A huge amount of serious home energy hardware speaks Modbus RTU over RS-485: With one ESP32 and a cheap MAX485 (RS-485) transceiver, you can build a gateway that: This guide covers: 1. Modbus RTU & RS-485 in 2 minutes 2.…
If you’ve ever forgotten wet laundry in the washing machine for 3 hours, you already understand the value of this automation. Laundry machines and dryers have a very distinct power signature: By monitoring power, Home Assistant can reliably detect: This…
A classic doorbell can be upgraded into a smart doorbell with just: With Home Assistant you can: This guide covers: 1. Hardware Overview Base setup (no camera): Optional add-on: ⚠️ If your doorbell is powered by mains voltage, only work…
A lot of garage doors and sliding gates already have a simple “push-button” input that: With an ESP32, a small relay, and a reed switch you can turn that into a fully integrated Home Assistant device: This guide focuses on:…
12V LED strips (RGB or RGBW) are one of the easiest ways to add smart lighting to a room – behind the TV, under cabinets, around the bed, or as indirect ceiling lighting. With an ESP32, a few MOSFETs, and…
An ESP32 with an IR LED and a small IR receiver can replace multiple remotes: This guide shows how to: 1. Hardware Required Important: Don’t drive an IR LED directly from an ESP32 GPIO at full current – always use…
A simple boiler or electric heater can behave like a full smart thermostat using: This guide shows how to build a room or boiler thermostat with: Both DS18B20 (wired, accurate, great for pipes/tanks) and SHT45 (room temp/humidity) are covered. 1.…
A simple ESP32 + relay module can turn almost any boiler or electric water heater into a smart, automated device controlled by Home Assistant.With the right wiring and automations you can: This guide covers both ESPHome and MQTT (Arduino) approaches…
ESP-NOW is a proprietary low-power, low-latency wireless protocol by Espressif that allows ESP32 boards to talk directly to each other without creating full Wi-Fi connections. It’s ideal for building a fast sensor network that reports into Home Assistant through a…
A “smart” bathroom fan should: Below is a complete Home Assistant implementation that uses: The logic is split into three parts: 1. Prerequisites: Entities Used Assumed entities: If the fan is a switch, just replace fan.bathroom_fan with switch.bathroom_fan in the…
