ESP8266 Mini D1 Path Light Bracket

thingiverse

This is a bracket to hold an ESP8266 Wemos Mini D1 board inside one of those cheap solar pathway lights that you can get at Dollar Tree. What you do with it after you fit it in there is entirely up to you and your imagination. In my case, I used the built-in solar panel to detect lightning strikes and send a message via MQTT to my Home Assistant server. To use it, you must remove all of the innards from the solar path light except the solar panel. If you want access to the USB port or the reset switch you will need to poke holes in the outer case for those. I've found that a standard office hole punch works well for that. There is also a place for a common sounder ("buzzer") on the bracket as well. You should be able to fit a supercapacitor or small battery in place of the sounder but I haven't tried that.