@NonaSuomy Would you mind helping guide me on getting a IFAN04-L flashed with esphome and adopted into my local Home Assistant installation? I’m trying to replace a failed Insteon Fanlinc at our second home, which I am only physically at for the next few days. I don’t really care about remotes and/or particular flavors of esphome projects to use, as I just need to be able to automate fan speeds to match the other fans in the house. I soldered pins onto the board and have it physically connected to my Mac which has esphome on it. I am just a n00b at how to proceed from here and cannot find any examples of working yaml that I can use to get it going.
I recently went through this with my ifan04-L. I also don’t care about remotes at all.
GitHub - rh1rich/esphome-ifan04: Sonoff IFAN04 with ESPHome I just used the yaml there and went through the standard esphome install device install. Worked really well.
Have you installed with esphome before? Is your device already flashed to esphome or tasmota?
@haydon thank you for the response. Sounds like I want to do exactly what you did, including using that particular version from GitHub. I have esphome locally on my Mac, as well as on the Home Assistant box. I was trying to do the initial flash locally from the Mac and then figured I’d adopt it on HA. I’ve only done this process once before with a Bluetooth Proxy device, but it was so cookie cutter that I didn’t really learn about this process of doing a standard esphome device install. And, it was ethernet connected so I didn’t really have to deal with secrets like the wifi credentials, etc. I’ve been trying to RTFM on esphome’s web site but haven’t found a clear set of steps. If you have anything you can point me at, that’d be awesome.
Yah this is quite different for sure. I did a bunch of sonoff s31 wall plugs first - that taught me the kinda weird approach esphome takes.
I also setup the esphome docker container on my nas (that has home assistant).
Esphome part is pretty easy - upload the header files and yaml to your docker continaer’s config directory, modify it for for your home - wifi etc. then manually download the image - it’ll compile it so you’ll know if it fails before you flash it.
then follow any flashing guide for the ifan04. I’d strongly suggest spending the $10 on a sonoff s31 first and flashing that - it’s easier to test and you don’t need to install it in the fan to test (don’t put it back together - just remove the wires and plug it into an extnsion cord - so you can pull the cord out of mains power safely). Make sure you understand the process. (You could put it on your washer to sense when it’s done washing). Also take a dump of the memory before you flash so you have a working backup…
As long as you’re on the same network you should be good, if you’ve set the name, encryption key, wifi SSID and password, you can always do an Over the air update to corect small config issues.
Just read my directions further up in the thread on how to manually backup and flash it. It’s pretty basic as long as you have a regulator on your USB board which is stated above and shows pictures of what a regulator looks like.
Thanks again for the help on this! The device has been working great – flashed, fully installed in the fan, and integrated into Home Assistant. The feature set of the device works as expected, and was a great replacement for the failed Insteon FanLinc device.
There is one thing left to do, and I am unclear on how to do it. When I built and flashed the firmware, I did it from my personal Mac using a local install of esphome, with the device physically connected through the flasher to my Mac via USB-C. And, since the yaml file included Wi-Fi credentials, the device of course connected to the Wi-Fi network once it powered on. I was then able to adopt the device into Home Assistant and configured the ESPHome integration there for the device. But the device is not registered inside the ESPHome addon of Home Assistant, and so I can’t, for example, rebuild the firmware or update it. I feel like I should “adopt” it into the ESPHome instance inside of my Home Assistant machine, so I can flash it again in the future, etc. And I am unclear on how to do this…
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The ESPHome device needs to be on the same network CIDR as the ESPhome plugin. This is because it uses broadcast to notify devices that it’s around.
So if your wifi is on a different network than your home assistant you will need to forward the broadcast packets. Then ESPHome interface will show it as a new device detected on the network.
Hey everyone. Looking to jump into getting ESPHome on my iFan04-L this weekend.
Looks like I have similar experience to @duerrd561 with doing Bluetooth proxies and a couple other simple things. Never flashed a device this way before, but I’ve picked up a few things that it seemed like I would need. Let me know if this all looks right:
From what I understand,I just need to run cables to that adapter from that group of 4 contacts on the iFan04 PCB? Does it need to be connected to the wall/fan at all or can I just disconnect it and it gets power from the USB adapter for flashing?
I haven’t installed ESPHome to a device with a yaml config like this before but I think I can figure that part out when I get to it.
The last question is around functionality. From what I’ve read it seems like everything from the original remote should just continue to work, and the only config changes that I’ll really need to make is just network info and device name. Is that right?
I don’t think you’ll need the header pins (2nd pic). I used some wires from your first pic and chopped off the end one end and used the socket end to connect to the usb2ttl. Then Soldered to the fan04 temporarily (it’s super fiddily).
The ifan04 has pads so you either have to use a pin clamp (or similar setup) or just solder on as i mentioned.
Don’t forget to set hte voltage of the USB 2 TTL adapter correctly.
My Home Assistant and ESPHome device are on the exact same Wi-Fi network subnet, and Home Assistant totally sees the device and has it all setup. It just isn’t showing up (i.e. to be “adopted”) in the ESPHome addon running on Home Assistant. Make sense?
Yup makes sense…
Looks like others have experienced this problem before too… Esphome devices not showing up on dashboard but are working - #7 by zoogara
Unfortunately I don’t have this setup - so will let others weigh in.
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Thanks! That was what I was looking for, and the thread you sent me to essentially has a solve/workaround which is to manually create the yaml file from my Mac’s esphome directory into the config/esphome/ directory on HA. This makes total sense, and I’m sure it would get me where I wanted.
One thing that I realize is probably a blocker on this specific device is the fact that I had to download a git clone of that rh1rich/esphome-ifan04 project and then I used the yaml from it to build this device’s firmware. And since that yaml file includes references to dependencies also in that git clone, I wouldn’t be able to get the exact same setup by just creating the yaml file on HA under config/esphome/ – I’d need the dependencies as well.
I think something like this is what is needed:
packages:
ifan04.esphome: github://rh1rich/esphome-ifan04/ifan04-test.yaml@main
However I don’t think the ifan04-test.yaml file is designed to work for this inheritance use case. Someone would probably need to port it to a new file that could then be imported as a package. Am I thinking about this correctly?
substitutions:
device_name: office-fan
device_displayname: Office Fan
esphome:
name: $device_name
friendly_name: $device_displayname
includes:
- ifan_remote.h
esp8266:
board: esp8285
framework:
version: latest
early_pin_init: true
restore_from_flash: true
preferences:
flash_write_interval: 5min
# Enable logging
# To use logging via uart (UART0 TX, GPIO01) you have to remove
# uart_bus and the IFanRemote custom text_sensor.
logger:
baud_rate: 0
# level: VERBOSE
# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
encryption:
key: "NOPE"
ota:
password: "NOPE"
wifi:
ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
password: !secret wifi_password
fast_connect: yes
# Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
ap:
ssid: "Office-Fan Fallback Hotspot"
password: "NOPE"
captive_portal:
web_server:
port: 80
# GPIO00 ... Button
# GPIO01 ... UART0 TX
# GPIO03 ... UART0 RX (RF remote control)
# GPIO04 ... I2C SDA (TP11 D_RX on PCB backside)
# GPIO05 ... I2C SCL (TP10 D_TX on PCB backside)
# GPIO09 ... Light Relay (D7)
# GPIO10 ... Buzzer
# GPIO12 ... Fan Relay 2 (D11, 3uF cap on IFAN04-H)
# GPIO13 ... LED
# GPIO14 ... Fan Relay 1 (D5, 2.5uF cap on IFAN04-H)
# GPIO15 ... Fan Relay 3 (D13, no cap)
status_led:
pin:
number: GPIO13
inverted: true
i2c:
sda: GPIO04
scl: GPIO05
frequency: 200kHz
# UART configuration for the RF remote control
# Logging via uart must be disabled to use this.
uart:
rx_pin: GPIO03
baud_rate: 9600
id: uart_bus
output:
- platform: gpio
id: light_relay
pin:
number: GPIO09
inverted: true
- platform: gpio
id: buzzer
pin:
number: GPIO10
inverted: true
- platform: gpio
id: fan_relay_1
pin: GPIO14
- platform: gpio
id: fan_relay_2
pin: GPIO12
- platform: gpio
id: fan_relay_3
pin: GPIO15
- platform: template
id: fan_relays
type: float
write_action:
- if: # Fan off
condition:
lambda: return (state < 0.3);
then:
- if:
condition:
lambda: return id(buzzer_enabled).state;
then:
- output.turn_on: buzzer
- delay: 300ms
- output.turn_off: buzzer
- output.turn_off: fan_relay_1
- output.turn_off: fan_relay_2
- output.turn_off: fan_relay_3
- if: # Fan low speed
condition:
lambda: return ((state >= 0.3) && (state < 0.6));
then:
- if:
condition:
lambda: return id(buzzer_enabled).state;
then:
- output.turn_on: buzzer
- delay: 50ms
- output.turn_off: buzzer
- output.turn_off: fan_relay_3
- output.turn_on: fan_relay_1
- output.turn_on: fan_relay_2
- delay: 5s
- output.turn_off: fan_relay_2
- if: # Fan mid speed
condition:
lambda: return ((state >= 0.6) && (state < 0.9));
then:
- if:
condition:
lambda: return id(buzzer_enabled).state;
then:
- output.turn_on: buzzer
- delay: 50ms
- output.turn_off: buzzer
- delay: 100ms
- output.turn_on: buzzer
- delay: 50ms
- output.turn_off: buzzer
- output.turn_off: fan_relay_3
- output.turn_on: fan_relay_1
- output.turn_on: fan_relay_2
- if: # Fan high speed
condition:
lambda: return (state >= 0.9);
then:
- if:
condition:
lambda: return id(buzzer_enabled).state;
then:
- output.turn_on: buzzer
- delay: 50ms
- output.turn_off: buzzer
- delay: 100ms
- output.turn_on: buzzer
- delay: 50ms
- output.turn_off: buzzer
- delay: 100ms
- output.turn_on: buzzer
- delay: 50ms
- output.turn_off: buzzer
- output.turn_off: fan_relay_2
- output.turn_off: fan_relay_3
- output.turn_on: fan_relay_1
- delay: 5s
- output.turn_on: fan_relay_3
- output.turn_off: fan_relay_1
light:
- platform: binary
name: 'Light'
id: light_comp
output: light_relay
fan:
- platform: speed
name: 'Fan'
id: fan_comp
output: fan_relays
speed_count: 3
switch:
- platform: template
name: 'Buzzer enabled'
id: buzzer_enabled
entity_category: config
optimistic: True
restore_mode: RESTORE_DEFAULT_OFF
sensor:
- platform: wifi_signal
name: 'WiFi signal'
- platform: uptime
name: 'Uptime'
unit_of_measurement: s
binary_sensor:
- platform: gpio
name: "Button"
pin:
number: GPIO00
inverted: true
text_sensor:
- platform: version
name: 'ESPHome Version'
# Commands from the RF remote control are sent via
# UART0 RX (= GPIO03)
# These commands are translated into hex strings
# by the IFanRemote custom text_sensor (ifan_remote.h).
# The first 2 bytes (AA55) and the checksum byte
# at the end, are removed.
#
# 1 (Light on/off) = (AA55) 0104000104 (0A)
# 2 (Mute/buzzer) = (AA55) 0106000101 (09)
# 3 (High speed) = (AA55) 0104000103 (09)
# 4 (Medium speed) = (AA55) 0104000102 (08)
# 5 (Fan off) = (AA55) 0104000100 (06)
# 6 (Low speed) = (AA55) 0104000101 (07)
# 7 (RF clearing) = (AA55) 0101000102 (05)
# 8 (Wi-Fi pairing) = (AA55) 0101000102 (05)
- platform: custom
lambda: |-
auto ifan_remote_sensor = new IFanRemote(id(uart_bus));
App.register_component(ifan_remote_sensor);
return {ifan_remote_sensor};
text_sensors:
name: 'RC command'
on_value:
then:
- if: # Light on/off
condition:
lambda: return x == "0104000104";
then:
- light.toggle: light_comp
- if: # Buzzer on/off
condition:
lambda: return x == "0106000101";
then:
- switch.toggle: buzzer_enabled
- output.turn_on: buzzer
- delay: 10ms
- output.turn_off: buzzer
- if: # Fan off
condition:
lambda: return x == "0104000100";
then:
- fan.turn_off: fan_comp
- if: # Fan low speed
condition:
lambda: return x == "0104000101";
then:
- fan.turn_on:
id: fan_comp
speed: 1
- if: # Fan mid speed
condition:
lambda: return x == "0104000102";
then:
- fan.turn_on:
id: fan_comp
speed: 2
- if: # Fan high speed
condition:
lambda: return x == "0104000103";
then:
- fan.turn_on:
id: fan_comp
speed: 3
This is what i’m using for my yaml config. I also SSHed into esphome and uploaded the ifan_remote.h file to the config directory that also stores the yaml .
I saw a number of people here had trouble getting the iFan04 into flash mode, how did you solve it? I’ve tried different USB cables, installing all recommend drivers for ESP and the adapter I’m using, but no luck.
When I plug just the adapter into my PC it recognizes it, but as soon as I try to connect the iFan04 nothing comes up. The LED comes on and it starts going into pairing mode if I just connect it to the adapter and plug it into my PC, but nothing happens when trying to hold the power button while giving it power.
Any ideas?
I had no issues doing it - but did have to hold the button on the ifan04 when plugging in the usb to the computer.
Ya that’s what I’ve been doing. Was there any LED or sound indication that it was in flashing mode?
Nope - I usually test it’s in the right mode by dumping the firmware first. I have had some challenges identifying the device on the computer.
From that single frontside picture the USB TTL device doesn’t have a regulator on it which means you might have missed that it is basically a requirement for this board. Sonoff Ifan04 - ESPHome working code - #61 by NonaSuomy
i have used that same adapter to flash all three of my boards and didn’t have any issues.