My workstation monitor happens to have a UART for basic automation / control purposes. After some digging, I figured out how to send basic commands to the monitor and then created a small ESPHome powered device to allow me to control my monitor from Home Assistant.
The monitor-bridge.yaml file is everything needed to get ESPHome running on a simple ESP32 module. Combine with a cheap RS232/ttl converter and put in crude enclosure and you're done!
I have stripped the useful serial details out of the manual.
The enclosure can be printed out of any material, but PLA is what I used. Infill and supports are up to you and will depend on your slicer and printer.
I'm not super proud of it, but the Fusion360 file is included should you want to make any changes.
It's just three wires:
- VCC
- GND
- espTX
I don't care about any response the monitor may transmit, so there's no need to connect the espRX pin.
I chose to use UART2 on pins 16/17. See the monitor_bridge.yaml file for more details.
Mounted to the back of the monitor, it looks like this:
Wired up to the monitor, it looks like this:
And there's a small hole on the side of the enclosure for a USB cable:
The USB cable can be plugged into any USB power supply or a USB port. In the event that you have the drivers installed and the bridge is plugged into a USB port, you can view logs and upload new firmware directly over the cable.