smart home
smart home
ESP32-S3 Camera Pan-Tilt Security Tracker: Build a Smart ESP32 Weather Station
I set out to build a pan-tilt security camera with an ESP32-S3 and ended up creating a fully-fledged ESP32 weather station while I was at it. The idea was simple: I wanted to keep an eye on the packages that couriers keep leaving in the rain, but also to know exactly how wet and miserable those packages were getting. Adding a cheap temperature and humidity sensor to the camera mount turned the project into something far more useful—a smart weather station that could see and feel the conditions in my backyard.
Smart Weather Station ESP32: Control High-Voltage Appliances with a 2-Way Relay
Last winter my garage turned into a walk‑in freezer every night because I’d simply forget to flip the heater switch before bed. I wanted something that didn’t just display the temperature but actually did something with it—so I set out to build an ESP32 weather station that reads the room conditions and physically switches a high‑voltage appliance. The result is a small, Wi‑Fi‑connected brain that uses a 5V 2‑way relay module to control a space heater and an exhaust fan.
ESP32 Weather Station Alert: DIY Touchless Alarm System with Infrared Obstacle Avoidance
Last winter, right after I had finally fine‑tuned my home‑brewed ESP32 weather station, our cat discovered the temperature sensor dangled from the windowsill and treated it as a feline punching bag. Within a week the outdoor humidity reading was permanently stuck at 99%—not because of a monsoon, but because the sensor had been batted onto the muddy ground one time too many. I needed a way to know when something (or someone) got within paw‑swiping range of my weather kit, without turning the project into a tripwire‑laden fortress.
Turn ESP32 Into a Smart Energy Meter with Home Assistant Integration
I’ve always been a bit obsessed with data, especially when it comes to understanding my home’s energy consumption. After getting hit with a surprisingly high electricity bill last winter, I decided it was time to stop guessing and start measuring. Commercial smart plugs with energy monitoring are great, but what if you want to monitor a whole circuit, like your kitchen or workshop? That’s when I decided to turn an ESP32 into a smart energy meter.
Control and Automate Air Purifier with ESP32 and Home Assistant Air Quality Index
I’ve always been a bit obsessive about air quality. Living in a city, you notice the difference a good air purifier makes, but I got tired of manually turning it on every time the pollution levels spiked. It felt, well, decidedly un-smart. So I set out to fix that by creating a system where my air purifier automatically kicks in when the Home Assistant Air Quality Index (AQI) reaches a certain threshold.
Build a Room Occupancy Tracker with ESP32 and Ultrasonic Sensors
I’ve been tinkering with smart home automation for years, always looking for clever ways to make my home more responsive. Commercial room occupancy sensors work fine, but they’re expensive and often limited in functionality. After one too many instances of my smart lights turning off while I was still reading in my favorite armchair, I decided to build my own room occupancy tracker using an ESP32 and ultrasonic sensors. The beauty of this approach?
Visualizing Time Series Data Using Grafana’s Transform and Threshold Tools
I’ve been staring at Grafana dashboards for years now—first while monitoring complex cloud infrastructure, and more recently to keep tabs on my increasingly smart (and sometimes overly opinionated) home. There’s a particular frustration that comes with a dashboard that shows data but doesn’t tell a story. You know the one: a tangled mess of lines on a graph, all in the same color, leaving you squinting and asking, “Okay, but is this good or bad?
Control a Smart Fan with ESP32 and Home Assistant Using Temperature Triggers
I’ve always been fascinated with making my home smarter, especially when it comes to energy efficiency and comfort. There’s something deeply satisfying about having your home respond to environmental conditions without lifting a finger. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how I built a system that automatically controls a fan based on room temperature using an ESP32 and Home Assistant. Why I Built This System Living in a climate with hot summers, I found myself constantly adjusting fans throughout the day.
Automating Window Blinds with ESP32 Servo Motor and Home Assistant
I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of waking up to natural sunlight instead of a blaring alarm clock. But as someone who also values sleeping in on weekends, I needed a solution that could give me the best of both worlds. That’s when I decided to automate my window blinds with an ESP32 and servo motors, integrating everything seamlessly with Home Assistant. After a few prototypes (and one slightly mangled blind slat), I’ve perfected a system that opens my blinds based on either time schedules or ambient light conditions.
Control RGB LEDs with ESP32 and Home Assistant Automations
Ever wanted to add some pizzazz to your smart home with colorful, dynamic lighting? I recently tackled this project myself—using an ESP32 to control addressable RGB LEDs and integrating them seamlessly into Home Assistant. The result? A lighting setup that responds to automations, time of day, and even sensor inputs. Here’s how you can do it too. Why This Project? Addressable RGB LEDs (like WS2812B strips) are incredibly versatile. You can create everything from subtle mood lighting to eye-catching effects.