Remade the code

I have changed the code by removing the parts generated by AI and replaced them by code made using the ESPHome Builder UI. The function isn’t one hundred percent the same, but is close enough.

Added LED’s and switch

I have now found a good way to place the LED’s for the device’s backlight. I will have to buy a diffuser strip and then cut that down to two pieces of 11 cm for both sides of the device. Each strip will contain 6 LED’s, all daisy-chained to each other. The rendering of the design looks absolutely sick now (if I may say so myself). Oh and I also added a switch with an isolation wall and an intake grill at the bottom.

Finished electrical schematic

I just finished the schematic, but it is a bit of a mess with all the LED’s. I am going to have to place all of those LED’s into the CAD and also find a cheap light defuser strip for them. My end goal is to have a nice difused LED back light for the device, similar to those strips on the back of tv’s (image 2 credit to @blackprism). I also found a smaller switch for the device (ignore the rating on the side, they didn’t have an image for the 220v switch).

Found some components and improved the design

I took quite some time to find the right fan, because the case size forces me to use a flat laptop type fan. Tbh, I am not even sure if the device really needs a fan, but just to be sure I will add one. I also slimmed down the design a lot, so it can be printed on an A1 mini. And I added a dimrail mount for the 5V PSU so it can be mounted without having to add screw mounts. I will have to add a seperate compartment for the 230V wires, so they aren’t close to any of the components. And finally I also made a start on the wiring schematic.

Made the tablet work on DC power

All I had to do to make it work without battery was just open it up, remove the battery and then remove the battery management system and solder my buck converter to the terminals on it. And then I can just plug the BMS back into the tablet and now it just works! This means that I can now fully focus on just designing the case for the tablet.

Sketched the idea and started on designing

I was already thinking about this idea for quite a long time, so I already had a lot of ideas on what I wanted to make, but I wanted to get it on paper (or screen at least).

The main parts of the project are the 5V PSU, converter to get it to 4V for the tablet, ESP32, fan, LED’s, some buttons, and maybe a screen. This will then all be put into a case and then installed on the wall.

I also tried to find some regulations on fixed electrical installations, but those were behind a paywall (idk who thought that was a good idea, but anyway). So I will just have to rely on common sense when designing it.

Made the repository

Yesterday I was as good as done with the project itself, there was just some polishing left and making the GitHub repo. Making the repo wasn’t that interesting, just the usual things, making some folder, exporting some files, writing a README. But when I was double checking my work I found quite a few errors. I had used the wrong link for kicanvas, I madea measuring error with the PCB components and had to redesign the case, and I also forgot to add some important instructions to the README. But that being said, I think I am now fully done. Also, I made a janky knockoff of the PCB button for my Fusion share of my design file.

Almost Done

Today I worked for 4 hours and I am now almost done with my project. I added locations for heat inserts and screws, added a connector and resistors to the PCB for the RGB button, and also improved my 3D print with some filleted corners. And I found a good way to split up my case into two parts that only require minimal supports and only on the inside of the case. I will need to glue the parts together.

Redesigned the PCB and added an RGB button

I had made some mistakes when connecting the relay. I forgot to add a diode and also connected the wrong pins of the relay. I also added an RGB button to mute the doorbell and maybe also do some other things, like change the bell sound or indicate the status of the device. There is a bit of a problem, I need to find a way to slice up this print so it can actually be printed. I think I am going to make the backplate removable and secured by screws taped into heatinserts of the main case.

I finished making the PCB

I was finally able to focus on some work and made the PCB for my project. It is lacking something, but the finishing touches are for the end of the project. I might add a screen later as well, but first I will just make the case.

I massively underestimated this project. It was just supposed to be:

1. Get list of bridges
2. Get user to select one
3. Poll the info on that bridge.

The api endpoints of Isdebrugopen.nl are also the easiest ever, just /bridges.json and {path}.json for one bridge. But omg is it a pain to make an Home Assistant Integration. It took me about 2 hours to set up a dev instance of Home Assistant. And then after that you use the integration maker tool and get all these cryptic Todo comments, with things like: # TODO Update entry annotation. And yeah there is a lot of documentation, but all of that is also very vague. But despite all of that (and with the help of a lot of AI) I finally got to the point where the user can click on the integration and select an option (I know, revolutionary).

Got most of the program working

Right now the program can find out where it needs to press to select all the days in the current month with the help of some modulo math and integer devision. It took me a bit of time to figure out the right approach, but with the calendar.daterange() I can get the first day of the month (0=mo, 1=tu, 2=wo, etc.) and the number of days in the month, so I use the first day as an offset and use the mod and int division to get the correct rows and columns. I can then also repeat this for the months after. I am sometimes getting a weird error when doing this, so I still need to figure that out.

Got ADB working and changed idea

I made the basics to control my phone using pure-python-adb. I can automatically open the WhatsApp chat to my mom, select the .Shifter-file, and then import it inside of Shifter. My next plan was to use the text share feature to copy the month to my clipboard and then parse that, import it into Google Calendar, etc. But after wasting way too much time, I realized that it is very hard to get the clipboard text and all the other stuff. So my new idea is to use the built-in GC exporter once for the full calendar and then every time after that recursively click on every day and upload those to GC. This will still be way quicker than reuploading the full calendar every time.