Connect ESP sensor to HE C7

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1

I have a couple of ESP32 devices available that I’m thinking of deploying as temp & humidity sensors. For those who have done this, I have a few quesitons:

  1. How did you connect it to HE (i.e., ESPHome, Esp Easy, custom app)?
  2. What sensor did you use (i.e. BME680, DHT22)?
  3. If you had to do it again, would you change anything?

Regards,
Mike

2

You want to read the Hubdino entry

3

Thanks, I will.

4

I run Home Assistant in Docker on Ubuntu, with ESPHome communicating over Wi-Fi to an ESP32 fitted with a waterproof DS18B20 temperature probe to monitor my aquarium.

I then use HADB (Home Assistance Device Bridge) to bring my HA entities into Hubitat for use in automations and alerts.

AI helped me set it up so I'm still a bit sketchy on all the details but it has been rock solid for 6 months now. It does require my PC to be always on but it's in another room so it doesn't bother me.

The only thing I would do differently is buying a better Esp32 board first as the USB port on the $10 board I started with broke immediately.

5

Thanks… I’ve been on Claude for the past hour and having it layout a solution using HubDuino. This option has no “middle-man” and has the ESP32 connected to the C7 directly.

6

I much prefer HA dashboards but Hubitat is king at automations that's why I did it this way.

7

Right now the easiest solution is to use ESPHome and import the device using MQTT Import Integration. Works really well for me.

8

Recently I built a DIY device with multiple attributes. HA picked up everything without any single problem. HE was seen everything as well but I couldn't map any single attribute because current HE import supports only single attribute devices. A custom HE driver was requred. For the other side Hubduino has no similar problems.

9

I have a thermocouple interface connected to a Seeedstudio ESP32-C3, integrated with HA via ESPHome. I use the HADB HE integration to bring it into HE. Works for me.

I have not tried the HE MQTT, yet. Still getting my feet wet trying to import to HA via HA's built in Mosquito broker and RTL_433 the 915MHz stream from a Beckett Oil Tank monitor, lol. I have succeeded so far with a 433MHz Lacrosse fridge temp sensor (useful), and 915MHZ Ecowitt sensors (will not use).

10

Depend on how did you build ESPHome Device it may or (most likely) maynot use MQTT. If you installed Mosquetto (or whatever) MQTT Broker on HA and it shows your ESPHome Device then yes, the Device is using MQTT. Otherwise it does not.

HADB always should work regardless. I am using HADB for years without any problems. And thanks to HA-HADB integration my current setup is 100% cloud-free, everything is 100% local.

11

HADB is quite awesome, I agree.

I just mentioned MQTT because that is the world I'm currently exploring. No MQTT for my thermocouple temp sensor setup, as far as I know, anyway, lol. It doesn't appear in HA's MQTT explorer anyway, as far as I can see.

12

Don’t forget the hints that future Hubitat software will support ESPHome devices (BLE only?). If I was starting today, I’d start with ESPHOME unless I really wanted bare metal and bare knuckles all the time.

13

keep sensor as far as possible away from the MCU.

14

You might be interested in reviewing my efforts:

15

Thanks for the information…

I am considering the next sensor to include air quality along with temp/humidity so will take a look at your solutions. I’ve decided for the first sensor to combine my existing Adafruit ESP32-V2 with an Adafruit SHT45 sensor using HubDuino.