This $5 ESP32 board is the ultimate choice for DIY smart home projects

Are you tired of looking at expensive smart home projects and just want to build some yourself, but don’t know where to start? The ESP32 is the ultimate option for both beginners and enthusiasts for DIY smart home gear, and the best module costs just $5.

Most smart home projects are powered by ESP32 already

It’s one of the most used microcontrollers on the market

It might surprise you to hear that Espressif, the makers of the ESP32 microcontroller, are one of the largest smart home microcontroller manufacturers in the space. Many smart home devices, like smart plugs, lights, switches, and more, are based on the Espressif platform. Even Apple HomeKit devices often use Espressif chips (though there are some custom changes made for Apple, because, well, Apple).

The ESP32 is one of the most well-documented smart home microcontrollers as a result of this, and devices like the ESP32-C6 make it easier than ever before to build your own DIY smart home products. it’s actually possible to take ESP-based smart home products and flash custom firmware to them if you want to change how they work.

Since the ESP32 boards are so widely used across the smart home ecosystem, they’re actually cheap. Like, really cheap, and that alone makes the ESP32 platform the best for DIY smart home projects.

You can get ultra-cheap ESP32s with built-in Zigbee, Thread, and Matter

All you need is power and some soldering skills

Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C6 with blurred out microelectronics in the background.

If you want to build your own smart home projects, then the ESP32-C6 is the microcontroller for you—specifically the Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C6.

The ESP32-C6 features not only Wi-Fi 6 built-in, but also Bluetooth 5 (with Bluetooth LE support), as well as Thread, Zigbee, and Matter support out of the box. With this setup, you’ll be able to integrate the ESP32-C6 with just about any smart home platform you might be running.

Wi-Fi support allows it to tie into things like Home Assistant, Alexa, or Google Assistant. Matter and Thread bring native HomeKit integration. Zigbee allows for Wi-Fi-free control of the device. And the ESP32-C6 from Seeed Studio is basically the size of your thumb.

Another benefit of the ESP32-C6 from Seeed Studio is that it has an onboard power management chip, which means that this specific ESP32 can be powered either by the built-in USB-C port, or through a battery that you integrate. The best part is, since the power management and charge circuit are integrated at the chip level, the onboard USB-C port can power the battery, so you don’t have to try and figure out your own charging circuit.

Really, all you need is some soldering skills and a way to power your smart home device, and you’re be off to the races. The ESP32-C6 runs on 5V or 3.7V power, but outputs 3.3V at about 500mA. This is more than enough power to handle things like running a relay to toggle a switch on or off, handle mmWave presence detection, run a moisture meter, or do anything else you need it to do.

In fact, ESP32 can handle almost any type of sensor you can think of hooking up to it, making it the perfect piece of smart home tech for DIY sensors.

ESPHome makes integrating any ESP32 project with Home Assistant a simple task

You don’t even have to know how to code

The beauty of the ESP32 is you can program it in many ways, including both traditional programming and Home Assistant-style YAML programming.

For starters, an ESP32 can be programmed within the Arduino IDE or even flashed with CircuitPython or MicroPython, depending on the model of ESP32 you picked up. However, the best way to build smart home products with ESP32 is with ESPHome—an extension to Home Assistant.

Within ESPHome, you’re able to fully customize the sensor readouts of the ESP32 and integrate it deeply within Home Assistant. Home Assistant is already the backbone of most DIY smart home setups, so integrating your ESP32 with Home Assistant just makes sense.

ESPHome works by flashing a custom firmware file to the ESP32 and then remotely flashing it with future updates. With ESPHome, you can access each individual pin and control what happens with the data. This means you can read temperature data from a temperature sensor, accelerometer data, handle motion detection, or even see the battery charge percentage.

If you’re planning on building any custom ESP32-based smart home projects, then ESPHome is the best way to integrate them with your Home Assistant setup.

DIY smart home devices are more attainable now than ever

If you still think that smart home sensors aren’t worth building yourself, think again. An ESP32-C6 costs just $5, and you can get multipacks of most sensors for another $5-$10. Full sensor buildouts can cost hardly anything compared to buying a sensor pre-done.

I plan on putting ESP32-C6-based mmWave presence and temperature sensors around my house to integrate with Home Assistant, and the sensor cost will be less than $10 each all-in, including lithium-ion batteries.

ESP32 sensors are a great introduction to microcontrollers due to the price, size, and the fact that they have great capability, making them the perfect option for building DIY smart home devices.

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Stephan Dorsey

Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.

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