
Lighting controlled by a OralB Bluetooth toothbrush - imduffy15
https://twitter.com/imduffy15/status/1256731450231132160
======
the_pwner224
When I saw the title I was prepared for a great hack. Something that truly
belonged on Hacker News. But this seems a lot more lame.

"I made lighting controlled by a ESP32, then put it inside the brush and
connected the button to it."

But reading the twitter replies further down the chain, it seems the
toothbrush sends data to the charging base, and the ESP resides there and
analyzes the signals sent to the base? Much more interesting. Twitter's
character limit really killed this post.

Unrelated, all the hashtags and @s make Twitter quite hard to read. The @ and
# characters should be hidden for readers.

~~~
imduffy15
Can help fill in some of the blanks for you. The toothbrush has bluetooth. Its
bluetooth advertisement contains information about its operating state
(running, idle, etc.), mode (brush, daily clean, etc.), pressure and some
other things. The ESP32 chip scans bluetooth, detectes these advertisements,
parses them and extras the data. It then sends it over to home-assistant.io
which can use the data to trigger actions on any other connected device.

~~~
imduffy15
Code can be seen on this commit
[https://github.com/imduffy15/esphome/commit/90c3cb62b37e9ce3...](https://github.com/imduffy15/esphome/commit/90c3cb62b37e9ce308ed0c9d510f54ff95c2dfec)
there are likely bugs :D

------
lmilcin
My espresso machine turns on my coffee grinder. No wifi/bluetooth/etc.

Just bad EMI immunity.

~~~
azinman2
Can this really be true? Can you explain more about what exactly is going on?
Your grinder must be controlled via a microcontroller (and your espresso
machine must make the FCC cry?)? My grinder is a simple physical on/off switch
that’s directly wired to the motor.

~~~
lmilcin
The grinder is Baratza Sette 270W. The espresso machine is Rancilio Silvia.

The espresso machine has no low voltage electronics, it is basically just
switches, thermostats, a heater, a pump and and a valve. It has two inductive
components, a pump and a solenoid valve with no protection. This is a recipe
for huge amount of EMI when the devices are turned off (when inductive
component is turned off at a right time the voltage rises and can cause spark
and high voltage that is applied to the outlet).

Since the grinder is connected to an outlet close by it is subject to EMI. I
have not looked inside the grinder but there there are components like
thyristors and triacs which are used to keep a device turned on until it
decides otherwise, that can get turned on by EMI. Generating enough voltage
can cause a thyristor or triac to turn on by itself which is then enough to
keep it turned on and cause the device to wake itself up without the user
pressing the button.

I will also add that I have two versions of the grinder. Only the older one is
affected by the problem. I find it likely somebody spotted and fixed the
problem (it is extremely easy to fix just as it is extremely easy to
overlook).

------
paypalcust83
Coincidentally, I bought an ESP32 (ESP-WROOM-32 Rev1)[0] last month, and have
a bluetooth toothbrush and a couple of Amazon Smart Plugs. I guess you could
make your own brushing compliance system with an alarm, and add a camera plus
CV to detect an absence of motion to prevent basic cheating.

0\.
[https://www.ebay.com/itm/262809348271](https://www.ebay.com/itm/262809348271)
It's probably not the best or cheapest available.

~~~
imduffy15
Used
[https://m5stack.com/products/stick-c](https://m5stack.com/products/stick-c)
myself

------
itsajoke
I wish it could work in reverse. I want my lighting to control my toothbrush.

------
jadzia-dev
just... why?...

I was expecting something silly like Siri Shortcuts... tbh

~~~
egypturnash
"because I am stuck at home and bored out of my mind" is a plausible theory to
me, though really, I find myself asking the same question about why the hell a
_toothbrush_ needs to connect to anything but power in the first place. The
toothbrush company's page on the virtues of their Bluetooth toothbrush is not
very compelling IMHO: [https://oralb.com/en-us/why-
switch/](https://oralb.com/en-us/why-switch/)

~~~
maxerickson
Of course it doesn't. They've saturated the market though, so it gives them
something to sell to people who already have a power toothbrush.

