System administrator and maker Doug Barry has introduced a lifeless powered sit-stand desk again to life, by constructing it a brand new management panel powered by an Espressif ESP32-S3 microcontroller.
“I used to be gifted the remaining elements of a height-adjustable desk from a member of the family. The floor of the desk was being re-used for one thing else, and the management panel (keypad) was non-functional,” Barry explains. “That had suffered from both a canine chunk, or a baby chunk, we’ll by no means know. Both manner, the chunk had severed what I later came upon was the hint to GND.”
A chewed-up management panel killed a motorized sit-stand desk — however an Espressif ESP32-S3 can stand in as a wise alternative. (📷: Doug Barry)
The unique management panel was easy sufficient: 5 domed switches, every of which pulls its explicit line to floor. Urgent a change prompts the desk’s motor — reducing or elevating the desk floor to pre-set or customized heights — however provided that the contact is definitely made. Whereas it ought to be attainable to restore the damaged hint, Barry opted as a substitute to throw away the unique panel and construct one thing new.
Utilizing an affordable five-key macropad related to an Espressif ESP32-S3 microcontroller, performing as a USB Host, Barry was in a position to replicate the performance of the unique controls — solely now with pleasing mechanical keyswitches. “Certain sufficient,” Barry says of the experiment, “the desks motorised capabilities nonetheless labored.”
The mission is documented on Hackaday.io; supply code has been uploaded to GitHub below the permissive MIT license, although Barry describes it as a “minimal viable product and never my finest work!”
