If you’re reading esp32.co.uk, you probably already have Home Assistant packed with ESPHome sensors, smart relays, and automations that look like a small engineering project. But let’s be totally candid: a smart home is useless if it takes 15 seconds…
If you’re reading esp32.co.uk, you probably already have Home Assistant stuffed with ESPHome sensors, smart relays, and automations that look like a small PhD thesis. But none of that matters if turning a light on takes 10–15 seconds of app-fumbling.…
ESP32-S3 is the “modern classic” ESP32 for USB, AI/DSP workloads, and display/camera projects. But “ESP32-S3” can mean a lot of different things: This guide maps the whole ecosystem and helps you pick the right S3 board in 60 seconds. Sources…
KNX is a standardized, wired building automation protocol. Unlike consumer smart home gadgets (which often rely on a central hub or WiFi), KNX is decentralized. Because it is an open standard used by over 500 manufacturers (like Siemens, ABB, MDT,…
The Sensirion SHT45 is one of the most accurate, stable sensors you can use for temperature and humidity monitoring. It is a true upgrade over common “good enough” sensors, especially in spaces where small changes matter such as a humidor,…
Building a reliable CO₂ monitor is one of the best “bang-for-buck” ESPHome projects. The Sensirion SCD41 is a true CO₂ sensor (photoacoustic sensing / PAS), not a “calculated eCO₂” VOC estimate, so it’s ideal for proper IAQ monitoring. Using MQTT…
We’ve monitored temperature and air quality. Now comes perimeter security. BLE smart locks are the “final boss” of Bluetooth in a smart home because they need a secure, encrypted, two-way connection. Sensors can drop a packet and you won’t care.…
We’ve covered temperature sensors (e.g., Govee) and mechanical actuators (e.g., SwitchBot). Now comes the most valuable “health layer” in a smart home: Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). A lot of “smart air monitors” push data over Wi-Fi and vendor apps. A…
SwitchBot is the king of retrofitting: it can press dumb buttons, pull curtains, and lock doors without replacing hardware. In Home Assistant, the BLE approach is popular with power users because it can be local, fast, and hub-free—but it’s also…
Govee BLE thermometers/hygrometers are cheap and surprisingly useful in Home Assistant—if the Bluetooth side is engineered properly. The integration itself is mostly UI-based today, but to make it robust (no dropouts, good range, usable automations) there are two places where…
“Car arrival detection” is one of the most useful automations you can build because it’s faster and more reliable than GPS when done properly. The idea is simple: This article shows a reliable setup using BLE + smart timeouts so…
This is the “works in real life” pattern: You end up with one “source of truth” entity you can use everywhere:binary_sensor.presence_home_final 1) Inputs you need A) BLE present (fast) This should be ON if any ESP32 Bluetooth Proxy sees your…
Physical buttons are the missing piece in many smart homes. Phone apps are fine, but a real smart house needs instant tactile control: BLE buttons and fobs are a great way to do this because they’re: This guide shows how…
BLE temperature/humidity sensors are one of the cheapest “high impact” upgrades you can add to Home Assistant. You can scatter them everywhere: But people run into the same problem: “It works for a day, then stops updating.” This article shows…
Bluetooth in Home Assistant can feel magical one day and useless the next—until the proxy network is designed properly. Most “BLE problems” are not software problems. They are RF placement problems: walls, metal, reflections, interference, and bad proxy density. This…
