[HN Gopher] ESPHome
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       ESPHome
        
       Author : kaycebasques
       Score  : 461 points
       Date   : 2024-04-23 22:46 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (esphome.io)
 (TXT) w3m dump (esphome.io)
        
       | stavros wrote:
       | I don't use this, personally, but it strikes me as a fantastic
       | idea. I made a sensor board and wrote my own firmware for it,
       | maybe I'll see if I can easily configure ESPhome to run on it.
       | 
       | The only thing I'd need that my thing already has is pull-based
       | OTA updates. Right now I just copy a firmware to a folder, and
       | all my sensors around the house automatically update to that
       | firmware via an HTTP server. With ESPhome, I'd have to push the
       | update to each sensor separately, which is tedious when you have
       | tens of them.
        
         | NegativeLatency wrote:
         | Maybe fewer bugs and need to make changes with this?
         | 
         | I have a fair number of esp devices with temp probes around the
         | house, and I've been meaning to switch to esp home so I have
         | less code to maintain
        
           | stavros wrote:
           | Yeah, definitely fewer bugs. Hopefully I won't mind the
           | decreased flexibility, but the lack of HTTP updates really
           | hurts.
        
         | jhogendorn wrote:
         | The web interface has an 'update all' button thats just as
         | convenient. I find if theres ones i want to not update i just
         | temp break their yaml file with an unexpected keyword and it
         | fails to compile and then update.
        
           | stavros wrote:
           | Hm, I wasn't aware of this web interface. Is it some sort of
           | management panel? Do I have to deploy it on prem?
        
             | Nextgrid wrote:
             | I think he's talking about the ESPHome web app - it's a
             | Python app you run on a server which provides a web-based
             | IDE to manage your ESPHome devices.
             | 
             | To be clear, it is _not_ hosted by the ESPHome devices
             | themselves, it 's a separate component.
        
         | lelanthran wrote:
         | > I don't use this, personally, but it strikes me as a
         | fantastic idea. I made a sensor board and wrote my own firmware
         | for it, maybe I'll see if I can easily configure ESPhome to run
         | on it.
         | 
         | I've done pretty much the same, but last I looked there were
         | very few resources (other than reading the code for the ESPHome
         | project) to help on creating custom firmware for a new board
         | with multiple sensors. It seemed easier and faster to simply
         | write the firmware to talk to a simple backend.
         | 
         | I'm also curious about how they get the code for esp32 devices
         | to fit: on a device with 4MB flash, you effectively have a 1MB
         | program limit if you want OTA (which you do). A simple program
         | that does nothing but make calls to the libraries for GPIO,
         | ADC, UART, Wifi, https, https server, interrupts, FreeRTOS,
         | mqtt, nvs, chip info, logging, OTA and functions in the
         | standard library (scanf alone uses 30kb) already takes you over
         | the 1MB limit.
         | 
         | Compiling with all the logging turned off can get you a roughly
         | 800kb program, which is still close to the limits considering
         | that doesn't include program logic.
         | 
         | I'll have to look at this again when I next require some remote
         | monitoring thing.
        
         | balloob wrote:
         | This is coming in the next release.
        
         | Havoc wrote:
         | You should give it a try. ESPHome is super convenient.
         | Especially the fact that you can flash them from a browser
         | initially and over the air after that
        
       | sen wrote:
       | I've got 20+ devices running ESPHome, about 3/4 of them are part
       | of my Home Assistant network, and maybe 6 or so that are
       | standalone and just using ESPHome to talk to MQTT for other stuff
       | (cheap Chinese weather station that I replaced the insides of
       | with an ESP32, etc). I've got my rain water tanks monitored, my
       | soil moisture in my greenhouse, the temperature and humidity in
       | all different parts of the house, air quality in the kitchen and
       | kids rooms, etc etc.
       | 
       | It's such an underrated project. In literally 5 minutes and with
       | $10 of hardware and no programming at all, you can build your own
       | IoT devices in your home and get real-time data on anything you
       | want on your property.
        
         | throwup238 wrote:
         | Same here, plus a dozen or so random ESP32 variants just
         | sitting in my electronics parts box because they're so cheap.
         | It's incredibly freeing to just have all that hardware
         | available at arms reach whenever you have an idea. They're
         | surprisingly reliable and with modules like the sprinkler
         | controller, they can be programmed to be independent so that
         | they keep running as long as they have power. It took me months
         | to realize that HomeAssistant microSD card had failed last time
         | because all of my hydroponics gear just kept running.
         | 
         | By far the biggest time consumer has been wiring them up to
         | DC/DC converters to drive relays in a waterproof Sockitbox.
         | Another really useful part to keep around are wire terminal
         | breakout boards: https://www.amazon.com/whiteeeen-Development-
         | Expansion-ESP-W...
         | 
         | Also CloudFree is great for off the shelf IoT parts that can be
         | reprogrammed with ESPHome: https://cloudfree.shop/
        
         | dnchdnd wrote:
         | can you share details of the weather station please? ive been
         | looking into gathering wind data on the cheap...
        
           | pzduniak wrote:
           | I built mine using a Hydreon Rain Gauge sensor (RG11 in my
           | case) and combined it with an off the shelf wind sensor from
           | AliExpress, presumably sold by Adafruit's supplier, which
           | closes a reed switch every rotation. Everything is powered
           | through PoE, controlled by wESP32. I spent a couple hundred
           | bucks at most including all the mounting hardware.
           | 
           | It all controls an aluminum "awning" in my house that's
           | supposed to open above certain wind speed, close when it
           | rains.
        
           | sen wrote:
           | I bought a $60 weather station from Amazon where the base
           | station generates a JSON file which it then wants to send to
           | its own cloud servers. I firewalled it on its own, and have
           | an ESP32 reading the JSON file off it and then sending the
           | individual sensor readings into Home Assistant for a visual
           | dashboard, and into Postgres which I use for my own weather-
           | data-wrangling (eg hasn't rained in a couple days and no rain
           | expected from my local weather API? turn the watering system
           | on for the gardens)
        
         | lostlogin wrote:
         | I agree with everything here, except the $10 of hardware.
         | 
         | You must be running some very fancy chips!
         | 
         | For extra savings the ESP8266 might be as low as $4us. It
         | really is amazing.
        
           | rubenbe wrote:
           | I started valuing the enclosure that comes with the 10 dollar
           | versions (e.g. the M5stack atom).
           | 
           | Since most use-cases for me are literally 1 sensor connected
           | to an Atom, it (largely) fixes the enclosure problem.
           | Although I'd like to have more DIN rail mounted options.
        
           | baq wrote:
           | ESP8266 is not recommended for new projects though. Its age
           | is starting to show.
        
             | HankB99 wrote:
             | Is that an Espressif or an ESPHome recommendation?
             | 
             | Were I designing a product that uses one of these I would
             | certainly not use the ESP8266. For hobby projects, if I can
             | buy them on Amazon, eBay or elsewhere, the 8266 remains a
             | valid choice (for me.)
        
           | Asmod4n wrote:
           | Or you could buy a rpi2040 for 99 cents.
        
             | hagbard_c wrote:
             | That'd get you the chip which you'd have to solder to a
             | board. Possible and feasible but not as easy as plugging in
             | an ESP8266.
        
               | regularfry wrote:
               | You would not only have to solder it to a board, you
               | would also have to provide a radio peripheral. At which
               | point you're pretty much looking at a pico W, which just
               | isn't as cheap or small as a D1 Mini (or similar).
        
             | nsteel wrote:
             | Wasn't there previously some problem with using Pico boards
             | and you had to use a fork because PlatformIO were trying to
             | get vendors to pay (for something they never asked for),
             | and then kicking up a big fuss when they didn't pay up. I
             | say vendorS because they are now trying it on with
             | Espressif also. It seems like a very strange funding model.
             | Did that get fixed? It was a depressing state of affairs
             | when I last looked.
        
             | kkielhofner wrote:
             | You can get a three pack of esp32 dev boards (with headers)
             | for $6 from Aliexpress. For that you get:
             | 
             | 1) Wifi.
             | 
             | 2) Much more robust ecosystem, including esphome (the
             | subject of this post).
        
             | tredre3 wrote:
             | Plus the 99 cents for flash chip.
             | 
             | Plus the 99 cents for the PCB.
             | 
             | Plus the 99 cents for misc parts like regulator and caps.
             | 
             | Plus the $4 for the wifi module.
        
         | macropin wrote:
         | How do you power them? I've used ESPHome previously to scrape
         | my solar analytics for consumption in Home Assistant using $3
         | Wittycloud ESP8266's. But as yet I haven't found an elegant
         | solution for powering them other than using a USB adapter. It
         | would be nice to find an elegant battery solution for outside
         | sensors.
        
           | Nextgrid wrote:
           | Car "cigarette lighter" charger adapters are cheap and can
           | take ~12V (and some even go up to 24) and give you a USB
           | output.
        
           | spicyjpeg wrote:
           | You can buy off-the-shelf modules that take a lithium ion
           | cell and provide charging, overcurrent and overdischarge
           | protection; just search your Chinese online retailer of
           | choice for "TP4056 module" and you will find plenty of them.
           | There is a Hackaday article [1] that goes in depth on how to
           | use them properly.
           | 
           | If you'd rather not wire it up yourself there are also ESP32
           | dev boards with built-in battery management functionality,
           | such as the LoLin32 Lite and Sparkfun ESP32 Thing. I haven't
           | had much luck with the former (possibly due to its lack of RF
           | shielding) but the latter seems to be pretty solid. I think
           | Adafruit sells similar boards as well.
           | 
           | [1] https://hackaday.com/2022/10/10/lithium-ion-battery-
           | circuitr...
        
           | 15155 wrote:
           | https://shop.m5stack.com/products/battery-
           | module-13-2-1500ma...
           | 
           | Featured yesterday on HN for being acquired by Espressif.
        
           | luma wrote:
           | Battery can be a problem as low power takes a lot more
           | engineering than you'd imagine and being outdoors creates
           | additional problems if you're trying to use lithium chemistry
           | cells when temps go below freezing.
           | 
           | For indoor use, I made this to power ESPhome devices from a
           | cheap apple USB adapter:
           | https://www.printables.com/model/703859-esp32-enclosure-
           | with...
        
           | blutack wrote:
           | The Olimux ESP32-POE / wESP32 boards have a proper ethernet
           | connection and PoE support. Means you don't need to worry
           | about wifi coverage or power as long as you can get an
           | ethernet cable to it - and those are cheap & easy to find in
           | ludicrous lengths for outdoor use.
           | 
           | ESPHome also has deep sleep support - so for some use cases
           | you can just wake up every x minutes/hours, connect to wifi,
           | do thing, back to sleep for x minutes. In deep sleep a decent
           | ESP32 board (firebeetle or tinypico) will last for months on
           | a small lithium cell. For a quick sensor, the whole wake
           | up/read sensor/update HA/sleep again takes a second or so
           | depending on wifi configuration.
           | 
           | Useful for something on a schedule like sprinklers or slow
           | sensors (soil humidity or whatever).
           | 
           | You can also wake based on interrupts, which is good for
           | stuff where you are using a low power external sensor that
           | does interrupts (wake ESP up if humidity gets to x) or a GPIO
           | switch (magnetic entry/float switch/etc etc).
           | 
           | Firebeetles and tinypicos both have cell connectors and
           | onboard charging directly for lithium pouch cells. You could
           | also get a cheapo solar power bank, although you'll want to
           | do some research to make sure the relatively light load of an
           | ESP32 will keep it powered on.
        
         | throwaway290 wrote:
         | Could you recommend a good component for security purposes?
         | Like if someone enters my flat without breaking in (I rent).
         | The docs list a bunch of options... do I go for motion &
         | presence or binary presence detector? Which sensor is better
         | (and most cost effective)?
        
           | petemir wrote:
           | Ikea's PARASOLL? I would expect that for your use-case, just
           | knowing if a/the door was opened is already enough.
        
             | throwaway290 wrote:
             | Is Ikea stuff compatible with ESPhome?
             | 
             | Never mind, parasoll costs like $12. I mean something like
             | HLK-LD2420 which should be around $2. ESPHome lists many
             | similar sensors and I was asking which one is better.
             | Curious if anyone had any experience with any of those
        
               | petemir wrote:
               | No, it's not compatible. I am sorry, I misunderstood the
               | purpose of your question.
        
           | sen wrote:
           | For home security I use PIR motion sensors in the main rooms
           | feeding into Home Assistant which has a presence service, Eg
           | it knows if we're home or not based on whether our phones are
           | connected to the home wifi. If we're not home + it detects
           | motion, it pings me.
        
             | throwaway290 wrote:
             | Nice. Home Assistant looks easy to integrate with
             | ESPHome... Though I don't yet have either.
        
           | r2_pilot wrote:
           | Depends on your threat profile and budget. Specifically if
           | you're worried about your door opening, you can use a magnet
           | and Hall effect sensor(or reed switch). Another thing you
           | could do is PIR, but the cool kids are playing with 60GHz
           | pulsed radar, which does presence pretty well (I've recently
           | tested that the XM125 radar I just got can pick up my
           | breathing and detects presence from the other side of 2x
           | pieces of 3/4in sheetrock).
        
             | throwaway290 wrote:
             | I'm definitely not a cool kid:) I was considering putting a
             | camera in the flat and hooking it up to a visual motion
             | detector but that would be a bit expensive probably (would
             | probably need another server in addition to home
             | assistant...)
        
               | r2_pilot wrote:
               | Yeah that's overkill. But PIR and esp32s would work for
               | the most part. (don't rule out the radar, it's only $50
               | bucks at Sparkfun lol I just got it working the other
               | day, it's pretty awesome)
        
         | teekert wrote:
         | How do you monitor your rain tanks? I tried ultra sonic sensors
         | but they invariably oxidize.
        
           | squarefoot wrote:
           | There are magnetic sensors in which a floating magnet (sealed
           | in plastic) position is read by sensors (Reed, Hall, etc)
           | sealed as well.
        
           | Faaak wrote:
           | There are black "waterproof" (weatherproof?) ultrasonic
           | sensors that last a way longer time
        
           | macropin wrote:
           | I've heard that pressure sensors are the most reliable.
        
           | throwup238 wrote:
           | Vegetronix water level sensors sensors:
           | https://www.vegetronix.com/Products/AquaPlumb/
           | 
           | They also have good soil moisture sensors that IIRC work via
           | time domain reflectometry which is more accurate and lasts
           | longer in the field.
        
           | sen wrote:
           | Ultrasonic sensors are so cheap I just replace them once a
           | year or so, but I've not for a few new prototypes going with
           | ToF sensors and one using a pressure sensor, to look for a
           | less wasteful solution.
        
           | r2_pilot wrote:
           | There are new 60ghz sensors available that can do this (they
           | can see through walls so you could have the sensor completely
           | enclosed (maybe even potted in epoxy?!)). Sparkfun/Acconeer
           | A121/XM125 is what I'm using,although not in this context,
           | it's for my robot.
        
         | darkwater wrote:
         | Now you MUST share more details on the hardware (case, power
         | etc) and process you followed for all of those devices.
        
           | alias_neo wrote:
           | I keep a stockpile of cheap ESP32 and ESP8266s at home, and
           | any time I need something "ensmartened" (opposite of
           | enshittified?) I grab whichever one is appropriate, solder up
           | what I need, design/3D print a case, flash it from my _other_
           | laptop which has Chrome on because Firefox doesn't support
           | WebUSB :'(, and it'll show up in Home Assistant for adoption
           | the moment it lands on my IoT WiFi network.
        
             | regularfry wrote:
             | I did exactly this with WLED over the weekend, just to see
             | what the ecosystem was like and what the capabilities are.
             | That flow from soldered hardware to HA integration is
             | _astonishingly_ slick.
        
           | kkielhofner wrote:
           | I am a VERY low-effort hardware person (even soldering is um,
           | not my favorite) but for years my approach has been:
           | 
           | 1) Go to Amazon and buy a three pack of ESP32 dev boards with
           | headers[0]. They're always some random seller, etc but I've
           | probably had one DoA/failure after buying dozens from random
           | sellers over the years.
           | 
           | 2) Get a dupont wires variety pack[1].
           | 
           | 3) Optionally (but good to have) get some breadboards [2].
           | 
           | 4) Familiarize yourself with various supported
           | temperature/motion/humidity/relays/etc. Esphome has a
           | supported list[3].
           | 
           | 5) Search for the chip name, etc on Amazon. Example[4].
           | 
           | 6) Familiarize yourself with the ESP32 dev board pins, GPIO,
           | etc. Most sellers will include a picture that looks something
           | like this[5] and most of them are pretty "standard" these
           | days.
           | 
           | 7) Wire stuff up, configure with esphome.
           | 
           | 8) Once you have things up and running, shove everything in
           | an old box (iPhone boxes are especially sturdy). Other
           | options are various project boxes[6], 3D printing, etc. It's
           | usually easy enough to cut out/drill whatever you need.
           | 
           | At the end of the day you can do some pretty impressive
           | things like directly combining temperature sensors, humidity,
           | presence detection, PIR motion, air particulate, relays, etc
           | even on a single board thanks to ample GPIO and esphome. All
           | for (typically) something like $10 per "location" where you
           | need the stuff. Even less if you buy from Aliexpress, etc.
           | 
           | Of course for "install" you'll need power supplies and
           | (typically) USB-A to micro-USB power cables but most of us
           | have drawers full of these things from old phones, etc. Good
           | news is ESP32 boards absolutely sip power (something like
           | 100mW or less) even with all of your "stuff" attached.
           | 
           | [0] - https://www.amazon.com/ESP-WROOM-32-Development-
           | Microcontrol...
           | 
           | [1] - https://www.amazon.com/EDGELEC-Breadboard-Optional-
           | Assorted-...
           | 
           | [2] - https://www.amazon.com/Breadboards-Solderless-
           | Breadboard-Dis...
           | 
           | [3] - https://esphome.io/index.html
           | 
           | [4] - https://www.amazon.com/Teyleten-Robot-Digital-
           | Temperature-Hu...
           | 
           | [5] - https://lastminuteengineers.com/esp32-pinout-reference/
           | 
           | [6] - https://www.amazon.com/LeMotech-Plastic-Electrical-
           | Junction-...
        
             | 8A51C wrote:
             | I had a solar powered project setup with environment
             | sensors in my shed. After a while the bugs moved into the
             | elctronics, corrosion ensued and caused shorts which killed
             | everything. The lesson I learned is to seal project boxes
             | up really well. The whole boxing something up and getting
             | power to it thing is the hardest and least enjoyable bit of
             | hardware projects for me.
        
               | kkielhofner wrote:
               | Good point and batteries, solar, exterior environments,
               | etc are what I would consider "advanced" use cases with
               | significant additional challenges and considerations. All
               | of my use-cases are interior environments with the most
               | "challenging" being garages.
               | 
               | Generally speaking with any kind of lower-level
               | electronics like this frying and bricking stuff is part
               | of the learning experience and a rite of passage.
        
               | brewtide wrote:
               | I read this as I'm standing next to my bare esp32 with
               | dht22 temp sensor hanging off it with DuPont wires...
               | 
               | Nevermind the ones in the schoolhouse, basement, chicken
               | coop...
               | 
               | So, yeah, I fully agree. One day I'll buy a 3d printer
               | but until that day, wires and some tape. Everything seems
               | cheap enough to be sacrificial if that's the end result.
        
             | tbyehl wrote:
             | As a fellow lazy hobbyist, I'm gonna suggest that buying
             | the cheapest ESP32 / -C3 / -C6 boards can be a poor value.
             | The cheap ones are often > 25.4mm wide so on a single
             | standard breadboard the pins are only accessible on one
             | side[0]. Also having recently been fighting CircuitPython
             | running out of memory parsing a ~35KB response from a web
             | service, boards with some PSRAM are real nice to have. And
             | speaking of CircuitPython, ESP32-S3/S2 boards can run the
             | UF2 bootloader for that Pi Pico-like experience.
             | 
             | Waveshare's super compact ESP32-S3-Mini (or Zero) has
             | become my first-to-grab. For 5 direct from their China site
             | it works out to $7.35/ea pre-soldered with shipping or save
             | a buck each for unsoldered. 2MB PSRAM and 13 usable GPIO.
             | They also have less cheap -S3 boards in Arduino Nano ESP32,
             | Pi Pico, and ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1[1] formats. And the oddball
             | ESP32 One in Pi Zero format, using an ESP32 w/ off-die
             | PSRAM. They sell on Amazon, too.
             | 
             | A genuine Espressif ESP32-S2-DevKitC-1-N8R2 is $8 on
             | Amazon, a relative bargain if you need it tomorrow and can
             | live with one less LX7 core and no Bluetooth.
             | 
             | [0] If you use the trick of spanning two breadboards side-
             | by-side, that's an extra cost that could have gone towards
             | a better smaller board.
             | 
             | [1] Beware of cheap boards claiming to be copies of
             | Espressif's 25.4mm board designs, many have been widened to
             | ~28mm. Bad ESP32-S[3|2]-DevKit[C|M]-1 copies give
             | themselves away by having enough room on top to put pin
             | labels next to the pins instead of between them.
        
               | tbyehl wrote:
               | Mail just came, can confirm this AliExpress listing is a
               | dimensionally correct unsoldered ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N16R8
               | copy for $5.
               | 
               | https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806260092043.html
               | 
               | https://imgur.com/a/3d0rKdO
        
               | kkielhofner wrote:
               | Fair points but with all due respect completely misses
               | the point and context. My comment was a reply to a new
               | user interested in esphome on a post about esphome.
               | 
               | You're talking about CircuitPython, 35KB web replies,
               | PSRAM, UF2 bootloader, etc. These are comparatively very
               | advanced topics and you didn't mention esphome once.
               | 
               | The comfort and familiarity of Amazon for what is already
               | a new, intimidating, and challenging subject is of
               | immeasurable value for a novice. They can click those
               | links, fill a cart, and have stuff show up tomorrow with
               | all of the usual ease, friendliness, and reliability of
               | Amazon. If they get frustrated or it doesn't work out
               | they can shove it in the box and get a full refund
               | Amazon-style.
               | 
               | You're suggesting wandering all over the internet,
               | ordering stuff from China (or Amazon for roughly 3x the
               | cost of what I suggested), multiple vendors, etc while
               | describing a bunch of things that frankly just won't
               | matter to them. I say this as someone who has been an
               | esphome and home assistant user since day one. The
               | approach I described has never failed or remotely
               | bothered me and over the past ~decade I've seen it
               | suggested to new users successfully time and time again.
               | 
               | In terms of PSRAM to my knowledge the only thing it is
               | utilized for in the esphome ecosystem is higher
               | resolution displays and more advanced voice assistant
               | scenarios that almost always require -S3 anyway and are a
               | very advanced, challenging use cases. I'm very familiar
               | with displays, voice, the S3, and PSRAM but more on that
               | in a second...
               | 
               | > live with one less LX7 core and no Bluetooth
               | 
               | I'm the founder of Willow[0] and when comparing Willow to
               | esphome the most frequent request we get is supporting
               | bluetooth functionality i.e. esphome bluetooth proxy[1].
               | This is an extremely popular use case in the esphome/home
               | assistant community. Not having bluetooth while losing a
               | core and paying more is a bigger issue than pin spacing.
               | 
               | It's also a pretty obscure board and while not a big deal
               | to you and I if you look around at docs, guides, etc, etc
               | you'll see the cheap-o boards from Amazon are by far the
               | most popular and common (unsurprisingly). Another plus
               | for a new user.
               | 
               | Speaking of Willow (and back to PSRAM again) even the
               | voice assistant satellite functionality of Home Assistant
               | doesn't fundamentally require it - the most popular
               | device doesn't have it either[2].
               | 
               | Very valuable comment with a lot of interesting
               | information, just doesn't apply to context.
               | 
               | [0] - https://heywillow.io/
               | 
               | [1] - https://esphome.io/components/bluetooth_proxy.html
               | 
               | [2] - https://www.home-
               | assistant.io/voice_control/thirteen-usd-voi...
        
             | SOLAR_FIELDS wrote:
             | If you don't mind waiting on China post, I've had better
             | consistency buying dev boards from reputable Chinese
             | vendors such as DFROBOT. You can often get the boards
             | significantly cheaper than Amazon and there is way less
             | chance of ending up with duds. Usually turnaround is about
             | 7-10 days with FedEx
        
       | djbusby wrote:
       | Anyone got this to replace their thermostat? Like sensors in
       | zoneA signal and a device connected to the HVAC triggers ON?
       | Maybe they're on WiFi or Ethernet connection?
        
         | seszett wrote:
         | That's what I do at home. I have little Xiaomi LYWSD002MMC and
         | LYWSD003MMC devices (the latter with custom firmware - pvvx)
         | and my radiators are switched on or off (via their pilot wire)
         | by an ESP device, using a few rules to lower the temperature
         | when nobody's there. It works much better than the radiator's
         | own thermostat.
         | 
         | I control my devices (I have a lot more than just for the
         | radiators) through a kind of interface that I wrote myself (PHP
         | and only very few, reliable dependencies) because I hate
         | maintaining Home Assistant.
        
         | Szpadel wrote:
         | I have one over complicated in floor heater that requires 2
         | signals to control, one for opening radiator valve and second
         | to enable fan to blow air through it. there is only few
         | thermostats dedicated for such setup that are extremely
         | expensive and I decided to make my own that is also better. i
         | have 2 temperature sensors connected, one to monitor room
         | temperature and the second touching radiator inside, then I'm
         | able to open valve when room temperature is below threshold and
         | wait until radiator is hot enough and we are trying to heat for
         | few minutes (without fan this will also work but less
         | efficiently, but will be silent) then when temperature is
         | reached I close valve and keep fans on until radiator cools
         | down.
         | 
         | I also have temperature reported to home assistant where I have
         | pyscript automation that controls AC based on multiple
         | temperature sensors, open window sensors, humidity, presence,
         | time, etc to most efficiently cool down my apartment
         | 
         | if you need to get signal on a wire, you can output it from the
         | same device, from other esphome device or through home
         | assistant using integration.
        
         | oleg_tarasov wrote:
         | Actually I did exactly that :) I use ESPHome to control a gas
         | boiler which heats my home. It's not without problems and
         | required a lot of tinkering, but after the initial phase it
         | required very little maintenance throughout the winter. This
         | year I plan on adding an ability to control AC.
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40017176
        
         | balloob wrote:
         | I use this one and it works great:
         | https://github.com/kbx81/ClimateSprinklerController
        
         | bsoft16385 wrote:
         | I have 7 Mitsubishi heat pump head units being controlled using
         | ESPHome running on D1 mini clones (ESP8266). The D1 mini clones
         | are powered by and interface with the head units with
         | Mitsubishi's CN105, which is just 5 volt UART.
         | 
         | The total cost was maybe $30 of parts on AliExpress.
         | 
         | I use 433Mhz Acurite temperature sensors with a software
         | defined radio (rtl433) running on my Home Assistant box to have
         | remote temperature sensing. The 433MHz sensors are cheap, have
         | good range, and have excellent battery life.
        
           | Nextgrid wrote:
           | Are you doing temperature control by yourself or are you
           | feeding them to the Mitsubishi units as a remote temperature
           | reference?
           | 
           | I know the Mitsubishi "wired controllers" (basically the
           | official thermostats) can provide remote temp to the unit and
           | the unit has DIP switches to select between thermostat-
           | reported temp and internal return air sensor temp.
           | 
           | I'm not sure if CN105 has a way to provide this temp ref - if
           | so, you could try it. Just make sure to set your wired
           | controller (if any) as a "secondary" controller (otherwise it
           | will also send its temp every second and overwrite the one
           | _you_ sent) and then set the proper DIP switch.
        
         | pandora-health wrote:
         | If your HVAC supports OpenTherm, check out
         | https://github.com/Alexwijn/SAT
         | 
         | You can have your thermostat in home assistant and make your
         | HVAC run as efficiently as possible at the same time.
         | 
         | See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40052824
        
       | allenbina wrote:
       | I've been happy with tasmota but I imagine that this would serve
       | the same purpose.
        
         | M95D wrote:
         | It is a lot more configurable than Tasmota, but a lot harder to
         | do it.
        
       | reid wrote:
       | Made a time clock with ESPHome and a M5StickC. Clock in and out.
       | Home Assistant sends the time to a Google Sheet. Super reliable.
        
       | zeroping wrote:
       | Related:
       | 
       | A collection of device configurations for commercially-available
       | hardware: https://devices.esphome.io/
       | 
       | A collection of Tasmota configurations for devices, many of which
       | can also run ESPHome: https://templates.blakadder.com/
        
       | Mashimo wrote:
       | It's so nice. Just a simple .yaml file to configure IoT devices.
       | And it works really well.
        
         | gnyman wrote:
         | And the best part is that it allows you to write logic in C(++)
         | if you want.
         | 
         | I tried Tasmota first but struggled with trying to get the
         | rules to handle my slightly complex logic. Which was that when
         | a water level sensor triggered, run a pump 15 seconds, wait 5
         | mins, run 15 sec and repeat for x times. But with the catch
         | that if the sensor triggered before the run was done, it should
         | ignore that.
         | 
         | After reflashing esphome I got it done in a few minutes in C.
        
       | eternityforest wrote:
       | One of my favorite projects in all of FOSS. The only big thing
       | missing is power management!
       | 
       | I just wish there was a little more native hardware. I wonder if
       | there's enough interest to do a run of PLC-like units?
        
       | Apatheticdino wrote:
       | Dove into this when I flashed my AirGradient device. At first I
       | had a hard time understanding how everything integrated together
       | (does ESPHome need a hub? how does HomeAssistant work with
       | this?). After (mostly) figuring things out I discovered how
       | powerful it is to have configurability ranging from OTA updates
       | to MQTT support.
       | 
       | My only gripe right now is the lack of documentation and
       | confusion on the HomeAssistant side. The ESPHome addon turned out
       | to be a red herring for getting everything set up.
        
       | balloob wrote:
       | One of the people leading ESPHome here. Let me know if there any
       | questions.
       | 
       | Last Saturday we announced that ESPHome is now owned by the Open
       | Home Foundation. The Open Home Foundation fights for privacy,
       | choice, and sustainability for smart homes. And for every person
       | who lives in one. Learn more at
       | https://www.openhomefoundation.org/blog/announcing-the-open-...
        
         | Gazebra12 wrote:
         | No questions, only praise. This project is simply awesome, I've
         | been astonished time and time again by the features. I had done
         | a complete dive into the Espressif SDK trying to implement a
         | wireless switch with temperature sensor and mqtt and had nearly
         | finished the project when I stumbled on ESPHome obsoleting all
         | of my work at once. It was just everything I had written so far
         | plus many added features and obsoleted all my work at once.
        
           | rubenbe wrote:
           | I agree, programming is fun, but using ESPHome to quickly
           | have project finished and working reliably is arguably even
           | more satisfying.
        
           | freedomben wrote:
           | I both love and hate when this happens. Discoverability seems
           | like the hardest challenge. I always do quite a bit of
           | searching for existing stuff before rolling my own, and it
           | can be really hard to find stuff. Most of the time I stumble
           | on it serendipitously at some point later.
        
         | jtwaleson wrote:
         | Thank you! I've rarely been as impressed by how well software
         | works. Flashing, compiling, logging and OTA updates were always
         | a PITA and with ESPHome it's a breeze. Logging over wifi feels
         | like it shouldn't be that simple. I've created a mini IR
         | receiver / transmitter to control my sound system with my TV
         | remote. It was super simple to set up, and the integration with
         | Home Assistant is great!
        
         | balloob wrote:
         | If there are people reading this and are excited to try out
         | ESPHome: try it out without writing a single line of
         | configuration by installing some of our ready-made projects:
         | https://esphome.io/projects/
         | 
         | It allows you to turn a cheap microcontroller into a voice
         | assistant, bluetooth proxy or media player directly from your
         | browser.
        
         | 3abiton wrote:
         | I already got my ESP gadgets to tinker, what's missing is the
         | time. It's super fun, and looking so forward for it, but my to-
         | do list cannot give me a break. Great job what you guys are
         | doing!
        
         | bobby_the_whal wrote:
         | Are you not concerned the foundation will ever work against
         | your interests?
        
           | balloob wrote:
           | The foundation can only work in the interest of privacy,
           | choice and sustainability for the smart home. It is important
           | that we have a thriving ecosystem of communities and
           | companies working towards this goal. You cannot do this with
           | just a single player. If, at some hypothetical point in the
           | future, that means it will work against my interests, then
           | the foundation is doing exactly what we created it for.
        
         | sslalready wrote:
         | ESPHome is awesome. Any chance you can get MQTT running on
         | RP2040W?
        
         | mairusu wrote:
         | I have one! ESPHome is awesome but I'm trying to steer away
         | from Wifi IoT - a big reason is that I like the idea of self-
         | healing meshes that can work entirely offline, without having
         | to deal with a lot of configuration.
         | 
         | Espressif seems to have a few devices with ZigBee capabilities,
         | think there will be a way of building our own ZigBee device in
         | the future?
        
           | andai wrote:
           | Fascinating. When I read your comment my first thought was to
           | use something like LoRa, though perhaps broadcasting your
           | data for miles is an antifeature.
        
           | ianburrell wrote:
           | There is no reason that Wifi devices can't work without
           | internet. Most ESP32 devices don't talk to internet, but to
           | other device on local network. Wifi doesn't really need mesh
           | since has longer range.
           | 
           | I hope ESPHome is working on Matter support cause protocol
           | that can switch between Wifi, Bluetooth, and Thread is a big
           | advantage.
        
           | londons_explore wrote:
           | ESP devices have support for sending raw wifi packets, so you
           | can implement your own mesh protocol if you like.
           | 
           | They have software support for both wifi and bluetooth
           | meshing as well.
        
         | ahaucnx wrote:
         | First of all many thanks for helping to maintain such a great
         | project!
         | 
         | The feedback I have right now is that for the ESP32-C3 chip,
         | provisioning over USB (Improv_serial) is not supported. So then
         | the only option is to do provisioning over BLE if you want to
         | get the "Made for ESPHome" certification.
         | 
         | However, this blew up our partition size from 1.2 MB to 1.9 MB
         | and basically prevented us to add any further code and we got
         | stuck there (we now develop a native HA integration).
         | 
         | So my feedback would be to try and reduce the overhead for the
         | provisioning.
        
         | RobotToaster wrote:
         | You need to update your homepage, it still says it's owned by
         | Nabu Casa at the bottom of the sidebar :).
        
         | blagie wrote:
         | The ESPHome project is unusually competent, user-centric, and
         | almost uncanny in how well it works.
         | 
         | I'll tell you what I want, though. I'm not sure this is in-
         | scope for ESPHome, or how it's possible to even implement
         | cleanly:
         | 
         | I want to be able to make devices which have tight feedback
         | loops and more complex on-board algorithms
         | 
         | What I really want is e.g. a light sensor controlling
         | lightbulbs. Here, I want the lightbulbs changing almost
         | continuously by almost imperceptible amounts, things like
         | Kalman filters, and similar, to keep a fixed light level and
         | light temperature based on time-of-day.
         | 
         | I'd like to have my air filters, ventilation, heating,
         | humidification, dehumidification, and cooling continuously
         | controlled such that:
         | 
         | 1) All run at the right level continuously to keep
         | environmentals and power optimized.
         | 
         | 2) Ventilation reduces CO2 / TVOC levels, but increase PM2.5
         | levels and lets in external temperature
         | 
         | 3) Cooling / heating / ventilation impact humidity in complex
         | ways
         | 
         | 4) Space heaters cost a lot more than baseline heating, but are
         | sometimes necessary on very cold days
         | 
         | 5) This is all less important when I'm not home, and some
         | things change. When I'm home, I want liveable humidity. When
         | I'm not, I want to minimize humidity.
         | 
         | ... and so on.
         | 
         | (A second thing I want is ESPHome to allow me to make Zigbee,
         | rather than just wifi, devices)
        
           | bobchadwick wrote:
           | I use Home Assistant for doing most of what you're asking
           | for. This integration works great for adjusting light level
           | and temperature: https://github.com/basnijholt/adaptive-
           | lighting.
           | 
           | My home has an ERV and I use a couple Shelly relays (one for
           | power and the other to boost airflow) integrated into HA to
           | modulate the amount of fresh air I bring in, currently based
           | on indoor/outdoor temperature and humidity. I don't have an
           | air quality sensor, but if I had one I could easily integrate
           | that into my automations.
        
             | winsome wrote:
             | I would love to hear more about the integration you've
             | setup. I, too, have an ERV but it's on a dumb controller
             | right now.
             | 
             | I don't use HA yet, but it's a project I plan to tackle
             | soon. I've also been doing some research on ESP and energy
             | monitoring, so it sounds like what you've done is right up
             | the same alley.
        
         | K0balt wrote:
         | Nothing but respect and gratitude for ESPhome.
         | 
         | I do have a question though, is there a way to use modbus-TCP
         | with ESPhome?
        
         | mtrio wrote:
         | If my understanding is correct, ESPHome need to be re-compiled
         | and uploaded every time the config yaml is changed. Is it
         | possible to separate the binary and the config so that for some
         | config changes, there is no need to re-compile and upload the
         | binary? Thanks.
        
           | wdfx wrote:
           | I believe this is because the yaml is in fact the
           | instructions for what to include in the binary. It wouldn't
           | be feasible for the firmware to include all possible device
           | and peripheral code and enable parts at run time.
           | 
           | I think you can see the esphome intermediate code generation
           | in the file tree during compilation and see how the yaml
           | sections map to blocks of C/C++ code being built.
        
           | alright2565 wrote:
           | In practice, this is absolutely no problem. It generally only
           | needs to re-compile a file or two for small changes, which
           | takes seconds, and the OTA update functionality works
           | perfectly so you don't need to unplug it/bring it to your
           | desk.
        
         | cyberax wrote:
         | It would be great to support more PoE devices and Ethernet-
         | based provisioning. And also alternative wired buses, such as
         | BACNET or a generic RS-485.
         | 
         | The other axis: Zigbee devices and battery power. ESPs can be
         | used with batteries, but right now it's not a great fit.
         | 
         | And the last feature: better reuse support for custom devices.
         | E.g. if I have 20 similar custom devices.
        
           | epcoa wrote:
           | > generic RS-485
           | 
           | You can already hook up an RS-485 transceiver to the UART
           | ports and use it today with the UART driver. Esphome also has
           | a Modbus controller component. What are you referring to by
           | "generic" RS-485 that isn't available already?
        
             | cyberax wrote:
             | RS-485 is a shared bus, so you need to use some kind of a
             | protocol to arbitrate access, and to make sure you don't
             | flash unintended devices.
             | 
             | BACnet is one example, but other protocols can work too.
        
               | epcoa wrote:
               | https://esphome.io/components/modbus_controller.html
        
               | cyberax wrote:
               | It doesn't allow firmware updates over modbus. The same
               | would also apply to Zigbee.
        
           | wkat4242 wrote:
           | Yes the modules with rpi2040 and Ethernet would be so great
           | to have supported.
           | 
           | I'm pretty unhappy with the WiFi 8266 modules I have. They
           | regularly go into unavailable in home assistant for a few
           | minutes even though my WiFi is working fine
        
             | sirtaj wrote:
             | Could it be that they're simply idle sleeping to save
             | power? My first ESPhome device confused me by dropping off
             | and on and it turned out that was the problem, idle sleep
             | was configured by default - the device would wake up,
             | report its status and go back to sleep.
        
               | wkat4242 wrote:
               | Hmm I don't know. It could be but it's very intermittent.
               | Sometimes it happens a lot, sometimes it doesn't.
               | 
               | I'll try to find out the sleep settings though, thanks
               | for the tip!
        
         | WhyNotHugo wrote:
         | I want to connect a temperature sensor to an esp, and trigger a
         | radiator valve based in temperature range.
         | 
         | Valves are mostly zigbee. Can I somehow control one with
         | ESPHome without Home Assistant or zigbee2mqtt?
         | 
         | I want to understand if I can avoid adding a full blown Linux
         | server into the equation.
        
           | Doe-_ wrote:
           | You can bind a device to another, so while you would need the
           | ability to issue the command, a server wouldn't be required
           | to handle the state propagation.
           | 
           | https://smarthomescene.com/guides/how-to-bind-zigbee-
           | devices...
        
           | jbensan wrote:
           | "mostly zigbee?" not sure what you mean there. But ESPHome
           | can be controlled directly without HA. You should read the
           | website, specifically the sections on "Networking" and
           | "Management and Monitoring".
           | 
           | If you are starting at zero there is a big learning curve,
           | but if you're into it, it is a lot of fun.
        
           | Larrikin wrote:
           | Why do you want to avoid Home Assistant? From what I've found
           | setting up my automations is that once you have it doing
           | something useful you find you have a lot of ideas to further
           | make your life better. I might be wrong but I suspect you'll
           | spend a lot of time doing something that is simple in HA only
           | then find you want to do something else similar.
        
       | Liftyee wrote:
       | Running a few ESPHome projects, it's great for rescuing those
       | which I lost motivation to write code for. The ability to do
       | processing on-device as well as with Home Assistant is neat, but
       | writing those procedural routines with YAML takes a little
       | getting used to. The concepts used in the ESPHome system design
       | are not completely intuitive.
        
       | kiney wrote:
       | I'm jist getting started with home automation and have a couple
       | of ESP32 running tasmota. How do they compare? Thr site explains
       | how I can migrate bit not why or under which circumstances I
       | should...
        
         | tbyehl wrote:
         | Tasmota is firmware you can configure on-device[0] while
         | ESPHome is a YAML-driven construction kit for compiling
         | firmware specific to a device's configuration. Every change to
         | the YAML is a compile-and-flash cycle.
         | 
         | Tasmota is only for Espressif platforms. ESPHome has expanded
         | to support BK72xx, RTL87xx, and the Pico W, but good luck
         | figuring out what's actually implemented on those platforms.
         | 
         | ESPHome supports more sensors/peripherals. Some ESPHome
         | Components[1] simplify the combination of multiple sensors and
         | peripherals to accomplish a task to basic YAML (check out the
         | different Cover components).
         | 
         | Tasmota on ESP32 has an embedded scripting engine with REPL
         | (Berry). ESPHome is... complicated[2]. Triggers, Actions, and
         | Conditions can accomplish very simple automations in pure YAML.
         | For more complicated tasks, you'll be writing C/C++ code.
         | 
         | ESPHome releases frequently. If you're using it with Home
         | Assistant, it will constantly nag you to update ESPHome and all
         | of your ESPHome devices. Tasmota releases every few months.
         | Tasmota suggests not upgrading a device unless you have a
         | particular need[3].
         | 
         | [0] Pre-compiled Tasmota binaries work for most purposes, but
         | there are situations where you might need to compile your own
         | to support less common features or devices.
         | 
         | [1] https://esphome.io/components/
         | 
         | [2] https://esphome.io/guides/automations
         | 
         | [3] https://tasmota.github.io/docs/Upgrading/
        
           | kiney wrote:
           | thank you!
        
       | hendry wrote:
       | Requires nerves of steel to navigate Aliexpress.
        
         | gh02t wrote:
         | I've had good luck buying from the Wemos and Lilygo official
         | stores on AX. Have had no problems in many years and dozens of
         | orders. Other sellers are a gamble.
        
         | ThrowawayTestr wrote:
         | The only problems I've had with AliExpress is the anxiety of
         | choosing a seller where a cheaper one exists. All the hardware
         | I've ever bought has been exactly what I ordered.
        
         | mkoryak wrote:
         | I buy stuff from them all the time. They are Amazon with longer
         | shipping times and better prices.
         | 
         | It's harder to return stuff, sure, but just don't buy anything
         | like that there.
         | 
         | I've never been ripped off by them. One time I bought some
         | stuff and it wasn't being shipped so I cancelled my order and
         | got my money back.
        
       | squarefoot wrote:
       | Does it support some sort of mesh networking?
        
       | gregwebs wrote:
       | For networking it says WiFi and BLE. What's the approach to
       | adding an ESPHome sensor outside of WiFi range?
        
         | shifto wrote:
         | Not to be pedantic but it's ESPhome not
         | ESPinthemiddleofnowhere. There are other solutions for far away
         | sensors.
        
           | tomashubelbauer wrote:
           | There is a very real band which one could call ESPgarden
           | where it is not worth setting up LoRa or similar because the
           | Wi-Fi can just about make it, but not quite to be reliable.
           | I've found success with Wi-Fi extenders which aren't very
           | good, but are just good enough to be able to be able to let
           | some of my garden reach the network.
        
             | ianburrell wrote:
             | There is BLE Long Range (also called Coded PHY) which is
             | Bluetooth with range of 1km. I bet that would be perfect
             | for outdoor sensors. Longer range and lower power than
             | Wifi, and Bluetooth ecosystem.
             | 
             | I couldn't find any devices that support it yet.
        
         | blutack wrote:
         | The Olimux ESP32-POE / wESP32 boards have a proper ethernet
         | connection and PoE support. Means you don't need to worry about
         | wifi coverage or power as long as you can get an ethernet cable
         | to it - and those are cheap & easy to find in ludicrous lengths
         | for outdoor use.
        
       | ahaucnx wrote:
       | What I love most about ESPHome is the strong and engaged
       | community.
       | 
       | For our open-source hardware air quality monitors [1], a member
       | of the community developed a sophisticated ESPHome integration
       | [2]. His integration comes with all features that we have in our
       | default open-source firmware. Sometimes he was even quicker
       | implementing new features than we did! So in a way, this helped
       | and motivated us to make our own software version better (kind of
       | open source competition).
       | 
       | So a big thank-you from my side to such a great community!
       | 
       | [1] https://www.airgradient.com/
       | 
       | [2] https://github.com/MallocArray/airgradient_esphome
        
       | MasterYoda wrote:
       | Is there something similar but for STM32?
        
       | quickthrowman wrote:
       | I've got a question that I've tried to answer by googling but
       | I've never been able to find anything that helps.
       | 
       | I have a septic tank alarm system that turns on an audible and
       | visual alarm when the float switch detects that the tank is 3/4
       | full. There is a pair of NO dry contacts that close when the
       | alarm goes off.
       | 
       | How do I monitor whether the contacts are closed or open? I
       | assume with a GPIO pin, but I've never been able to google this
       | question and find anything of use.
       | 
       | I'm ready to give up and use a RIB01BDC [0] packaged relay to
       | turn on a raspberry pi and email me when the septic tank contacts
       | close.
       | 
       | [0] https://www.functionaldevices.com/product/rib01bdc/
        
         | Majromax wrote:
         | > How do I monitor whether the contacts are closed or open? I
         | assume with a GPIO pin, but I've never been able to google this
         | question and find anything of use.
         | 
         | Without making assumptions about the microcontroller used,
         | attach ground to one of the contacts, then attach a GPIO pin,
         | the other contact, a 10k resistor (or 100k), and VCC together
         | in series. The microcontroller should periodically read the
         | GPIO pin. If it reads high, the contact is open and the alarm
         | is not sounding; if it reads low then the contact is closed and
         | the alarm is sounding.
         | 
         | The GPIO / contact / resistor / VCC arrangement acts to pull up
         | that side of the circuit to the high logic level, and the
         | resistor will limit the current that flows whenever the
         | contacts close. If your microcontroller has an internal pull-up
         | configuration for GPIO pins, you may be able to attach the pin
         | directly to the contact without the extra hardware.
         | (Conversely, if it has a pull-down configuration you can
         | reverse things, attach VCC to the contact and the GPIO directly
         | to the other. Read your microcontroller's documentation for
         | available features and any current limitations.)
        
           | wdfx wrote:
           | You're assuming the tank switch is low voltage.
           | 
           | The very first thing to do is read the manual for the
           | installation and/or parts used. Second, approach the tank
           | setup with a high voltage multimeter and carefully and safely
           | take measurements of what you might be dealing with.
        
             | quickthrowman wrote:
             | > The very first thing to do is read the manual for the
             | installation and/or parts used. Second, approach the tank
             | setup with a high voltage multimeter and carefully and
             | safely take measurements of what you might be dealing with.
             | 
             | Good call, I'll make sure it's not 120v or 24v with a
             | multimeter before attaching anything that expects dry
             | contacts.
        
           | quickthrowman wrote:
           | Thank you for the detailed instructions, this is extremely
           | helpful! I'll throw a multimeter across the contacts on the
           | septic tank alarm to make sure they aren't putting out 24v.
        
         | Mister_Snuggles wrote:
         | I use an ultrasonic sensor and ESPHome to monitor the water
         | level in my sump pit. Depending on what you want out of your
         | septic tank monitoring, this may be a useful option.
        
       | p1nkpineapple wrote:
       | Mildly off-topic: I love ESPHome, and have used it for a couple
       | of IoT-based temperature sensors around the house, but the thing
       | that always makes me fail the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) is
       | getting all the mess of ESP32s, sensors and wires all in a nicely
       | tucked away container. What are y'all using to hide away the
       | electronic components?
        
         | agsacct wrote:
         | If you have a 3D printer, you can create stuff that passes my
         | WAF.
         | 
         | Apollo does a decent job making their stuff more innocuous.
         | https://apolloautomation.com/products/sensor-stand?pr_prod_s...
        
           | aranaur wrote:
           | This is the way.
        
         | somehnguy wrote:
         | I 3D print enclosures for my projects. Usually I find an
         | already designed one on Thingiverse that fits close enough. If
         | you're using common components you're likely to find an exact
         | match.
        
         | icetank wrote:
         | I can recommend Tupperware containers. Come in all shapes and
         | sizes and really cheap. If you get one with a glass bowl or
         | transparent plastic you can even look inside without components
         | getting dirty. When mounting to a wall screw your boards onto
         | the inside of the lid and then the lid onto the wall. With this
         | you can access it easily by removing the container from the
         | lid. Only downside is that they can look ugly when in plain
         | sight.
        
         | Nextgrid wrote:
         | I use ESPHome to enhance existing appliances (add smart
         | functionality to an existing aircon for example) so generally
         | the ESP board ends up within the appliance itself with nothing
         | visible on the outside.
         | 
         | For things that need to be stand-alone I'd first check if
         | there's an existing off-the-shelf option first which generally
         | would be more cost-effective to buy and look better than
         | anything I could make myself.
         | 
         | For temp sensors specifically I generally just go with whatever
         | off-the-shelf stuff is supported by this firmware:
         | https://github.com/pvvx/ATC_MiThermometer - as a bonus they can
         | run on battery for a year or more.
        
       | noisy_boy wrote:
       | I have a pet project I have been meaning to work on:
       | 
       | 1. Lookup the local transport API to see bus arrival timings for
       | the stop near my home
       | 
       | 2. Display the timings for three main buses so that can either be
       | a bigger display or three smaller displays, one for each bus.
       | Don't have to be high res but relatively larger and bright e.g. a
       | 7 segment display (3 segments for bus number and 4 for showing
       | arrival time in mins) - basically family members should be able
       | to view it from a distance a glance.
       | 
       | 3. I should be able to update this over wifi (or via a some low-
       | powered device like arduino/raspberry pi etc. connected to it).
       | If it can run via AA batteries, even better.
       | 
       | I know how to do the first but no idea about the second - I have
       | never even soldered anything in my life. Would be great if more
       | knowledgeable folks can provide some pointers.
        
         | masto wrote:
         | ESPHome is a good start, as it provides a great framework for
         | layering components together. For example, you could assemble
         | what you want out of:
         | 
         | * The display component that handles drawing into a grid of
         | pixels (https://esphome.io/components/display/)
         | 
         | * The text renderer
         | 
         | * addressable_light platform
         | (https://esphome.io/components/display/addressable_light) to
         | create a display matrix on top of an addressable LED driver
         | (https://esphome.io/components/light/neopixelbus)
         | 
         | * An inexpensive 8x32 LED panel
         | (https://www.google.com/search?q=8x32+ws2812b)
         | 
         | * You can make multiples of these, or chain the panels
         | together, for more space
         | 
         | Of course, rather than reinventing any wheels, you can follow
         | guides like https://community.home-assistant.io/t/led-matrix-
         | with-esphom...
         | 
         | There's not a lot of soldering needed, especially if you go the
         | route of repurposing existing hardware like an Ulanzi. It's
         | mostly about making the right data connections and providing
         | the right power.
        
           | noisy_boy wrote:
           | I appreciate your response. I wish there were guides for
           | software developers like me that are also hardware noobs -
           | ESPHome looks very powerful but I don't want to write yaml; I
           | would rather write code for hardware that is easy to assemble
           | and has an sdk. I feel like that will be more fun for me to
           | setup.
        
         | tredre3 wrote:
         | Since you're (seemingly) already familiar with Arduino, just
         | use that as your framework. You can program the ESP32 in
         | Arduino and access any library you're familiar with as well as
         | handle Wifi.
         | 
         | You can buy an RGB matrix on Adafruit and they sell esp32
         | boards that can drive them directly,so it's essentially plug
         | and play, no hardware knowledge necessary.
         | 
         | If you prefer to DIY but still need some guidance, check out
         | this project that documents both hardware and software to
         | achieve something similar to what you want to do (cool looking
         | wifi-connected text display):
         | 
         | https://github.com/BlueAndi/esp-rgb-led-matrix
        
       | klinquist wrote:
       | _love_ ESPHome. Someone made an ESPHome driver for my Rheem Water
       | Heater via the M5Stack ESP32 w / RS485. I primarily use Hubitat
       | rather than HomeAssistant, so I adapted it to Hubitat. I use it
       | to automate my water heater based on my airbnb calendar, all
       | without needing a cloud/internet.
        
       | hacknewslogin wrote:
       | Is this a good time to ask about a project I would like to do?
       | 
       | I have two 220v heaters in my garage, one on each floor. I'd like
       | to turn one or both of them on from my phone. I'd also love temp
       | sensors near each of them.
       | 
       | So far I haven't found a good FOSS option to control a 220v 40A
       | relay. Any suggestions what to use or how to set it up would
       | appreciated.
        
         | jasiek wrote:
         | Use a solid state relay with esphome.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_relay
        
         | alright2565 wrote:
         | Solid state relay is probably a bad idea with all the extra
         | heat-sinking, extra cost, and chance of getting counterfeits.
         | 
         | I do this with ESPHome & a J115F21C12VDCS.9 relay (note only
         | the NO side is rated for 40A resistive):
         | https://i.imgur.com/MqqOkoY.png
         | 
         | Choose any of the temperature sensors here for air temperature
         | sensing: https://esphome.io/
         | 
         | Configuration is _so easy_. For the sensor, just copy the
         | config from here, for example:
         | https://esphome.io/components/sensor/bme280. Add a gpio output
         | (https://esphome.io/components/output/gpio) and a bang-bang
         | climate controller
         | (https://esphome.io/components/climate/bang_bang.html)
         | 
         | Here's the kicad footprint for that relay
         | (Relay_SPDT_CIT-J115F2.kicad_mod) if you need it:
         | (module Relay_SPDT_CIT-J115F2 (layer F.Cu) (tedit 611825E5)
         | (descr https://www.citrelay.com/Catalog%20Pages/RelayCatalog/J1
         | 15F2.pdf)           (tags "Relay CIT J115F2 SPDT")
         | (fp_text reference REF** (at 12.1666 -15.2) (layer F.SilkS)
         | (effects (font (size 1 1) (thickness 0.15)))           )
         | (fp_text value Relay_SPDT_CIT-J115F2 (at 18.542 13.9 180)
         | (layer F.Fab)             (effects (font (size 1 1) (thickness
         | 0.15)))           )           (fp_line (start -3.2 -14.1) (end
         | 27.08 -14.1) (layer F.Fab) (width 0.1))           (fp_line
         | (start -3.96 -13.34) (end -3.96 11.94) (layer F.Fab) (width
         | 0.1))           (fp_line (start 27.84 -13.34) (end 27.84 11.94)
         | (layer F.Fab) (width 0.1))           (fp_line (start -3.2 12.7)
         | (end 27.08 12.7) (layer F.Fab) (width 0.1))           (fp_line
         | (start -4.3 -14.3) (end 28.09 -14.3) (layer F.CrtYd) (width
         | 0.05))           (fp_line (start -4.3 -14.3) (end -4.3 12.95)
         | (layer F.CrtYd) (width 0.05))           (fp_line (start 28.09
         | -14.3) (end 28.09 12.95) (layer F.CrtYd) (width 0.05))
         | (fp_line (start -4.3 12.95) (end 28.09 12.95) (layer F.CrtYd)
         | (width 0.05))           (fp_line (start 17.74 1.778) (end
         | 19.304 1.778) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_line
         | (start 23.876 1.778) (end 25.34 1.778) (layer F.SilkS) (width
         | 0.12))           (fp_line (start 25.34 1.778) (end 25.34 6.604)
         | (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_line (start 21.59
         | -8.9) (end 17.526 -8.9) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))
         | (fp_line (start 21.59 -2.54) (end 21.59 -8.9) (layer F.SilkS)
         | (width 0.12))           (fp_line (start 21.59 -2.54) (end
         | 22.8092 2.032) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_line
         | (start 17.74 6.604) (end 17.74 1.778) (layer F.SilkS) (width
         | 0.12))           (fp_line (start 22.86 1.778) (end 23.876
         | 1.016) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_line (start
         | 23.876 2.54) (end 22.86 1.778) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))
         | (fp_line (start 20.32 1.778) (end 19.304 1.016) (layer F.SilkS)
         | (width 0.12))           (fp_line (start 19.304 2.54) (end 20.32
         | 1.778) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_line (start
         | 23.876 2.54) (end 23.876 1.016) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))
         | (fp_line (start 19.304 1.016) (end 19.304 2.54) (layer F.SilkS)
         | (width 0.12))           (fp_circle (center 21.59 -2.54) (end
         | 21.59 -2.413) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_line
         | (start 4.064 -5.1054) (end 5.334 -5.1054) (layer F.SilkS)
         | (width 0.12))           (fp_line (start 5.334 5.1054) (end
         | 4.064 5.1054) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_line
         | (start 5.334002 5.105397) (end 5.334002 1.777997) (layer
         | F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_line (start 5.334 -1.778)
         | (end 5.334 -5.1054) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))
         | (fp_line (start -3.2 12.81) (end 27.08 12.81) (layer F.SilkS)
         | (width 0.12))           (fp_line (start 27.95 -13.34) (end
         | 27.95 11.94) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_line
         | (start -4.07 -13.34) (end -4.07 11.94) (layer F.SilkS) (width
         | 0.12))           (fp_line (start -3.2 -14.21) (end 27.08
         | -14.21) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_arc (start
         | 27.08 -13.34) (end 27.84 -13.34) (angle -90) (layer F.Fab)
         | (width 0.1))           (fp_arc (start 27.08 11.94) (end 27.08
         | 12.7) (angle -90) (layer F.Fab) (width 0.1))           (fp_arc
         | (start -3.2 11.94) (end -3.96 11.94) (angle -90) (layer F.Fab)
         | (width 0.1))           (fp_arc (start -3.2 -13.34) (end -3.2
         | -14.1) (angle -90) (layer F.Fab) (width 0.1))           (fp_arc
         | (start 5.334001 -0.381001) (end 5.842 -0.762001) (angle -286.3)
         | (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_arc (start 5.334002
         | 0.380998) (end 5.842001 -0.000002) (angle -286.3) (layer
         | F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_arc (start 5.334 -1.143)
         | (end 5.334 -1.778) (angle -233.1) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))
         | (fp_arc (start 5.334002 1.142997) (end 5.334002 1.777997)
         | (angle 233.1) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_text
         | user %R (at 12.3952 0) (layer F.Fab)             (effects (font
         | (size 1 1) (thickness 0.15)))           )           (fp_arc
         | (start -3.2 -13.34) (end -3.2 -14.21) (angle -90) (layer
         | F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_arc (start -3.2 11.94)
         | (end -4.07 11.94) (angle -90) (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))
         | (fp_arc (start 27.08 -13.34) (end 27.95 -13.34) (angle -90)
         | (layer F.SilkS) (width 0.12))           (fp_arc (start 27.08
         | 11.94) (end 27.08 12.81) (angle -90) (layer F.SilkS) (width
         | 0.12))           (pad A2 thru_hole circle (at 2.54 5.1 180)
         | (size 2 2) (drill 1.1) (layers *.Cu *.Mask))           (pad 14
         | thru_hole circle (at 17.74 8.9 180) (size 4 4) (drill 2.1)
         | (layers *.Cu *.Mask))           (pad 12 thru_hole circle (at
         | 25.34 8.9 180) (size 4 4) (drill 2.1) (layers *.Cu *.Mask))
         | (pad 11 thru_hole circle (at 15.2 -8.9 180) (size 4 4) (drill
         | 2.1) (layers *.Cu *.Mask))           (pad A1 thru_hole
         | roundrect (at 2.54 -5.1 180) (size 2 2) (drill 1.1) (layers
         | *.Cu *.Mask) (roundrect_rratio 0.25))           (model
         | ${KISYS3DMOD}/Relay_THT.3dshapes/Relay_SPDT_RAYEX-L90S.wrl
         | (at (xyz 0 0 0))             (scale (xyz 1 1 1))
         | (rotate (xyz 0 0 0))           )         )
        
         | francis_t_catte wrote:
         | Use something like an Aube RC840T-240; it generates an isolated
         | 24vac supply and has an isolated normally-open 24vac input for
         | closing the contactor. Using anything else is liable to cause
         | life-threatening spiciness if something goes wrong.
         | 
         | I use one for my addition's electric baseboard heat, and
         | control it with a standard dry contact thermostat, but you
         | could easily use a mosfet or relay controlled by an ESP32 or
         | similar instead.
        
         | darknavi wrote:
         | How do you control the heaters now? Can you use a 5/12v control
         | wire?
        
       | Cilvic wrote:
       | Where would I start if I want to run a ESPHome voice assistant
       | without a Homeassitant server?
       | 
       | I understand I need some kind of server, but I'd prefer if that
       | would be something I just run in the terminal or a cloud function
       | or similar. I don't have hardward to run HA on at the moment.
        
       | ku1ik wrote:
       | I love ESPHome! I turned my dumb standing desk into a smart desk
       | with it (amongst dozen other things).
        
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       (page generated 2024-04-24 23:01 UTC)