Alexa IoT TV-Controller ESP8266
Introduction: Alexa IoT TV-Controller ESP8266
Recently I bought an Amazon Echo Dot during the Amazon Prime day for ~20€.
These small voice assistants are cheap and great for DIY Home Automation if you know what is possible and how to build smart devices.
I have an Samsung Smart TV but I wanted to make it even smarter. In this Instructable I will show you how to build a Controller for your TV to control it wirelessly using your voice. Some possible and useful commands could be:
* Turn On/Off the TV
* Volume Settings (Up/Down/Mute)
* Switch to another source (HDMI Port, TV, etc...)
* Turn on Netflix/Amazon Prime/YouTube...
In case your TV has an USB-Port that is always-on you have the jackpot! If not, you can use a a loong USB-cable or a small Power Regulator Board that steps down any voltage between 12.5 and 16V down to 5V. I used this because I already had a 12V power supply directly beneath at my bed for some LED-Strips :)
Another way and thats why I participate in the Battery-Challenge, is that my designed 3D-printed housing has the space for a 150mAh LiPo Battery and Charger Board. So you can keep it completely wirelessly!
Unfortunately though I have no pictures of it because my iPhone died during an iOs-Update and the photos were not uploaded to my iCloud :(
So the provided pictures are only without the battery inside, which I connected after the final assembly...
However, if you want to build your own Controller, here is what you need:
Supplies
* Tools:
+ Soldering iron
+ Hot glue
+ 3D-Printer (optional)
+ Heatshrink
* Components: (Links are only as example!)
* 1x ESP8266-01s Board + Programmer: https://amzn.to/397QgPs
* 1x NPN Transistor 2N2222A: https://amzn.to/2IUSV3X
* 1x 100 Ohm Resistor: https://amzn.to/3kW4Xas
* 2x 10k Ohm Resistor: see link above
* 1x Small Switch (NC - That’s important!!): https://amzn.to/2KAqSrz
* 1x 3mm IR-Emitter LED: https://amzn.to/3flIKBJ
* 1x Mini Step-Down Converter: https://amzn.to/3nF82xA
* 1x Micro-USB Female connector board: https://amzn.to/2HoYrLM
* 1x TP4056 Charging Board (Optional): https://amzn.to/35Wiz1r
* 1x Mini LiPo Battery (Optional): https://amzn.to/35TrU9Y
* Further:
To build this project you need an system running the freeware "ioBroker". This is a free MQTT-Broker that allows the ESP8266 to connect to it and share it's data. 382
ioBroker also has an Alexa-Adapter, which we can use to make our ESP wirelessly communicate to Alexa.
I run ioBroker on an old Laptop-Motherboard - but for small automations, a Raspberry-Pi would be enough to run it. You can download ioBroker on its official website here:https://www.iobroker.net/
You also need the Tasmota-Firmware! You can download it here: https://github.com/arendst/Tasmota/releases
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If you want to use it with Alexa, you need to know what a physical Alexa device is needed! The Alexa-App doesn't work! Alexa-Connectivity is only optional - you also can switch your TV on by pressing a small MQTT-button like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImVK5cGVrpQ
Step 1: Program the ESP8266
Because we are going to solder the ESP8266 to the PCB later, we have to program it first. To do this, I recommend you to use a cheap Programmer board - The one I used is not recommended! I had do modify it to make it work so check out the link on the top (see: Supplies).
At first plug the ESP into the programmer. Then start the Flash-Tool on your Computer. Now plug in the Programmer via USB and press the FLASH-Button on the PCB during plugging it in. Release it after a few seconds. 977