Bumping - also interested
E-ink displays or ESL tags.
I currently have 12 of them, mostly on the fridge but they show statuses of the smart home.
They can be used to a lot of things.
Thanks, do you have any specific ESL tags or E-ink displays to suggest?
I have both the radio version and BLE version.
Both work fine for me. I know there are people saying BLE is buggy but I believe I have solved that with being careful and not sending an image to the tag when one is already pending.
The ones I have is 2.9 and 4.2 inch.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002399342939.html
Then you need a ESP32 S3 to send the data to them.
I don’t know if all sizes work but it seems logical it would.
I wouldn’t mind buying more of the radio version, but it’s hard to know which will work.
I love this idea!
Could you share a bit more how did you implement this?
What kind of tag is needed? Do you need a gateway to connect to them?
Will this work of the shelf? or I will need to do some tinkering?
You need this integration:
GitHub - OpenEPaperLink/Home_Assistant_Integration: Home assistant Integration for the OpenEPaperLink project
An ESP 32 S3 (I have the one with two USB ports).
Flash the ESP with BLE only AP Install OpenEPaperLink
And get a few displays from Gicisky as I linked above, make sure they are BLE version.
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Oh, I see. So you need the ESP32 S3 as a gateway. HA will communicate with the ESP32 and the ESP will connect with the e-ink tag?
Thanks!
Yes.
The BLE tags do disconnect more often than my other tags. But it’s not that bad.
Also not sure if that is because they are BLE or because I have two APs with two different protocols using the same integration.
I found a neat little solution: Glowing USB-Sticks
What you need:
- Wall plug
- USB Zigbee adapter (There are options with 3 usb ports that you could plug in 3 different usb sticks with three different colors)
- USB extension cable (optional)
- Glowing USB Stick (many different options)
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Not a bad idea. So… something like this:
… plus this:
(search USB ambient light for car)
Come to think of it, maybe consider this also:
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This is exactly what I use as a color status indicator to know all of the doors are closed and locked each night before going to bed. I have the Matter over WiFi version and it has been working great (after a few early firmware updates a year or more ago.)
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correct! I’ve ordered it and will try it as soon as all parts arrive. All parts combined it is around 13€ instead of 30€ for the Thirdreality Plug. And it is way more flexible because I can use a USB extension cable to place the light where ever I want. (cheaper and more flexible)
Re physical placement of the 3rd Reality nightlight: I don’t think they advertise it, but the AC adapter portion in the back is just a plug-on (via a USB-A) to the main unit. I think it was probably done to allow different adapters for differing regional power plugs. But seems like it could allow USB extension cable to locate the sensor/light wherever you want. I’ll have to try that with my unit; I’ll report back.
Re pricing on 3R nightlight: I’ve often found deals on my 3R devices, sometimes near half-off. I see right now a “weekly deal” on 3reality.com , with price for this device of $30 each, or $84 for 4-pack.
I do like their gear.
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Quick update
it is awesome and customizable for different use cases for under 15€!
Parts:
- any USB Power Plug
- USB-Zigbee-Adapter: available with 1-3 slots - controllable individually in HA (s. screenshot Z2MQTT - also available as WIFI device)
- USB Extension Cord (I am waiting for a longer one to place the small red light)
- any USB-Light-Plug (different colors available): small red light can be placed somewhere specific and the bright white light can illuminate e.g. the ceiling above our cupboard in our hall way (quite a non-invasive/ ambient illumination compared to the red indicator)
My use case: As soon as I step into the hallway the presence detector recognizes movement and the LED strip around our cupboard in the hall way illuminates + in case a “trash”-helper is turned on the red indicator lights up next to the cupboard reminding me to pick up the trash from our kitchen when leaving the apartment. After a few seconds both shut of again. I can automate both the LED strip and the indicator with one usb-zigbee adapter (and I could automate one more usb device.
You could use three different usb lights with different colors with the same usb-adapter.
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