozzle. When that light is picked up by the transistor (E-Coll), it closes the circuit allowing current to flow between pins E and Coll, and that current is interpreted as a valid spray from a genuine AirWick can. Soldering together pins E and Coll bypasses the transistor, allowing current through every time the spray is pressed. I did this to my sprayer and i have no problems with it. Sprays every time with any can. Props to Alan for the in-depth teardown and detailed explanations.
Thanks I just did your trick with the sensor like 5 min ago and it seems ok. You are a lifesaver I been searching for this many times with no luck. I tried different things and none worked. Many many thanks!
Awesome video! Thanks for taking the time to do this. I ended up hooking my AirWick up to an esp8266 so I can trigger and modify the spray interval via WiFi. Your video was very helpful in taking it apart! Cheers
dabears900 how did you do it ? any video to that diy ? I want to make mine as you did with WiFi as I have 4 airwick in all my rooms and WiFi is all around my home so that I can bridge it via routers too..
Wow that looks like a fun board for less than $4 on Ebay... looks like hooking a circuit to the negative of the battery and the negative of the motor will trip it, just need to figure out the board.
for any one who is stuck . just cut the four wires off the sensor. put the red and green together solder and tape leave the black and yellow allowen no wires showing . put back together and job done . hope it helps . ive done mine but i buy airwick now for 3 to 4 pounds each and no sensor in them
I bought one from family dollar and it's their brand called Homeline. It was not cheap, I bought the kit with the machine and one can of air freshener and it was $7-$8 and the light flashed red from the beginning! It lasted about halfway through the can and stopped spraying. I looked at a few video's and one said to wd-40 the lever inside that pushes the spray button. I did that and it worked through almost the rest of the can. Now, it won't spray no matter what I do and the light flashes red ALL the time! When I push the manual button I can hear a little grunt noise which is faint and quick but still no spray! I've changed batteries, the refill is the same brand as the holder and other than throwing it against the wall, I've tried just about everything. I don't know what I'm doing if I take it apart but it really pisses me off! I've left it sitting turned on thinking some miracle would happen and it would work but no such luck! What a waste of money! It's junk!
Excellent piece of teaching ! I liked the detailed analysis of how it works. And respect to the final solution to hack the device, it seems to me a great demonstration of simplicity and lateral thought !!! Thanks a lot, Alejandro.
So the quick and easy "hack" is to pop off the valve stem ( 7:42 ) and stick it on any can you want to use in there. Then the sensor can read it. The really cool thing I learned is that you only need to short the negative of the battery to the negative of the motor to make it work. Now I can refill one of these cans with some pepper spray and point it at my front door to jack up intruders! Wait I read a comment that said: "The nozzle has a different hole on it that sits onto the straw of the can", so I guess you have to use a sharpie and draw in your own matching marks.
Hey can you change the timers on these things? I kinda want to programme it to every 60 mins or 90 mins or so. Can't wait to see you work your magic and share the knowledge
You said they are only driving the motor in one direction. I think they are driving it down, then relying on the upward spring of the canister. They are measuring the upward spring with the sensor, which likely correlates to how full the canister is. If you read the FAQ on this product, they said it has a consistent dosage. This is likely because towards the end of the can, they can drive the motor slower, which would spray out for longer time.
Interesting, that could be. If it was still setup on the bench it would be interesting to run it with a full, half full and empty can to see if it is doing that. Certainly has the sensor tech to do exactly that.
All this analysis, tear down, etc, and I thought from the thumbnail of the video that you would provide us a way around via using a wire to bypass the sensor and you end a 50 min video with telling everyone to use a barcode print off? Is there a better way around? I want to use my machine in a different application and a print off of a barcode won't cut it.
If you're still interested, check out my first comment. Basically you just have solder together the output pins of the sensor marked E and Coll (22:31)
50 мин тупых рассуждений. Замыкаем 1й и 3й вывод на разъеме. Пользуемся любыми освежителями по размеру. Плату с датчиком можно выкинуть. 50 min stupid reasoning. Closes 1st and 3rd conclusion on the connector. We use fresheners any size. The board with the sensor can be thrown out.
I haven't see the whole video yet, but just upon hearing the first minute of it I already "Liked" it, 'cause I think you've got the right Attitude! I don't use it, but "I don't like it", too. Crack them wide open and spread the word, buddy! I think you're great! Keep this cool channel UP! Cheers and respect!
Maye a dumb question so I'm inviting anyone to answer but will this canister still spray if it's laying down horizontally instead of vertically or will it only release the pressurized air instead of the fragrance? I'm unsure do to the fact that it doesn't continue to spray when pressed like most canisters on the market today.
I don't know if you're Canadian or not, you sound it (no offence meant if you're not). The ones I have (in the UK) don't use a DC motor, they use an electromagnetic actuator type deal and readily accept the fake refills. Same company, but very different design. Cool stuff though, watched it all.
abbtech you know, I just bought this one at the grocery store and saw your video, was going to "hack it" and then discovered that the version they sell here in Mexico is identical, except that it has no sensor to detect the black stripes in the can, there is simply a hole in there where the photosensor should be... interesting huh? maybe (amazing I know) there is not a huge compatble refills market here yet and that way they can sell them at mexican market prices?
so my point is what is this hack worth? Can you buy a cheaper non-air wick brand refills? because from the looks of it, even other brands cost about the same price.
not really. if it were solenoid based it could but this system uses a dc motor that is driven with a single polarity. the single pump and rebound is part of the design.
Remove the spray nozzle and place on the replacement no genuine can. Problem solved. Time taken, 30 seconds. Beats the heck out of this 52 min "how to" WOFT!
Nice hack. Curious: Could you have taken the printed barcode and taped it directly on to the sensor, maybe with a small transparent spacer in between? Then you could actually plant the sensor inside the unit and it wouldn't need to be near the nozzle at all.
Hi Mark, The barcode needs to move past the sensor as the can nozzle is pressed, that is how it knows that there is a can in place. It doesn't read the barcode like a wand at the supermarket, this one is just looking at what is directly in front of it (white or black). It is the movement of the barcode that allows the sensor to see that it is there.
the one that the wife bought has a timer that sets the spray time. how about a hack that extends the time to spray to every few hours instead of the max of every 36 min.? the indoor air pollution that this thing causes is nausiating at the longest setting.
50 minutes of video and only the literal last minute is the most helpful.... Thank you for wasting my time. Next time, please do a disclaimer in the beginning of the video that tells people if they want to skip to the last minute for the actual FIX, so that no more people waste their precious time on this earth. Thank you!
@@robinbuster1323 no... sensor outputs 1 if scan is successful. By shorting green and red you make it always output 1 when it scans so it doesn't trigger any checks. It works.
