DIY sensors (first ever project / first steps in home automation and monitoring)

ESPHome
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1

Hi

How to monitor CO2, VOC, temperature, humidity, pressure, dust, light, smoke, motion in a room ?

I know there are consumer products that monitor these things, but I don’t want to buy separate devices to track these values.

So I am looking for a DIY solution to have these sensors in a single enclosure.

After doing some initial research, I found out this can be done with an ESP32 controller / ESPhome / home assistant.

I have no clue to start with all this… if someone more experienced is willing to lend a helping hand please?

I am interested in monitoring following values for a few rooms :

  • CO2: MH-Z19B NDIR / SCD30

  • VOC: SGP30 / MICS-6814 / TGS8100

  • temperature / humidity / atmospheric pressure : BME280

  • dust (PM 1 / 2.5 / 10) : PMS7003

  • light / luminosity / lux : TSL2561

  • smoke

  • motion / presence

Is this possible ? If yes, how can I do this ?

A detailed step-by-step guide (like explained to a 10-year old) is much appreciated.

If it’s not possible on a single board, what is the max amount of sensors I can combine. Because I don’t want to hang 3 boxes in each room :wink:

Things I am wondering or looking for :

  • integration with Home Assistant

  • powered with battery or wire?

  • ESP32 ?

  • mounted in a nice enclosure on the wall

  • easy to replace a sensor (after a few years)

Thank you very much!

2

There are examples of single-function sensors throughout this forum. Search for terms like lux or illumination and you’ll find the BH1750 sensor that piggybacks on a Wemos D1 Mini ESP8266. If you want to build a multi-sensor device, an ESP32 would probably be a better choice. The next issue is wiring/mounting all the sensors on a board of some kind. They cannot be too close together, as they all require air flow. I’d think some sort of vertical square (or round) dowel might be best. Finally, you’d have to enclose the entire device to protect it from the elements, AND route 5VDC power to the ESP32.

Just providing some of the things you should consider… Good luck!

3

I highly doubt anyone will give you a step by step tutorial on how to do all of that.

My advice is to pick one thing that you want to monitor.

Buy the hardware specifically required for it and a decent sized breadboard for development.

Then once you have that sensor(s) figured out then try the next one. Then see if you can combine them onto one microcontroller board. etc, etc.

be aware you’re going to be limited on any DIY dev board in the number of available pins you can use for the different sensors and you may run into a power limit that the onboard power regulator can supply.

4

I agree that the community won’t want to provide a step by step guide, but they will want to nudge new comers in the right direction.

My tips would be

Check out the BRUH multisensory in ESPhome.

Build your sensors on a big breadboard.

There are not enough +voltage pins or grounds on development boards to connect all your sensors , so bring out one voltage and ground out to 2 long lines (these are present on breadboards) and connect all your sensors to these. Took me a lot of reading of the forum to realise that everything is run in parallel not serial.

Heat is a big enemy of sensors especially temp. Don’t try and cram everything in a tiny space.

Search through the forum. There are few original questions.

Push and push what you can add to your project. It’s more about the learning than just getting everything right.

5

I’m pretty sure I did that.

Actually, I pretty much said everything you did except in fewer words. :laughing:

6

Another project to look at SNOS (Sensor Node On Steroids)