The ESP32 has become a killer gadget for anyone who wants to DIY their own smart home solutions. Why wait for someone to make the smart home gadget of your dreams when you can combine an ESP32 with a few accessories and program it to do exactly what you need?
Not only can this be cheaper than a bespoke device, there’s a good chance someone out there has already done what you want, so you don’t have to start from scratch.
A smart energy monitor that actually cuts your power bill
Everyone’s feeling the pinch
Wouldn’t you know it, the world’s short on energy again. Whether you’re trying to be more green or just save a buck because electricity has become more expensive again, an energy sensor is crucial to knowing how much power you’re using, and whether something is using more than it should. Preferably long before you receive the actual bill!
There are a few different approaches to building an energy monitor, but most of them involve installing clamps on your mains power cables, and using a power monitoring device that can interface with your ESP32. This setup by Volos Projects looks like a particularly slick example.
A local-only smart home controller (no cloud dependency)
This is what a real smart home is
I’ve written before that a real smart home is one that keeps working when the internet goes down. Most smart home solutions people use rely on some distant cloud service to work. There’s barely any “brain” in the local device.
Well, you don’t have to accept that. Home Assistant has become an incredibly popular solution for those who don’t want to become reliant on others for smart home functionality. You can self-host Home Assistant, and get numerous plugins for it.
One of these is ESPHome, which is firmware you can flash to your ESP32 (and a few other) boards to turn them into smart home devices. With the ESPHome plugin set up in Home Assistant, you can control your ESP32s like any smart home device. This guide by Learn Fast Make Things show you exactly how the basic setup works.
Of course, that ESP32 needs to be connected to additional hardware to be useful, like temperature sensors or lights. If you’re looking for a quick start, ESPHome has a list of ready-made projects that you can use to get started.
Smart plant watering systems that prevents dead plants
Wetter is better, except when it’s too wet, I guess
My wife loves houseplants, and she’s constantly walking around with a hygrometer checking whether her plants need water. I looked at smart plant monitoring systems, but wow are they expensive. Well it turns out one possible solution is using an ESP32 with the right sensors and you can set up a system that will tell you if your plants need the wet stuff.
Maker Giovanni built the watering portion of the system as you can see here, but that doesn’t have the moisture sensing part.
SriTu hobby put out this video which has both a moisture sensor and the water part of the equation. Which should give you enough of an idea to craft your own custom solution.
Garage parking assistant (perfect parking every time)
Liiike a glove!
I have a very tight parking situation in the house I’m currently renting, and my SUV only barely fits in with enough space for me to get out and close the garage door. This is actually a pretty common problem, and I’ve seen people use solutions like a tennis ball on a piece of string that lets them know the car is in far enough. Personally, I made a mark on the wall that I could see through the driver’s side window, which tells me when I’ve reached the right spot.
But, maybe it’s time to come out of the stone age and craft a better parking solution. There are several ESP32 projects you can find online to create a parking assistant. This usually needs at least an ESP32 and an ultrasonic sensor, but you can go much further.
This project by Crazy Couple DIY has a custom PCB, 3D-printed parts, and an LED ring that shows exactly how far you are from the rear wall of the garage.
You can also use data from these parking assistants to know whether a car is parked in the garage or not. Useful if you have multiple vehicles and want to see who is home!
- Brand
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MakerHawk
- Operating System
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Meshtastic
This ESP32 kit includes everything you need for connecting to your local Meshtastic network, or any other LoRa-based tech project. There’s an LED display, a 1100mAH battery, and multiple antennas.
