home-server

A custom server for managing appliances at home using ESP8266-based devices like Sonoff and Wemos D1 Mini

Screenshots

Motivation

I bought a bunch of Sonoff devices and decided to upgrade their firmware to Sonoff-Tasmota.

By replacing the stock firmware, I can have complete control over the device. Sonoff-Tasmota uses MQTT as the underlying protocol for communication between a broker and the device.

After using MQTT Dash for some time, I decided to build a Progressive Web App.

Setup

Server runs on a local Raspberry PI model 3 B+ which has the following services:

• Mosquitto MQTT Broker
• Redis server

I currently own 6 Sonoff devices, which are connected to the following appliances:

• Patio lamp
• Desk lamp
• Room lamp
• Room heater 1 (this one also reports values from its SI7021 temperature and humidity sensor).
• Room heater 2
• Wall socket

I also have a bunch of sensors connected to a Wemos D1 Mini (flashed with the same firmware above) in my living room:

• DHT22/AM2301 temperature and humidity sensor
• HC SR501 PIR motion sensor
• BMP280 temperature and atmospheric pressure sensor
• BH1750 light level sensor
• Infrared receiver and remote control
• RF transmitter and receiver

How it works

All devices establish a connection to the MQTT broker and report their state while also subscribing to a control topic, allowing you to switch them on/off.

Server runs as a daemon and subscribes to all sensor topics. Some logic decides when to switch the room heater on/off.

The UI is built on React and consists of simple components that allow the user to switch the appliances on/off and view sensor, weather and derived data, like the "real feel" temperature.

The browser keeps a connection to the MQTT broker over a Websocket.

What's next?

Not sure, but I recently started playing with electronics and found home-automation to be my new hobby.

I'll keep experimenting with dev boards like Arduino, NodeMCU, ESP8266 and Sonoff devices. They are low cost devices that allows easy customization.

Possible next projects:

• Automatic plant watering for my garden 🌻
• OLED display screen showing sensor data 📺
• Remote controled car 🚙