Better software for the ESP-VROOM-32/ESP32/ESP-32S boards

Third party integrations
1

I hope I categorized this right.

Anyway, I bought some ESP-WROOM-32 boards off of Amazon to build out my Bluetooth proxy. I had one die, I think, I am going to try and reload it. It was out in my garage and I cannot help but wonder if there is a more temperature tolerant board to use out there.

It worked well enough.

Then, I bought an Athom RF IR Remote by China Athom Technology for a send and receive IR blaster for HAIR because my Broadlinks could not receive. Come to find out it has a bonus of being a Bluetooth Proxy and not only does it work for that, it works even better than the ESP-WROOM-32 board does as my Bluetooth devices are more apt to connect to it.

My only complaint is that these are from China, and dealing in computer security, I do not trust China. Sorry. I have seen far too many firewalls with small little attacks from IP addresses from that country.

So, what I am wondering is can I load code into these ESP-WROOM-32 boards that does more than just Bluetooth Proxy to get more bang for my buck. Can I make them Bluetooth transmitters for music to bluetooth speakers PLUS the Bluetooth Proxy? Any other things these do? It seems as if the ESP32 applications that come on the website are kind of limited.

2

Absolutely! Welcome to the rabbit hole of ESPHome, lol.

It supports basically everything you could possibly think of.

You just have to adopt the device first, or flash over USB with a custom version, then you can tweak the firmware OTA from then on.

3

Yeah, I saw the ready-made projects. Can you install one of them and then maybe add to it or do you have to build it all at once?

4

Yes you can.

5

Install the ESPHome Device Builder. You can find it in the HA App Store.

Once you do so, you can adopt the ESPHome device created with a pre made project and modify it yourself. After you get the hang of it (The new Builder makes it easier) the possibilities are endless.

You can look through the ESPHome components at the link above, or look at some popular projects online to get ideas:

https://github.com/topics/esphome

6

So you are not using ESPHome already? How did you setup the bluetooth proxy into ESP-WROOM-32 boards, and get the board to talk to HA today, if hot ESPHome?

7

The website.