Controlling your home with tiny, cheap touchscreens
a day ago
- The author was inspired by a friend's post about a cheap AliExpress touchscreen used to control Home Assistant lights.
- They had a problem with motion-sensing lights in their home office turning on at night, and wanted a simple way to adjust brightness and color.
- Using an AI coding tool (Codex), they adapted existing code to create a two-button interface for their Philips Hue bulbs.
- They 3D printed a mount for the touchscreen and placed it near the office door, allowing anyone to easily change lighting scenes.
- The solution cost about $16–$21, is highly hackable, and the author plans to buy more for other rooms.
- They recommend using the ESP32-S3 touchscreen with Home Assistant and suggest searching for custom mounts on Makerworld.