camera (likely via motion unless there is a better solution).

multiple contactless water level sensors (analog, hopefully be able to use mcp3008 for this - have to wait for those to arrive).

This hardware is supposed to interact with the pi I know esphome is capable of many things, but in this case, a pi seems easier for me with my limited programming skills (I know some bash and python, but always get lost when it comes to C++ etc.).

However, I want to add more things to it, and as it is in a location where I already use an IP camera, I’d like to add a pi cam replacing the existing camera, so a raspberry pi seems like a better solution. Logic is handled by Home Assistant, the rest is done by the nodemcu. My irrigation system is currently an ESPHome controlling a relay which controls multiple 12V valves. But they are kinda limited because I have to rely on what the developers provide (for example, ESPHome can only be used for what is already programmed in there, as I do not have the knowledge to modify the actual source code). They all do one thing, or some of them a few things - and they do them wel. I have dozens of ESP8266 devices (mostly nodeMCU v3 and Wemos D1 mini) running either ESPHome or tasmota.

However, it was one-way (Home Assistant to pi) and will not work for my new project. The sound files were on a raspberry pi, and Home Assistant would ssh into this pi via pubkey without password, then run mpv file1/file2 every half and full hour. I read about a grandfather clock in share your projects! ages ago and decided to write my own.

Do any of you control a raspberry pi that is not running Home Assistant itself, but use Home Assistant to control it? previous attempt

Home assistant on raspberry pi zero