The ESP8266 and ESP32 are fast becoming the microcontroller of choice for, well, everything. But one particular area we’ve seen a lot of activity in recently is home automation; these boards make it so incredibly easy and cheap to get your projects online that putting together your own automation system is far more appealing now than it’s ever been. Capitalizing on that trend, [hwhardsoft] has been working on a ESP enclosure that’s perfect for mounting on the living room wall.
Of course, there’s more to this project than an admittedly very nice plastic box. The system also includes a ILI9341 2.4 inch touch screen LCD, an integrated voltage regulator, and even a section of “perfboard” that gives you a spot to easily wire up ad-hoc circuits and sensors. You don’t even need to switch over to the bare modules either, as the PCB is designed to accommodate common development boards such as the Wemos D1 Mini and NodeMCU.
Despite its outward appearance, this project is very much beginner friendly. Utilizing through hole components, screw down terminals, and a impeccably well-labeled silkscreen, you won’t need to be a hardware expert to produce a very slick gadget the whole family can appreciate.
Much like the HestiaPi project we covered a few months back, this project takes a cheap and readily available development board and turns it into something that has all the trappings of a commercial offering. These projects are reminders that the line between built and bought is only getting blurrier as time goes on.
The HASwitchPlate is a similar project offering a OSHW touchscreen home automation control surface.
The HASP enclosure mounts inside an existing workbox and utilizes a 3D-printed faceplate that is the same size as existing switches in your house, blending in nicely to existing switches.
All code, PCBs, and enclosure source files are included at the project site: https://haswitchplate.com
Nice to see good enclosures for projects. Next up we need higher resolution LCD displays for these capable ESP32 and Teensy 4 class micros and more capacitive touch.
This is great! Please wont someone make one for the SSD1306 LCD :)
Do it, Simon!