Building a physical volume controller for Home Assistant using ESPHome

Today, we'll dive into an intriguing project conceived and coded by GitHub user adamaze. It's a nifty, hands-on volume knob for every media entity within Home Assistant. As this invention leans on ESPHome, it slots into Home Assistant without a hitch, enabling you to manipulate the sound levels of any media gadget linked to Home Assistant.

Get your ESPHome inspiration here

Being an ESPHome enthusiast, I'm always on the prowl for fresh projects, and I reckon you're in the same boat. Hence, I'm kicking off a series of featured ESPHome projects. These aren't my brainchildren, but rather the fruit of the collective genius of the Home Assistant and ESPHome community.

Gathering your ESPHome volume controller essentials

As is standard with the majority of ESPHome projects, the engine behind this one is a LOLIN D1 mini board. This board, in turn, is driven by the ESP8266 microchip. Affixed to it is a free-spinning rotary encoder with a push button, which will orchestrate the volume's increase and decrease. The free-spinning aspect ensures the controller doesn't need to march to the beat of Home Assistant.

The priciest component of this DIY endeavour is probably the 3D printer. If you don't boast one in your tech arsenal already, you'll need to invest in one. However, rest assured this won't be a one-hit wonder in your project line-up. Favoured 3D printers among the crowd are those from Ender 3 series. It's worth your while to peruse some reviews before making your pick.

Aside from that, your shopping list should include a soldering iron, solder wire, and a handful of isolated wires. To power and establish a connection to the ESP8266, you'll need a Micro-USB cable and, if you prefer, a power supply.

How the physical volume controller functions

If you apply the code shared by adamaze, this volume controller isn't simply a one-trick pony. It's got five tricks up its sleeve:

• Giving the rotary encoder a clockwise twirl will trigger the Home Assistant service media_player.volume_up
• Reversing the rotary encoder's direction will unleash media_player.volume_down
• A single tap will set off media_player.media_play_pause
• A double tap will spark media_player.media_next_track
• Holding down the button for a prolonged period will call upon a script to roll out a specific Spotify playlist

The beauty of this project lies in its simplicity. All you need to bring these functions to life are just over a hundred lines of YAML. Plus, there's no need for you to install any automation or script in Home Assistant. A total win-win!

How to build the physical volume controller

Adjusting the code

The existing code presumes that you've stored your Wi-Fi SSID and password in the secrets.yaml file. If that isn't the case, or if you use different descriptors, then you'll need to tweak that bit of the code.

You'll also need to specify the speaker that this device will control. The current version of the code is set up for a speaker named media_player.kitchen_speakers, but your setup will obviously differ. You might also consider changing the node's name and the individual IDs for a more personalized touch.

The code leverages the homeassistant.service action, a nifty feature that allows an ESPHome device to carry out Home Assistant commands. In layman's terms, this means you don't have to set up any automation or script for the volume control—pretty neat, right? Plus, you can completely customize the long-press function to your preference.