We suggest trying each of the following three methods of collecting body temperature: 1. mouth, 2. underarm, and 3. ear.
When using your mouth as the point of contact, be sure to clean the thermistor before sticking it into your mouth! Also, be cautious about any wires that may be heating up. They are not supposed to, but better safe than sorry. We suggest that any wires that are exposed (if you did not add the plastic cover component) do not touch your saliva, as the water will interfere with the temperature reading. Rest the wires gently on your teeth and carefully place your tongue on the black part of the thermistor.
When collecting your temperature in your underarm, we recommend you place the thermistor where the black portion will have optimum surface area contact with your skin. This method seems to be the easiest to get a steady reading because you can simply place the thermistor in your underarm and then rest your arm without having to carefully hold it in one position, as the other methods require.
When collecting your temperature with your ear as the point of contact, place ONLY the black part of the thermistor up against the tragus of your ear and press the tragus toward you concha cavum, essentially "sandwiching" the thermistor between the tragus and conch cavum. DO NOT STICK THE ENTIRE THERMISTOR INTO YOUR EAR. You will risk permanent damage to your hearing.
If you intend on donating your thermometer as part of the COVID-19 Home Kit, DO NOT USE IT. We want to eliminate any possibility of spreading viruses. Testing to ensure function can be done simply with air temperature or warm, sanitary water.
Below there is a graph of the average temperatures collected by the form directly under the graph. The form asks you to enter the value from your Arduino thermometer when taking your body temperature at different points of contact, including your mouth, underarm, and ear. You can use the graph to compare your reading to the readings of other individuals who are building this thermometer. We would also love for you to input your temperature to contribute to the average! However, we ask that you only do so if your body temperature readings are between 88°F and 108°F. If your thermometer is not producing temperatures within that range, we suggest you go to our Troubleshooting page in order to fix your circuit and code. The purpose of this request is not to have an average closer to what "should" be right, but instead to gauge the degree of accuracy of the data being collected by functioning thermometers.
Entering your temperatures into the form will automatically send these values to be counted in the average displayed by the graph. Your individual temperatures are not linked with your name or email address. We will not share any individual data entered.