One of my first IOT projects and the first post on this blog was my washing machine notifier. It is based around the ESP8266 and a LDR (light dependent resistor) placed over the top of the power LED of my Fisher and Paykel Washing Machine. The first iteration of this project used my own LUA code connecting to IFTTT. The second version swapped out the IFTTT code for code written by a YouTuber to connect to Home Assistant via MQTT. In this third crack at this project, I convert the device to ESPHome and simplify my Home Assistant setup. Continue reading “Washing machine notifier – version 3 – ESPHome”
Category: Wemos D1 Mini
A LIDAR based Letterbox Notifier
Smart mailbox notifiers are a fun and challenging project that have increased in popularity thanks to microcontrollers like the ESP8266 and others. Often located in a remote environment that will often need to be able to be powered by a battery and solar and take advantage of deep sleep to conserve battery life. My mailbox presented an extra challenge in the fact that there is no door on it in order to add a switch that would detect it opening once mail was inserted in it. It is this reason I decided to use a Micro Lidar based distance sensor to measure the distance across the mailbox in order to determine if there is something in the box. This will be powered by a solar based ESP8266 running ESPHome and sending me notifications via Home Assistant. Continue reading “A LIDAR based Letterbox Notifier”
Making Ikea’s Air Purifier and Air Quality sensor smart
With a lot of talk around air purifiers in the news lately, I decided to purchase my own. While I often look for some smart device, I found that the range of smart air purifiers way too expensive for what I wanted to spend, so I went for two good value Ikea products that I planned to make smart via Home Assistant with a bit of hacking and a smart plug. Continue reading “Making Ikea’s Air Purifier and Air Quality sensor smart”
Using the QuinLED-Dig-Uno PCB with WLED
I have previously posted on some of my LED strips before. All of these have been RGB strips, where you can choose a single colour for the whole strip. They are relatively cheap and easy to set up with controllers that can be purchased off the shelf and used as is or flashed with Tasmota. Continue reading “Using the QuinLED-Dig-Uno PCB with WLED”
IR beam break sensors with Tasmota and Home Assistant
I recently have been adding a few more features to my smart home seeing that I have some extra free time at home while my state is in lockdown. One thing I have always wanted was an IR beam break detector like you see in secure commercial yards. Traditionally these have been used via an alarm system and have been outrageously expensive. While browsing BangGood’s website one day I came across a set of IR beam break sensors on sale for around $10, so I knew I had to have them. Continue reading “IR beam break sensors with Tasmota and Home Assistant”
Geekcreit Wemos Mini32 (aka MH-ET LIVE MiniKit) Review
In a lot of my IOT projects I have been using the ESP8266 microcontroller, more specifically the Wemos D1 mini version of this board. While flicking over the pages of the banggood website I found the ESP8266’s big brother the ESP32 on sale in a version that was compatible with the Wemos D1 mini Shields so I instantly added to my cart without much thought on what I would us it for. Continue reading “Geekcreit Wemos Mini32 (aka MH-ET LIVE MiniKit) Review”
ESP8266 controlled blinds with Tasmota
One of the fanciest things with home automation is to install motorized blinds. Unfortunately it is also one of the most expensive bits of automation kit you can buy, that is unless you take a DIY approach to it. Continue reading “ESP8266 controlled blinds with Tasmota”
Wemos D1 Mini garage door opener with Home Assistant
A mate asked me to connect up his garage door so he could control it from his iPhone, when we did the front garage door we used a Wemo Maker that could be controlled from the Wemo app or via Home Assistant. It worked so well that he decided to add a motor to his rear garage door. By the time he did this not only had Wemo pulled out of Australia but the Wemo Maker was out of production worldwide. So it was up to me to come up with a new solution to which I replied Wemos D1 Mini (no relation to Wemo),a Relay Shield and Tasmota firmware.
Continue reading “Wemos D1 Mini garage door opener with Home Assistant”
ESP8266 Washing Machine Notifier version 2
One of my first esp82266 projects was my washing machine notifier that connected to ifttt to send me an email when my wash was done. I published this project to hackster.io back in December 2016 and it can also be found on my blog here. Since then I have found Home Assistant and my IOT devices around the home has grown with all of them connecting back to Home Assistant, so it was time I converted my washing machine notifier over from ifttt.
Continue reading “ESP8266 Washing Machine Notifier version 2”
Wemos D1 Mini IR blaster using Tasmota
This post is a follow on from my previous post about using ESP Easy on a Wemos D1 Mini to create an IR blaster. The hardware side of things is exactly the same so head on over that post if you need more info on the hardware side first. What we are creating here is an IR blaster using a Wemos D1 Mini that connects to Home Assistant via MQTT so we are assuming you have these set up as well. Continue reading “Wemos D1 Mini IR blaster using Tasmota”