I have finally received some of my first devices for ESPHome. As I have mentioned before, these are prebuilt devices, even though ESPHome is mostly built for tinkering yourself. But we’ll get there eventually.
This post is part one of a series on ESPHome. This series is documenting my adventures with ESPHome from start to finish, from easy to more advanced. Please find the introduction post here and the entire series here.
So this is a short review for the two ESPHome devices I currently have: The Apollo Automation MTR-1 and the Everything Presence Lite Kit1.
Apollo Automation MTR-1
The Apollo Automation MTR-1 is a presence sensor using millimetre wave. It can detect up to three people, and you are supposed to be able to define some zones for detection (more on that later). I ordered the devices directly from the webshop, and it shipped rather quickly to Switzerland, which is always a very welcome experience. I opted to go for the version that doesn’t have any additional sensors, just the presence sensor.
The device is small, in fact, it is so small it is challenging to describe how small it is. Basically, I’m quite amazed at how anything fits in this small package. The sensor comes in white, has a 3d-printed case and has a USB-C port on the back2.
I was thinking of maybe running the sensor behind some furniture, but it hasn’t been that lucky. It has so many configuration options that it is super overwhelming, and I haven’t properly worked out how to connect it directly to the app, so I can set up the zone. But the detection does work, and it is rather quick at detecting any change.
The setup was super easy, just plug in the sensor using any USB-C charger, then connect to the Wi-Fi access point that it broadcasts and go to the website at http://192.168.4.1 and connect the device to your network there. This is all wonderfully documented on the Apollo Automation Wiki and really makes the process nice to set up.
Overall, I’m super happy with the device, and I’m quite excited to get to know some more options and configure it a bit more to my specific likes.
Everything Presence Lite Kit
Everything Smart was recommended to me by a friend who is also experimenting around with a smart home. Unfortunately, they were always sold out, and I didn’t really have a good use case for another presence sensor. I did, however, sign up to their email list regardless, and at some point I received an email that the Lite version of their sensor is back in stock. That combined with the fact that they were advertising an injection mould case, and I was basically sold3.
The sensor also arrived, but to my surprise, it was a bit harder to set up (at least in my mind). Instead of simply plugging it in, I had to first flash the firmware on the device. This included my Wi-Fi credentials. While I think the access point approach is a bit nicer, this, of course, also worked and in my case it was also good to learn how to do this. Luckily, the seller provides a web-based tool to do this which is straightforward to use.
The only thing that was a bit challenging for me is that Firefox does not support the required technology4. But I sometimes guess you just have to bite the bullet, so I downloaded chromium and got started. The entire process was super easy to do, and it just worked. That’s how it should be. After the flashing process, I just plugged in the cable and the device automatically announced itself in my ESPHome dashboard as well as in the devices section of Home Assistant.
Just as with the Apollo device, I haven’t played around with all the settings, but rest assured there are a lot of them. The Everything Presence Lite is also capable of detecting multiple people and having multiple zones, which, I think, is super cool. It also suffers a bit from the same problem with the detection from behind furniture, but I guess that was maybe a bit optimistic anyway.
ESPHome in general
The major thing I learned with these two devices is how to interact with ESPHome and how to add devices to it. The experience has been wonderful, and it’s great to see that there are updates coming in every once so often. The process is super easy, and I can just start the ESPHome update if I see it pop up. Of course, after having updated the ESPHome component, I will then also have to update all my ESPHome devices. But so far, it’s only two devices and a simple button press can start the update process, which is really super convenient enough.
I’m super excited to start tinkering around a bit with my development boards and custom sensors. Let’s see where the road leads me.
These are links directly to the shop, these are not affiliate links and I don’t get anything for linking to these pages. Neither of these devices are from large cooperations, but small tinkerers. ↩︎
Just like the European Union, I follow a strict USB-C only policy, which has been corrupted a little by my smart home adventures. But I was delighted to see both devices have USB-C and honestly, it’s just the best connector. ↩︎
The total pricing including shipping falling within the free amount that one can get shipped to Switzerland was, of course, also helpful, as having to pay the import taxes is always a super frustrating process. For reasons unknown to me, the Swiss post makes this super extra expensive. ↩︎
While for using the tool this is a bit annoying, I think Firefox cannot be blamed here. It’s not an official standard, and Mozilla has voiced some concerns. I might not be fully unbiased in this though, I’m a big fan of Firefox. ↩︎