Pocster Posted August 17 Posted August 17 (edited) 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 August 17 by Pocster 1
Pocster Posted August 17 Author Posted August 17 1 hour ago, SteamyTea said: Ummmm , sorry , missing the engineering ‘thing’ here
SteamyTea Posted August 17 Posted August 17 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 Posted August 17 Posted August 17 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? 😕 1
Pocster Posted August 17 Author Posted August 17 (edited) Come on guys ! Esp32 ( especially s3 ) is awesome ness ! Edited August 17 by Pocster 1
SteamyTea Posted August 17 Posted August 17 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. 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). 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. 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 Posted August 17 Posted August 17 1 hour ago, Pocster said: Come on guys ! Esp32 ( especially s3 ) is awesome ness ! I prefer something home grown raspberry pi, pi pico etc 1
Pocster Posted August 17 Author Posted August 17 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 Posted August 17 Author Posted August 17 (edited) 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 August 17 by Pocster
Pocster Posted August 27 Author Posted August 27 (expletive deleted) me ! Taken 3 days to get an esp32 tft screen working . ChatGPT talking bollocks and sending me in loops . Got it working now via human skills !
SteamyTea Posted August 27 Posted August 27 1 minute ago, Pocster said: Taken 3 days to get an esp32 tft screen working I gave up after 2 hours. Like sex, I may try again one day.
Pocster Posted August 27 Author Posted August 27 4 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: I gave up after 2 hours. Like sex, I may try again one day. Like sex ; you need to keep going …
SteamyTea Posted August 27 Posted August 27 1 minute ago, Pocster said: Like sex ; you need to keep going … Like electronics, keep going till you smell burning.
Pocster Posted August 27 Author Posted August 27 4 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: Like electronics, keep going till you smell burning. Yes . Then apply some gel . Careful where you put the oscilloscope probe though .
SteamyTea Posted August 27 Posted August 27 27 minutes ago, Pocster said: oscilloscope probe though . Hertz? Not the smell of burning polymer that is the worry, it's the smell of burning flesh.
Pocster Posted Thursday at 17:27 Author Posted Thursday at 17:27 (edited) After the initial hours wasted with ChatGPT getting it wrong we are now in a new era ! . I’m completely blown away ! . In a few hours we have a good start on a completely custom solution . It’s an incredible tool and clearly negates 90% of programmers . Incredible !! Whilst I could do everything we have achieved it would have taken me months ! Edited Thursday at 17:45 by Pocster
S2D2 Posted Thursday at 18:30 Posted Thursday at 18:30 54 minutes ago, Pocster said: After the initial hours wasted with ChatGPT getting it wrong we are now in a new era ! . I’m completely blown away ! . In a few hours we have a good start on a completely custom solution . It’s an incredible tool and clearly negates 90% of programmers . Incredible !! Whilst I could do everything we have achieved it would have taken me months ! Don't use ChatGPT for software.
Pocster Posted Thursday at 18:31 Author Posted Thursday at 18:31 Just now, S2D2 said: Don't use ChatGPT for software. Why an earth not !! It’s been stunning
S2D2 Posted Thursday at 18:51 Posted Thursday at 18:51 15 minutes ago, Pocster said: Why an earth not !! It’s been stunning A 15 minute youtube video or adafruit tutorial will get you further than 2? 4? 6? 10? Hours invested in telling ChatGPT it got it wrong again. If it can't point you to the content it's incorrectly regurgitating faster than your favourite search engine then what is it actually contributing?
Pocster Posted Thursday at 18:56 Author Posted Thursday at 18:56 2 minutes ago, S2D2 said: A 15 minute youtube video or adafruit tutorial will get you further than 2? 4? 6? 10? Hours invested in telling ChatGPT it got it wrong again. If it can't point you to the content it's incorrectly regurgitating faster than your favourite search engine then what is it actually contributing? Absolutely! At first ! I corrected it once I did the research . it wasn’t a simple adafruit issue . Getting the right gpio setup for a quality Chinese tft is somewhat hit and miss . This it performed poorly on . But since then - it’s done months of work in 3 hours .
Pocster Posted Thursday at 20:25 Author Posted Thursday at 20:25 I’m on about it writing the code ! Not using it as a glorified search engine !!
Pocster Posted Thursday at 21:15 Author Posted Thursday at 21:15 25 minutes ago, S2D2 said: It’s not perfect . It can get ‘stuck’ trying the same things over and over again . Needs a nudge sometimes . “ hey can we double buffer “ , “ what about a software sprite “ - you know guidance in a direction . Programmers will become obsolete soon
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