What would be the basic skill to engage in ESPHome projects?

ESPHome
1

I am a software developer so i am good in reading/writing code. I have some theoretical knowledge on electronics side but no practical experience.

I want to read / change basic electronic circuits with ESP32 IoT development. For example, I have a coffee machine that has just one button. When I press the button it starts brewing coffee. I would like to automate this one event (pressing the button).

I know there is a learning curve involved but I am looking for suggestion how/where to start and acquire some basic knowledge on electronics side.

2

I think finding similar projects that have a good write up is a good place to start. Search this forum and Google.

Simulating button presses is quite common and you might even find someone has done something clever with your coffee machine or similar.

3

Don’t mess with mains electricity, die or burn you place down.
Learn how to solder. Dont leave your projects on breadboards. Half your problems will be bad wiring.
Leave your family. They will only try to distract you from your new life.

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4

Meanwhile you should read @Spiro’s other main contribution to home assistant lore : :grin:

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5

Depends on your preferences… One like to read books, another needs to get hands dirty. I would do both. At least you need to completely understand ohms law to start…
Start with one interesting project that is relative safe, so no mains circuits or lithium batteries before you have learned basics.

Also, get a good multimeter and practice to use it well, try all the functions it has.

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6

Youtube is good for sensors, switches,buttons,leds,buzzers and relays to add to microcontrollers but not so good for code as things change so quick. Physically connecting to stuff doesn’t change that much with time. I have seen youtube videos on making coffee machines smart.
Mostly I use capacitors,resistors,diodes,N-type or P-type transistors and mosfetts so I view YT how to make simple circuits with them.

7

One thing that have changed is buttons though, due to the low voltage many designs use today.
Adding a wire and try to short the button with a ESP device might make it start to act up, because the wires act as antennas and get enough power that way to activate the button.

8

Ha ha. I’ve done that. Tried a button without a pullup resistor on 10cm wires and made it float and it picked up stray EM signals and it turned on/off several times a second without pressing the button. You will probably need more 10K resistors than anything else. You learn by making these mistakes on 3V circuits.

9

If you have floating input, you don’t really need to have strong EM interfering. Floating input doesn’t have any fixed state, it’s almost random even in faraday cage.

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10

If you are new to ESPHome, then buying a few esp32’s and a bunch of sensors you are interested in (temp, humidity, motion, lux, ir, rf etc) and doing some wiring, configuring and flashing of a standalone device is a decent first step prior to trying to hardwire interface/hack a dumb device.

That way you gain some knowledge in a safer/isolated low voltage setting before you venture out to anything that is higher risk.

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11

There are sensor boxes that make a pretty decent starter kit.