Easy wireless mesh network with ESP32s and Arduino

Introduction I have a Home Assistant-based Smart Home in my apartment. Many of my electronic devices are connected to HA and I can monitor and manage them centrally. The main communication method for all the devices is Wi-Fi with Zigbee being a second option. Some time ago I wanted to monitor several processes outside of … Read more

Thingy:91 cellular vibration sensor

A year ago I published an article about a very simple Vibration Logger using an Arduino Uno, an SD card and an accelerometer. Recently, the need to measure vibration came up again, but this time I wanted something better. A device that will let me monitor the readings from anywhere without the need to go … Read more

Integrating 433Mhz smoke detectors with Home Assistant

Smoke detectors are simple and effective means for saving lives and reducing damage to property in case of a fire. You should use smoke detectors in your house even if your local regulations don’t require you to do so. All smoke detectors make a loud beeping alarm sound if smoke is detected, but some models … Read more

Making a proper adapter board for the “smart” WiFi Rinnai

This is a quick follow-up post to my previous article about converting a Rinnai heater device to a smart device and controlling it with WiFi. Previously, when making the board that connects between the ESP32 and the traces of the Rinnai control panel, I did something that is not per-spec. I was using the ESP32 … Read more

Changing a “dumb” Rinnai water heater to a smart one

This article covers a home automation project, in which I extended a control panel of a Rinnai gas water heater with an ESP32. The ESP32 then functions as an interface between the control panel and Home Assistant, a home automation software. tl;dr, the ESP32 sits as a MitM (proxy) on a few data lines inside … Read more