Ultimate Bedside Lamp

 

Over the years, I've tried dozens of different bedside lamps and alarm clocks.  None were perfect... some were simply too bright for a dark bedroom at night.  Others were too difficult to read from bed without glasses.  Some had "jarring" alarms or buzzers that shocked you awake.  Few had any integrations that could be used in automations. And the list goes on.  So I decided to build my own version of the Ultimate Bedside Lamp and Alarm Clock.

CES: First Time Attendee Experience

 

CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show) is one of the world's largest conferences with around 140,000 - 150,000 attendees.  It is the largest conference hosted by Las Vegas each year.  It is covered, in depth, by every major technology news outlet along with thousands of content creators.  In fact, if you are reading this article, you've probably already watched or read dozens of articles or videos covering all the new, cool and bizarre tech coming down the pike. There is likely nothing that I could show or describe that hasn't already been covered by a dozen others.

So, instead, I'm going to provide you a first-time attendee's experience... the good, bad and ugly... from the registration and arrival process through check-out and departure.  I'll talk about what we did wrong (a lot), what we did right (very little) and how much you might expect to spend ($$$$) should you decide you want to attend yourself at some point.    

Using Touch with the ESP32

 

Touch capability is built-in as a standard features for most ESP32 boards.  Simply attach a conductive surface to a touch-enabled GPIO pin.  However, using these touch pin directly comes with a number of caveats.  So this article will explore this method, but also look at a simple $2 component that can also add touch and avoid many of the potential issues when using the touch pins.

Creating your First ESPHome Device

 

This is a companion article for the YouTube video, ESPHome Starter Kit: Build Your First Smart Device.  It is recommended that you watch the video, then use this article to review some of the specifics, like wiring diagrams and sample code.

Using Relays with the ESP32

 

This article covers the connection, code and use of relays with the ESP32.  While some slight changes may be needed, the information provided here will generally work with other MCUs and SBCs, such as the ESP8266, most Arduino boards and even the Raspberry Pi.

CYD: Cheap Yellow Display

 

The Cheap Yellow Display (CYD) is a 320x480 LCD display with resistive or capacitance touch capabilities, mounted on a PCB with its own ESP32, a TF-Card reader and many more features. 

APDS9960 Proximity, Gesture, RGB And Ambient Light Sensor

 

As part of my research for a larger project (coming soon), I stumbled across this small $5 sensor that can provide proximity, gesture sensing and RGB + ambient light levels.  And all this with only 3 GPIO pins on the ESP32.  And it can be used with both Arduino/C++ sketches or in ESPHome for you Home Assistant users.

ESP Microcontrollers: An Introduction

 

A number of my projects use an ESP microcontroller.  And in those projects, I show wiring diagrams and talk about things like GPIO pins, power options, etc. but if you are new to the ESP boards, you might be wondering why I make some of the decisions that I do or want to know more about the ESPx so that you can start designing and building your own projects.  This article will provide an introduction and overview of the ESP family of microcontrollers.

An ESP32 LED Matrix Clock, Scoreboard, Timer and more with FULL WLED

 

This is an upgraded version of the original matrix clock I built over five years ago.  This version has substantial upgrades. In addition to being around 35% smaller than the original with the same number of LEDs, it no longer requires Home Assistant to control as it has its own web interface.  Plus it has the option for a secondary controller with auto-switching to provide all the additional features of WLED.

How to Ask for Help

Today's post is a bit different... consider it a bit of a public service announcement.  

A Robot Race Car Timing System

Prototyping the system

This project concept came from a YouTube subscriber.  Todd, who is a 6th grade computer science teacher, has a section of each semester where his students build, and then race, small robot cars.  In the past, he filmed the students, ran a stopwatch and recorded each race's final times... all while trying to help and teach the students.

He wondered if an automated timing system could be created with a visible time display.  Adding LED lighting would be a bonus.  What follows is the system that we eventually created.

WLED: Analog vs. Digital Microphones

 

If you want your LED display to react to sound or dance to music, you will need to add a microphone to your WLED controller.  The audio-reactive version of WLED supports both analog and digital microphones.  Which should you use for your project?  This guide will explore both options.

Using Dual Controllers with an LED Display

 

Have you ever wished that you could use two different controllers or firmware to control a single LED display?  Maybe you'd like to use both WLED and ESPHome to control an LED matrix.  Or ESPHome and Arduino/C++.  Or even a retail system like Govee with the default app, but adding the ability to also use WLED.  In this article I'll cover how you can create easily switchable controllers for your single LED display.

Starting out with DIY Projects

 

This article is only a companion piece to the YouTube video My Hands Are Sweating! Building Your First DIY Electronics Projects. Many folks are intimidated or believe that a workshop full of advanced electronics gear and specialty tools are required to build your own smart devices or other small electronic projects.  

Displays for your DIY Projects

 

There are dozens, if not hundreds of different small displays that you can add to your DIY project, from basic text displays to screens that can display images or even video.  This article is going to cover just a few of these as shown in the related YouTube Video: Add a Display to Your DIY Project