Support of APDS-9930 and similar planned?
Posted: 28 Apr 2017, 08:33
Hi,
as I'm new to this board I would like to thank everybody involved in creating ESPEasy first. It's a great peace of firmware for the ESP modules and already helped me a lot in the automation of tasks at home.
I would like to start a new project but am a bit stuck as the module I would like to use for it is not supported by ESPEasy yet. It is the proximity sensor APDS-9930 (or a similar other one using I2C). Are there any plans to support this sensor with some upcoming version of ESPEasy/ESPEasy 2? That would definitely help me (and probably others) a lot. I would also be willing to do beta testing if required.
A little bit of backgroud of my current project: I would like to use the APDS-9930 in combination of a ESP8266-12F as mailbox sensor to send a message when there is something in it. Our mailbox in not directly located at the house but is in a WLAN covered area. Using a proximity sensor would in my opinion the best option for this kind of sensor as it provides some form of self-reset. I just need to take the reading of the sensor when the mailbox is empty as "There is nothing in it". As soon there is some letter or card in it the reading will definitely change to a different value because of the way something needs to be placed in the box. I tested this with an arduino nano and the proximity sensor.
So why not use the arduino nano with the sensor and ESP-12F?
Unfortunately the arduino draws to much power for a battery powerd sensor and the ESP8266 with ESPEasy can be send to deep sleep togther with the sensor. According to my calculation two AA batteries would provide enough power for at least a year if not longer when the presence of mail is checked only once or twice an hour. Also both ESP-12F and APDS-9930 can be powered with 3.3V which makes the sensor fairly easy in therms of needed hardware (no step-down adapter and level-shifter needed) and power supply resulting in a smaller sensor.
---------------------------------
Kind regards
Stephan Kraetzschmar
as I'm new to this board I would like to thank everybody involved in creating ESPEasy first. It's a great peace of firmware for the ESP modules and already helped me a lot in the automation of tasks at home.
I would like to start a new project but am a bit stuck as the module I would like to use for it is not supported by ESPEasy yet. It is the proximity sensor APDS-9930 (or a similar other one using I2C). Are there any plans to support this sensor with some upcoming version of ESPEasy/ESPEasy 2? That would definitely help me (and probably others) a lot. I would also be willing to do beta testing if required.
A little bit of backgroud of my current project: I would like to use the APDS-9930 in combination of a ESP8266-12F as mailbox sensor to send a message when there is something in it. Our mailbox in not directly located at the house but is in a WLAN covered area. Using a proximity sensor would in my opinion the best option for this kind of sensor as it provides some form of self-reset. I just need to take the reading of the sensor when the mailbox is empty as "There is nothing in it". As soon there is some letter or card in it the reading will definitely change to a different value because of the way something needs to be placed in the box. I tested this with an arduino nano and the proximity sensor.
So why not use the arduino nano with the sensor and ESP-12F?
Unfortunately the arduino draws to much power for a battery powerd sensor and the ESP8266 with ESPEasy can be send to deep sleep togther with the sensor. According to my calculation two AA batteries would provide enough power for at least a year if not longer when the presence of mail is checked only once or twice an hour. Also both ESP-12F and APDS-9930 can be powered with 3.3V which makes the sensor fairly easy in therms of needed hardware (no step-down adapter and level-shifter needed) and power supply resulting in a smaller sensor.
---------------------------------
Kind regards
Stephan Kraetzschmar