I've always been curious about how things work. So when I decided to build a home office monitoring system, it felt like a natural extension of that curiosity.
The Hardware
- ESP32 — A powerful microcontroller with WiFi and Bluetooth
- DHT11 — Basic but affordable temperature and humidity sensor
- Breadboard and jumper wires — For prototyping
The total cost? About $10.
The Code
I wrote a simple Arduino sketch that:
- Reads temperature and humidity every 10 seconds
- Publishes data via MQTT to a Node.js backend
- Stores readings for visualization
The Dashboard
A React frontend subscribes to the MQTT topic and displays real-time data. It was my first time building a full-stack IoT application — and I loved every minute of it.
What I Learned
- Microcontrollers are more accessible than I thought
- MQTT is elegant for IoT communication
- There's something satisfying about seeing physical sensors interact with web software
What's Next
I've already ordered a solar panel to add energy monitoring. The goal: a completely off-grid sensor setup powered by the sun.