Skip to Content

Setup guide

This guide walks through setting up your CTRL ONE for the first time: getting it onto your WiFi network, choosing how to place it, and then making it yours with your own ESPHome configuration.

1. Connect to WiFi

The CTRL ONE is unprovisioned out of the box, so its first job is to join your network. There are two ways to do it, both using ESPHome Improv.

Option A - Improv over serial (USB cable)

  1. Connect the CTRL ONE to your computer with a USB-C cable. The port doubles as power, so no other power source is needed for this step.
  2. Open ESPHome Web in Chrome or Edge (it uses the browser serial connection).
  3. Connect to the device and enter your WiFi network name and password. The credentials are sent over the cable and the device joins your network.

ESPHome Web is for provisioning only. Do not use it to flash firmware onto the CTRL ONE - flashing from ESPHome Web installs a blank configuration and overwrites the firmware that ships with the device.

Option B - Improv over Bluetooth

This method requires that your Home Assistant instance has Bluetooth connectivity already. This can either be through a Bluetooth dongle connected directly to the machine running Home Assistant (make sure the CTRL ONE is in range) or through another device acting as a Bluetooth proxy. Check the HA docs for more details.

  1. Power the CTRL ONE either over USB or through the add-on slot. While unprovisioned, it advertises itself over Bluetooth Low Energy.
  2. In Home Assistant go to Settings > Devices & Services, where the device appears as discoverable.
  3. Select the device and enter your WiFi credentials. Out of the box no pairing code is required.

The CTRL ONE requires 2.4 GHz WiFi. Attempting to connect to a 5GHz only network will fail.

Once the device is online, Home Assistant discovers it automatically over your network. Open Settings > Devices & Services and click Configure next to the newly discovered device to adopt it.

2. Stand or wall mount

Using the stand

For a desk, shelf or other surface, use the included stand. Route the USB-C cable through the opening at the back so it runs neatly behind your furniture, then rest the CTRL ONE in the stand at its fixed viewing angle.

Using the wall mount

The wall mount fits a standard 60 mm European recessed wall box - the same spacing used by light switches and wall sockets - so it can take the place of an existing thermostat, switch or socket. Feed any wiring through the passthrough hole, fix the mount to the box using the 60 mm screw spacing, and attach the CTRL ONE. The backplate then fits around the mount for a flush finish.

Note: the USB port is not accessible once the device is wall mounted, so a wall-mounted CTRL ONE must be powered through the add-on slot.

3. Wall mounting as a wired thermostat

If you are using the CTRL ONE as a wired thermostat, use the 24VAC thermostat add-on. It powers the CTRL ONE directly from your heating system 24 V AC wiring and adds thermostat control, so the device can switch your heating through the a standard three-wire thermostat connection. See that page for the wiring and configuration details.

For any other external power source, the breakout add-on accepts DC power input. Do not attempt to power the device using 230V AC power.

4. Make it yours

With the device online and in place, the next step is to customise it. Out of the box the device will show data that it can gather from its own sensors - Temperature, humidity and CO2. Its real power comes when you combine it with Home Assistant data, fetching weather, and controlling other devices such as lights, blinds and ventilation systems. As this is specific to your setup, you will need to configure it for your use case.

The ESPHome configuration page explains what ESPHome is, how to edit the firmware, and how to use the Device Builder.

From there, define the widgets shown on the display - temperature, humidity, CO2, weather, plant status, buttons and sliders - using the LVGL grid and widgets page.