{"id":624,"date":"2015-09-09T12:56:49","date_gmt":"2015-09-09T17:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bitquill.net\/blog\/?p=624"},"modified":"2016-05-12T14:24:39","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T19:24:39","slug":"esp8266-light-controller-clock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bitquill.net\/blog\/esp8266-light-controller-clock\/","title":{"rendered":"Week-long hack: ESP8266 touchscreen WiFi light controller and clock"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of months ago I picked up cheap\u00c2\u00a0WiFi-controlled LED bulbs (one<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0among\u00c2\u00a0dozens\u00c2\u00a0of very similar devices), after seeing them at a friend’s place. \u00c2\u00a0This turned out to be an excuse to play with the\u00c2\u00a0ESP8266<\/a>, which has inspired several hacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I was overall very happy with these bulbs: decent Android and iOS apps and, compared to fancier solutions (e.g., Philips Hue or Belkin WeMo), they\u00c2\u00a0do not require any proprietary base stations, and you can’t beat the price! \u00c2\u00a0However, switching off the lights before falling asleep involved\u00c2\u00a0hunting for the phone, opening the app, and waiting for it to scan the network; not an ideal user experience. \u00c2\u00a0I was actually missing our old X10<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0alarm clock controller (remember those?), so I decided to make one from scratch, because… why not?<\/p>\n

Although the X10 Powerhouse controller’s faux-wood styling\u00c2\u00a0and 7-segment LED had a certain… charm, I decided to go more modern and use a touchscreen. \u00c2\u00a0I also designed a 3D printed enclosure with simple geometric shapes and used it as a further excuse to play with 3D print finishing techniques. \u00c2\u00a0Here is the final result:<\/p>\n

\"ESP<\/p>\n

And here it is in action:<\/p>\n