Moogle is somewhere around 16 years old. She is starting to slow down and get stiff. She also loves being warm.
Enter the tater toaster project! The goal was to build a heated cat bed for Moogle’s Sweet 16. We converted an enclosed cat bed into a smart “TaterToaster” using ESPHome, an Adafruit ESP32 Feather, a Feather Relay board, an I2C temperature sensor, a dissected USB charger, and an electric heating pad.
They were all things that we already had around the home, so the hardware isn’t ideal, but it works and she is warm!
Parts
- 28x28 cm square reptile heating pad
- Dissected USB charger
- Adafruit ESP32 Feather
- Feather Relay board
- I2C temperature sensor
- Black plastic enclosure
- Electrical tape
- Wire wrap
- Silicone for some additional water proofing
Putting it Together
I don’t trust this soldering. It is the heating pad's original board. We cleaned it up prior to moving forward with the project.
A view inside a a black electronics enclosure containing what appears to be an ESP32 Feather form factor microcontroller board and a USB power board. There are a few messy wires.
Taping the I2C temperature sensor to the bottom of the heating pad.
The enclosure with the original heating pad dial.
Home Assistant Integration
The TaterToaster was configured in Home Assistant so that it could be monitored. We already had the infrastructure set up for using ESPHome with Home Assistant, so this part of the project was easy.
Home Assistant widget for the TaterToaster.
A graph of the TaterToaster Temperature over the past 24 hours. It’s hovering between about 37.8 degrees and 40.5 degrees with only 3 brief spikes.
Tater Successfully Toasted
It took her a moment to realize it was warm, but once she did, the TaterToaster became Moogle’s best friend.
Moogle approves.
2024-01-18 Update: Nothing has burned down and the TaterToaster is still toastin'.