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Changelog

All notable changes to PlancH are listed here. Hardware revisions match the "Rev." printed on the back of the board.

[Unreleased]

Hardware — Rev. 1

  • First public release of the design: 120 × 52 mm PCB, Waveshare ESP32-S3-Zero, SSD1306 OLED, 10 buttons, capacitive touch area, 13 SK6812 RGB LEDs.
  • Production files: Gerber, drill, BOM, pick-and-place, interactive BOM, schematic PDF, STEP.

Accessories

  • Desk stand: 3D-printed frame that holds the board at 20°, with light slots for the backlight.
  • Wall mount: ring bracket glued behind the board and a base stuck to the wall, held by magnets; the backlight shines on the wall around it.

Firmware

  • Menu built automatically from Home Assistant: devices chosen with the label "PlancH", grouped by room and type (lights, covers, thermostats); scene keys assigned with the labels "PlancH S1"–"PlancH S4". Home Assistant package in homeassistant/planch.yaml.
  • LEDs: D1 shows problems, D2–D3 and the backlight are lights for Home Assistant automations, the scene LEDs show the active scene and confirm each press.
  • Wi-Fi set after flashing (web.esphome.io or the board's hotspot): no password in the files.
  • Assembly test firmware planch-bringup.yaml (buttons, touch, display, LED groups) and a test bench planch-test.yaml that runs the menu on any ESP32 board.
  • Colour lights: rows Brightness, Colour (palette editable in the package), White and Effect on the screen of a light; Up/Down scroll through the rows and on to the next light.
  • The menu follows label and area changes by itself (automation in the package).
  • Switches (smart plugs) in the menu, under "Switches".
  • More than one PlancH in the same home: the label "PlancH" for devices on every panel, "PlancH " for one panel only; the name is set in the "Panel" field on the device page. Scene keys per panel with "PlancH S1" … "S4". Panels installed from the browser get a unique name (planch-xxxxxx).
  • Install from the browser: the Firmware page installs PlancH on its ESP32-S3; a separate page, "Try it without the hardware", installs the test bench on a classic ESP32.
  • Home Assistant card planch-card: the panel drawn on its picture, with display, LEDs, backlight glow and keys to tap.
  • Adoption in the ESPHome Device Builder: a panel (or the test bench) installed from the browser can be adopted and then updated over Wi-Fi, loading the firmware from this repository. The menu model is now an ESPHome external component (firmware/components/planch/).
  • Wi-Fi on the board: power saving off and transmit power 8.5 dB. With the defaults the first assembled board kept dropping off the network; adopted panels get the change at the next Install.
  • Touch area: measurement time 0.25 ms (with the ESPHome default the ESP32-S3 counter was stuck at its top value) and threshold 40 000, measured on the first board; setup mode off by default.

  • Display: larger text (11 px), the title in the top 16 px (the yellow band of two-colour OLEDs), long names shortened with "…" so the state on the right stays readable. Same layout in the planch-card (version 1.2).

  • PlancH Arcade: four hidden games (Invaders, Echo, Reflex, Dash), opened by holding OK and Back for 3 s, with a best score each kept in the panel's memory.

  • Scene LED brightness: two settings on the panel's device page, for the active scene and for the other assigned keys.
  • Backlight off: the backlight LEDs can turn off by themselves, with the screen or after 5 min, 15 min or 1 h without keys (setting on the panel's device page).
  • Room climate: temperature next to each room in the room list, temperature and humidity next to the title inside a room, from the labelled temperature and humidity sensors of the room's area (temperature also from sensors in °C or °F without a device class); planch-card 1.3.
  • Fixed: the status LED D1 turned red (no Home Assistant) after a log viewer disconnected, while Home Assistant was still connected.

Documentation

  • Usage examples: office, bedside, kitchen timer on the backlight, indicators on the status LEDs.