Control NAD C356BEE through RS232 from Home Assistant (HA) using ESPHome and a Wemos D1. The ESPhome configuration exposes the following entities to HA:
- Power
- Sources
- Mute
- Speaker A/B
- Volume increment and decrement
The entities are queried during startup and will automatically be updated based on the information received from the amplifier. Volume entities are state-less and therefore configured as buttons compared to the other entities which are configured as switches.
The UART text sensor used for ESPHome is based on the description at Custom UART Text Sensor.
- MAX3232 RS232 Serial Port to TTL Conversion Module
- Wemos D1
- Null modem cable
| Wemos D1 | MAX3232 |
|---|---|
| D4 | TX |
| D3 | RX |
| GND | GND |
| 3.3 | VCC |
Set the baud rate to 115200 to properly send and receive serial data from C356BEE. A reference for these commands can be
found on this webpage.
| Command | Operators | Possible values | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Main.Model |
? | N/A | Query model | Main.Model? |
Main.Mute |
=/+/-/? | On, Off | Set mute | Main.Mute=On |
Main.Power |
=/+/-/? | On, Off | Set power on/off | Main.Power=On |
Main.Source |
=/+/-/? | TAPE2, DISC/MDC, MP, TUNER, AUX, CD | Set source | Main.Source=CD |
Main.SpeakerA |
=/+/-/? | On, Off | Set speaker A on/off | Main.SpeakerA=On |
Main.SpeakerB |
=/+/-/? | On, Off | Set speaker B on/off | Main.SpeakerB=Off |
Main.Tape1 |
=/+/-/? | On, Off | Set tape 1 on/off | Main.Tape1=On |
Main.Volume |
+/- | N/A | Increment or decrement volume | Main.Volume+ |
The case and cover can be printed using a filament printer in order to store the electronics neatly.
Make sure to connect the Rx and Tx pins properly between the nodes that need to communicate. I had a problem with my amplifier and MAX3232 where I used a straight cable instead of a twisted/null cable, which caused the devices to not communicate with each other. It took me a long time to realize this mistake.