Hey everyone, I wanted to share my recent DIY project with you all! 
I’ve always been fascinated by home automation and decided to take on a challenge: building my own smart thermostat using an ESP8266 ESP-01S module and a DS18B20 temperature sensor. I’ve been following some guides online and decided to give it a shot myself.The journey started with soldering the DS18B20 sensor to the ESP module, which was a bit nerve-wracking but ended up working perfectly. I then flashed the Tasmota firmware onto the ESP, which made the whole setup much easier to configure and integrate with my Home Assistant setup. After assigning a static IP and connecting everything to my MQTT broker, the next step was setting up the automation rules.I used the Tasmota console to define the rules for turning the heater on and off based on the temperature readings. Here’s a quick breakdown of what I did:- Turn heater on when temperature drops below 26°C- Turn heater off when temperature reaches 27°C- Set up a delay to prevent rapid cyclingThe best part? It works like a charm! 
I’ve been monitoring it for a week now, and it’s holding the temperature perfectly. I even integrated it into my Home Assistant dashboard using a custom card, which makes it super easy to keep an eye on everything.If anyone is thinking about tackling a similar project, I’d highly recommend starting with Tasmota—it really simplifies the process. Plus, the community support is amazing if you run into any issues. This project has given me a whole new appreciation for how these devices work behind the scenes. It’s incredibly satisfying to have something you built yourself fully integrated into your smart home setup. If you’re up for a challenge, I say give it a try—you might just surprise yourself! 