PlancH

PlancH

A desk button panel for Home Assistant. Ten tactile buttons, a small OLED display, a touch area and thirteen addressable RGB LEDs on a black PCB that sits on your desk, either on its own rubber feet or on a 3D-printed stand. Powered by a Waveshare ESP32-S3-Zero running ESPHome, with native Home Assistant integration.

📖 Documentation: caccia78.github.io/PlancH

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e7710835-a2c8-45fb-a4f4-b32c819555f0

The video is also in media/ (MP4 and WebM).

Status: Rev. 1, prototypes on order. The design is complete and passes ERC/DRC, but the first boards have not been assembled and tested yet. Build one if you like to tinker, and expect changes.

Features

• 10 tactile buttons: a directional pad (up, down, left, right, OK), Back, and four scene buttons.
• 0.96" OLED display (SSD1306, 128 × 64, white) for menus and feedback.
• Capacitive touch area on the top "ear" to wake the display.
• 13 addressable RGB LEDs (SK6812): 3 status LEDs, 4 scene LEDs shining through milled windows in the PCB, and 6 backlight LEDs that light up the desk underneath.
• Waveshare ESP32-S3-Zero module, powered and programmed over USB-C.
• Hand-solderable: no parts with contacts under the body, passives 0805 or larger.
• ESPHome firmware with native Home Assistant API.
• Accessories: a 3D-printed desk stand, with more to come.

Front	Back

Build your own

1. Order the PCB. Upload production/gerber/ (or the Gerber ZIP attached to the latest release) to JLCPCB, PCBWay or any other maker. Reference settings: 2 layers, 2.0 mm FR4 (1.6 mm works too), matte black solder mask, white silkscreen, ENIG finish.
2. Get the components. The bill of materials is in production/planch-bom.csv, with manufacturer part numbers.
3. Solder. Open production/planch-ibom.html in a browser: the interactive BOM highlights every part on the board. Suggested order: passives and LEDs on the back, buttons, ESP32 module, OLED last.
4. Flash the firmware. Run esphome run firmware/planch.yaml and set the Wi-Fi after flashing. Then install the Home Assistant package homeassistant/planch.yaml and put the label PlancH on the devices to control: the panel finds them by itself, by room.
5. Print a stand (optional): the desk stand or the magnetic wall mount, with ready-to-print 3MF and STL files.

The project website has the full documentation: components with shop links, PCB ordering, a step-by-step assembly guide, firmware and Home Assistant setup.

Repository layout

hardware/      KiCad 10 project: schematic, PCB, custom symbols, footprints and 3D models
production/    Gerber and drill files, BOM, pick-and-place, interactive BOM, schematic PDF, STEP
mechanical/    3D-printable accessories (build123d sources, STL, 3MF, STEP)
firmware/      ESPHome: planch.yaml (board), planch-bringup.yaml (assembly test), planch-test.yaml (test bench)
homeassistant/ Home Assistant package (menu from labels and areas) and test bench dashboard
media/         renders and video

License

PlancH is open source hardware.

• Hardware (KiCad sources, production files, 3D-printed accessories): CERN-OHL-S v2
• Firmware and scripts: MIT
• Documentation, renders and video: CC BY-SA 4.0

See LICENSE.md for details. The source location printed on the back of the board is github.com/caccia78/planch.

© 2026 Vincenzo Cacciatore