This is part 2 of my series on Home Automation

1. Introduction
2. Sonoff

Sonoff

In my last post I mentioned that after buying a Google Home, I wanted to try to automate some aspects of my house. After disappearing down many rabbit holes, a colleague suggested that I look at a device called a Sonoff from a company called ITEAD. Most of the Sonoff devices are based off the ESP8266 chip, which is a simple micro-controller with built in WiFi.

Sonoff Basic

I started off with a Sonoff Basic, which is a WiFi enabled smart switch that enables you to control devices using the ITEAD app (or the Google Home/Amazon Echo). They're relatively cheap (+/- R125 or about $8) so I thought they would be a good way to get my toes wet in home automation.

Simple usage

The simplest usage of the Sonoff Basic would be as follows:

1. Attach mains voltage to the input terminals
2. Attach some sort of appliance to the output terminals
3. Power it up and connect it to your WiFi (using the ITEAD eWeLink app)
4. Use the app to switch your appliance on or off
   
   • There is also a physical switch on the top to toggle the relay manually
5. Your Google Home / Amazon Echo can be integrated with eWeLink to allow voice control
6. Placing the Sonoff Basic inline on a short extension cord would allow you to control just about any appliance that can be plugged in (just remember that the device is only rated for a current of 10A)

Lets get complicated

I however decided to complicate matters slightly. I noticed that the company I was buying it from offered to flash a custom firmware onto the device. Being the curious developer that I am, I went for that option. The custom firmware is called TASMOTA.

Flashing TASMOTA opens up a lot of possibilities and extra functionality not available on the standard Sonoff device. Features such as:

1. You're not reliant on a 3rd party cloud infrastructure to control your house (this is the number one reason I was keen to try TASMOTA)
2. Control/status via an MQTT broker, which in turn allows integration into just about any home automation system
3. Built in rules
4. Web interface
5. Over the air updates
6. Access to the other pins on the ESP8266 (some soldering required)

As mentioned, my Sonoff came pre-flashed with TASMOTA. I have since bought the required equipment to flash them myself, perhaps that will be another post, but there is already plenty of content online about how to do that.

How I used it

1. To keep things simple, I installed the Sonoff inline in a short extension cord. I then plugged our lounge lamp into the new cord.
2. Without the eWeLink app, the WiFi connection option is a bit different, there a few options available (you enter the mode by pressing different button combinations):
   
   1. When flashing the firmware, set the WiFi details (this wasn't a option for me as it was already flashed)
   2. Start the device up as a WiFi access point and connect to it directly (this is a common technique used to configure Wifi IOT devices like the Google Chromecast)
   3. Use an Android app called ESP8266 SmartConfig
   4. Use Wifi Protected Setup (WPS) if your router supports it (mine does but it's a pain to use)

I ended up using the Access Point method and configuring my WiFi details. There after I was able to switch the lamp using the button or the web interface of the Sonoff. This was all well and good, but not super useful. I needed some way to control the device remotely without having to log into it all the time. But that's the topic of my next post, coming soon.