ESPLink (Unreleased)

<b>Overview:</b>

Control your home lights and water pump with the smartphone over your local area network (LAN) or over the internet*. This app requires a special hardware to be fully functional. if you like the app and would like to use it for your home, we offer two options:

1) If you are familiar with ESP8266, read our guidelines and develop Arduino IDE code yourself (no support)

2) You can purchase fully functional pre-flashed ESP8266 module with four relays from us (full support). Light sensor and humidity sensor are optional and can be plugged at any time.

<b>Technical description:</b>

This app communicates to WiFi enabled microcontrollers ( ESP8266, ESP32 and Arduino+ESP) via websocket connection. To establish websocket connection between app and device, both should be connected to same local area network (LAN) or directly connected with each other using microcontrollers hotspot. Once websocket connection established, data are exchanged using JSON data format. Devices can also be controlled over internet, however, that requires port forwarding, which we would not recommend due to security reasons. Since the app offers real time updates, it utilizes a bi-directional data flow of a predefined JSON structure. If microcontroller failed to send well formatted JSON data, the app simply will not work as intended.

<b>Highlights of the App:</b>

1) Clean interface based on material design

2) Offers light and dark theme, which could be controlled manually or automatically based on day/night

3) Automatically tries to connect to the last connected device, if fails start auto scan for available devices

4) On demand scan can be started at any time, which lists all available WiFi networks/devices, offering easy connection

5) Offers fours switches, which operate in three different mode:

a) MANUAL Mode: user can toggle switches at any time.

b) AUTO Mode: using light sensors, it detects ambient light and turn ON (default 10 Lux)/OFF (default 20 Lux) switches automatically .

c) TIMER Mode: user can set ON/OFF time for each switch.

** For water pump switch the AUTO Mode detects water level and turn ON at a set level (default 80%, can be changed from setting) and OFF (default 100%).

6) It reports real time sensor readings (temperature, humidity, light, battery voltage)

7) Logs all the incoming and outgoing data with time stamp. It also logs connection status, setting parameters etc.

8) Log window also offers message (any message typed by user) broadcast to either device or to all connected clients.

9) App offers real time data synchronization in both direction. It automatically detects WiFi and/or websocket connection loss and try to re-establish connection.

10) Device configuration related to network (SSID, password, IP, port etc.) and sensors calibration can be modified in the settings and uploaded to device just by taping a button

11) App can also be used to update device time in case device is not connected to internet

<b>Highlights of the Hardware:</b>

1) Device always try to connect to the configured WiFi network (Station/STA mode), if fails automatically switched to access point mode (AP mode). This feature is handy for configuring the device during first start or in case of WiFi loss.

2) All the network and sensor configuration are save in SPIFFS, therefore, does not loss in case of power loss.

3) Device also saves all the switches state and mode, so in case of system restart intentional/unintentional all the states retains</br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br>