I recently bought one of the ESP32 development boards without really knowing what it was but it looked like it had potential. The first disappointment is in the package itself... it is not breadboard friendly and it seems no one has really attempted to address this with a breakout board that would make it more user friendly.
Finding good examples too is a bit of a tester... lots of smoke and mirrors and not a lot of user friendly help online. There are lots of high end undertakings out there, Luanode, Python, Fauxmo, AsyncTCP, NodeMC, even a few attempts to create a stand alone Alexa type device on ESP32. It's all a bit mind boggling for an old arduino hacker like me. Part of the problem is that this board is an upgrade of the ESP8266 and most of the tutorials try to show how integrate them both into their project. They are different enough that this only seems to make it all the more difficult for the beginner.
To be fair they are both relatively new and are both targeted more to developers that to ordinary hackers like myself. To me one of the most interesting uses of this device is as a remote device that can be controlled by an Alexa... and this will be the focus of this site.
I've spent the past couple of days looking for examples of projects that use the board in this way. I found one with promise but seemed to have lost track of it. In it the board was connected to several relays and programmed to be found by an Alexa device. The Alexa would learn what devies were connected to it and what voice commands would be used to turn these things on and off. You could also group thing together such and all the lights in a particular room could be turned on or off with one command or you could control them individually. Try as I might I've not been able to find that particular application again.
So I invite you to join me in this undertaking to try and solve this mystery. I'm still waiting on a few components to experiment with and probably the easiest thing is to just use off the shelf stuff that is already available to do what I have in mind.
Ironically I had no Alexa and didnt even know that they could be used to control remote devices. I do have one on the way and a few of the Sonoff devices to get the ball rolling. I also have a couple of the ESP32 devices on hand and an 8 relay device on the way.
So stay tuned and we'll see how it goes.
The ESP32 Handyman home automation web server is up and running. The ESP32 connects to your local WiFi network and then you can connect via your cell phone or your computer or tablet and control eight devices. These are hard wired to an eight relay device which you can see in my previous post. The ESP32 serves up the webpage and switches the eight relays which are in turn wired to the devices you want to control. Virtually all of my lighting is led types. In my shed / shop area I have at least ten led light fixtures all on one circuit. I checked the load with an amp meter and it was less than two amps. The relay switches are rated for 10 amps so no problem there.
