7 ESP32 projects you can do in 1 hour
ESP32 projects are every DIYer’s dream. They are inexpensive to build, incredibly flexible, and can be quick to assemble. There are many ESP32 projects that you can create in an hour or less.
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Configure a Bluetooth proxy
Extend your Bluetooth range
This is one of the quickest things you can do to turn an ESP32 into a useful part of your smart home. You don’t need to add anything to the ESP32, as there is already Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on board.
Bluetooth is a short-range communications protocol, so if you have Bluetooth devices in your smart home, they may be too far from your smart home hub to connect to it directly. A Bluetooth proxy solves this problem.
You can place an ESP32 Bluetooth proxy in the same room as your Bluetooth device, and it will act as a bridge, relaying information between your smart home hub over Wi-Fi and your Bluetooth device over Bluetooth. All you need to do is flash ESPHome, enable the Bluetooth proxy functionality, connect it to your Wi-Fi network and add it to Home Assistant. No wiring or soldering is required.
Building a temperature and humidity sensor
Minutes of construction, years of use
ESP32s are great for building smart home sensors, and it’s usually much cheaper to build your own sensor than to buy a ready-made one. You can create a temperature and humidity sensor that can improve your heating automations, monitor the humidity in your bathroom, or decide when to run fans.
All you need is an ESP32 and a suitable sensor like an AHT20 or BME280. With just a few jumper cables, you have a device that you can flash and connect to ESPHome, and before you know it, temperature and humidity readings will appear in Home Assistant. Construction takes less than an hour, but it can serve you for a long time.
Install a vibration sensor
Know when your laundry is finished
Another useful sensor you can build with an ESP32 is a vibration sensor. This type of sensor can be very useful for things such as detecting when your washer and dryer have finished running, since these appliances will vibrate a lot when in use.
It’s quick and easy to build a vibration sensor using an ESP32 and a module such as an SW-420. You can make one for just a few dollars. Once built, you’ll need to make sure to include appropriate delays in your automation, as washers and dryers often stop mid-cycle.
Make a motion or presence sensor
Detect occupancy, not just movement
One of the most impressive home automation features is automatically turning on your lights when you enter a room. You can buy ready-made motion sensors, but you can build one with an ESP32 for much less. An HC-SR501 PIR sensor only needs three wires, so you can have it up and running in less than half an hour.
For better lighting automations, you can create an occupancy sensor that can detect occupancy rather than just movement. By adding an mmWave module, you can know when someone is in the room, even if they are sitting still, ensuring your lights stay on.
Install a light level sensor
Turn on your lights when you need them
Using a motion or occupancy sensor to turn your lights on and off is great, but during the day you may not need your lights to turn on at all. A light level sensor can ensure that your lights only come on when it’s dark enough.
You can use modules such as the BH1750 lux sensor with an ESP32 to build your own light level sensor. It’s a real joy when the sky clouds over and your lights automatically turn on to compensate. Better yet, you can add multiple sensors to your ESP32 and create your own multi-sensor that can perform multiple tasks.
Create an ESPresence room tracker
Track your location in your home
A occupancy sensor can know if someone is in a specific room, but it cannot know which room you are in. This is what an ESPresence coin tracker can do. By measuring Bluetooth signals from devices like smartphones and smartwatches, it can estimate which room you’re most likely to be in, enabling automations like music following you around your home from room to room.
Building a single ESPresence node is simple to do because it only requires Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so you don’t need to connect any additional modules. Setting up nodes throughout your home can take more than an hour, but you can get a single node up and running much faster.
Create a WLED lighting controller
Control your addressable LEDs
Addressable LED strips are the smart version of standard LED strips. Instead of the entire strip changing color at once, addressable LED strips include an integrated circuit for each LED or group of LEDs, allowing you to control the color and brightness of each LED.
You can use these LED strips to create awesome effects like moving rainbows, fire simulations, or even rolling text. However, you need something to tell the LEDs what to do.
By running WLED on an ESP32, that’s exactly what you get. WLED is firmware that can turn your ESP32 into an LED controller that you can integrate with Home Assistant and use to power awesome LED effects. All you need to do is wire up an LED strip and a power source, flash WLED, connect it to Home Assistant and start putting on a light show.
Start your ESP32 journey
An ESP32 is a great way to enter the world of DIY electronics. It’s cheap, fairly simple to use, and incredibly versatile. Once you get your first project up and running, you’ll probably be hooked.
