Noob Needs a Nudge to get started: Migrating from Sonoff Tasmota

ESPHome
1

HA running in Proxmox, ESPHome plugin. Two new Kauf devices just seemed to get configured magically (don’t know what happened but there was a bunch of compiling and then they were subsumed and work).
I have a bunch of Tasmota devices I’d like to convert and this ESPHome page tells me what do do but not in sufficient detail to be able to actually do something. That page says " Using the Home Assistant add-on/dashboard: Just click the COMPILE button, wait for the compilation to end and press the DOWNLOAD BINARY button." But nowhere do I find anything that says COMPILE. What am I missing?
Thanks,
–Jeff

2

Compile == UPLOAD button. It complies then either uplads to the device or saves as a .bin file you can upload using the ESPHome Tool later. You get to choose this after pressing the upload button.

3

Right, but from what screen? Where is the compile button? I can see it on the web page but have no context as to where I should be looking.

4

Sorry it has been changed to “Install”, not Upload.

Settings → Add-ons → Esphome → Open web UI → Three dot Icon on device card → Install.

5

OK, now we’re making progress.
So my Tasmota devices need to be connected serially to a computer (and programmed) before anything can happen? Interesting, because the Kauf Bulb and Plug both got adopted and programmed wirelessly.
This is slightly more complicated than I anticipated. I need to crack each device open (again) and wire to it (again). Am I understanding this correctly?

6

If the devices already have Tasmota on them you can choose to save the esphome .bin file and upload that using the Tasmota device web page. It has been a while since I used tasmota but there’s an upload firmware button somewhere in there.

7

Works for me. This is how I converted my Tasmota devices to ESPHome.

8

Step by step. I know how to do OTA firmware uploads into a Tasmota device but how/where do I generate the esphome.bin file? As I said, I have several devices running Tasmota and they all show up in Tasmoadmin. Somehow ESPHome needs to know about a device so it can generate the bin file that I then upload. That’s the disconnect for me at the moment.

9

Write the yaml config for your device.

Put it in config/esphome.

Open the esphome web console.

Find the card that corresponds to your newly written file.

Verify it ( three dots menu).

If all is well use the install option to save as a .bin file.

10

Where do we find sample yaml configs for typical Tasmota devices (such as a Sonoff Basic)?

The rest seems clear.
When I go to what I assume is the ESPHome dashboard, I see two cards for two devices which apparently could have their bin files automatically generated. I uploaded them and they appeared as cards. Cool.
Now I click on + NEW DEVICE and I am informed that because my connection to that page is not secure, I can’t connect wirelessly:

You are not browsing the dashboard over a secure connection (HTTPS). This prevents ESPHome from being able to install this on devices connected to this computer.

You will still be able to install ESPHome by connecting the device to the computer that runs the ESPHome dashboard.

Alternatively, you can use ESPHome Web to prepare a device for being used with ESPHome using this computer.

Opening the ESPHome web page I am back to “connect your device”.

Suffice it to say that I am struggling to generate the necessary certificates with LetsEncrypt (duckdns domain). But that’s another topic.

Thanks.

11

https://esphome.io/devices/sonoff_basic.html

12

Like said in the thread the screenshots in this guide might be not up2date :warning:

13

Here is how I make a new device in ESPHome.
The yaml code below is for a Sonoff Basic.

  1. On the ESPHome dashboard, click on New Device.
  2. Click on Continue.
  3. Give your device a name. Click on “Next”.
  4. In “Select your device type” just click on “Next”. It doesn’t matter what device you select as you will overwrite that data later.
  5. Ignore the encryption key and click “Skip”. (You can add encryption later if you’re paranoid).
  6. You should now see your device in the ESPHome dashboard. Click on “Edit”.
  7. Delete EVERYTHING and paste the code below.
  8. Change the device name in the pasted code. The name must be exactly the same device name you used earlier.
  9. Change your WiFi credentials.
  10. Click on “Install”
  11. Click on “Manual Download”.
  12. Click on “Legacy Format”
    When it is finished, you will have the .bin file in your downloads folder.
    This .bin file is what you want to flash to the device using a UART dongle.
    Or if your device has Tasmota already running, you can do an OTA upgrade using the .bin file you just made.
substitutions:
  device_name: sonoff_basic

esphome:
  name: ${device_name}
  platform: ESP8266
  board: esp01_1m
  
wifi:
  ssid: myWiFiID
  password: myWiFiPassword

logger:
  level: VERBOSE

api:

ota:
  safe_mode: True
  
web_server:
  port: 80     
  
###############################
# Sonoff Basic peripherals

# Relay on GPIO12  
switch:
  - platform: gpio
    name: ${device_name}
    pin:
      number: 12
      mode: output
    id: ${device_name}_relay

    
# Physical Button on GPIO0
binary_sensor:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: 
      number: 0
      inverted: False
      mode: INPUT_PULLUP
    name: ${device_name} button
    internal: true
    on_press:
      - switch.toggle: ${device_name}_relay    
      
      
# Get the WiFi details
text_sensor:
  - platform: wifi_info
    ip_address:
      name: ${device_name} IP Address
      id: ${device_name}_ip
    ssid:
      name: ${device_name} SSID
    mac_address:
      name: ${device_name} Mac Address
      
sensor:
  - platform: wifi_signal
    name: ${device_name} WiFi Signal Sensor
    id: ${device_name}_WiFi_level
    update_interval: 60s
    
    
#Blink the LED on GPIO13 if there's a problem	
status_led:
  pin:
    number: 13
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