ControlBox crowdfunding launches Raspberry Pi 5 Home Assistant controller for floor heating

DomeCtrl has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Crowd Supply for the ControlBox, a Raspberry Pi 5-based home automation controller built around Home Assistant. The device targets hydronic radiant floor heating installations with dedicated outputs for thermal valves and hydraulic PWM pumps, plus 1-Wire temperature sensor support over cables exceeding 6 meters. Beyond heating, it provides 32 PWM-controlled LED-strip channels capable of 2 kW total output, RS485 and 433 MHz wireless connectivity, and solid-state relay outputs for both 24 V AC and mains voltage devices.

The hardware ships with a 128GB NVMe SSD pre-loaded with Home Assistant, and DomeCtrl publishes hardware documentation with schematics forthcoming on GitHub. Custom Home Assistant integrations for the LED PWM outputs and relay controls are already available in the ha-pca9685 and ha-pi4ioe5v9xxxx repositories. The campaign seeks $36,000 with a $1,550 pledge level for a fully assembled unit.

Hardware architecture and Home Assistant integration

• Raspberry Pi 5 foundation: The controller uses a Raspberry Pi 5 with 4GB RAM as its compute base, paired with a 128GB NVMe SSD for storage and Home Assistant runtime.
• Radiant floor heating I/O: 16x 24 V AC/500 mA solid-state relay outputs directly drive floor heater valves, while 2x optoisolated PWM outputs and 3x optoisolated GPIO outputs control hydraulic PWM pumps and thermal valves at up to 24 V DC.
• 1-Wire sensor bus: Two independent 1-Wire channels support up to 30 temperature sensors with 5 V data lines, parasitic power mode, and dedicated 5 V/500 mA power budget across both channels.
• LED lighting subsystem: 32 PWM-controlled outputs at 200 Hz default frequency handle 24 V LED strips, with 4x power inputs rated at 20 A per pin and 2 kW aggregate capacity.
• Wireless and serial expansion: Onboard WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5, a W32-ESP01 header for ESPHome integration, and 433 MHz transceiver modules for ClickOnClickOff and similar wireless peripherals.

Why it matters

The ControlBox demonstrates how open-source home automation platforms like Home Assistant are expanding into specialized building infrastructure that previously relied on proprietary industrial controllers. By publishing hardware documentation and maintaining GitHub repositories for custom integrations, DomeCtrl follows the open-hardware model that lets installers and homeowners inspect, modify, and extend their heating systems without vendor lock-in. For the Raspberry Pi and Home Assistant ecosystems, this represents a move upmarket into energy-intensive applications where reliability and electrical isolation matter, potentially encouraging similar open designs for heat pumps and solar thermal systems.