homeThing Remote ⚙️

(esphome remote)

A collection of Open Source Universal Remotes that run a custom menu system to integrate with your smart home

• iPod style menu system for controlling media players, lights, hvac, window covers, etc
• Open source, customizable, and 3D printable hardware specific for homeThing remotes

Learn More

• Get Started - Learn how to build your own remote
• Discord - support / chat with the community and the team

Demo Video 🎬

Watch on YouTube

Hardware 💪

We made a couple of custom devices for running homeThing, but it can also run on almost any ESP32 such as,

• M5Stack Fire
• M5Stick C
• Lilygo T-Display T4
• Lilygo T-Display TTGO
• Lilygo T-Display S3

homeThing Devices

TDisplay homeThing	TDisplay S3 homeThing
Order Case from PCBWay	Order from PCBWay
Case 3D Files	Case 3D Files
ESPHome Config	ESPHome Config
Features Low cost remote with minimal parts Scroll wheel and 2 configurable buttons USB-C Charging 3D Printable case with 3 parts	Features Faster processor and larger display Custom PCB for easier setup IR Blaster for controlling infrared devices Interal microphone for Voice Assistant Scroll wheel and 5 configurable buttons USB-C Charging 3D Printable case with 2 parts
Parts Adafruit ANO Directional Navigation and Scroll Wheel Rotary Encoder Adafruit ANO Rotary Navigation Encoder Breakout PCB 1100mah lipo	Parts Adafruit ANO Directional Navigation and Scroll Wheel Rotary Encoder Adafruit ANO Rotary Navigation Encoder Breakout PCB Custom PCB INMP441 Microphone PCF8574 GPIO Extender 3.7V 7x20x50mm 700mAh Lipo 10mm Push Button M2.5x8mm screws 2N2222 Transistor

Menu Features 📝

iPod classic style menu

t-display demo	m5stack fire demo	lilygo T4 demo

• Scroll through list and press center to select
• With a scrollwheel the top button goes back
• On M5Stack going up past the top of the list will go back
• A scroll bar appears if list extends past the screen.
• Screen returns to now playing after display sleeps
  • Display sleeps after 10s of idle. Device sleeps after 2h of idle 💤
• Font size and UI size is adjustable in yaml 🔨
• Simple yaml configuration. all of the complicated code is included in other files 🛠
• Header is always shown at the top with info about the current state

Now playing screen ⏯

• Control media players using the scroll wheel buttons
• Scroll for volume using the scroll wheel

Music	TV
Control smart speakers like Sonos, Spotify, or Google Home Change source from Spotify playlists, Sonos Favorites, and custom lists Manage speaker groups	Menu navigation such as up, down, left, right, select (with scroll wheel) Power, back, home, pause in second menu Change source from tv source list Optional soundbar support

IR Remote

• Custom UI and buttons to control infrared cat toys

Games

• Snake
• Breakout

Mentions

• Home Assistant Voice Contest - Best Starting Guide https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2024/03/16/voice-assistant-community-contest-winners-annoucement/
• Hackaday https://hackaday.com/2022/09/08/scroll-through-esphome-with-ipod-style-click-wheel/
• Hackster https://www.hackster.io/news/ipod-style-esphome-remote-3ca38edab2b4
• Reddit post https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/x59dcp/i_built_an_ipod_style_esphome_remote_for_home/
• Self Hosted - Episode 80 - Solving Whole Home Audio (around 30:00) https://selfhosted.show/80

includes

• ESPHome
• Iosevka Font
• @ssieb's IP5306 esphome component
• homeThing ESPHome Components

Sponsorship

PCBWay sponsors 3D Printing and PCB assembly costs on this project during the prototyping phase!

If you are interested in their awesome fabrication services please check them out.  They offer

3D prototyping, PCB design and assembly, as well as CNC metal fabrication.  Costs are reasonable and the quality is as good as it gets.  Thank you PCBWay for sponsoring us and other fun projects!

cargo sponsors our website!

They make it super easy to keep things pretty and up to date! It’s honestly so much easier than managing our own site, highly recommended!