Is Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Sensor Compatible with Home Assistant (ESPHome)?
Electrical Specifications
Always confirm pin assignments against the manufacturer datasheet before wiring.
Compatibility Overview
Magnetic reed switch tipping bucket rain collector measuring real-time rainfall rate and daily accumulation.
Wiring
Host connections for this device
Technical Specification Matrix
| Feature / Attribute | Specification / Status |
|---|---|
| Hardware Protocol | Pulse Counter GPIO / 3.3V |
| Bridge Required | NO |
| Border Router Needed | None |
| Hardware Capabilities & Peripherals | Precipitation Rate (mm/h) Total Rainfall (mm) Note: these entities come from the ESPHome configuration you flash — each one needs its matching component in that YAML before it appears. |
| Pairing Complexity | Plug-and-Play |
| Factory Reset Instruction | Hold BOOT button for 3s. |
Wire, Flash, Adopt, Check
Wire it up
Follow the bus reference above. The host pins in the configuration are defaults — any free GPIO of the right kind will do, as long as the YAML names the pin you actually used.
Flash the configuration
Create a new device in the ESPHome dashboard (the Home Assistant add-on) and paste the configuration below into it, or save it as emb_esp32_rain_gauge_ha.yaml and run esphome run emb_esp32_rain_gauge_ha.yaml. The first flash goes over USB. If it is not detected, hold BOOT button for 3s to put it in download mode. Every update after that is over the air.
Adopt it in Home Assistant
Settings → Devices & Services. A node on the same network shows up as a discovered ESPHome device within a minute of joining Wi-Fi; choose Configure and enter the API encryption key from your secrets.yaml. If discovery does not find it, add the ESPHome integration by hand with the node's IP address.
Check it works
The entities on this page appear under the device in Home Assistant and update at the configured interval. The ESPHome log (Logs in the dashboard, or esphome logs) reports the setup of each component and any bus scan results at boot.
ESPHome Configuration
Starting configuration for Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Sensor on ESP32. Untested on hardware — verify wiring and pins against your own board.
# ESPHome configuration for Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Sensor
# Host: ESP32. Pin numbers below are host-side defaults — any free
# GPIO will do, and you should change them to match your own wiring.
esphome:
name: emb_esp32_rain_gauge_ha
friendly_name: "Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Sensor"
esp32:
board: esp32dev
framework:
type: esp-idf
logger:
api:
encryption:
key: !secret api_encryption_key
ota:
- platform: esphome
password: !secret ota_password
wifi:
ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
password: !secret wifi_password
sensor:
- platform: pulse_counter
pin:
number: GPIO27
mode:
input: true
pullup: true
name: "Rainfall Rate"
update_interval: 60s
Before you flash:
the !secret values come from your
secrets.yaml, and the GPIO numbers are host-side
defaults rather than properties of this part — change them to match how you actually wired it.
Report a Pinout Error or Submit Tested Code Snippets
Found a pin mapping quirk or built a custom ESPHome YAML driver for Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Sensor? Submit a pull request or report corrections to our index.