I’m a beekeeper and I’d like to connect my hives to a Home Assistant. There are several technical solutions that allow you to monitor the condition of your beehive (temperature, humidity, weight, etc.), such as BuzzBox or Forsage.
It’s good to have an overview of what is happening in the hive, without the bees having to disturb your presence 
But maybe some clever handyman could do it, like integration directly into the Home Assistant + sensor.
What do you think about it?
Yes there are a number of sensors that could easily be implemented with ESPHome. Biggest issue with wifi is its power consumption. Do you have power available at your hives?
If not, then 433MHz rf or zigbee sensors would be the go. Or zwave if you have the $
It looks like a solar panel on the roof.
If that is not enough then just add another and a battery
Wifi is not a problem :). The device sleeps, wakes up every hour, records values, connects to wifi, sends values and then sleeps again.
You know someone who already automates beehives with ESPHome.
Good point. Yes, they are solar panels, so there is no problem with electricity.
In my opinion it doesn’t matter if it’s a bee hive, a rabbit hole or a bathroom (for humans).
The idea, sensors, code and setup is the same.
Do you already have a similar automation functional? I will be happy for any inspiration. Thanks
I don’t.
But there it’s a very common thing to build.
See here as an example: https://esphome.io/cookbook/bruh.html
Looks good, thanks for the link. It is still necessary to solve the weight. It’s very important.
I didn’t see that you needed the weight.
Well have a look at the various “bed occupancy” threads.
Some of them are based on load cells which is what I believe you need.
Or if the actual weight is not that important just a rough number, then you can use a force sensitive resistor (they need to be connected to an analog input, ESP8266 has one, ESP32 has five or six I believe).
Thanks, it never occurred to me that there would be a sensor for “bed occupancy”
I know…
I laughed too when I first saw it. But now a few months later I’m in negotiations to build one.
We have an air cleaner in our bedroom. Why is that turned off all the time?
Turn it on when we are not in bed.
We have a Google home mini in our bedroom that is on lowest volume to not wake the baby.
Well… If the baby is not in bed make it louder…
Did you ever go any where with your be hive monitoring? I’m in the process of finishing my sensors up now and will be installing in the next week.
Just getting into the HA myself and ran across this thread. Has anyone proceeded with implementing this type of thing? Would like to know your thoughts on the usefulness of it. I myself am intrigued by the concept. Believe I may even dabble with it in the spring when I can open a few of my hives. With the information provided above I believe I can try to put a list of equipment needs together.
Thank you
I think sensors like temperature and moisture are easy enough to implement. For me, the biggest issue is weight. To keep the measurements consistent over time without drift from temp fluctuations. Does anyone have such a circuit/device in mind?
A smart scale or the classical HX711 with wheatstone bridge 
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/load-cell-amplifier-hx711-breakout-hookup-guide/all
Sure, i tried a few wheatstone bridges, but they had a LOT of drift from one measurement to the next. And i do mean 1-2kg. Which is too much for a useful measurement
