Home Assistant as growbox controller, using several different devices and sensors, connected via D1 Mini/ESP8266-12-e

Home Assistant setup

Install

1. Install Home Assistant as container (for Core installation check the "core" branch out)

docker compose up -d

If you need Docker run for RaspiOS/Debian:

sudo bash utils/install-docker.sh

2. Run the steps for ESPHome installation, when completed run step 3

3. Install the ESPHome integration and in the "host" field, put your esp8266 ip address

Configure

homeassistant-configuration directory contains configuration for controlling USB relay board, using RESTful Binary Sensor.
To get it working, an API service must be started within raspbian OS and it allows you to install Home Assistant into a different host.
Link to the repo: usbAPI
If you don't want to use a USB relay board, you could use a WIFI relay board like this and thus you can skip all the steps related to USB-API relay board management.

Here's the example scripts.yaml file containing the scripts used for controlling relay board via API

Here's the example YAML for dashboard setup (cards and tiles)

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ESPHome installation

1. Install Python (script works on Linux hosts only), you can install a specific version by running:

sudo bash utils/install-python.sh 3.11.0

2. Create Python virtual environment and install Esphome package

sudo apt-get install python3-pip python3-venv -y
mkdir -p env
python -m venv env/
python -m pip -r requirements.txt

3. Connect esp8266 to your PC using USB cable (buy esp8266 with serial converter integrated)

4. Edit esphome-configuration/secrets.yaml to reflect your current wifi network

5. Move esphome-configuration/secrets.yaml and esphome-configuration/sht20.h (only if you use it, otherwise it's not required) to .esphome directory

mv esphome-configuration/secrets.yaml esphome-configuration/sht20.h .esphome

6. The first time you connect to esp8266 (via usb to serial cable), you need to tell esphome some information about your esp8266 device. Right after that, it will validate the configuration, create a binary, upload it, and start logs

cd .esphome && esphome wizard esphome-config.yaml

Next time you need to configure it, just connect to the same esp8266 network and launch commands over the air:

esphome run esphome-configuration/esphome-config.yaml

7. Read all the output and check for sensors errors, if clear come back to Home Assistant installation steps

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DEVICES

Main controller

D1 Mini - pinout
USB to serial converter

Relay Board

Denkovi USB 8 Channel - wiring

DEVICE	RPI4
USB-B	USB

PWM Controller

Universal AC MAINS Dimmer - MPDMv4.1
used for controlling 5 fans (4 oscillating + 1 inline)

PWM board	ESP8266
VCC	3V3
GND	GND
VCNT	GPIO15/D8

Sensors

D1-MINI/ESP8266 sensors wiring

Air

BME280 Temperature + Humidity + Pressure (i2c bus)

SENSOR	ESP8266
VIN	3V3
GND	GND
SCK	SCL/GPIO5/D1
SDO	SDA/GPIO4/D2

Soil

SHT20 Temperature + Humidity (i2c bus)

SENSOR	ESP8266
RED	3V3
BLACK	GND
GREEN	SDA/GPIO4/D2
YELLOW	SCL/GPIO5/D1

CO2

MH-Z19C NDIR (UART bus - 7pin terminal connection version)

SENSOR	ESP8266
PIN4 VIN	5V
PIN3 GND	GND
PIN5 RX	TX/GPIO1/D10
PIN6 TX	RX/GPIO3/D9

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POWER

DEVICE	REQUIRED POWER SOURCES
Denkovi USB 8CH relay board	12V 1A + 220V
Esp8266	5V/3.3V 1A
Raspberry Pi 4	5V 2A
Raspberry Pi 4 Fan	9V 1A
Power sockets	220V 16A (1,5mm2 cables)

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3D CASES

Take a look at 3D directory
References:

• Raspberry Pi 4 case (40mm fan) by John_Sinclair on Thingiverse
• 12V USB 8 Channel relay board by polysquare on Thingverse
• BME280 case by leptitnicolas on Thingverse
• Arduino nano + 2 channel arduino relay + voltage stepdown box by flying_ginger on Thingverse. Used for housing ESP8266 (by making a drawer/slot manually since screw holes aren't available on the board), MH-Z19, cables and as attach surface for placing BME280 externally.

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