Device Connectivity & Smart Control
Using Home Assistant and ESPHome, unify multi-protocol device access locally to monitor energy consumption and automate controls.
In commercial buildings, legacy facilities, hotels, apartments, and auxiliary workshops, HVAC, lighting, and security systems often run in silos; operators must juggle multiple platforms without shared data. Without circuit-level metering, facilities only see total utility bills and cannot isolate power-hungry equipment or off-hours waste. Proprietary BA systems lock organizations into vendor dependencies, making retrofits slow and costly.
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Duration
- L1 1 day / L2 2–3 days / L3 3–5 days
- Shortest Format
- 1 day (Taster Session · L1)
- Teaching Format
- 3 tiers: Taster / Workshop / Bootcamp
- Core Protocols
- Modbus RTU / MQTT / Wi-Fi / Zigbee
- Track
- Solutions
- Who This Course Is For
- Solution consultants and business sales · Hands-on instructors and curriculum development teams · Faculty and students at vocational colleges and applied universities · Enterprise operations and smart-retrofit engineers
- Prerequisites
- None
Typical Scenarios
- Incremental smart retrofitting of commercial buildings and office campuses
- Legacy-facility electrical and environmental monitoring upgrades leveraging existing infrastructure
- Unified environmental control and energy auditing for hotels, apartments, and public spaces
- Temperature/humidity monitoring and power-circuit metering in factory auxiliary workshops
- Sub-metered energy measurement and anomaly alerts for campus power distribution circuits
Three depths and where each one gets you
- L1 Demo Level 1 day
Platform Introduction and Basic Device Integration
See the status of devices from every brand on one dashboard
- Understand Home Assistant architecture and core concepts (entities, services, states, automations)
- Master ESPHome firmware configuration and the XIAO ESP32-C6 sensor integration workflow
- Configure cards in the Lovelace dashboard and perform status monitoring
- L2 Consultant Level 3 days
Industrial Bus Integration and Scenario Automation
Bring in Modbus meters and transmitters, then build an energy dashboard and cross-device automations
- Master Modbus RTU wiring, debugging, and YAML register configuration
- Independently build a complete energy metering and monitoring dashboard
- Master multi-condition automation orchestration and anomaly alert configuration
- L3 Design Level 5 days
Business Integration and System Operations
Integrate external systems and set up backup and operations, with data kept on site
- Master HA data integration methods with external systems (REST API / MQTT / Webhook)
- Capable of orchestrating complex business workflows with Node-RED
- Capable of independently delivering maintainable systems and performing disaster backups
What learners can do afterwards
- Unified access and management of multi-protocol devices
- Circuit-level energy metering and monitoring dashboard construction
- Cross-device automation orchestration via YAML and Node-RED
- Third-party system API / MQTT integration
- System backup and disaster recovery
Hardware and toolchain
The core teaching hardware of this course, built around a "unified control hub + multi-protocol access".
- GW reComputer R1125 / R1225 Industrial IoT Gateway · HA Hub Host
- MCU XIAO ESP32-C6 Wi-Fi 6 + BLE 5 Microcontroller · Sensor/Actuator Node
- RS485 XIAO RS485 Expansion Board Industrial Bus Bridge · Modbus RTU
- METER DDSU666 Smart Meter Single-Phase DIN-Rail · Circuit-Level Energy Metering
- SENSOR XY-MD02 Temperature & Humidity Transmitter Industrial-Grade · Modbus RTU Environmental Sensing
Illustrated list of 6 devices
-
reComputer R1125 / R1225 Industrial IoT Gateway
On-site hub host running the Home Assistant platform and energy dashboard
R1125 (domestic) or R1225 with LoRa (global). Serves as local edge gateway, integrating multi-protocol devices to run energy monitoring and automated controls.
-
XIAO ESP32-C6 Development Board
Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 + BLE 5 microcontroller main controller
Used respectively for LED-strip control nodes, RS485 communication nodes, and backup nodes. Sensor acquisition and actuator control are implemented via ESPHome firmware configuration, with OTA management support.
-
XIAO RS485 Expansion Board
Expands the XIAO dev board with an industrial RS485 interface
Connects temperature/humidity transmitters and power meters with Modbus RTU register reading, bridging microcontroller boards to industrial fieldbuses.
-
XIAO W5500 Ethernet Development Kit (PoE Bluetooth Proxy Gateway)
Wiring-free Bluetooth gateway, receives BLE device broadcasts and connects to the platform
PoE-powered Ethernet Bluetooth Proxy gateway capturing BLE broadcast data (e.g., Mijia sensors) and relaying it to Home Assistant over wired network, solving Bluetooth range limitations.
-
SenseCAP Indicator 4-Inch RGB Touchscreen
Desktop touch hub, displaying environmental parameters and device quick controls
4-inch RGB touch display, serving as a local HMI interface that displays environmental parameters and device status in real time and provides quick control entry, suitable for lightweight deployment scenarios without an external monitor.
-
60GHz mmWave Human Presence & Fall Detection Module
Human micro-motion sensing and fall monitoring, linked to alert automation
60GHz mmWave radar module (MR60FDA2) detects human presence, micro-movements, and falls without cameras, triggering presence automations and alerts in HA via ESPHome.
Also includes DDSU666 single-phase DIN-rail smart meter, XY-MD02 industrial temperature and humidity transmitter, display, integrated power enclosure and industrial router.
ESPHome Brings Devices In, Node-RED Wires Up the Business
Start with ESPHome + HA OS for firmware flashing and unified access, then use Node-RED for cross-system orchestration — from single-platform automation to business integration.
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ESPHome + HA OS
Firmware Configuration + Unified Platform · YAML-Driven
- Device Firmware Flashing
- Multi-Protocol Access
- Dashboards & Basic Automation
-
Node-RED + API/MQTT
Visual Flow Orchestration · Third-Party System Integration
- REST API/MQTT Integration
- Complex Business Flow Orchestration
- Backup & Disaster Recovery
Key Turning Point · From In-Platform Automation to Cross-System Business Orchestration Built-in HA automations handle single-platform triggers; Node-RED introduces cross-system orchestration, multi-branch flows, and scheduled polling to match operational workflows.
Additionally requires EMQX / Mosquitto MQTT Broker (for multi-node asynchronous messaging) and HACS (community integrations and frontend extensions).
Syllabus and formats
13 teaching units in total. The delivery formats come first; the full syllabus expands below.
Taster Session
No final project1 day · 6–8h · L1 presentation layer · focusing on platform access and sensor nodes
Hands-On Course
Includes final project2–3 days · 14–20h · L1+L2 · industrial bus integration + energy dashboard + automation linkage
Delivery Course
Includes final project3–5 days · 24–35h · L1+L2+L3 · full coverage including cross-system integration and disaster recovery
DDSU666 meter wiring involves AC 220V high-voltage circuits; instructors or certified electricians must complete the incoming and load wiring, and students only operate the RS485 communication side. Students are strictly prohibited from plugging/unplugging high-voltage terminals on their own.
RS485 bus wiring requires attention to A/B wire order and termination resistor matching; when bus length exceeds 10 meters, a 120Ω termination resistor is recommended at the end, otherwise communication packet loss or register read failures may occur.
The taster session does not include industrial bus content. Do not promise clients that taster session students can independently complete Modbus device integration — that is the workshop delivery standard.
One of the lessons · 01
Pre-class Preparation and Environment Pre-check
Hardware bench inventory, network environment configuration, gateway firmware pre-flashing, teaching material distribution
—
Show the full syllabus of 13 units and the schedule for each format
| Module / Output | Taster1 day | Workshop2–3 days | Bootcamp3–5 days | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Pre-class Preparation and Environment Pre-checkHardware bench inventory, network environment configuration, gateway firmware pre-flashing, teaching material distribution | — | Full | Full | Full |
| 02 | HA Platform Architecture & Core ConceptsEntities, Services, States, Automations, and Lovelace dashboard configuration basics | Home Assistant OS | Full | Full | Full |
| 03 | Consumer-Grade Smart Hardware IntegrationStandard Wi-Fi / Zigbee smart socket and lighting integration workflow, state sync, and manual controls | Home Assistant | Full | Full | Full |
| 04 | XIAO ESP32 + ESPHome Sensor NodeAuthor temperature/humidity configs in ESPHome, compile and flash firmware online, and verify HA auto-discovery and entity mapping | ESPHome | Full | Full | Full |
| 05 | Introduction to HA Energy DashboardEnergy dashboard configuration structure and data flow, understand the basic framework of energy monitoring | HA Energy | Partial | Full | Full |
| 06 | Modbus RTU Protocol & RS485 WiringRS485 differential bus wiring standards, baud rate/data bits/parity/slave address configuration, register types and data parsing | ESPHome Modbus | None | Full | Full |
| 07 | Industrial Sensor & Meter IntegrationUse XIAO RS485 board to read XY-MD02 transmitter, and connect DDSU666 power meter to monitor voltage, current, power, and accumulated kWh | ESPHome + RS485 | None | Full | Full |
| 08 | Energy Monitoring Dashboard ConstructionBind meter energy entity in HA Energy module to generate real-time power curves and time-of-use statistics | HA Energy | None | Full | Full |
| 09 | Scenario Automation Strategy ConfigurationMulti-condition linkage rules: start fan when temperature exceeds limit, turn on lights when illumination falls below threshold, abnormal power consumption alert during non-working hours | HA Automation / YAML | None | Full | Full |
| 10 | Third-party system API / MQTT integrationHA REST API & WebSocket auth (Long-Lived Access Tokens), MQTT pub/sub via EMQX Broker, and Webhook external triggers | REST API / MQTT | None | None | Full |
| 11 | Node-RED Business Logic DevelopmentInstall and configure Node-RED add-on to orchestrate multi-branch logic, scheduled polling, and external data forwarding | Node-RED | None | None | Full |
| 12 | System backup and disaster recoveryAutomated backup strategy configuration (local backup and network mount), disaster recovery process verification and system migration drill | HA Backup | None | Partial | Full |
| 13 | Solution Review and Delivery SummaryGroup project solution rehearsal and configuration review, field bus stability and network topology retrospective, delivery documentation and configuration archiving | — | Partial | Full | Full |
● Full◐ Partial— None●＋ Extended
The taster session focuses on L1 platform access and sensor nodes, excluding industrial bus and business integration; the workshop covers full L1+L2 industrial bus and energy dashboards; the bootcamp fully covers L1+L2+L3.
Taster Session
- Day 1 MorningModules 01 + 02 + 03
Environment pre-check → HA architecture concepts → Consumer-grade device integration
- Day 1 AfternoonModules 04 + 05 + 13 (abbreviated)
XIAO sensor node → Energy dashboard introduction → Summary review
Does not include industrial bus or business integration.
Hands-On Course
- Day 1Modules 01–05
Environment pre-check → HA architecture → Consumer-grade integration → XIAO node → Energy dashboard introduction
- Day 2Modules 06–09
Modbus protocol wiring → Industrial sensor & meter integration → Energy dashboard construction → Automation strategy configuration
- Day 3 (optional)Modules 12 (abbreviated) + 13
System backup basics → Solution review and delivery summary
The workshop delivers 1 Modbus device/meter integration, 1 real-time energy dashboard, and at least 2 sets of automation linkage rules. Student prerequisite: ability to read YAML configuration files.
Delivery Course
- Day 1–2Modules 01–09
Full L1+L2 content (platform access + industrial bus + energy dashboard + automation)
- Day 3Module 10
Third-Party System API/MQTT Integration Hands-On
- Day 4Module 11
Node-RED Complex Business Flow Development
- Day 5Modules 12 + 13
System backup and disaster recovery drill → Solution review and delivery archiving
The bootcamp goal is the ability to independently deliver maintainable systems. Student prerequisite: YAML/Node-RED and networking fundamentals, familiarity with L1–L2 competencies.
The taster course takes one day, needs no industrial wiring, and stops at "devices connect and data is visible". It suits trade shows, open days and first meetings with a client.
Workshop Day 3 is an optional flexible day: if students have a strong foundation, it can be compressed to 2 days (Day 2 afternoon merged with backup and review); if more automation tuning time is needed, use the full 3 days.
What You Take Away
The following are full-version (bootcamp) deliverables; the workshop delivers the first 4 items; the taster session delivers abbreviated versions of items 1 and 2.
- 01
System deployment topology and network configuration documentation
Includes on-site LAN topology diagram, IP address allocation table, VLAN/isolation policy, gateway and router configuration parameters.
- 02
Connected device inventory and Modbus register mapping table
Includes all connected device models, slave addresses (Slave ID), register addresses, data types, and scaling factors.
- 03
Energy dashboard and automation YAML / Node-RED flow configuration files
Includes HA Energy configuration, Lovelace dashboard card configuration, automation rule YAML, and Node-RED flow JSON (L3).
- 04
System backup recovery and daily operations guide
Includes automated backup strategy configuration, disaster recovery steps, system migration process, and daily inspection checklist.
- 05
XIAO Sensor Node ESPHome Firmware Configuration Project
Includes per-node YAML configuration files, firmware compilation, and OTA upgrade operation records.
- 06
Cross-System API/MQTT Integration Verification Record
Includes REST API call examples, MQTT topic planning, Webhook configuration, and integration test results (L3).
Open-source projects you can reproduce
These projects use the same hardware and methods as the course, and what we learn in class is fed back into them.
Multi-protocol industrial gateway
Bring OPC UA, Modbus, BACnet/IP and MQTT devices into one point model, then read and control them through a single MQTT interface.
HVAC automation control
Bring HVAC controller points and an energy meter into one point model and predict setpoints from historical data. A write only counts after a verified readback; if the field disagrees, it rolls back and raises an alarm.
Master standardized methods for unified integration of multi-brand and multi-protocol legacy equipment
M1 is not about repeatedly configuring consumer smart devices; it builds practical engineering capability to unify fragmented, multi-brand equipment in buildings and plant workshops locally. It delivers a complete technical pipeline from hardware wiring and protocol conversion to dashboard setup, ready for instructors to adapt.
Extension 01
Adapt to your site conditions
The automation rules in Unit 09 are fully customizable. Instructors can extend scenarios to server room temperature control, cold-chain storage or workshop monitoring, guiding students to author alert and trigger policies based on real operational thresholds.
Extension 02
Connect your own instruments
The training rig supports connecting institutional or partner-provided RS485 and Modbus meters after Unit 06, allowing students to map registers and debug communication using authentic field hardware.
Extension 03
Integrate Teaching Experience
Instructors sharing real field experience — high/low voltage isolation, bus topologies, and troubleshooting packet loss — helps learners avoid common pitfalls encountered during on-site installations.
Scope Boundaries & Compliance
Only one-way status monitoring, no reverse control execution.
In Scope
- Cross-brand device status aggregation and unified monitoring dashboard
- Circuit-level energy metering and time-of-use energy statistics
- Environmental parameter (temperature/humidity, illumination, human presence) monitoring and threshold alerts
- Automation linkage for non-safety-critical systems (lighting, fans, sockets and other low-voltage actuators)
- Third-party system data integration (REST API / MQTT / Webhook one-way data pass-through)
Out of Scope
- Strictly prohibited from intervening in safety-critical life systems such as fire protection, elevator control, and high-voltage power distribution
- Strictly prohibited from extending to direct on/off control of high-voltage high-current circuits and safety braking systems
- Does not replace statutory fire protection systems and elevator safety protection systems
- Does not promise specific energy-saving percentages for particular scenarios (energy-saving effects are affected by on-site equipment, usage habits, and climate conditions)
- Does not include long-term on-site outsourced operations and maintenance services
- Control scenarios are restricted to low-voltage DC actuators (LED strips, 5V / 12V relay modules, etc.); controlling AC 220V and higher-voltage loads via this training setup is strictly prohibited
Put M1 on your timetable
Budgets are based on participant count and hardware requirements. Email us your expected group size and target depth to receive a detailed syllabus and kit plan within 3 business days.