I really like the simple and lightweight approach to program my ESP32 with ESPHome. I already created a custom component with two sensors that works flawlessly, but now I have a problem with my second custom component: this one has both sensors and binary sensors (and maybe later also text sensors). Can anyone give me a hint how the configuration and/or code has to look like? Perhaps based on this example with an additional binary_sensor very_hot, that is true for a temperature reading above 40°C?
Can you explain why you need this so answers are more accurate?
I have done something like you want.
I created a custom component then I created custom binary sensor, custom output, etc which have a reference to the main custom component and interface i2c in a single point
@nickrout: You are right, my example with very_hot was really bad, of course you can calculate it in esphome or in home assistant. I couldn’t think of a better example, it should just be for demonstration. For my component, the binary_sensor can not be calculated from any other value (see below).
@glmnet: My actual use case is reading the temperatures and statuses from my central heating. Here I have sensors (eg. water temperatures), binary sensors (e.g. night mode active) and text sensors (e.g. error messages). The thing you describe sounds really similar to what I want to achieve. Could you please share your configuration and code with me?
check my repo here https://github.com/glmnet/esphome_devices
check how EHComedor.yaml works, there is a custom_component: which is the main connection with an Arduino Pro Mini via i2c, this device has several devices I use, most are binary_sensor and output (switches and relays)
Then there are the output and binary_sensor sections, with custom platforms, the implementation is in ape.h
The arduino code in case you are interested is buried a bit in the ArduinoPortExtender branch
I tried several ways to cast the custom component to my specific one but the compiler didn’t stop complaining. He obviously knows that I’m an absolute C and C++ noob
btw: Why do you use an Arduino and don’t connect your devices directly to the ESP? Do they all use 5V?
Yeah that line didn’t come out so easily. Not a C++ developer either, but learning a lot with ESPHome, I’m even sending some PRs now . I do C# mostly.
I had a network of MySensors running on pro minis, connected relays for lights / fans and all house switches. It didn’t work well for me due to comm issues, WiFi works better for me. OTA is awesome and esp8266 is way more powerful. But I have already the arduinos connected to many stuff so I just added the esp to them. Also the esp does not have as many io as I needed. Some nodes have like 15 io pins in use.
I have many arduino pro mini directly connected to i2c with esp8266. The Arduinos are 5V/16Mhz but I power everything at 3.3V and have no issues so far.
For a new project maybe 3.3v arduino would be more suitable.
I should write a cookbook about this sometime. Seems useful.
I think I have to create a lot more projects with C++ before I can think of creating PRs. I mostly do Java and sometimes a bit of Python. But who knows, perhaps with my next component on my list (I want to communicate with my Comet Blue thermostats) I might create one. The Arduino sketch already works, but I want to integrate it into ESPHome.
I’m putting together a cookbook to use an arduino as an salve and read
/write pins from esphome.
This way you get 18 extra io pins per arduinos (you can add many)
Stay tuned!
. I do C# mostly.