Victron MPPT Solar Monitoring via ESPHome BLE — No Cloud Required Overview Most Victron MPPT tutorials either use the official VRM cloud platform or a USB-to-serial cable. This guide shows a completely different approach: reading Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/20 data directly via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) using an ESP32 and ESPHome, feeding it into Home Assistant entirely locally — no Victron account, no cloud, no cables required. ...
Running a Home Server and Network Stack from 12V Solar Overview The home automation and server infrastructure here runs directly from the 12V LiFePO4 solar battery bank rather than from mains via inverter. This keeps the critical systems online during grid outages and eliminates inverter losses for loads that do not need 240V AC. The load list: Synology NAS — file server, HA backups, Plex, email server, web server — running 24/7 for 13 years WiFi 7 router ADSL modem Raspberry Pi 5 (Home Assistant) Amazon Echo Several ESP32 sensor and display boards Motion-activated lighting throughout the house The office — Mac Mini, two screens, active speakers at around 140W — runs from the Victron Phoenix 12/375 pure sine inverter. In summer this runs most days from solar. In winter it is an occasional load. ...
What Is It? The board sold on AliExpress as “ESP32 Arduino LVGL WIFI&Bluetooth Development Board 2.8" 240×320 Smart Display Screen with Touch WROOM” has become something of a community favourite. It is widely known as the CYD — Cheap Yellow Display — named for its yellow PCB. For under £10 delivered it gives you: ESP32-WROOM-32 (dual core, 240MHz, 4MB flash) ILI9341 2.8" TFT LCD, 240×320 pixels, 16-bit colour XPT2046 resistive touchscreen RGB LED LDR light sensor SD card slot USB-C programming and power The display quality is genuinely impressive for the price. It ships running an LVGL demo that shows what the hardware is capable of. ESPHome support is solid and well documented. ...
LilyGO TTGO T-Display Solar Monitor with ESPHome Overview The LilyGO TTGO T-Display is a compact ESP32 board with a built-in 1.14" ST7789V colour TFT display. This guide covers flashing it for the first time and configuring it with ESPHome to display live solar and house power data — pulling Victron MPPT figures from MQTT and house consumption from Home Assistant. ...