ESPHome is what you're looking for. Makes it very easy to integrate ESP32 and similar devices.
this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2026
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I had some micropython boards using mqtt to talk to HA, great for sensors, but have switched most to Esphome, it integrates easier into HA.
I've got a wall switch on the coffee grinder that switches off after a min, because otherwise it's power supply humms.
I've got a epaper display on the fridge, battery powered that tells me what type of recycling goes out this week (uses deep sleep mode on esp to wake up every 18hrs, pull info from HA calendar to display, report it's battery state, so we can get a mobile alert to charge it every couple of months)
A esp8266 board that's got 6 relays, hooked up to dampers on the central air conditioning, turns on or off airflow to different rooms.
Power monitoring for the washing machine to send a voice message when the washing machine is done, using Athom Tech plugs that come with Esphome pre installed
Another athom tech plug on our electric blankets, nothing like having them automatically come on and never having to worry about leaving them on (will turn off after 3hrs after they automatically or are manually turned on)
Several accent lights using Esphome powered rgb light strips, could also use wled, but Esphome is good for this too
Esphome is amazing with home assistant!. Build a climate control with it for my server room for example. Pure esphome sensors and relays on a single board.
I've made a few, but they were quite specific in their purpose. The esp32 ecosystem is pretty great for this purpose, but generally I find people won't take the time to fuss around with making their own anything when off the shelf varieties are cheap.
In German, but yes, made my own CO2-Sensors.
With Esphome I made a gate opener (soldered a wireless remote to a relay module and the module to an esp32), a thermostat (screen, encoder wheel, dht-22, etc), a pc power button remote... and like 8 other projects that I never finished!
Ya, as others have said... esp32 (or esphome)
I have a 4 temp sensor (two DS18B20) that are attached to my in/out water lines to my geothermal water loop, and 2 (DHT22) in the air stream showing/logging IN/OUT air temp.
Don't mind my terrible ms paint drawing :)
Wow, awesome! Thanks for sharing it.
I have lots of temp/humidity sensors. I use them to control heating zones instead of the traditional thermostats.
I've become a big fan of the Adafruit BME680, but it's pricey compared to other sensors. But, you get temp, humidity, pressure, etc. Very accurate, too.
The sensors are connected to D1 Mini boards. The dry contact switches I use are in a 4 switch device from Sonoff (4CH Pro, I think).
I prefer Tasmota to ESP Home, but it's personal preference.
You could easily control your own contactors instead of using a Sonoff device if you want.
I made my own smart outlets with an ESP-01, dual relay board, and ESPHome. Also made some temp/humidity sensors as well as a 20x4 text display. All powered by a bunch of ESP-01s I bought cheap and in-bulk from Ali and programming using ESPHome which handles most of the work interfacing with the components as well as the HomeAssistant integration.