dylanzickus.com / Projects

Hardware, Home Automation
& Homelab

A collection of embedded builds, ESP microcontroller projects, smart home automation, and self-hosted infrastructure — spanning a dorm room, an apartment, and a lot of trial and error with MQTT, Zigbee, Docker, and Home Assistant.

ESP8266 / ESP32 Arduino MQTT Home Assistant Zigbee 3D Printing Docker Linux Self-hosting
🏠
15+ projects
Smart Home Overview
The full ecosystem — Zigbee bulbs, MQTT broker, mmWave presence sensors, Alexa, and every ESP device in the apartment. Start here for the complete picture.
Home AssistantZigbeeMQTTPresence sensors
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🚿
5-stage iteration
Bathroom Automation Controller
ESP8266 handling a 3-state occupancy machine from a reed switch and DHT11 — door-triggered lighting plus shower detection driving a servo fan via Home Assistant.
ESP8266Reed switchDHT11State machine
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💡
3-stage iteration
Living Room LED Strip
Desoldered the IR receiver off a salvaged LED strip and wired it to an ESP for full RGB MQTT control. Per-channel color correction to fix hardware imbalance.
ESP8266PWMMQTTColor correction
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🔐
3-stage iteration
Alarm System Keypad
Redesigned a 7-pin matrix keypad into a single analog input using a resistor ladder — unique voltage per button. Arm/disarm via PIN and Home Assistant; TV alarm response sequence.
ESP8266Resistor ladderADCHA automations
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🔄
3-stage iteration
3D-Printed Switch Mount
Custom enclosure over the wall switch housing an ESP32 and rotary encoder. Sends relative commands to HA instead of tracking absolute state — key architectural lesson.
ESP32Rotary encoder3D printMQTT
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⏱️
2-phase build
OLED Egg Timer + HA Companion
Standalone timer with animated egg character on SSD1306 OLED. Full HA dashboard with per-roommate notification routing. Hardware and firmware done; never merged or shipped.
ESP8266SSD1306AnimationsHA dashboard
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In progress
CT Clamp Appliance Monitor
Non-invasive current sensing for washer/dryer/dishwasher done notifications. Validated circuit on oscilloscope; blocked by ESP ADC noise — pivoting to Arduino ADC.
CT clampADCArduinoOscilloscope
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🖥️
Self-Hosted Media Stack
A full homelab media pipeline on a Raspberry Pi 5 — Jellyfin, automated library management via the arr stack, VPN-tunneled downloads, and cross-network hardware transcoding with Intel Quick Sync.
JellyfinDockerWireGuardRaspberry PiTdarr
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🕐
4-stage build
Overengineered RTC Clock
Arduino Mega + DS3231 RTC in a custom 3D-printed purple enclosure. Brute-force calendar math including DST. Featured a scrapped side-scrolling game ("Spike and Dude").
Arduino MegaDS323120×4 LCD3D print
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Lizard Watering System Live
"Water Spotty" — Alexa-triggered ESP relay controls a pump over a lizard's bowl. 30-second timed run, then auto-shutoff.
Automated Blinds In progress
Motor + rope mechanism for window blinds. Motor selected, firmware written, rope rigged. Needs mounting bracket and enclosure before install.
Fridge Milk Weight Sensor Proof of concept
Load cells in a 3D-printed base to track milk by weight. Confirmed fridge = Faraday cage. Stalled on load cell calibration.
mmWave Presence Sensors Live
Apartment-wide occupancy via heartbeat/breathing detection. Drives automatic lighting and sleep vs. active room state in HA.
Roku Custom Remote Live
HA virtual remotes for smart TVs — no app load, no device scan, connects directly to a specific TV and responds immediately.
Desk Occupancy Lighting Dorm
Pressure sensor under desk chair toggled an LED strip above the desk. Turn-off delay prevented flicker on brief stands.
Bedtime Detection Routine Dorm
Smart switch detected phone-charging after sunset as a sleep proxy → goodnight notification + all lights off. Zero interaction.
Tablet HA Dashboard Retired
Old tablet too slow for the HA web UI — sourced a third-party automation app, got it running. Superseded by Alexa.
Hub
Home Assistant
MCU
ESP8266 / ESP32
Protocol
Zigbee + MQTT
Broker
Mosquitto
Voice
Alexa + Google Home
Firmware
Arduino (C++)
Fabrication
FDM 3D printing
Domain
dylanzickus.com