ESPHome E-Ink Weather Calendar Wall Monitor

This project provides a complete solution for a wall-mounted e-ink display powered by ESPHome and tightly integrated with Home Assistant. It displays weather, calendar events, room temperatures, and Slovenian date/time, with smart refresh logic and support for dark/light modes.

Element positioning was planned with this design simulator page (https://jnan.co/tools/displaysim/), which significantly reducing trial-and-error reflashing. I also used different AI to tweak some parts of the code, which again saved me a lot of time.

Photos

Light theme

Dark theme

Wall mounted

Hardware needed

• Xiao 7.5" (https://www.seeedstudio.com/XIAO-7-5-ePaper-Panel-p-6416.html) - price for two was 125,18 € (Aliexpress)
• Can be powered via USB-C cable, left running on battery or permanent power directly to +5V and GND PIN on ESP chip
• Display fits perfectly in Ikea frame model RÖDALM with dimensions 13x18 cm (price in Ikea Slovenia was 3,49 € per frame)

Structure

ESPHome Source (esphome-wall-monitor.yaml)

• Defines the ESP32-based e-ink display configuration, including fonts, MQTT, API, WiFi, and display logic.

Custom rendering for weather, calendar, and room temperatures.

• Dark/Light mode selection.
• Smart refresh logic via Home Assistant or API triggers.
• Uses MQTT and Home Assistant sensors for data.
• Home Assistant Automations & Templates (ha-*.yaml)

Provide the backend logic and data for the display:

ha-combine-calendar.yaml:

• Collects events from multiple calendars, formats them in Slovenian, and publishes to MQTT for the display.

ha-weather.yaml:

• Fetches daily/hourly weather forecasts and exposes them as sensors for ESPHome.

ha-slovenian_date.yaml:

• Generates Slovenian-formatted date and time sensors.

ha-refresh-screen.yam:

• Smart refresh automation for the display, avoiding unnecessary updates at night and responding to activity.

Fonts (fonts)

• Custom TTF fonts for Slovenian characters and Material Design Icons.

Features

E-Ink Display:

Shows weather icons, forecasts, room temperatures, calendar events, date, and time.

Slovenian Localization:

All date, time, and calendar text is localized.

Smart Refresh:

Refreshes only when needed, with night-time suppression and activity triggers.

Dark/Light Mode:

User-selectable appearance.

MQTT & Home Assistant Integration:

Data is fetched and pushed via MQTT and Home Assistant sensors.