Setting up a smart home can be a costly affair, if every device needed an expensive proprietary smart switch you would spend quite a bit of money. With a very tiny amount of soldering and some custom firmware, the Sonoff Basic model can be turned into a locally controlled MQTT enabled WiFi smart switch for about $7 each. These tiny little esp8266 based boards can be spliced into a power cord to add WiFi control to anything.

I have about a dozen of these and they work great. Because of how cheap they are, I have started adding them to some ridiculous devices. Today’s DIY WiFi retrofit: my coffee mug warmer.

I want my mug warmer to come on automatically when I enter my office in the morning, but only if I’ve made coffee already. But first, I need to flash some new firmware onto my Sonoff.

PARTS LIST

You will need:

• Sonoff Basic (I usually do them in batches, since they are cheaper in bulk)
• Male header pins
• FTDI/UART to USB serial adapter
• Dupont cables
• DHT22 sensor (optional)
• Mr Coffee Mug Warmer (or other device)

FLASHING THE SONOFF

SOFTWARE

To communicate with the Sonoff, we hook it up to the  serial adapter, and plug that into the computer (you may or may not need a FTDI serial driver, depending on OS). I use the Arduino IDE to flash the new software.

In the Arduino Preferences, add the additional boards URL for the Boards Manager

Arduino IDE – Additional Boards

http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json

Open the Boards Manager, and add the esp8266. Some versions of the Sonoff have issues with the newest version of the board, I recommend installing 2.3.0

Board Manager

HARDWARE

Here’s a diagram of what’s on the board:

Sonoff Basic esp8266 board

Solder 4 or 5 header pins to the Sonoff Basic to the open through holes:

Sonoff Basic pinout

We needs pins on VCC, RX, TX, and GND (and the fifth GPIO14 if you want to add a DHT sensor). The pin closest to the button is the power (VCC).

Programmer – Sonoff 

• 3V VCC – 3V VCC
• TX – RX
• RX – TX
• GND – GND
• GPIO14 – Data pin on the DHT22

Once you have the pins in place, connect a Dupont cable and attach it to the appropriate pins on the FTDI adapter. On my FTDI adapter, you can choose 3V or 5V with a jumper. Make sure yours is set to 3V for the esp8266.

!!! WARNING !!! Never connect the USB adapter and AC power at the same time, it’s dangerous!

FLASHING THE FIRMWARE

There are a lot of options for flashing the Sonoff. I am going to use the simple KmanSonoff. If you would like something more full featured, check out Sonoff-Tasmota. KmanSonoff is very lightweight and foolproof. It controls the switch, and a DHT22 humidity/temp sensor if you want. That’s it.

Download the KmanSonoff repository and the non-default MQTT library it uses, unzip both. Place the pubsubclient folder in your Arduino/libraries folder. Now open the KmanSonoff/arduino/KmanSonoff_v1.00sc INO file.

In config_sc.h, add your settings, which is mostly MQTT and the topic:

#define MQTT_SERVER "192.168.0.100" // Your mqtt server ip address
#define MQTT_PORT 1883 // Your mqtt port
#define MQTT_TOPIC "home/office/coffee_warmer" // Base mqtt topic
#define MQTT_USER "mqtt_user" // mqtt username
#define MQTT_PASS "mqtt_pass" // mqtt password

#define WIFI_SSID "wifissid" // Your WiFi ssid
#define WIFI_PASS "wifipass" // Your WiFi password

You can also enable the DHT22 if you’re using it.

Now attach the FTDI programmer to the computer while holding down the button on the Sonoff. Holding down the button puts it in flashing mode. Now, in the Arduino IDE, select the appropriate port and the “Generic esp8266” option for the board. Set Flash Size to “1M (64K SPIFFS)” and Flash Mode to “DOUT” (note: some boards use DIO, use that if this doesn’t work for you).

Arduino Flash Settings

Go to Sketch-> Upload. If all went well the LED will flash 4 times when it completes.

Flashing success

If you get an “esp comm” error you either didn’t wire it correctly (check the RX / TX) or didn’t hold down the button while plugging in the programmer.

If you didn’t get 4 flashes at the end of the upload, or nothing is happening when you plug it in, check your board settings.

Make sure you put the board back into it’s case in the correct orientation (the Sonoff verison number is in the bottom right).

When you plug it into AC power, it will flash 4 times when it connects to the wifi.

CONNECTING TO HOME ASSISTANT

To integrate with Home Assistant, I just add a MQTT switch to my switches.yaml file:

- platform: mqtt
  name: "Coffee Warmer"
  state_topic: "home/office/coffee_warmer/stat"
  command_topic: "home/office/coffee_warmer"
  qos: 0
  payload_on: "on"
  payload_off: "off"
  retain: true

AUTOMATING!

My desired functionality is this: I want the mug warmer to turn on when I sit down at my office desk, but only if I’ve made coffee this morning. I have a Wemo enabled coffee maker that reports it’s state, a motion detector at my office desk, and the now smart mug warmer.

Using Home Assistant and Node-Red, let’s make this happen.

I’ve made a history stats sensor in Home Assistant to count how many times I’ve made coffee this morning (between 5am – 12pm). I drink a lot of coffee so this is kind of in the realm of things-I-don’t-really-want-to-know, but thanks technology.

- platform: history_stats
  name: Coffee This Morning
  entity_id: sensor.coffeemaker
  state: 'Brewing'
  type: count
  start: '{{ now().replace(hour=5).replace(minute=0).replace(second=0) }}'
  duration:
    hours: 7

Now I’m going to make a flow in Node-Red. When motion is detected in my office, check to see if it’s morning, then check to see if I made coffee. If so, turn on the mug warmer.

Turn on Mug Warmer Flow

JSON:

[{"id":"17607704.59aa59","type":"server-state-changed","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"Office Motion","server":"8ac3cd7f.58d3e","entityidfilter":"binary_sensor.office_motion","entityidfiltertype":"exact","haltifstate":"","x":130,"y":1800,"wires":[["8b5dd6af.2227a8"]]},{"id":"8b5dd6af.2227a8","type":"switch","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"","property":"payload","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"eq","v":"on","vt":"str"},{"t":"eq","v":"off","vt":"str"}],"checkall":"true","outputs":2,"x":130,"y":1840,"wires":[["271d3505.48f2aa"],[]]},{"id":"34470c82.d2a044","type":"comment","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"Mug Warmer On if I made AM Coffee","info":"","x":210,"y":1740,"wires":[]},{"id":"271d3505.48f2aa","type":"time-range-switch","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"","lat":"37.79952","lon":"-122.26872","startTime":"05:00","endTime":"12:00","startOffset":0,"endOffset":0,"x":330,"y":1820,"wires":[["1a21b3e9.857a4c"],[]]},{"id":"1a21b3e9.857a4c","type":"api-current-state","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"Coffee This Morning?","server":"8ac3cd7f.58d3e","halt_if":"","entity_id":"sensor.coffee_this_morning","x":540,"y":1820,"wires":[["b3402460.2ad4d8"]]},{"id":"b3402460.2ad4d8","type":"switch","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"","property":"payload","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"gt","v":"0","vt":"num"}],"checkall":"true","repair":false,"outputs":1,"x":710,"y":1820,"wires":[["688eba8a.db0ab4"]]},{"id":"688eba8a.db0ab4","type":"api-call-service","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"Turn on Mug Warmer","server":"8ac3cd7f.58d3e","service_domain":"switch","service":"turn_on","data":"{\"entity_id\":\"switch.coffee_warmer\"}","mergecontext":"","x":910,"y":1820,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"8ac3cd7f.58d3e","type":"server","z":"","name":"Home Assistant","url":"HASSURL","pass":"PASS"}]

I already have a flow to turn off my office when I leave, so that will also turn the mug warmer off. See my post on basic lighting automations with Node-Red if you’re interested in that flow. Since this appliance involves a heating element, I’m going to set up a secondary auto-off if it’s left on for more than 3 hours.

Auto-Off After 3 Hours

JSON:

[{"id":"c266179c.461328","type":"server-state-changed","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"Mug Warmer","server":"8ac3cd7f.58d3e","entityidfilter":"switch.coffee_warmer","entityidfiltertype":"exact","haltifstate":"","x":130,"y":1940,"wires":[["55b9c7d3.92e3a8"]]},{"id":"ec46f198.b5833","type":"comment","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"Turn Off After 3 Hours","info":"","x":160,"y":1900,"wires":[]},{"id":"55b9c7d3.92e3a8","type":"switch","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"","property":"payload","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"eq","v":"on","vt":"str"},{"t":"eq","v":"off","vt":"str"}],"checkall":"true","repair":false,"outputs":2,"x":290,"y":1940,"wires":[["ca2c5756.362d18"],["77659ee6.cecd5"]]},{"id":"ca2c5756.362d18","type":"stoptimer","z":"45760804.d260f8","duration":"3","units":"Hour","payloadtype":"num","payloadval":"0","name":"","x":490,"y":1940,"wires":[["329c9d6b.6aece2"],[]]},{"id":"77659ee6.cecd5","type":"change","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"payload","pt":"msg","to":"STOP","tot":"str"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":260,"y":2000,"wires":[["ca2c5756.362d18"]]},{"id":"329c9d6b.6aece2","type":"api-call-service","z":"45760804.d260f8","name":"Turn off Mug Warmer","server":"8ac3cd7f.58d3e","service_domain":"switch","service":"turn_off","data":"{\"entity_id\":\"switch.coffee_warmer\"}","mergecontext":"","x":740,"y":1940,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"8ac3cd7f.58d3e","type":"server","z":"","name":"Home Assistant","url":"HASSURL","pass":"PASS"}]

I now have the world’s smartest coffee warmer. Truly solving the big problems here.