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ESPHome

esphome.io

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Re: ESPHome

#51

Post by macropin »

teekert wrote: post #40
sen wrote: post #5

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 qual…

How do you monitor your rain tanks? I tried ultra sonic sensors but they invariably oxidize.

I've heard that pressure sensors are the most reliable.

Re: ESPHome

#52

Post by spicyjpeg »

macropin wrote: post #25
sen wrote: post #5

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 qual…

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.

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...

Re: ESPHome

#53

Post by throwaway290 »

petemir wrote: post #49
throwaway290 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)?

Ikea's PARASOLL? I would expect that for your use-case, just knowing if a/the door was opened is already enough.

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

Re: ESPHome

#54

Post by regularfry »

alias_neo wrote: post #48
darkwater wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now you MUST share more details on the hardware (case, power etc) and process you followed for all of those devices.

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.

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.

Re: ESPHome

#55

Post by 15155 »

macropin wrote: post #25
sen wrote: post #5

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 qual…

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.

https://shop.m5stack.com/products/battery-module-13-2-1500ma...

Featured yesterday on HN for being acquired by Espressif.

Re: ESPHome

#56

Post by regularfry »

hagbard_c wrote: post #38
Asmod4n wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could buy a rpi2040 for 99 cents.

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.

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).

Re: ESPHome

#57

Post by balloob »

balloob wrote: post #28

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-...

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.

Re: ESPHome

#58

Post by 3abiton »

balloob wrote: post #28

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-...

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!

Re: ESPHome

#59

Post by bobby_the_whal »

balloob wrote: post #28

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-...

Are you not concerned the foundation will ever work against your interests?

Re: ESPHome

#60

Post by luma »

macropin wrote: post #25
sen wrote: post #5

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 qual…

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.

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...

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