Articles
Everything I have written.
HomeKit builds, projects, guides and blog posts in one place, the newest first.
Guides
HX711 + Load Cell Weight Sensor Complete Guide
The HX711 24-bit load cell amplifier: datasheet specifications, pins, load cell wiring, the serial protocol, calibration, code and the traps that give a drifting weight.
Read more
Guides
HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Distance Sensor
A cheap trigger/echo distance sensor for parking aids, water-level monitors and obstacle-avoiding robots. Covers the 5V echo pin that can damage a 3.3V-only ESP32 GPIO, and the safe ways to level-shift it.
Read more
Guides
ESP32-S3 Zero / Super Mini Pinout
The Waveshare ESP32-S3-Zero pin reference: the chip, the pins and strapping pins, the quad versus octal PSRAM setting, power, code and the traps.
Read more
Guides
ESP32-CAM (AI-Thinker) Pinout
The AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM pin reference: the full camera pin map, SD card pins, flashing with a USB-to-serial adapter, power, code and the traps.
Read more
Projects
ESP32 Matter: 69 Open-Source Smart-Home Devices, No Cloud Required
A from-scratch toolkit for building Matter smart-home devices on the ESP32: 69 real, buildable device types, a wizard that writes the build commands for you, and nothing that phones home.
Read more
Projects
ESP32 Lifecycle Manager V2.1: OTA Trust and Signing, Explained
The follow-up to the V2.0 setup guide: how Lifecycle Manager decides which firmware it trusts, Official Mode vs. Custom Publisher Mode, and how to sign your own OTA updates.
Read more
Guides
BME280 Temperature, Humidity & Pressure Sensor
A combined environmental sensor that reads temperature, humidity and barometric pressure from one I2C chip. Covers the BME280 vs BMP280 mislabeling trap, the calibration/compensation maths, and estimating altitude from pressure.
Read more