esphome News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 16, 2024July 16, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 7 Comments

Qsen-07 multi-sensor wireless board can detect CO2, VOC, temperature, humidity, ambient light, and attitude

The Qsen-07 multi-sensor board is an ESP32 wireless development board that combines several useful sensors into one device, making it easier to control, monitor, and enhance your home environment. It is a recent product from Maker Go, a China-based hardware company, which claims the board is “fully integrated with ESPHome and Home Assistant“. But as noted in a reader’s comment below, ESPHome on ESP32-C6 is still a work in progress, and the YAML configuration file for the board has yet to be provided by the company. The Qsen-07 multi-sensor board is “designed for health-conscious and tech-savvy homeowners” and can monitor air quality and other environmental variables to ensure a safe and smart living space. It features up to seven sensors, including two air quality sensors, a temperature and humidity sensor, an ambient light sensor, a barometric pressure sensor, an attitude gyro sensor, and an optional radar sensor. The Aosong AGS10 […]

May 24, 2024May 24, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 3 Comments

Inkplate 6 MOTION STM32-powered wireless e-paper display offers higher resolution and faster refresh rates (Crowdfunding)

The Inkplate 6 MOTION is a new product from Soldered Electronics in their Inkplate series of wireless e-paper displays. It is a 6-inch e-paper display with a partial refresh rate of 11fps which reduces obvious latency in rendering dynamic content such as videos, animations, and scrolling text. The display is driven by an STMicroelectronics dual-core STM32H743 microcontroller, with an ESP32-C3 as a secondary processor. It features Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for networking and a host of peripheral interfaces for physical connectivity. It includes several sensors such as a rotary encoder for quick navigation, a gravitational accelerometer with a gyroscope for tracking device orientation, and a motion detection sensor. We covered the original Inkplate 6 display when it launched on Crowd Supply in 2019. The Inkplate 6 is much less expensive than the new model but has a lower screen resolution (800 x 600 px) and slower refresh rates (256ms). Furthermore, it […]

May 23, 2024May 23, 2024 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

Airlytix ES1 environment monitor runs ESPHome for Home Assistant integration

Airlytix ES1 temperature, humidity, light, and and noise monitoring system

Airlytix ES1 environment monitor is an ESP32-based environment tracking device that runs ESPHome. The device tracks various environmental parameters like temperature, humidity, air quality (PM1.0, PM2.5, PM4, PM10, VOCs, NOx, CO2), barometric pressure, ambient light, and noise levels. To make things even more interesting, the device ships with a compact 3D printed case and can be integrated with Home Assistant for smart home automation. Previously we have written about similar environment monitor devices like the Sonoff SC WiFi, V-Air Monitro, and devices like Arduino MKR IoT Carrier Rev2, Radair mini gateway, and Nicla Sense ME designed for environment monitor applications. Airlytix ES1 environment monitor specifications MCU – Unnamed ESP32 module for Wi-Fi connection Particulate Matter Mass Concentration: 0-1000μg/m3 Mass Concentration Size: PM1.0, PM2.5, PM4, PM10 Mass Concentration Precision: +/-1.25μg/m3/year VOC & NOX VOC Index Precision: <+/-15% VOC Index m.v. NOX Index Precision: <+/-50% NOX Index m.v. CO2 Measurement Range: 400-5000ppm […]

May 19, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - 7 Comments

FLIP_C3 ESP32-C3 board takes up to 60V DC input, ships with ESPHome firmware

Voidbox FLIP_C3 is an open-source hardware board powered by an ESP32-C3 WiFi & BLE microcontroller that takes up to 60V DC power input feeding a 5V/2A DC-DC step-down converter and flashed with ESPHome firmware by default for Home Assistant support. The board incorporates a push-in spring release connector which means stranded (ferrules or tinning are suggested) and solid wires can be used in deploying the device in off-grid/battery-powered systems with up to 16s LiFePO4 delivering 48V through the 6-60V input port on the ESP32-C3 board. The onboard WS2812B LED can be used as a null pixel/level shifter for longer strings of addressable pixels. The ESP32-C3 – due to its support for Wi-Fi and BLE connectivity – is a popular SoC for IoT solutions and powers home and industrial automation devices such as NanoCell v2.1, Spark Analyzer, LOLIN C3 Pico, and the LILYGO T-RSC3. It is built for home automation applications […]

May 7, 2024May 8, 2024 by Tomisin Olujinmi - No Comments

NanoCell V2.1 battery-powered ESP32-C3 IoT board runs ESPHome for Home Assistant integration

The NanoCell V2.1 is a development board built around the Espressif ESP32-C3 SoC (system-on-a-chip) preloaded with ESPHome firmware for low-power applications and improved Lithium battery management. The development board is a white printed circuit board with gold-plated contacts and a battery fuel-gauge IC, designed by Frapais’ lab in Greece. As the name suggests, the NanoCell V2.1 is the latest in a series of iterations of ESP32-C3-based devices targeted at low-power applications. Compared to earlier versions, it offers a better user experience and improved power efficiency. It features a buck-boost converter that reduces standby current consumption to 66uA (excluding the current consumed by the ESP32 module). The battery management system (BMS) integrated circuit supports accurate capacity measurement and protects connected Lithium batteries from overcharging and other harmful scenarios. Also, two LEDs on the board serve as power and charging indicators to relay the board’s status. It is based on the same […]

April 23, 2024April 22, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

The Open Home Foundation will manage Home Assistant, ESPHome, Zigpy among over 240 open-source Smart Home projects

The Open Home Foundation is a non-profit organization that will manage over 240 Smart Home projects, standards, drivers, and libraries including Home Assistant, ESPHome, Zigpy, Piper, and Improv Wi-Fi with the goal of “fight[ing] for the fundamental principles of privacy, choice, and sustainability for smart homes”. The non-profit was introduced during the “State of the Open Home 2024” (see video embedded at the end of this article) with Nabu Casa – the for-profit company behind Home Assistant – transferring all their projects to the new entity, and the Open Home Foundation will also help with the development of critical external projects such as Z-Wave JS, WLED, Rhasspy, and Zigbee2MQTT. The foundation further explains the goal of teaming multiple projects together in a stronger structure: We’ve done this to create a bulwark against surveillance capitalism, the risk of buyout, and open-source projects becoming abandonware. To an extent, this protection extends even […]

January 24, 2024January 23, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

FOSDEM 2024 schedule – Open-source embedded, mobile, IoT, robotics, RISC-V, etc..

FOSDEM – which stands for Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting – is a free-to-participate event where thousands of developers meet in Brussels on the first week-end of February to discuss open-source software & hardware projects. FOSDEM 2024 will take place on February 3-4 with 880 speakers, 818 events, and 66 tracks. Although I won’t attend, I’ve created a virtual schedule like every year with sessions most relevant to the topics covered on CNX Software from the “Embedded, Mobile and Automotive” and “Open Hardware and CAD/CAM” devrooms, but also other devrooms including “FOSS Mobile Devices”, “ Energy: Reimagining this Ecosystem through Open Source”, “RISC-V”, and others. FOSDEM Day 1 – Saturday, February 3, 2024 10:30 – 10:55 – Screen Sharing on Raspberry Pi 5 Using VNC in Weston and Wayland with the Yocto Project and OpenEmbedded by Leon Anavi In 2023, embedded Linux developers received eagerly awaited news: […]

January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Zigbee Home is an ESPHome-like firmware project for Zigbee devices

Zigbee Home firmware project aims to provide similar functionality to ESPHome open-source firmware, but for Zigbee devices based on Nordic Semi nRF52 wireless microcontrollers, and later on the newer nRF53 MCUs.

The firmware relies on Nordic Semi ZBOSS for Zigbee 3.0 stack and should eventually enable a range of Zigbee devices to be flashed with open-source firmware and facilitate integration with Home Assistant open-source home automation framework through ZHA integration, and support for Zigbee2MQTT is also being worked on.