Ethernet IR Blaster with ESP32-POE and Broadlink RM Mini 3

[pkozul (Petar Kozul)]

Hi all,

Just wanted to share a fun project I recently worked on. I’ve become a big fan of the ESP32-POE as I’m trying to get as much of my home automation running on Ethernet as possible. We actually have our Wifi router programmed to switch off during the night (request from one of our famliy members to reduce EMF during sleeping hours) so the Ethernet version of the ESP32 has become of great interest.

To control our Toshiba Split system air conditioner, I’d been using a Broadlink RM Mini 3 and the SmartIR component in HA to expose the unit as a climate component and send IR commands. Every now and then, the Broadlink would seem to lose Wifi network connectivity, which led me to go on a search for an Ethernet-based IR blaster. I didn’t have much luck, so decided to put one together.

I ended up purchasing a few Olimex ESP32-POE boards for around $33 each (Aussie dollars):

https://au.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Olimex-Ltd/ESP32-POE?qs=unwgFEO1A6tUQVMxdOBsBw%3D%3D

I then followed this fantastic guide on how to hack the Broadlink in order to replace the stock controller with an ESP8266 (or ESP32 in my case). Obviously, I wasn’t able to place the ESP32 inside the Broadlink, so I ran the jumper wires out of the opening, to then connect to the ESP32.

chaeplin/rm-mini3-to-esp8266

I then flashed the ESP32-POE with ESPHome. It’s great that the SmartIR component also supports sending IR commands via ESPHome, so that worked out really well.

I’m really happy with the end result. Finally I have an Ethernet-based IR blaster, that works really fast and is very reliable.

I printed the enclosure on my 3D printer, so it all snaps together nicely. Designing the enclosure was good fun using TinkerCad.

Since then, I’ve worked on a few other little projects with the ESP32-POE boards. It’s great that they are supported by ESPHome.

Here is an example of another one. This one has a 433MHZ receiver, as well as an 433MHz transmitter. I use it control our fireplace, so the RF transmitter basically mimics the codes sent by the fireplace remote control. The RF receiver is used to listen to button presses from these 433MHz buttons I found on Banggood.

433Mhz RF Wireless Remote Control Switch Transmitter With 1 2 3 4 Button For...

Thanks to ESPHome, I am able to handle single presses (i.e. click), as well as longer presses (i.e. hold), so each button basically allows for two distinct actions.

So long story short, these ESP32-POE boards rock!

[nickrout]

Would you be kind enough to post your esphome yaml file?

[pkozul (Petar Kozul)]

@nickrout For the IR blaster, I posted the ESPHome YAML in the SmartIR thread. You can see it here:

SmartIR - Control your Climate, TV and Fan devices via IR/RF controllers

@dominicknoetze I have SmartIR working with ESPHome, and I finally have a solution that works with Ethernet rather than Wifi. In case it’s of any help, below is my HA config: climate: - platform: smartir name: Salon Air Conditioner unique_id: salon_air_conditioner device_code: 7777 controller_data: esp32_poe_1_send_raw_command temperature_sensor: sensor.salon_temperature humidity_sensor: sensor.salon_humidity power_sensor: binary_sensor.salon_air_conditioner And …

As for the 433MHz transmitter / receiver, I will post a new topic with the details, to keep it separate from the IR blaster.

[pkozul (Petar Kozul)]

As promised, here is the info about my Ethernet-based 433MHz gateway running on the Olimex ESP32-POE (using ESPHome).

Ethernet 433MHz gateway with ESP32-POE (using ESPHome)

In my other post, I mentioned using ESP32-POE as a hard-wired alternative to the standard Wifi-based ESP8266 and ESP32. I’ve been getting more and more 433MHz devices at home, so wanted to set up a 433MHz gateway to handle sending / receiving codes via RF. I ended up implementing this using the Olimex ESP32-POE, along with a 433MHz receiver (RXB6) and 433MHz transmitter (STX882). My overall goal was to use this 433MHz gateway within HA to send RF codes to our fireplace, as well as receive code…

[atomicpapa (Glenn Morrison)]

Cool project, Petar! And great to see you are still around! Long time, no see!

[MK_Fast]

Hi pkozul,

Very nice effort!

I worked with ESP32 and ENC28J60 shield with Temp Dallas to send data to my cloud server in MySQL DB and I used UIPEthernet library but because of power issue it’s not useful and easy to use another power supply and that’s why I was looking for a shield to work with PoE and I found your post here and I think it’s awesome.

My question is can I use my sketch in Arduino IDE with the same Library I used and compile it in esp32 with PoE module without any issue or need another library?

Is there any startup guide or tutorial about how to start use it ?

Thanks for a nice thread here

[djacid]

Nice project! Do you know if it’s possible to disable completely WiFi?