This is a quick solution I came up with for someone who wants a rotary dimmer to use with a shelly dimmer (or any MQTT-enabled dimmer). Sometimes you really want to "turn a button" to dim the lights.
You can finish it however you want. The easiest would be to make a wooden base (I think 20mm thickness should be enough) and put in the electronics. Then attach a button (can again be made of wood, maybe 3-4cm thickness) to the top of the potentiometer.
If you're handy and feel like making a really cool project, check out this "DIY Perks" video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ5vhShdVjo
This would give you a really, really cool dimmer to place on a table or windowsill.
To use/make this project I'm going to assume a few things.
- You use shelly in MQTT mode. This is reliant on MQTT communication.
- This implies that you will lose cloud connection!
- Wemos D1 mini (easily found on aliexpress)
- A potentiometer (also easily found on aliexpress
- Some wire
- 5V power supply to your dimmer module (I usually repurpose an old phone charger)
- Usb cable to power the Wemos D1 mini.
Creating the setup is pretty simple, as we only need 3 wires:
- One extremity wire from the potentiometer to 5V on the wemos D1 mini
- Other extremity wire from the potentiometer to GND on the wemos D1 mini.
- The middle wire goes to A0 on the wemos.
Schematic using a NodeMCU (this uses 3V3, I use 5V):
- Change mqtt_debug to something else. This is just a "ping" message sent. Copy arduino_secrets_ex.h to arduino_secrets.h , change the values to something applicable to you.
Copy arduino_secrets_ex.h to arduino_secrets.h , change the relevant settings.
After uploading the sketch to your Wemos, you can subscribe to the mqtt channel you provided, and see results!
If you used the correct shelly device ID, it should already be dimming your lights!