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v4.2 - Multi-Alarm Control, Dual Thermostat Functionality, and More

Support this project

As always, we would like to thank everyone who donated to this project and remind you that every donation helps to support this project So if you haven't made a donation yet, now would be a good time ;)

Paypal

General

Hello everyone! Our latest update introduces a range of enhancements designed to elevate your experience with the firmware. This update is focused on improving user interaction, featuring a more intuitive TFT upload process and expanded customization options. Key enhancements include upgraded functionality for Alarm Control Panels & Thermostats and new personalization features on the Home page.

We're enthusiastic about our ongoing work to make the NSPanel firmware more user-friendly and accessible. This release marks significant progress in this direction, with improvements such as the streamlined TFT upload process and initial steps towards adopting esp-idf as the default framework. Additionally, our documentation has been revamped for greater clarity and user-friendliness. Expect more user-centric updates coming your way soon!

Dive into the details below to see how these changes can enhance your daily use of NSPanel. We value your feedback and are eager to hear your thoughts!

Upcoming Change: Switching to ESP-IDF Framework by March 2024

We have some important updates for our community – by March 2024, we're moving to the ESP-IDF as our standard framework. This shift aims to significantly boost the memory capacity on the ESP, allowing for the addition of new features and broader customizations.

There's ample time before this transition takes place, so no need to hurry. When it's time to switch, flashing your device using a serial cable will be necessary, similar to the initial custom firmware setup.

For those who might need a serial firmware installation before March, trying out esp-idf earlier could be a beneficial move towards adapting to future developments.

If you're unable to switch by March or if serial flashing isn't an option for you, the arduino framework will still be available for Over-The-Air (OTA) updates.

For detailed guidance on framework customization, check out our customization documentation. We're dedicated to facilitating a smooth transition and are here to assist with any queries or concerns.

Updating

Updates may come with changes on the blueprint inputs and we highly recommend you review your settings and make sure all fields have the correct selection. We did our best to support your legacy settings and avoid breaking your system, but please double check your settings if you see something not working as expected.

Files that need to be reloaded

  1. nspanel_eu.tft, nspanel_us.tft or nspanel_us_land.tft - v4.2
  2. nspanel_esphome.yaml - v4.2
  3. nspanel_blueprint.yaml - v4.2

Instructions

You can find the update procedures following here:

Breaking changes

  1. The background parameter in the esphome.xxxxx_set_component_color service is now deprecated.

  2. On the home and climate pages, the button layout has changed.

    This adjustment was made to incorporate additional custom buttons on the home page and new target temperature indicators on the climate page.

  3. Wi-Fi power save mode has been reset to NONE as the default setting.

    This was the standard up to v4.0. We switched it in v4.1 to accommodate Bluetooth components. However, since this feature isn't widely used, we're reverting to the original setting. For Bluetooth usage, you should manually set a different mode, such as LIGHT, as shown in the customization example below:

    ##### My customization - Start #####
# Enable Bluetooth proxy
bluetooth_proxy:
# Set Wi-Fi power save mode to "LIGHT" as required for Bluetooth on ESP32
wifi:
  power_save_mode: LIGHT
##### My customization - End #####

  4. The default baud rate for advanced mode has been reverted to 115200 bps to resolve issues that arise when rendering button pages.

  5. ESPHome v2023.12.0 has been established as the minimum required version to ensure optimal performance and compatibility, particularly with the recent developments in the Nextion component.

  6. The Alarm section in the blueprint settings has been removed. All configurations previously made in this section have been automatically transferred to custom button 07.

  7. Documentation in German is no longer maintained. This change allows us to more efficiently update and maintain the remaining documentation.

  8. Reversion to "Toggle" as default action for automation entities on buttons.

    In this update, we have reverted the default action for button presses on automation. entities back to "Toggle". This change reverses the adjustment made in version 4.1, where "Trigger" was set as the default action.

    Impact:

    • Default Behavior: With this reversion, pressing a button linked to an automation entity will now enable or disable the automation, as it did prior to version 4.1.
    • Consistency and Familiarity: This change aims to align with user expectations and maintain consistency in the user experience.
    • Customization Still Available: Users still have the option to manually set "Trigger" as the action for their automation. entities, as per their preference.

    We understand that changes in default settings can impact your workflows. We appreciate your understanding as we strive to balance new features with the familiarity and stability of the user experience.

  9. Advanced mode no longer enforces a specific framework.

    In the past, the enforcement of framework changes by the advanced mode could inadvertently result in users switching frameworks during OTA updates. This practice was not recommended due to the potential for errors.

  10. Alarm page cannot be used as wake-up page.

    As multiple alarms are supported now, the system don't know which one to show on the wake-up.

  11. Refinement of Icon Presentation

    In our continuous pursuit to refine the user experience, we've embarked on standardizing the presentation of icons across various pages. This initiative may lead to noticeable changes in icon appearance and behavior, encompassing aspects like the introduction of new colors for alarms, lights, climate icons, and the adoption of fresh icon designs.

    Our aim with these modifications is to establish a default presentation that adheres to a unified standard, enhancing both consistency and user experience across the platform. While this approach simplifies the overall design, it still preserves a degree of customization through blueprint settings.

    The complexity of managing icon colors, especially for items with multi-state attributes like alarm control panels, climate controls, and lights with adjustable brightness and color, has prompted us to rethink our approach. The current version implements domain-based colors for multi-state items, with specific states for alarms and climate being hard-coded. We're exploring ways to offer user-selectable colors for these states in future updates.

    The new color logic is as follows:

    • For the off state: Icons will be displayed in gray.
    • For states other than off:
      • For alarms and climate: Each state will have a specific, hard-coded color for immediate recognition.
      • For lights: If supported, the icon will reflect the light's RGB color, proportionally dimmed to match its brightness.
      • For other domains: Icons will be displayed in white.

    This transition towards a more standardized icon presentation is a step forward in enhancing the interface's intuitiveness while balancing it with the flexibility of customization. We understand this change might be an adjustment from previous versions, but our goal is to streamline the experience without compromising the essence of personalization.

  12. Action required: Reset your wake-up page selection.

    We've enhanced the wake-up page functionality for improved consistency after power cycles. Previously, the system didn't remember your selection following a power outage. With our latest update, this issue has been resolved. However, this improvement requires you to reselect your wake-up page one more time. Thanks for your cooperation in making these settings more reliable for everyday use.

Overview of noteworthy changes

  1. Standardized entity icons
  2. Additional custom buttons on Home page
  3. Outdoor temperature selectable font size
  4. Select icon size for button's pages
  5. Support to CJK languages (experimental)
  6. Improved TFT transfer
  7. Multiple Alarm Control Panels
  8. Support to remote
  9. Home page chips now supports covers
  10. Chips can be inverted
  11. Add swipe control to screensaver page
  12. Enhanced control for automation entities on buttons
  13. Dual thermostat controller support (add-on)
  14. Dual thermostat display
  15. Enhanced timeout flexibility for Sleep, Page fallback, and Dimming settings
  16. Display time on the screensaver page

Details of noteworthy changes

1. Standardized entity icons

The engine for defining the icons to be shown and it's color was standardize between all the pages, so now you may see a more consistent User's Interface. We've upgraded the icon definition engine to standardize the appearance and color of icons across all pages. This enhancement leads to a more consistent and harmonious user interface. Expect a unified visual experience that aligns the look and feel of icons throughout the system, contributing to improved navigation and aesthetic appeal.

2. Additional custom buttons on Home page

It's that simple, now you have 7 buttons where used to be 3. Well, where used to be 4, as the space previously used by the Alarm button is now a custom button. 😉

3. Outdoor temperature selectable font size

Now you can select the font size of your outdoor temperature display:

image

Important

Long text with bigger fonts may exceed the limit of space reserved for this with incomplete information shown.

4. Select icon size for button's pages

You can also select the size of the icons on the buttos pages:

image

image

image

5. Support to CJK languages (experimental)

You will find 3 new TFT files on the repository for the CJK languages. These files are considerably bigger, as the fonts requires more memory, but it should work fine in your panel.

Warning

This is an experimental feature and may contain bugs or some areas missing translations. Please report if you find anything.

6. Improved TFT transfer

TFT file selectors (ESP-IDF framework required)

We still working on the Upload TFT engine to make it easier for new and for experienced users. Now, together with the Update TFT Display button, you will find also Update TFT Display - Model and Update TFT Display - Branch (disabled by default) where you can select the different model you are using and the upload URL will be automatically adjusted to donwload the file directly from the repository on GitHub, making this process much easier and removing the need of flashing your device every time you want to play with another TFT file or install the nspanel_blank.tft.

image

If you have issues with the remote file and want to transfer it from your local server just as before, simply select Use nextion_update_url in Update TFT Display - Model.

And you also can use the esphome.xxxxx_upload_tft_url service to upload using an alternative URL without the need of flash your panel again.

Alternative baud rate for TFT uploads

You can select an alternative baud rate for your TFT uploads. This allows faster TFT uploads and also supports displays previously set with baud rates not supported by this project (currently 115200 bps and 921600 bps).

In most cases, this would be set for a higher value to enable faster TFT transfer. The default is 921600 bps, the maximum supported by Nextion displays.

You can also use this if you have issues with TFT transfer and want to try a lower baud rate as in some rare cases Nextion will automatically set itself to 9600 bps.

To enable an alternative upload TFT baud rate, add the desired value in your substitutions like this:

  upload_tft_baud_rate: "9600"

If an invalid value is entered, 115200 bps will be used. The default value for this substitution (in case it is not set by users) will be 921600 bps.

During a TFT transfer, the system will always fall back to the standard baud rate (115200 bps) if other tentatives fails.

7. Multiple Alarm Control Panels

Now alarm control panel entities can be assigned to chips and custom buttons in the Home page, but also to hardware buttons, any of the buttons pages or entities pages, similarly to other domains.

8. Support to remote

Entities from the remote domain can now be assigned to buttons (hardware and buttons pages) and custom buttons (home and climate pages).

The service remote.toggle will be called when the button is pressed.

9. Home page chips now supports covers

That's it! Chips now include cover visualization, allowing for easy monitoring of covers directly from the Home page.

10. Chips can be inverted

Chips now have an 'invert' option on the blueprint settings, providing additional customization flexibility.

11. Add swipe control to Screensaver page

You can now navigate to button pages from the screensaver while your panel is in sleep mode. The swipe controls will function as they do on the Home page.

12. Enhanced control for automation entities on buttons

We're pleased to announce a new feature that offers users enhanced control over their smart home setups. Now, you can globally select between Toggle and Trigger actions for button presses on automation entities. This update allows for a more personalized and efficient control experience, tailored to your unique preferences.

Key features

  • Toggle: This action will enable or disable the automation. It is set as the default option.
  • Trigger: This action will execute the automation regardless of its current state, providing more flexibility.

How to use

  1. Access your configuration for automation under Services > Automations & Scenes. Select the automation associated with your panel setup.
  2. Scroll to the ADVANCED SETTINGS section at the end.
  3. From the menu, select your desired action - either Toggle or Trigger.
  4. Apply the setting. This will then be effective across all relevant entities.

This update is specially designed to cater to diverse user needs, ensuring a more intuitive and responsive smart home experience.

13. Dual thermostat controller support (add-on)

This new add-on enables the NSPanel to manage both heating and cooling systems simultaneously, utilizing its dual relay functionality.

Key Benefits

  • Versatility: Users can now configure their NSPanel to control both a heater and a cooler, offering increased flexibility in home temperature management.
  • Efficiency: With the ability to control both heating and cooling systems, the NSPanel can more effectively maintain desired temperatures, potentially leading to energy savings.
  • User Experience: This update simplifies the user interface by integrating control of both systems into one panel, making it easier to manage home climate.

Implementation Details

  • The dual thermostat controller functionality allows the NSPanel to utilize both of its relays for separate heating and cooling control.

    Users can configure their heating and cooling settings independently, providing a tailored climate control experience.

  • The update is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, ensuring a seamless transition for existing NSPanel users.

  • Additional Documentation: For detailed instructions and configurations, refer to the updated add-on climate documentation.

Note

This feature enhances the capabilities of the NSPanel without compromising its existing functionalities. Users who previously used the NSPanel for single-mode (either heating or cooling) control can now explore dual-mode options for a more comprehensive climate control solution.

14. Enhanced Climate Page for Dual Thermostat Control

Leveraging the capabilities introduced with the Dual Thermostat Controller add-on, the existing climate page has been upgraded to support systems with dual temperature settings. This enhancement allows users to effectively manage thermostats that require both heating and cooling target temperatures, directly from the NSPanel's interface. While originally developed to complement the new add-on, this refined climate page also seamlessly extends its functionality to existing thermostats with dual set capabilities, offering a more versatile and comprehensive climate control experience.

15. Enhanced timeout flexibility for Sleep, Page fallback, and Dimming settings

We have improved the functionality of our system by enhancing the timeout flexibility for Sleep, Page Fallback, and Dimming settings. The previous timeout limit of 300 seconds has been significantly expanded, offering users more control and customization options for these specific features. This enhancement allows for a wider range of use cases, catering to the needs of those who require extended periods for these settings, while still maintaining the option for shorter durations.

16. Display time on the screensaver page

In this release, we're excited to introduce a new feature that adds a display time function to the Screensaver page. With this update, our screensaver not only serves its primary purpose of saving screen energy but also doubles as an informative display, reflecting our commitment to creating practical, user-friendly solutions.

You can enable this feature on the bueprint settings, at the CUSTOM CONFIGURATION section (almost at the end). You also have to set Display Brightness Sleep at the device's page (Settings > Devices & Services > ESPHome).

Patch v4.2.1

This patch introduces minor updates aimed at enhancing the user experience and improving documentation. Below you'll find a detailed list of the changes. While this update is designed to integrate smoothly with existing v4.2 components, we recommend updating all components to this latest version for the best performance.

Overview of Changes:

Change Criticality Affected Components
Resolved issue with the dimming feature not activating when button is held (#1599) Minor Blueprint
Added "Clean Build Files" step to the update instructions for clarity (#1601) Minor Documentation

Key Improvements:

  • Dimming Feature Fix: Addressed an issue where the long press in the buttons was not responding as expected, ensuring smoother light control from your panel.
  • Updated Documentation: Enhanced our update instructions to include a "Clean Build Files" step, providing clearer guidance for a more efficient update process.

Patch v4.2.2

This update focuses on enhancing user customization, improving data management, and addressing a range of issues from minor to critical in our system. Our commitment is to continuously enhance the usability, stability, and efficiency of your panel.

Important

Breaking Change: This patch requires Home Assistant v2023.12.0 or higher to ensure compatibility with new enhancements. Please update your Home Assistant installation before applying this patch.

We encourage all users to update their components to this latest version for the best experience. While this update is compatible with existing v4.2 components, it offers optimized performance and usability when fully updated.

Overview of Changes:

Change Criticality Affected Components
Fix Climate page not working with embedded climate (#1627) Critical ESPHome
Fix weather pages crashing when Home Assistant OS is not used (#1630) Medium Blueprint
Correct Wi-Fi reference in QR code example (#1609) Minor Documentation
Resolve incorrect labelling on entity pages (#1628) Minor Blueprint
Address lights with no brightness in 'supported_features' (#1633) Minor Blueprint
Implement ISO8601 date formatting option (#1610) Enhancement Blueprint
Enable dynamic icons based on device_class (#1635) Enhancement Blueprint

Key Improvements:

  • Fix for Climate Page Not Working: Resolved a critical issue with the climate page not functioning properly when using embedded climate controls (#1627). This fix enhances system stability and user interaction with climate features.
  • Fix for Weather Pages Crashing: Addressed an issue causing weather pages to crash when Home Assistant Operating System (HAOS) is not used (#1630). This fix ensures stability and reliability of weather-related features across various Home Assistant installation modes, such as containerized installations and other setups.
  • Wi-Fi Reference Update in QR Code Example: Updated the Wi-Fi reference in the QR code example (#1609) to prevent user errors during system setup. This documentation change aids in clearer guidance for configuring connections.
  • Entity Pages Configuration Labeling: Corrected the labeling of options in the blueprint for entity page configuration (#1628). This fix ensures that the labels accurately reflect the behavior on the pages, enhancing the configuration experience.
  • Handling Lights Without Brightness Feature: Improved handling of information for lights that lack brightness control in 'supported_features' (#1633). This update resolves the issue of incorrectly displaying brightness levels (as "0%") for lights that do not support brightness adjustment, ensuring more accurate display of buttons.
  • ISO8601 Date Formatting: Introduced ISO8601 date formatting (#1610) to improve date readability and consistency in the user interface.
  • Dynamic Icons Using Device Class: Upgraded dynamic icons to utilize device_class (#1635), offering a more intuitive and context-aware UI.

For support, feedback, or detailed information about this update, visit our GitHub repository or our online documentation.

Special thanks to @PaulAntonDeen and @illuzn for their invaluable contributions to these enhancements. Your feedback and support are crucial to our continuous improvement.

Patch v4.2.3

This release focuses on targeted bug fixes and enhancements to enhance system stability and functionality. Major updates include a critical fix for an issue where the panel was getting warmer, potentially affecting temperature measurements, and resolving a crash issue associated with climate entity rendering. Additionally, this update introduces new Dutch/Italian date formats for improved localization, and addresses a minor display issue with the battery indicator on cover pages.

Important

Breaking Change: If you are using the Customization "Set display as a light", please update the code related to the extension to script/set_brightness as the global variable display_last_brightness was replaced by the new sensor current_brightness.

We highly recommend all users update their components to this latest version for an optimized and enhanced user experience. While this update is compatible with existing v4.2 components, fully updating ensures the best performance and usability.

Overview of Changes:

Change Criticality Affected Components
Fix device temperature gap since v4.2 (#1620) Critical Blueprint
ESPHome
TFT
Fix crash when rendering a climate entity with no hvac_action (#1647) Critical Blueprint
Fix battery indicator not showing on cover pages (#1661) Minor Blueprint
Add Dutch/Italian date format (#1658) Enhancement Blueprint

Key Improvements:

  • Fix for Device Temperature Gap: Resolved a critical issue with the panel getting warmer on v4.2, potentially affecting its temperature measurements.
  • Fix for Crash When Rendering Climate Entities: Resolves a critical issue where the blueprint was crashing when trying to render icons for climate entities with no hvac_action attributes, preventing pages from being fully loaded.
  • Fix for Battery Indicator: Addressed the issue where the battery indicator was not displayed correctly on cover pages. As a bonus, the icon now changes based on the battery level. 😉
  • Add Dutch/Italian Date Format: Expanding the existing pre-listed date formats, we've added the Weekday, DD-MM (ex. "Friday, 22-03") format. This enhancement caters to our Dutch and Italian users, adding a touch of local flair to their experience.

A special thanks to the community for their support and contributions, especially to @andythomas for providing useful, informative, and visually appealing temperature trend plots, and to @shing6326 for their dedicated efforts in resolving the crashes with climate entities. Your contributions significantly enhance the quality of our project.

For support, feedback, or detailed information about this update, visit our GitHub repository or our online documentation.

Patch v4.2.4

In this update, we have focused on addressing critical issues to enhance the reliability and performance of our system.

We highly recommend all users update their components to this latest version for an optimized and enhanced user experience. While this update is compatible with existing v4.2 components, fully updating ensures the best performance and usability.

Overview of Changes:

Change Criticality Affected Components
Nextion is not connected for too long time on boot (#1667 & #1674) Critical TFT
Panel not starting when no climate entity is selected (#1676 & #1677) Critical Blueprint

Key Improvements:

  • Fix for Panel Long Boot Process: Resolved an issue with the panel taking an excessively long time on the Boot page ("Initializing..."), ensuring a quicker startup and more efficient operation.
  • Fix for Panel Not Starting Without Climate Entity: Addressed a critical issue where the panel would not start if no climate entity was selected. This fix ensures smooth operation and startup of the panel regardless of the climate entity configuration.

For support, feedback, or detailed information about this update, visit our GitHub repository or our online documentation.

Patch v4.2.5: Celebrating 1000 Stars with Enhanced Functionality and UI Improvements

With the 1000-star milestone on GitHub, we're excited to share Patch v4.2.5, enhancing the NSPanel Firmware experience in our spare time. This update refines climate and cover entity interfaces, boosts hardware button responsiveness, and integrates ESPHome's friendly_name for easier device identification. We've also expanded direct TFT download capabilities from GitHub to Arduino users, previously only available for ESP-IDF users. This achievement, powered by community support, is a significant stride towards simplifying user experience for NSPanel firmware.

We highly recommend all users update their components to this latest version for an optimized and enhanced user experience. While this update is compatible with existing v4.2 components, fully updating ensures the best performance and usability.

Breaking Changes:

  1. Custom entities naming changed. If your setup includes custom entities using ${device_name} in their names, please modify these entities to omit ${device_name}. ESPHome will now automatically append the friendly_name or device_name from your substitutions, simplifying the naming process.
  2. Show while loading input is deprecated and all pages will show components while loading as default.

Additionally, we have updated our documentation to include comprehensive guidelines on memory requirements for ESPHome, ensuring users are well-informed for successful system setup and operation.

Overview of Changes:

Change Criticality Affected Components
Long Click Action Bug Fix for Hardware Button (#1637) Minor Blueprint
Fix Display of Climate Icons on Chips (#1675) Minor Blueprint
Fix Icon's Colors on Home Page Values (#1694) Minor Blueprint
Alarm Keypad Arm/Disarm Fix for US Model (#1705) Minor TFT file (US model only)
LocalTuya Fan Speed Controls Fix (#1706) Minor Blueprint
Fix Update of Media Player Icons on Custom Buttons (#1716) Minor Blueprint
Motion Sensor for Display Wake-Up (#1687) Enhancement Blueprint
Enhanced Consistency in Cover Controls (#1688) Enhancement Blueprint
Support ESPHome friendly_name (#1719) Enhancement Blueprint
ESPHome
Improved Blueprint Input Clarity (#1722 and #1782) Enhancement Blueprint
Enhanced Memory Allocation When Uploading TFT (esp-idf only) Enhancement ESPHome
Expanded Visualization on Chips Enhancement Blueprint
Direct TFT Transfer from GitHub for Arduino Users Enhancement ESPHome
Baud Rate Adjustment for TFT Uploads Enhancement ESPHome
Update docs (install.md) with memory requirements (#1720) Documentation Documentation

Key Improvements:

  • Long Click Action Bug Fix for Hardware Button: Resolved a bug where long click actions weren't executing on hardware buttons if no entity was assigned. This fix ensures that custom actions linked to long presses will now run as intended, regardless of whether an entity is assigned to the button, offering greater flexibility and reliability in user interactions.
  • Fix Display of Climate Icons on Chips: Enhanced the functionality of climate entity chips. Now, the chip is displayed only when the climate entity has an active HVAC action. This change ensures that the chip is hidden in states like 'Idle' or other non-active states, aligning the display behavior with the operational status of the climate entity for improved accuracy and user experience.
  • Fix Icon's Colors on Home Page Values: Addressed an issue where icons for sensor domain entities on the home page were incorrectly displaying colors indicative of an "entity disabled" state. This fix ensures that the icons now reflect their correct status, enhancing the visual accuracy and user interface experience.
  • Alarm Keypad Arm/Disarm Fix for US Model: Resolved an issue specific to the US model, where alarms requiring a PIN to arm/disarm were not functioning correctly. This fix, applied through an update to the TFT file, ensures that users with these alarm systems can reliably arm and disarm their security devices.
  • LocalTuya Fan Speed Controls Fix: Addressed an issue with LocalTuya fan speed controls not functioning as expected. Users can now seamlessly adjust their fan speeds through the Blueprint interface, enhancing control and interaction with smart home devices.
  • Fix Update of Media Player Icons on Custom Buttons: Corrected an issue where media player icons on custom buttons were not updating in real-time to reflect the current playback status. This fix ensures that the icons dynamically represent the media player's state, improving the interface's responsiveness and accuracy.
  • Motion Sensor for Display Wake-Up: We've introduced a feature that allows users to specify a motion, presence, or door sensor to wake up the display, enhancing the panel's responsiveness. Each detected motion or sensor activation event triggers the panel to wake up, with the sleep timer resetting with every new detection. While the panel will still follow the pre-set sleep duration settings regardless of continuous motion or sensor activity, this initial implementation marks a significant step in making user interactions more dynamic and intuitive.
  • Enhanced Consistency in Cover Controls: Building upon the dynamic icons feature introduced in v4.2.2, we've further refined the cover controls. This enhancement extends the use of device_class to the detailed cover page, ensuring that the icons for opening and closing covers are more accurately representative of the cover type. This update is a step towards our goal of extending context-aware UI enhancements to other supported domains in future updates.
  • Friendly Name Support in ESPHome: Enhanced the Blueprint's compatibility with ESPHome's friendly_name feature. Previously, using friendly_name could disrupt communication between the Blueprint and ESPHome due to mismatches in entity and service names. This update resolves these issues, ensuring seamless integration. Users can now utilize the friendly_name substitution in their YAML setup to assign more intuitive and descriptive names to their devices, significantly improving the ease of device identification and overall user experience.
  • Improved Blueprint Input Clarity: Simplified the naming of Blueprint inputs for better clarity and ease of use. Labels such as "Button14" have been updated to more descriptive formats like "Button page 2, Button 6". Additionally, terms like "LABEL COLOR" have been refined to "Text Color" to improve understanding related to sensor display customization.
  • Enhanced Memory Allocation When Uploading TFT (esp-idf only): Optimized memory management for TFT uploads on systems using the esp-idf framework. This update prevents simultaneous HTTP server connections, allowing for better memory allocation and reducing the risk of system crashes due to memory shortages. It does not affect users on the arduino framework. Additionally, the log for the upload process now includes detailed memory usage data, providing valuable insights for troubleshooting and system performance enhancement.
  • Expanded Visualization on Chips: Enhanced the home page chips to display not only Media Player entities but now also Fan entities, among previously supported domains. This update broadens the informative visual feedback available on the home page, offering a more comprehensive and visually engaging snapshot of the device status within the user interface.
  • Direct TFT Transfer from GitHub for Arduino Users: Enhanced the TFT update process for Arduino users by enabling direct transfer of TFT files from GitHub to Nextion displays, mirroring the functionality previously available to ESP-IDF users. This streamlines the update workflow, removing the need for intermediate steps like using a local HTTP server, and making it easier to keep Nextion displays up-to-date.
  • Documentation Update on Memory Requirements for ESPHome: Enhanced the installation documentation to include detailed guidelines on memory requirements. This update addresses frequent user-reported compilation errors in ESPHome, attributed to insufficient memory on compiler servers. The updated section outlines recommended memory configurations for different installation scenarios, ensuring smoother compilation processes. A special acknowledgement to @andythomas for his valuable contributions to this update.
  • Baud Rate Adjustment for TFT Uploads: This update introduces a baud rate selector in the device's "Configuration" area, allowing users to lower the transfer speed from the default 921600 bps. This enhancement is particularly useful for troubleshooting transfer issues, providing a straightforward method to improve transfer reliability by adjusting the speed to accommodate different system capabilities.

For support, feedback, or detailed information about this update, visit our GitHub repository or our online documentation.

What's Next?

Discover what's next and what we are working on right now in our Milestones.

Special thanks to

  • @bluefoxlee:
    • For the CJK fonts and all the support with #1359
    • Update T.Chinese translation and Zi fonts, #1453
    • Update CJK fonts and T.Chinese translation, #1532
    • Update CJK character set for future reference, #1589
  • @Floppe - Fix entity pages labels, #1455
  • @tikismoke - Customization guide: Exposing relay fallback switch to Home Assistant, #1537
  • @andythomas:
    • Allow to set upper and lower set points for embedded thermostat, #1573
    • Bugfix for embedded climate/cool functionality, #1587
    • Update docs (install.md) with memory requirements, #1720 - Patch v4.2.5
  • @PaulAntonDeen:
    • Add ISO8601 date formatting as an option, #1610 - Patch v4.2.2
    • Fix Wi-Fi reference on QR code example, #1609 - Patch v4.2.2
  • @illuzn:
    • Fix for Lights with no brightness supported_features, #1633 - Patch v4.2.2
    • Implement dynamic icons and use device_class, #1635 - Patch v4.2.2
    • Fixes the incorrect labelling of the entity pages alignment, #1628 - Patch v4.2.2
  • @bkbartk - Add Dutch/Italian date format, #1658 - Patch v4.2.3
  • @shing6326 - Fix crash on climate page, fix climate icon and color, #1649 - Patch v4.2.3
  • And to all users who helped with the tests during development and beta.

Previous releases