FAQs

SensorNode is a simple credit-card sized PC board with a Raspberry Pi Pico W installed on it. The Pico is loaded with software that enables many common home-automation sensors to be interfaced to Home Assistant, one of the most popular open-sourced home automation software packages in the world.

Currently, we are working on a Kickstarter to launch SensorNode to the world. If you go to our SensorNode Page, you can sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter is live.

For the Kickstarter, we plan to have several kit options, ranging from a bare circuit board that you solder yourself with your own parts, to a fully-assembled kit that you add sensors to. The prices should range from about $10 for the bare board to $55 for the completely assembled kit. Sensors will be additional.

You should consider getting a SensorNode if you use (or plan to use) Home Assistant AND:

1. You need multiple supported sensors at the same location, or
2. You hate replacing batteries, or
3. You want flexibility to change sensors over time, or
4. You like the idea of having access to the source code, or
5. You prefer using ubiquitous 2.4 GHz WiFi over other transports, or
6. You just think it's cool!

We are targeting early 2025 for our Kickstarter, so SensorNode products should ship shortly thereafter if successfully funded.

SensorNode uses HTTP POST to send sensor data to your local Home Assistant instance.

Right now, SensorNode has only been tested with Home Assistant. You can find out more about Home Assistant here.

You can interface Home Assistant to Apple's HomeKit using an integration, and if you do, your SensorNodes would be visible in HomeKit.

There are also products such as HomeBridge, HOOBS, etc., that allow you to connect to many different home automation platforms such as Apple's HomeKit, Samsung's SmartThings, etc., and theoretically SensorNode could be interfaced to these systems that way.

Since SensorNode sends all sensor data to the home automation system using simple HTTP POST commands, it should be possible to interface with many popular home automation systems. Since the code will be open-sourced, it's possible someone in the community will do that. 

SensorNode is a complete product - ready to use. ESPHome is an incredibly capable (and complicated) software stack - it must be combined with compatible hardware (microcontroller, sensor interfaces, and sensors) before it can be a complete product. If you have very complex requirements you might want to consider building a project with ESPHome, BUT if you want to quickly setup the most common home automation sensors, then SensorNode may be exactly what you need.

As soon as the Kickstarter is funded, the code will be put up on a github repo and made available to all Kickstarter backers. The code will be made available to everyone shortly thereafter.