Mains powered USB hub?

Thank you. Just ordered all the supplies I should need! Now have to wait…

What are you using to flash the esphome bin and where did you get the bin?

Used the code above in Esphome and compile to a bin and download. Then flashed with ESPHome flasher.

You could now flash straight from the Esphome dashboard

Ahhh ok, I didnt know that was considered the bin. Thanks.

Yes sorry I should have said .bin file

Okay but now I actually have a another question lol. So that code you shared is that just the bin or is that the YAML too?

So my only experience with ESP home was I purchased a ESP board and connected a time of flight sensor to it and I found yaml template that I just had to slightly modify and then I wrote it to the chip.

With this project is that also all I would be doing with the code you shared? Or do I need to flash the chip with the code you provided and then also something else? I just think I’m not grasping something right now

You need to create a new device in the esphome dashboard, paste in the yaml code above, edit it to suit you (names etc) and flash using esphome to the Sinilink USB module with usb cable from the machine to the Sinilink USB module
If you’re not sure about flashing with esphome, have a look at the esphome docs:

Also, watch this vid, it looks at the Sinilink

Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve ordered and received one of these, flashed it with ESPHome and have freed up a mains smart plug that was running my kitchen tablet USB charger, as I now use this device inline. Bonkers cheap for what it is.

@Troon are you saying you ordered a sinilink AFTER i created this post? If so, where the heck did you order from that you already got it??? Soonest I could find was Jan 31.

Yes. I ordered it from AliExpress on 10 Jan: they were suggesting it might be early Feb before it turned up, but Andy my friendly local Evri delivery man popped it through my door (UK) on 18 Jan.

I was surprised too: must have been airfreighted.

@Holdestmade

I got the sinilink and flashed it with your code. Only changing the wifi for now until I get an understanding on what the rest of the code does.

When I go into HA and look at the device, 'Keyboard Mat Light" under controls turns off and on the usb (i see a red light on the unit turn off and on). Great!

But what is the “Keyboard Mat Button” sensor for? Its always showing on.

Also, can I change it from a light to a switch?

I tried editing the code and replacing light with switch but then I get an error that switch.binary doesnt exist

The Sensor is the button on the side of the USB, it’s not that reliable though for some reason.

TO have a switch instead, delete the output and light sections and add:

switch:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: GPIO05
    name: Switch
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Thanks for all your help @Holdestmade. Last ?, whats the restart thing do? Do you use it?

I have them in all my ESPHome configs, sometimes need to do a restart when they get stuck on a far away access point

Edit: Well I proved its not a wifi issus. Completely turned off my wifi. I was still able to use Zwave network. So what in the heck is causing the devices kill the USB passthrough?

@Holdestmade have you had connection issues with yours?

So I got 3 of them, to put on each of my hubs. Started getting notifications my network, for example zigbee, was down. Then minute later, its back up. Check the history of the sinilinks and they are constantly becoming unavailable.

They are in easy wifi range but even if they werent and wifi was lost, that shouldent kill the USB pass through, right?

Heres my history from the 3 sinilinks I got. 5:54AM I did full reboot of HA device just to get a fresh start. It didnt help as you can see.

image


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No, no WiFi issues at all been rock solid since I’ve had them. You’re not exceeding the 5a I assume ?

Ones connect to a hub Z dual zwave and zigbee. Another one is connected to a sonoff zigbee hub. Can’t imagine im anywhere close to that

I disconnected them from HA device and just plugged them into USB ports on my home PC. Gonna see if they still randomly go unavailable.

Because this thread is technically solved, I created a new one detailing my specific hardware issue.