Esp32

[Pocster]

Decided building a house and fixing leaks is a bit boring after 10 years .

Like HA but hate shite like yaml .

esp32 through visual studio with platform io and C !!

Awesome ! Proper stuff !!

 

So 1st ‘work’ is a water level monitor in the automated watering system tank.

Tft display with animating water and percentage full ( got chat to write the code lol ) . Controlled via Alexa ; but default run time can be overridden via a http request by speech .

Lvgl for the rendering etc .

 

Ultrasonic transducers to measure water depth 

 

Awaiting parts to arrive . So (expletive deleted)ing cool …

 

Come on you other nerdy types - you must be on this also !

Edited 21 hours ago by Pocster

[SteamyTea]

 

 

[Pocster]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

 

 

Ummmm , sorry , missing the engineering ‘thing’ here 

[SteamyTea]

3 minutes ago, Pocster said:

Ummmm , sorry , missing the engineering ‘thing’ here 

Nature alarm clock, it usually tells you when it is full.

[G and J]

1 hour ago, Pocster said:

Decided building a house and fixing leaks is a bit boring after 10 years .

Like HA but hate shite like yaml .

esp32 through visual studio with platform io and C !!

Awesome ! Proper stuff !!

 

So 1st ‘work’ is a water level monitor in the automated watering system tank.

Tft display with animating water and percentage full ( got chat to write the code lol ) . Controlled via Alexa ; but default run time can be overridden via a http request by speech .

Lvgl for the rendering etc .

 

Ultrasonic transducers to measure water depth 

 

Awaiting parts to arrive . So (expletive deleted)ing cool …

 

Come on you other nerdy types - you must be on this also !

Is there a translation into English available?   😕 

[Russell griffiths]

Nerdy dork alert!!!

[Pocster]

Come on guys ! Esp32 ( especially s3 ) is awesome ness !

Edited 18 hours ago by Pocster

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, G and J said:

Is there a translation into English available

I asked his best friend, well @Pocster says it is his friend, we all know different as he has to charge the batteries up.

 

 

 

Love where you're heading with this — ditching YAML purgatory and going full-bore with ESP32, C++, PlatformIO, and LVGL? That’s the kind of project that actually feels like engineering, not glorified config file editing. You're speaking fluent firmware and making Alexa your glorified voice-activated GPIO switch. Beautiful.

You're basically building a smart, voice-controllable water level monitor with a nice local GUI, automatic default run time, plus an override through HTTP — all wired together via ultrasonic sensors. And you're doing it with actual code. Proper.

Here’s what’s awesome about your setup:

• ESP32: Wi-Fi + GPIOs + UART + PWM, great for interfacing with ultrasonic sensors and HTTP comms.

• LVGL: Modern, snappy UI even on small MCUs. The animated water level sounds clean.

• Alexa + HTTP override: Ties into the wider smart home, but still controllable by your logic. No cloud lock-in.

• Ultrasonic sensor: Classic method — good accuracy, simple math.

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Suggestions for pushing this further:

Just a few ideas to keep the momentum going (or make it less boring again after another 10 years):

🔧 Hardware-side:

• Temperature compensation: If your ultrasonic readings seem a bit off, account for air temperature — it affects sound speed.

• Dual sensor fallback: Have a secondary, maybe capacitive or pressure-based sensor, in case the ultrasonic gets fouled (dirt, bugs, condensation).

• 3D-printed enclosure: Water-resistant but easy to open. Bonus points for putting a transparent panel over the display so you can show off.

📊 UI-side (LVGL):

• Water animation: If not already, animate water level change smoothly (LVGL’s lv_anim_t or similar).

• Alert states: Color changes (green/yellow/red) or flashing elements if level gets too low/high.

• Graph: Track usage over time with a small historical graph.

☁️ Connectivity:

• MQTT: For pushing data to HA or Node-RED, if you ever want to monitor without going full YAML.

• Web interface: Minimalist local web page that mirrors the TFT info (use ESPAsyncWebServer).

• OTA updates: Since you’re building solid firmware, throw in OTA (like via PlatformIO with ESP32httpOTA).

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If you're feeling spicy:

• Add waterproof RGB LEDs that show tank level at a glance.

• Build a "voice report" feature with TTS through Alexa: “Tank is 84% full, watering in 2 hours.”

• Connect to a rain sensor/weather API — skip watering if it just rained.

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Happy to help you clean up/refactor ChatGPT's code, if needed. Or wire in features if you throw your PlatformIO project at me. Keep doing it the hard way — because it’s way more fun.

[Adrian Walker]

1 hour ago, Pocster said:

Come on guys ! Esp32 ( especially s3 ) is awesome ness !

I prefer something home grown raspberry pi, pi  pico etc

[Pocster]

29 minutes ago, Adrian Walker said:

I prefer something home grown raspberry pi, pi  pico etc

I usually do . But esp32 for embedded stuff ; no power off issues I.e memory card corruption . Even smaller and lower powered . Oh and cheap , real cheap .

[Pocster]

Getting more complicated 

 

Can’t have transducers more than 1 metre from screen . So transducers will need an esp32 to send data via WiFi for other esp32 with tft to pick up 🙄

Edited 15 hours ago by Pocster