flexispot-esphome

ESPHome component for FlexiSpot standing desks (E7 Pro / E7 Pro Plus / LoctekMotion). Full programmatic control - presets, up/down, height sensor - via the desk's RJ45 serial interface.

Built for the XIAO ESP32C6 with a bi-directional logic level shifter. Targets the E7 Pro's HS13M-1C0 controller, which has known issues with existing community integrations.

Status: Working. Height sensor, preset commands (Stand/Sit/1/2), and manual Up/Down all tested on E7 Pro Plus + HS13M-1C0 + CB38M2L.

• Health break enforcement - pair with a timer automation to auto-raise the desk after prolonged sitting
• Scene integration - raise to standing when "work mode" activates, lower for "meeting mode"
• Sit/stand tracking - log height over time to track daily standing ratio

Tested on:

• FlexiSpot E7 Pro Plus (HS13M-1C0 keypad, CB38M2L control box)

Should work with:

• FlexiSpot E7, E7 Pro, E7Q, E5, E6, E8 and other LoctekMotion-based desks
• Any desk with the standard 9B ... 9D packet protocol on 9600 baud RJ45

ESP32 boards: Designed for XIAO ESP32C6 but adaptable to any ESP32 variant. Adjust pin assignments in the YAML config. If using a 5V-tolerant board (some ESP32 DevKits), the level shifter may be optional, though it's recommended for reliability.

Existing projects (iMicknl/LoctekMotion_IoT, forks) often report that E7 Pro desks read height but ignore movement commands. Three root causes:

1. Wake timing - Controller requires PIN 20 held HIGH for 1 full second, not 200ms.
2. Poll/response protocol - Controller sends 0x11 polls every ~40ms expecting 0x02 button-state replies. Fire-and-forget commands get ignored.
3. Voltage levels - The desk's logic level hasn't been publicly documented. If it runs at 5V, ESP32's 3.3V output would be marginal.

This component addresses #1 and #2 in software with proper wake sequencing and a poll-aware state machine. The reference design includes a level shifter for #3, though it may not be strictly required (see note below).

If you want to get this running as fast as possible, you don't need a soldering iron. Three parts, about 10 minutes of assembly:

Total cost: ~$12. No level shifter, no jumper wires, no tools beyond wire strippers.

Assembly: Cut one end off the patch cable, strip ~2cm of jacket, and push the 5 needed wires directly into the breadboard rows next to the matching XIAO pins:

Unused wires: White-Orange (Pin 1), Orange (Pin 2), White-Green (Pin 3) - cut short or tuck aside.

Power: During testing, leave the Brown (5V) wire disconnected and power the XIAO via USB-C. For permanent deployment, push the Brown wire into the 5V row. Both can be connected at the same time safely.

Plug the RJ45 end into the desk control box's spare port (not the one the keypad uses). That's it.

For a more permanent setup, or if the breadboard version has signal issues, add a logic level shifter between the ESP and the desk:

Tools needed: Soldering iron, wire strippers

Total cost: ~$15

XIAO ESP32C6 Level Shifter (BOB-12009) Desk RJ45 (T568B)
───────────── ─────────────────────── ─────────────────
3V3 ───────► LV (ref)
GND ───────► GND (LV) GND (HV) ◄─────── Pin 7 Wht-Brown GND
 HV (ref) ◄─────── Pin 8 Brown +5V
D6 / GPIO16 ───────► LV1 ─── ch1 ── HV1 ───────► Pin 6 Green Commands IN
D7 / GPIO17 ◄─────── LV2 ─── ch2 ── HV2 ◄─────── Pin 5 Wht-Blue Height OUT
D2 / GPIO2 ───────► LV3 ─── ch3 ── HV3 ───────► Pin 4 Blue PIN 20 Wake
5V (deploy) ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ► Pin 8 Brown +5V

1. Cut one end off the patch cable, strip ~2cm of jacket, expose the 5 needed wires
2. Solder the 5 desk wires to the HV side of the level shifter (see table below)
3. Solder 5 short wires from the XIAO's castellated pads to the LV side
4. Connect XIAO 3V3 to the LV reference pin

About 30 minutes of soldering total, even if you're new to it.

Add this to your own ESPHome YAML — no need to clone the repo:

external_components:
  - source: github://dimitri-vs/flexispot-esphome@main
    components: [ flexispot_desk ]

Then configure the component as shown in the Configuration section below. See esphome/office-desk.yaml in this repo for a complete working example.

pip install esphome
cd esphome/
cp secrets.yaml.example secrets.yaml
# Edit secrets.yaml with your WiFi credentials
esphome compile office-desk.yaml
esphome upload office-desk.yaml --device COM5  # or /dev/ttyACM0

The device auto-discovers via mDNS. Go to Settings > Devices > Add Integration > ESPHome and enter the encryption key from your secrets.yaml.

Insert the RJ45 cable into the desk control box's spare port (not the one the keypad uses).

The height sensor reads the display digits directly, so it reports whatever unit your desk is set to. The component defaults to cm. If your desk displays inches, override it in your YAML:

sensor:
  - platform: flexispot_desk
    name: "Desk Height"
    unit_of_measurement: "in"  # for desks set to inches

Up/Down are short nudges, not continuous hold. The physical keypad always works for manual control and can override any programmatic command.

The component implements a 5-state machine that emulates a keypad on the desk's spare RJ45 port:

1. BOOT - 10s delay for controller startup, then sends M command to get initial height
2. IDLE - Sends periodic "no buttons pressed" packets to maintain bus presence
3. WAKING_LOW - Pulls PIN 20 LOW for 100ms to create a rising edge
4. WAKING_HIGH - Holds PIN 20 HIGH for 1.1s (required by E7 Pro before accepting commands)
5. ACTIVE - Responds to controller's 0x11 polls with button-state packets encoding the requested command

Commands are only sent as responses to controller polls, not fire-and-forget. This matches the keypad scan conversation the controller expects. The physical keypad on the primary port continues to work normally.

The desk uses a proprietary UART protocol at 9600 baud (8N1) over RJ45.

[0x9B] [length] [type] [payload...] [CRC16] [0x9D]

flexispot-esphome/
├── components/
│   └── flexispot_desk/       # ESPHome external component
│       ├── __init__.py        # Component registration
│       ├── sensor.py          # Height sensor platform
│       ├── button.py          # Button platform (7 commands)
│       ├── flexispot_desk.h   # State machine, packets, constants
│       └── flexispot_desk.cpp # Implementation
├── esphome/
│   ├── office-desk.yaml       # Example config (XIAO ESP32C6)
│   ├── office-desk-debug.yaml # UART debug config (raw hex logging)
│   └── secrets.yaml.example
├── docs/
│   └── images/
│       ├── breadboard-wiring.png  # No-solder breadboard diagram
│       ├── wiring-diagram.html
│       └── wiring-diagram.png     # Soldered build with level shifter
└── README.md

• iMicknl/LoctekMotion_IoT - Original reverse engineering project
• NelsonBrandao/flexispot-e7-esphome - 3-state polling machine
• takahashikenichi/flexispot-e7pro-nesson1 - Confirmed E7 Pro + HS13M-1C0 control
• Ideal Reality E7 Pro Analysis - Poll/response protocol documentation
• PR #139 - Wake-before-action fix for newer desks

MIT