NeatoFx Motor

Overview

The NeatoFx Motor is a WiFi-enabled motor and actuator controller for animated props, winches, escape room mechanisms, and entertainment attractions. Built on ESP32 with dual BTN8962TA H-bridge modules, one board runs four selectable behaviors: hold-to-run joystick control (DC or 240 VAC drive), encoder-based winch control with auto-homing and soft limits, dual pulse/air-valve firing, and simple manual joystick mode. Optional CAN bus networking lets multiple controllers coordinate as a game, and an optional MP3 sound module adds motion-synced audio.

Key features:

• Dual BTN8962TA H-bridge — 30 A continuous per half-bridge, 7–24 V DC supply
• Four compile-time behaviors: standard joystick, winch, pulse, manual
• DC drive (PWM with configurable start ramp) or 240 VAC dry-contact drive
• Hold-to-run joystick inputs — release always stops the motor
• Hardware limit switches, NO or NC wiring (web UI toggle)
• Automatic stall detection via current sense ADC (8 A default, configurable)
• Winch mode: Hall quadrature encoder, auto-homing on boot, calibrated soft length limits, two-zone speed, soft direction-change ramping
• Pulse mode: two independent timed outputs for air valves / solenoids
• Optional CAN bus (250 kbps) — central game gating, remote drive, telemetry
• Optional DY-SV5W MP3 module for idle/run audio synced to motion
• Boot-safe H-bridge: outputs forced off at earliest boot priority
• OTA firmware updates; Home Assistant integration in networked mode

Hardware

Component	Specification
MCU	ESP32 (Wemos D1 Mini32)
Flash	4 MB
Motor driver	2 × BTN8962TA half-bridge (H-bridge pair)
Max motor current	30 A continuous (BTN8962TA rated); 8 A software stall cutoff (configurable)
Supply voltage	7–24 V DC
WiFi	802.11 b/g/n 2.4 GHz
CAN	SN65HVD232 transceiver, 250 kbps (optional add-on)
Joystick inputs	2 × hold-to-run (INPUT_PULLUP)
Limit switches	NO or NC (INPUT_PULLUP, web UI mode toggle)
Current sense	2 × ADC (R_IS / L_IS)

GPIO Pinout

GPIO	Function
GPIO19	R_PWM — direction 1 / forward / reel-out / valve A (LEDC 1 kHz)
GPIO18	L_PWM — direction 2 / reverse / reel-in / valve B (LEDC 1 kHz)
GPIO17	R_EN — right H-bridge enable (INH)
GPIO16	L_EN — left H-bridge enable (INH)
GPIO34	R_IS — right H-bridge current sense (ADC, input-only)
GPIO35	L_IS — left H-bridge current sense (ADC, input-only)
GPIO32	Input 1 — joystick forward / trigger A (hold-to-run)
GPIO27	Input 2 — joystick reverse / trigger B (hold-to-run)
GPIO25	SW1 — open/forward limit switch (standard board)
GPIO13	SW2 — closed/reverse limit switch (Hall B in winch mode)
GPIO4	CAN RX (with CAN add-on) / Hall A (winch) / open limit (manual)
GPIO5	CAN TX (with CAN add-on)
GPIO26	Status LED (home limit switch in winch mode)
GPIO21/22	DY-SV5W sound module UART (with sound add-on)

Configuration

https://github.com/esphome/devices.esphome.io/blob/main/src/docs/devices/NeatoMotor/config.yaml

substitutions:
  id: "1"
  name: motor-${id}
  friendly_name: "NeatoFx Motor ${id}"

packages:
  board: github://CodeMakesItGo/NeatoFx_Public/Controllers/NeatoMotor/boards/rev3.yaml@main
  drive: github://CodeMakesItGo/NeatoFx_Public/Controllers/NeatoMotor/boards/common/drive_dc.yaml@main
  config: github://CodeMakesItGo/NeatoFx_Public/Controllers/NeatoMotor/configs/home_assistant.yaml@main

For the full configuration with all board variants, drives, and add-ons:

The current firmware configuration is fetched live from the upstream repository:

# Loading https://github.com/CodeMakesItGo/NeatoFx_Public/blob/main/Controllers/NeatoMotor/main.yaml…

Board variants (select one in main.yaml)

Package	Behavior
boards/rev3.yaml	Standard — hold-to-run joystick, limit switches, ramping, CAN game-gating
boards/rev3_winch.yaml	Winch — encoder position tracking, auto-homing, soft limits, two-zone speed
boards/rev3_pulse.yaml	Pulse — two independent timed outputs for air valves / solenoids
boards/rev3_manual.yaml	Manual — pure hold-to-run with hard limit stops, never CAN-gated

Standard board also selects a drive: drive_dc.yaml (PWM ramp) or drive_ac.yaml (dry-contact control of an external 240 VAC motor controller).

Operating modes

• Networked — joins home WiFi and exposes the Home Assistant native API (configs/networked.yaml).
• Standalone — creates its own WiFi AP (motor-1) for direct web control (configs/standalone.yaml).

Behavior settings (configurable via web UI)

Setting	Description
Motor Speed	PWM duty (%) the motor ramps up to
Start Ramp	ms to ramp 0 → speed on every start (0 = instant)
Limit Switches NC Mode	Invert both end-stops for normally-closed wiring
Pulse Time	Output on-time per trigger (pulse board, default 100 ms)
Sound Run/Idle Track	MP3 track indices (sound add-on)

Links

• GitHub repository