Daniel Cook asked 3 years ago
Hi, I saw an ad for an ESP32 board I had not seen before and it seemed to be exactly what I needed for my smart doorbell project – so I ordered the pkg of four. I received the order from Amazon and I was surprised to see something totally brand new to me. The board has four rows of pins / servicing 30+ connections and it has an assortment of headers. I am not quite sure how to use the headers, In addition the whole board is wide enough so that it fits on a breadboard but takes up all the rows from side to side. My plan was to use the breadboard to dev the project and then move the layout pin for pin over to the duplicate breadboards that can be soldered. My thoughts would be to solder the headers so that there are two side by side with female connectors facing up and do this on both sides of the board – would that be correct? I have attached two photos of the board.
Sorry this is so long but I have more than one question about my project and this board. My plans are to use this as the controller for the doorbell part of my project which will have a capacitive touch switch, a motion sensor, a mic and a speaker for two way communication. Then, I will have another module mounted above the door using an ESP32 Cam for the pix/video. Both of these modules will communicate with another ESP32 board (server) via BT to trigger the Chimes and communicate with the internet using ESPHome and / or Home Assistant. This is but one of the functions of my smart home project. I want to get this part working because my wife and I are campground hosts during the summer and have been for 8 years. The problem is that we are getting more and more and more break-ins and home invasions in our home neighborhood and I want to be able to keep an eye on our home from a remote connection at our campground. There will also be other smart home devices like water meter and wash machine monitoring / control, freezer / ref monitors along with some of the other HA goodies as time progresses
Again, sorry for the “book”. Thanks for your help.
Oh, I have purchased almost all of your courses and I absolutely love all of them. You guys are so knowledgeable and you go the extra mile to answer questions and make appropriate suggestions. Thanks for being who you are!
Sara Santos Staff answered 3 years ago
Hi.
I had never seen that ESP32 module before.
But, the multiple rows are there to provide you access to all GPIOs in a small form factor.
I’m not sure that I understood what you said about how you would place the board on a breadboard.
I don’t think that board is meant to be placed on a breadboard. I think it is to be used with female sockets and male jumper wires as you do with an Arduino. Do you understand what I mean? I hope it is not confusing.
Thank you so much for your nice words. I’m really glad you enjoy our courses.
Regards,
Sara
Daniel Cook answered 3 years ago
Thanks for the quick answer Sara. When I put the longer header pins on the outside row, it does fit a breadboard. I agree that the female header pins are the ones meant to be used with the female wires/jumpers. My intention is to use a solder type breadboard that emulates a standard BB. That way I can mount my BB PS and the other devices I will need. The Mains power will be coming over the existing doorbell wiring at 24V AC and be converted at the site of the DB box. Eventually, I will want to install electronic smart door latches too. So, all of this is the reason for the breadboard solution. Of course I could use the old hard wired method but I find that rather tedious. Thanks again, Dan
Sara Santos Staff answered 3 years ago
You have to see the best way to arrange it to fit your project.
Let me know if you need further help.
Regards,
Sara