A smart toilet control interface using an ESP32-C6 with touchscreen display, integrated with Home Assistant. This project monitors a toilet's status LED and provides touch-based flush controls.

This project transforms a standard electric toilet into a smart device by:

• Monitoring the toilet's status LED using an LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) sensor
• Controlling flush modes through a touchscreen interface (Heavy, Full, Normal, Extended)
• Integrating with Home Assistant for automation and remote control

• Waveshare ESP32-C6 1.47" Touch Display Development Board

  • ESP32-C6 chip with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5 (LE)
  • 172x320 rectangular display (ST7789V driver)
  • AXS5106 capacitive touch controller

• LDR Light Sensor Module (DIY-LIGHT-MODULE-DO-2)

  • Digital output (DO) for simple on/off detection
  • Adjustable sensitivity via potentiometer

• Solderless Breadboard (400 point) - for prototyping

• USB-C Power Module (3.3V/5V switchable, 500mA protection) - optional

• VCC → ESP32 3.3V pin
• GND → ESP32 GND pin
• DO (Digital Out) → GPIO4

• Display: GPIO1 (CLK), GPIO2 (MOSI), GPIO15 (DC), GPIO14 (CS), GPIO22 (RESET)
• Backlight: GPIO23
• Touch: GPIO18 (SDA), GPIO19 (SCL), GPIO21 (Interrupt), GPIO20 (Reset)

Connect USB-C directly to the ESP32-C6 board. The board provides sufficient power for the LDR module.

• Detects when the toilet's green status LED is ON or OFF
• Uses inverted logic for reliable detection
• Display shows current LED state in status bar

Four large touch buttons for flush control:

• HEAVY (Red) - Top left
• FULL (Orange) - Top right
• NORMAL (Blue) - Bottom left
• EXTENDED (Green) - Bottom right

• Binary Sensor: Toilet Status LED (on/off)
• Text Sensor: Last Button Pressed (for automation triggers)
• Sensors: WiFi signal strength, uptime, last button timestamp
• Buttons: All four flush controls accessible in HA
• Status LED: Onboard status indicator

• Connects to your home WiFi network
• Over-the-Air (OTA) firmware updates - no USB cable needed after initial flash
• Fallback WiFi hotspot if connection fails

1. Go to Settings → Add-ons
2. Install ESPHome add-on
3. Start the add-on and enable "Show in sidebar"

1. Connect ESP32-C6 to your computer via USB-C
2. In ESPHome dashboard, create new device: toilet-control
3. Copy the configuration from esp32.yml
4. Click Install → Plug into this computer
5. Select the USB serial port (usually "USB JTAG/serial debug unit")

Update the secrets.yaml file or configuration:

wifi_ssid: "Your_WiFi_Name"
wifi_password: "Your_WiFi_Password"

1. Position the LDR sensor directly over the toilet's green status LED
2. Tape over the sensor to block ambient light for better detection
3. Adjust the potentiometer on the LDR module until it reliably detects LED on/off
4. Mount the display where it's easily accessible

You have two options for handling button presses:

Option A: Simple Automations (for direct control) Create automations for each button:

• Trigger: State → sensor.toilet_control_last_button_pressed changes to "eco"
• Action: Your toilet control action (call a service, trigger a relay, etc.)

Option B: Node-RED Flow (recommended - full featured) See Node-RED Integration section below for complete flush control logic with:

• Tuya finger bot control
• Multi-cycle flush sequences
• Motion-based BLE polling
• Emergency kill switch
• Timeout protection

The project uses a text sensor approach rather than button events because:

• Template buttons in ESPHome don't reliably trigger HA automations
• Text sensor state changes are detected immediately by HA
• The sensor resets to "none" after 100ms to allow repeated presses

The display can be flipped 180° by changing the transform parameters:

transform:
  mirror_x: false
  mirror_y: true

Touch coordinates match display dimensions (172x320). If buttons don't respond correctly, adjust the touchscreen transform to match the display orientation.

• Verify pin connections match your specific board revision
• Check that invert_colors: false is correct for your display
• Ensure backlight is controlled by GPIO23

1. Check connections - Make sure DO wire is firmly connected to GPIO4
2. Adjust potentiometer - Turn the blue/white screw on the LDR module while testing
3. Check inverted setting - Should be inverted: true for most LDR modules
4. Test without toilet LED - Cover sensor with your finger to see if it changes state
5. Tape over sensor - Block ambient light for reliable detection

• Use the text sensor (sensor.toilet_control_last_button_pressed) as trigger, not button entities
• Check Developer Tools → States to see if sensor is changing
• Verify the sensor resets to "none" between presses

This is fixed by the 100ms reset delay in the button configuration. Each button publishes its state, waits 100ms, then resets to "none".

• Verify I2C pins (GPIO18/GPIO19) are correctly configured
• Check that external component axs5106 is loading from GitHub
• Monitor logs for touch coordinates when pressing

1. Dupont Connectors (Recommended) - Crimp female Dupont connectors onto wires, plug onto header pins
2. Direct Soldering - Solder wires to header pins with heat shrink tubing
3. Pin Header Sockets - Solder female header strip to wires
4. JST Connectors - Use pre-made JST pigtails for modular connections

Pro Tip: Use color-coded wires (Red=3.3V, Black=GND, Yellow=Signal)

• 3D Printed - Search Thingiverse/Printables for "ESP32-C6 1.47" cases
• Project Box - Use ~80mm x 50mm x 30mm generic enclosures with display cutout
• DIY Container - Modified mint tin or small food container
• Wall Mount - Mount openly with the LDR sensor positioned remotely via wires

Started as a simple "LED Light Monitor" to detect when an indicator LED turns on/off.

Expanded to include:

• Four touch buttons for different flush modes
• Full-screen button layout
• Status indicators for LED, WiFi, and button presses
• Robust Home Assistant integration

1. Display Type: The Waveshare 1.47" board uses a rectangular 172x320 display (ST7789V), not the round GC9A01A initially assumed

2. Button Events: ESPHome template buttons don't generate reliable HA automation triggers - use text sensors instead

3. Pin Conflicts: Display/touch uses many pins; LDR had to move from GPIO2 → GPIO4 to avoid conflicts

4. Color Syntax: ESPHome uses Color(R, G, B) format, not Color::GREEN constants

5. Inverted Logic: LDR module requires inverted: true for correct on/off detection

6. Repeated Presses: Text sensor needs reset delay (100ms) to detect same button pressed multiple times

7. Ambient Light: Taping over the LDR sensor dramatically improves detection reliability

• esp32.yml - Complete ESPHome configuration
• electrictoilet.json - Node-RED flow for flush control logic
• README.md - This documentation (overview and getting started)
• NODE-RED-INTEGRATION.md - Detailed Node-RED integration guide
• ARCHITECTURE.md - System architecture and data flow diagrams
• DEVELOPMENT_NOTES.md - Troubleshooting history and lessons learned
• .gitignore - Excludes sensitive files

This project includes a complete Node-RED flow for intelligent flush control using Tuya finger bot switches.

The Node-RED flow provides sophisticated flush control with:

• 4 Flush Modes: Normal, Heavy, Full, Extended (each with custom timing and cycles)
• Smart Polling: Motion sensor triggers BLE keep-alive polling (solves Tuya sleep delays)
• Safety Features: Emergency kill switch (leak sensor), timeout protection, online checking
• Notifications: Pushover integration for status and errors
• Cycle Management: Automatically sequences fill/empty cycles based on LED status

1. Install Node-RED (if not already installed):

   • Home Assistant: Install "Node-RED" add-on
   • Standalone: Follow Node-RED installation guide

2. Import Flow:

   Node-RED Menu → Import → Clipboard
   → Paste contents of electrictoilet.json
   → Click Import → Deploy
   

3. Configure Entities:

   • Ensure Home Assistant integration is connected
   • Verify Tuya entities exist:
     • switch.finger_robot_2_switch (Fill button)
     • switch.finger_robot_switch (Empty button)
   • Optional: Configure Pushover for notifications

Button Press → Node-RED Detects Change → Selects Mode → Sets Delays
    ↓
Fill Cycle → Wait for LED ON → Wait for LED OFF
    ↓
Empty Cycle → Wait for LED ON → Wait for LED OFF
    ↓
Repeat (N cycles) → Flush Complete → Notification

Flush Modes:

• Normal: 3 cycles, 4s fill / 3s empty (quick flush)
• Heavy: 3 cycles, 7s fill / 6s empty (powerful flush)
• Full: 3 cycles, 4s fill / 3s empty (complete flush)
• Extended: 12 cycles, 7s fill / 6s empty (thorough cleaning)

Motion-Based Polling (solves Tuya BLE sleep delays):

• When motion detected in bathroom → Start polling every 15 seconds
• Polls both finger bots to keep them awake
• Continues for 10 polls (2.5 minutes)
• Result: Near-instant response when bathroom is in use

For complete details, see:

• NODE-RED-INTEGRATION.md - Detailed setup, configuration, and troubleshooting
• ARCHITECTURE.md - System architecture, data flows, and diagrams

Potential additions:

• Usage statistics and tracking
• Scheduled automatic cleaning cycles
• Water usage monitoring (if toilet provides data)
• Voice control via Home Assistant
• Push notifications on status changes
• Battery backup for power outages
• Multiple language support
• Multi-toilet support with flow replication
• InfluxDB logging and Grafana dashboards

• ESPHome Documentation
• Home Assistant Forums
• Waveshare ESP32-C6 Wiki
• ESPHome Discord

This project configuration is provided as-is for personal use.

Developed through iterative troubleshooting and collaboration. Special thanks to the ESPHome and Home Assistant communities for their excellent documentation and support.