Frequently asked questions

Everything is sold through the PlankLabs Etsy shop. This site is the tour; Etsy is the register. Every product page here has a button that opens the matching Etsy listing, where you’ll find the current price, enclosure colors, shipping estimates, and secure checkout with Etsy’s buyer protection.

Each PlankLabs gadget’s price is on its Etsy listing, along with the enclosure colors and shipping, and checkout happens on Etsy. Where a gadget page here shows a “from” price, it is that listing’s starting price, checked with Etsy within the last few hours. If I can’t confirm a recent price, the page shows no number, and the Etsy button takes you to the listing for today’s price.

December 18 is the last day I will ship holiday orders. Order by Thursday, December 17 to get your holiday orders on time.

There isn’t a best PlankLabs gadget, because each one watches something different, so pick the one that matches what you already check. Storm Sentinel is for people who check radar several times a day. Satellite Sentinel is for space fans who have never seen the Space Station go over. Seismic Sentinel is for people who open the USGS earthquake map before the news. Squawk Box is for the person who looks up and asks what that plane was. The Pro Football Scoreboard, sold as a beta edition, is for the fan whose club deserves a permanent spot on the desk. Phosphor is for anyone who needs to know whether it is the WiFi or the internet provider. Tide Station is for boaters, anglers and beach-house people who plan around the tide. The comparison table at planklabs.us/gadgets puts them side by side.

PlankLabs gadgets arrive fully assembled, not as kits. I assemble each unit by hand in its 3D-printed enclosure, flash the firmware, and run it on the bench before it ships. The box holds the gadget, a desktop stand and a stylus. Every box has a USB-A to USB-C cable, about 3 feet (36 inches). No wall adapter is included. The cable’s USB-A plug goes into a USB-A phone charger or a computer’s USB-A port.

No. You pay once on Etsy, and that is the whole cost. Setup happens in your phone’s web browser, so nothing gets installed on a phone, a Mac or a Windows PC. You never create an account.

Setting up a PlankLabs gadget takes a few minutes. Plug it into a USB-A phone charger or a computer’s USB-A port with the included cable, join the setup WiFi network it makes from your phone, and a setup page opens in your browser; if it doesn’t, go to 192.168.4.1. Enter your home WiFi details and what the gadget should watch: a ZIP code for Storm Sentinel and Satellite Sentinel, a city and state or ZIP code for Seismic Sentinel and Squawk Box, a NOAA station ID for Tide Station, or a club for the Pro Football Scoreboard. Phosphor needs no location. Live data appears within a minute or two.

If a PlankLabs gadget won’t join your WiFi, check the network first. Every PlankLabs gadget needs a 2.4 GHz network and will not join one that is 5 GHz-only. Squawk Box can’t join a WPA3-only network, and Seismic Sentinel can’t use a network that asks for a username or sends you to a sign-in page, which is common on school and hotel WiFi. Next, retype the WiFi password on the setup page. If the setup page doesn’t open on your phone, open a browser and go to 192.168.4.1. To start setup over, your gadget’s steps are on the owner help page at planklabs.us/owners. If it still won’t join, message me on Etsy.

Every PlankLabs gadget needs two things: a 2.4 GHz WiFi network (the gadgets don’t speak 5 GHz-only WiFi) and 5 V USB power. Every box has a USB-A to USB-C cable, about 3 feet (36 inches). No wall adapter is included. The cable’s USB-A plug goes into a USB-A phone charger or a computer’s USB-A port. Two gadgets are pickier about the network, and their product pages spell it out: Squawk Box can’t join a WPA3-only network, and Seismic Sentinel can’t use a network that asks for a username or sends you to a sign-in page.

Each PlankLabs gadget’s page names its data source. Storm Sentinel uses the National Weather Service. Tide Station uses NOAA’s tide sensors. Satellite Sentinel downloads fresh orbital elements daily and runs SGP4 orbital math on the device itself. Seismic Sentinel shows earthquake reports from the U.S. Geological Survey, relayed through my own servers once the USGS has posted them. Squawk Box shows live ADS-B aircraft positions for your area, relayed through my own servers and partly sourced from adsb.lol, a community network of volunteer receivers. The Pro Football Scoreboard pulls scores, schedules, standings, headlines, roster moves and injury reports from independent third-party sports feeds. Phosphor makes its own data by probing your network.

I make every reasonable effort to keep your PlankLabs gadget working, and updates arrive over the air on their own, but nobody can guarantee that an outside data feed will exist forever, and most gadgets depend on one. The hardware is always yours, and the data is for delight and general awareness, never for navigation, emergencies or safety-critical decisions.

No. Seismic Sentinel has no seismic sensor, and an earthquake appears on it only after the U.S. Geological Survey has posted it, which takes minutes rather than seconds. It is built for following and understanding earthquakes that have already happened, and it is not a certified emergency warning system. For warnings, keep Wireless Emergency Alerts turned on in your phone’s settings, along with ShakeAlert-powered alerts if you live on the West Coast.

Yes. PlankLabs gadgets update themselves automatically, over the air. When improvements, fixes, or new features ship, your gadget quietly downloads them on its own. You don’t have to plug in a cable, download a file, or click anything.

PlankLabs gadgets are built around US data sources. Storm Sentinel covers the lower 48 states and Satellite Sentinel works in the United States only; both ask for a US ZIP code at setup. Tide Station watches NOAA tide stations in the US and its territories. Seismic Sentinel follows earthquakes all over the world, but it is set up with a US city or ZIP code and offers US time zones only. Squawk Box works in the United States only and is set up with a US city and state or a ZIP code, and the Pro Football Scoreboard and Phosphor ask for no location. If you are outside the US and tempted anyway, message me on Etsy before you order and I will tell you honestly what would and wouldn’t work.

Every unit carries a 90-day maker warranty covering defects and hardware or firmware failures (physical damage and liquid exposure excluded). If a unit fails, you get prepaid return postage and a full refund, typically within one business day of inspection. Change-of-mind returns are accepted within seven days of delivery via Etsy, with the buyer covering return shipping.

Often, yes. Some of the best PlankLabs features started as buyer suggestions. Send a message through the Etsy shop with your idea, question, or request. It’s a one-person lab, and the person actually answers.

I make every PlankLabs gadget myself. I’m Jason, and PlankLabs is my one-person workshop in Olive Branch, Mississippi. I design each gadget, print its enclosure a few feet from my desk, assemble the unit by hand, flash the firmware I wrote, and run it on the bench with live data before it ships. Every gadget is built around an ESP32 microcontroller and a 3.5″ color touchscreen.