Improvements to the implementation.

[Luitwieler]

Hi! Thanks a lot for sharing this project. I rebuilt it for my own Orcon ventilation unit and it works great. As a small thank-you I want to share two improvements I made.

1. Direct power import from Home Assistant (no MQTT needed)

Instead of routing the Shelly power reading through MQTT, the Shelly sensor is pulled straight into ESPHome with the native homeassistant sensor platform. That removes the MQTT dependency and keeps everything inside the ESPHome and HA API.

sensor:
  - platform: homeassistant
    id: ventilatie_power
    entity_id: sensor.shelly_ventilatie_vermogen
    unit_of_measurement: "W"

2. Mode detection based on actual power consumption

A template text_sensor translates the live wattage into the active ventilation mode. Approximate draw I measured on my unit: about 7 W on mode 1, 32 W on mode 2 and 41 W on mode 3.

text_sensor:
  - platform: template
    name: "Current ventilation mode"
    id: current_mode
    icon: "mdi:fan"
    update_interval: 5s
    lambda: |-
      float p = id(ventilatie_power).state;
      if (isnan(p)) return std::string("unknown");
      if (p < 4.0)  return std::string("standby");
      if (p < 20.0) return std::string("mode 1");
      if (p < 37.0) return std::string("mode 2");
      return std::string("mode 3");

The template switches exposed to Home Assistant then reflect the real state of the unit instead of being optimistic, so the UI stays in sync even when the mode is changed from the physical remote:

- platform: template
  name: "Mode 2"
  icon: "mdi:numeric-2-circle-outline"
  lambda: 'return id(current_mode).state == "mode 2";'
  turn_on_action:
    - switch.turn_on: button2
    - delay: 500ms
    - switch.turn_off: button2

The underlying GPIO switches are marked internal: true so only the clean template switches show up in HA.

Full YAML: ventilatie-systeem-chogogo.yaml

3. 3D-printed enclosure

I also designed a small case for the ESP and wiring. STEP files are attached: Orcon Ventilatie.zip

Happy to turn this into a PR against the docs page if that is easier, just let me know.

Thanks again!

[vdbrink]

Hi, Nice to hear you could automate your own Orcon with my documentation and that you've made your own improvement on top of it.

In my case I NEED the MQTT integration because I use Node-RED for all my automations.
So everybody use it on it's own way.

Thanks for your additions. I'll take a look how I can add it to my project page as well.

Do you have a photo of your 3D model "in action" as well?

[Luitwieler]

Ah I see! Makes sense that you then use MQQT in your solution. Here you have the 3D model in action :)