Sensors

Sensors are how your project finds out what is happening around it — temperature, distance, motion, light, humidity, gas, weight or water level. We stock the modules Kenyan makers actually reach for, from the HC-SR04 ultrasonic rangefinder and DHT11/DHT22 temperature-humidity pair through to load cells with HX711 amplifiers, PIR motion detectors, MQ-series gas sensors and IR line-tracking arrays.

Choosing between them usually comes down to three things. First, the signal: digital modules such as the DHT22 hand you a ready value over one wire, while analogue parts like an LDR or most MQ sensors give a voltage you read on an ADC pin. Second, the voltage: plenty of sensors are happy on both 3.3V and 5V, but a few will misbehave or be damaged if you feed an ESP32 pin a 5V output, so check before wiring. Third, the accuracy you genuinely need — a DHT11 is fine for a room monitor, a DHT22 or a thermocouple is what you want when the reading has to be trustworthy.

Every sensor here is tested before it leaves the shop. Buy online for countrywide delivery, or come pick parts up at our Nairobi CBD counter if you are debugging today and need it in your hand this afternoon.