ReTerminal E1002 colour ePaper Dashboard

Disclaimer

Seeedstudio reached out to me on the Home Assistant community forums, on the back of some posts I did related to the E-paper dashboard, and gave me the opportunity to try their new ReTerminal E1002 colour ePaper display, providing me with a free unit.
All the opinions shared below regarding the unit are my own. There are no affiliate links nor do I get any commission from anything.

Seeedstudio have recently released their ReTerminal E1002 full colour epaper displays. These are a further iteration of the previous XIAO 7.5” ePaper panel, featuring an upgraded enclosure, ESP32 (a S3 instead of the previous C3), and, more importantly, the new Spectra 6 7.3” full colour ePaper display. This is still epaper, meaning you can get some very decent battery duration - we’re talking weeks rather than days, as you would with a traditional display.

The E1002 colour epaper display with a colour photo being displayed.

One downside of the colour epaper display is that it has a very long refresh time. It will take around 15 seconds for the screen to update, with some jarring flashing on the screen. The information I display on these dashboards is rather static, so I am only updating it once per hour.

The unit does have a hole for wall mounting, and 3 buttons which you can map at your will. With ESPHome, you can even use them to trigger actions on your Home Assistant instance. I have chosen to use them simply as navigation between multiple dashboard pages.

The E1002 colour epaper displaying an Home Assistant dashboard.

A wall dashboard that blends in

My use case for this device is to use it as a display for a Home Assistant dashboard, showing relevant information at a glance, while integrating neatly with the existing decor. The size means it still fits inside an IKEA frame, if you prefer to wall-mount it more discreetly. It does not completely fill the frame, but if you use the frame’s passepartout it will mask the difference. If you can align it properly, it can actually be made to fit perfectly, without gaps. In my case, I am using the mounting whole on the E1002, and then placed a bit of sponge on top of the unit, which holds it at the exact height. I have used the metal clips on the frame itself to provide additional hold on the sides, making sure it stays perfectly centered.

The Xiao 7.5" monochrome epaper on the left vs the E1002 colour epaper on the right. Both are shown inside a Ikea photo frame.

That is my case. I prefer my home not to look smart, and prefer for things to be automated rather than having to interact with my smart home via a dashboard. However, there are plenty of scenarios where I want to have access to information at a glance. That is why I like having a dashboard in the main hallway showing information such as the weather, calendar appointments, range on our EVs, or the driving time estimate to work/the next calendar appointment. I have a smart photo frame in my kitchen, which also allows me to display and interact with Home Assistant, and the same principle applies. It shows photos until you tap the screen and that’s when the dashboard is displayed. It’s an entirely different kind of device, with a different purpose.

The Puppet add-on for Home Assistant

Similarly to what I did previously with my epaper dashboard, I am using the Puppet add-on to grab a Home Assistant screenshot with the correct resolution and colour settings, and then retrieve it with ESPHome.

Puppet was recently updated¹ to add support for dithering and presets for displays such as this Spectra6 display, as well as adding a web UI that can be used to configure the URL with the different available options and seeing a preview. You can select the different settings and choose which dashboard to screenshot. If you are not entirely happy with the results, you can further try different dithering settings, or adding a theme.

To get the image automatically sized and adapted for the ReTerminal E1002, append ?device=seeed-reterminal-e1002 at the end of the image URL from Puppet. In this example, I pass the &theme=Graphite+Light as an additional argument:

http://homeassistant.local:10000/lovelace/0?device=seeed-reterminal-e1002&theme=Graphite+Light

This can also be configured via the web UI, you can select the device and it should give you a preview and the URL to copy.

Integrating with ESPHome and Home Assistant

You can refer to the Seeedstudio wiki for examples of basic configuration and different functionalities. I have chosen to do something a bit more complex here, to really make the best use of the device.

For this example, I have set up the dashboard to load 4 different pages (home, energy, plants and wallpaper) from my eink-e1002 dashboard.

Home Assistant helper and automation

I have created a input_select helper in Home Assistant, named input_select.reterminal_e1002_page_selector, with possible values home, energy, plants and wallpaper, ie matching the pages on the dashboard. The ESPHome code will still work without it - it will just default to the home page, and you can then navigate through the pages using the buttons on the device. The idea is to allow me to dynamically choose what should be displayed depending on context.

Here is my sample automation, and what it does:

• If any plant is in state “problem”, display the Plants Dashboard page;
• If time between 9.30am and 1pm, and current and forecasted solar energy production is high, display Energy Dashboard page;
• If there are any calendar.family events today (based on a helper), display Home Dashboard page;
• If nobody is home, display Wallpaper Dashboard page;
• If Battery is under 5%, send Notification;
• Else, Default, Display Wallpaper Dashboard page.

In my case, for the wallpaper dashboard page, I am using a single picture card, and using Immich Kiosk to generate the URL that returns photos from our personal Immich photo library.

Automation .yaml code

I use the “delay” as a weighting. The more important pages to display have a larger delay so that they override the less important ones.

alias: ReTerminal E1002 dashboard page selector
description: ""
triggers:
  - trigger: time_pattern
    minutes: /30
conditions: []
actions:
  - choose:
      - alias: If any plant is in state "problem", display the Plants Dashboard page
        conditions:
          - condition: or
            conditions:
              - condition: state
                entity_id: plant.butterfly_palm
                state:
                  - problem
              - condition: state
                entity_id: plant.dracaena
                state:
                  - problem
              - condition: state
                entity_id: plant.olive
                state:
                  - problem
              - condition: state
                entity_id: plant.fishbone_cactus
                state:
                  - problem
              - condition: state
                entity_id: plant.fishbone_cactus_kitchen
                state:
                  - problem
              - condition: state
                entity_id: plant.fishbone_cactus_office
                state:
                  - problem
              - condition: state
                entity_id: plant.mistletoe_cactus
                state:
                  - problem
              - condition: state
                entity_id: plant.peperomia
                state:
                  - problem
              - condition: state
                entity_id: plant.peperomia_santorini
                state:
                  - problem
        sequence:
          - action: input_select.select_option
            metadata: {}
            data:
              option: plants
            target:
              entity_id: input_select.reterminal_e1002_page_selector
      - alias: >-
          If time between 9.30am and 1pm, and current and forecasted solar
          energy production is high, display Energy Dashboard page
        conditions:
          - condition: time
            after: "09:30:00"
            before: "13:00:00"
            weekday:
              - sat
              - fri
              - thu
              - wed
              - tue
              - mon
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sensor.energy_next_hour
            above: 1.5
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sensor.grid_export_power
            above: 1500
        sequence:
          - delay:
              hours: 0
              minutes: 0
              seconds: 1
              milliseconds: 0
          - action: input_select.select_option
            metadata: {}
            data:
              option: energy
            target:
              entity_id: input_select.reterminal_e1002_page_selector
      - conditions:
          - condition: state
            entity_id: sensor.next_calendar_family_event_date
            state:
              - "0"
        sequence:
          - delay:
              hours: 0
              minutes: 0
              seconds: 3
              milliseconds: 0
          - action: input_select.select_option
            metadata: {}
            data:
              option: home
            target:
              entity_id: input_select.reterminal_e1002_page_selector
        alias: >-
          If there are any calendar.family events today, display Home Dashboard
          page
      - alias: If nobody is home, display Wallpaper Dashboard page
        conditions:
          - condition: state
            entity_id: zone.home
            state:
              - "0"
        sequence:
          - delay:
              hours: 0
              minutes: 0
              seconds: 5
              milliseconds: 0
          - action: input_select.select_option
            metadata: {}
            data:
              option: wallpaper
            target:
              entity_id: input_select.reterminal_e1002_page_selector
      - alias: If Battery is under 5%, send Notification
        conditions:
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sensor.e1002_battery_level
            below: 5
          - condition: sun
            before: sunset
            after: sunrise
        sequence:
          - action: notify.html5
            data:
              message: The ReTerminal E1002 battery is under 5%. Please recharge soon.
              title: ReTerminal Low Battery
    default:
      - alias: Display default Wallpaper Dashboard page
        action: input_select.select_option
        metadata: {}
        data:
          option: wallpaper
        target:
          entity_id: input_select.reterminal_e1002_page_selector
mode: single

ESPHome Code and functionality

• This uses the native Esphome component for the color epaper;
• 3 buttons on top (page navigation back/forward + refresh / deep sleep interrupt);
• Deep sleep after 90s, for longer battery life - the device wakes up every hour, displaying the page set by input_select.reterminal_e1002_page_selector (or home, by default). It will display the wallpaper page during the night, with a longer deep sleep between 10pm and 6am. Using any of the buttons resets the deep_sleep timer.
• Led light on the side, stays on (green) when the device is awake.
• Battery voltage and % monitoring, reported into Home Assistant at each 90 seconds (the wake up interval)
• Temperature and humidity sensor built in, reported into Home Assistant.

I wrote most of this code, based on the Seeedstudio’s wiki and ESPHome’s documentation, but I used a LLM to assist me with the lambdas part of the code - I don’t code for a living, and I can’t figure that out myself.

My ESPHome.yaml code, based on ESPHome 2025.11.X

 substitutions:
  name: e1002
  friendly_name: "reTerminal E1002"
 
esphome:
  name: ${name}
  friendly_name: ${friendly_name}
  on_boot:
    - priority: 600
      then:
        - output.turn_on: bsp_sd_enable
        - output.turn_on: bsp_battery_enable
        - delay: 200ms
        - component.update: battery_voltage
        - component.update: battery_level
        - light.turn_on: onboard_led
    - priority: -100
      then:
        - delay: 5s
        - script.execute: handle_wakeup
        - script.execute: reset_sleep_timer
 
esp32:
  board: seeed_xiao_esp32s3
  framework:
    type: esp-idf
 
psram:
  mode: octal
  speed: 80MHz
 
logger:
  hardware_uart: UART0 # Required to report logs over USB
 
api:
  encryption:
    key: "your_random_encryption_key"
 
ota:
  - platform: esphome
    password: !secret ota_password
 
wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password
 
deep_sleep:
  id: deep_sleep_1
  wakeup_pin: GPIO3
  wakeup_pin_mode: INVERT_WAKEUP
 
spi:
  clk_pin: GPIO7
  mosi_pin: GPIO9
i2c:
  scl: GPIO20
  sda: GPIO19
 
globals:
  - id: page_index
    type: int
    restore_value: true
    initial_value: '0'
  - id: sleep_timer_seconds
    type: int
    restore_value: false
    initial_value: '0'
 
sensor:
  - platform: sht4x
    temperature:
      name: "Temperature"
      id: temp_sensor
    humidity:
      name: "Relative Humidity"
      id: hum_sensor
    update_interval: 90s
  - platform: adc
    pin: GPIO1
    name: "Battery Voltage"
    id: battery_voltage
    update_interval: 90s
    attenuation: 12db
    filters:
      - multiply: 2.0
    on_value:
      then:
        - component.update: battery_level
  - platform: template
    name: "Battery Level"
    id: battery_level
    unit_of_measurement: "%"
    icon: "mdi:battery"
    device_class: battery
    state_class: measurement
    lambda: 'return id(battery_voltage).state;'
    update_interval: never
    filters:
      - calibrate_linear:
          - 4.15 -> 100.0
          - 3.96 -> 90.0
          - 3.91 -> 80.0
          - 3.85 -> 70.0
          - 3.80 -> 60.0
          - 3.75 -> 50.0
          - 3.68 -> 40.0
          - 3.58 -> 30.0
          - 3.49 -> 20.0
          - 3.41 -> 10.0
          - 3.30 -> 5.0
          - 3.27 -> 0.0
      - clamp:
          min_value: 0
          max_value: 100
 
output:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: GPIO6
    id: bsp_led
    inverted: true
  - platform: gpio
    pin: GPIO16
    id: bsp_sd_enable
  - platform: gpio
    pin: GPIO21
    id: bsp_battery_enable
 
light:
  - platform: binary
    name: "Onboard LED"
    output: bsp_led
    id: onboard_led
    internal: true
 
time:
  - platform: homeassistant
    id: homeassistant_time
    timezone: "Europe/Dublin"
 
text_sensor:
  - platform: homeassistant
    id: ha_page_selector
    entity_id: input_select.reterminal_e1002_page_selector
    internal: true
  - platform: version
    hide_timestamp: true
    name: "${friendly_name} ESPHome Version"
    entity_category: diagnostic
  - platform: wifi_info
    ip_address:
      name: "${friendly_name} IP Address"
      icon: mdi:wifi
      entity_category: diagnostic
      id: sensorip
    ssid:
      name: "${friendly_name} Connected SSID"
      icon: mdi:wifi-strength-2
      entity_category: diagnostic
      id: sensorssid
 
interval:
  - interval: 1s
    then:
      - lambda: |-
          id(sleep_timer_seconds)++;
          if (id(sleep_timer_seconds) % 30 == 0) {
            ESP_LOGI("sleep_timer", "Timer at %d seconds", id(sleep_timer_seconds));
          }
          if (id(sleep_timer_seconds) >= 90) {
            ESP_LOGI("sleep_timer", "90 seconds elapsed, checking time and entering sleep");
            id(check_time_and_sleep).execute();
          }
 
binary_sensor:
  - platform: gpio
    pin:
      number: GPIO4
      mode: INPUT_PULLUP
      inverted: true
    id: right
    name: "Right"
    internal: true
    on_press:
      then:
        - script.execute: reset_sleep_timer
        - lambda: |-
            id(page_index) = (id(page_index) + 1) % 4;
        - if:
            condition:
              lambda: 'return id(page_index) == 0;'
            then:
              - component.update: dashboard_image_home
        - if:
            condition:
              lambda: 'return id(page_index) == 1;'
            then:
              - component.update: dashboard_image_energy
        - if:
            condition:
              lambda: 'return id(page_index) == 2;'
            then:
              - component.update: dashboard_image_plants
        - if:
            condition:
              lambda: 'return id(page_index) == 3;'
            then:
              - component.update: dashboard_image_wallpaper
 
  - platform: gpio
    pin:
      number: GPIO5
      mode: INPUT_PULLUP
      inverted: true
    id: left
    name: "Left"
    internal: true
    on_press:
      then:
        - script.execute: reset_sleep_timer
        - lambda: |-
            id(page_index) = (id(page_index) - 1 + 4) % 4;
        - if:
            condition:
              lambda: 'return id(page_index) == 0;'
            then:
              - component.update: dashboard_image_home
        - if:
            condition:
              lambda: 'return id(page_index) == 1;'
            then:
              - component.update: dashboard_image_energy
        - if:
            condition:
              lambda: 'return id(page_index) == 2;'
            then:
              - component.update: dashboard_image_plants
        - if:
            condition:
              lambda: 'return id(page_index) == 3;'
            then:
              - component.update: dashboard_image_wallpaper
 
http_request:
  verify_ssl: false
  timeout: 10s
  watchdog_timeout: 15s
 
script:
  - id: reset_sleep_timer
    mode: queued
    then:
      - lambda: |-
          ESP_LOGI("sleep_timer", "Timer reset to 0");
          id(sleep_timer_seconds) = 0;
 
  - id: handle_wakeup
    mode: single
    then:
      - lambda: |-
          auto wakeup_cause = esp_sleep_get_wakeup_cause();
          ESP_LOGI("wakeup", "Wakeup cause: %d (0=undefined, 2=ext0/GPIO, 4=timer)", wakeup_cause);
 
          if (wakeup_cause == ESP_SLEEP_WAKEUP_EXT0) {
            ESP_LOGI("wakeup", "GPIO3 wakeup - will refresh current page (index: %d)", id(page_index));
          } else {
            ESP_LOGI("wakeup", "Timer/normal boot - checking HA page selector");
 
            if (id(ha_page_selector).has_state()) {
              std::string page_selection = id(ha_page_selector).state;
              ESP_LOGI("wakeup", "HA selector value: %s", page_selection.c_str());
 
              if (page_selection == "home") {
                id(page_index) = 0;
              } else if (page_selection == "energy") {
                id(page_index) = 1;
              } else if (page_selection == "plants") {
                id(page_index) = 2;
              } else if (page_selection == "wallpaper") {
                id(page_index) = 3;
              } else {
                ESP_LOGW("wakeup", "Unknown selector value, defaulting to home");
                id(page_index) = 0;
              }
            } else {
              ESP_LOGW("wakeup", "HA selector not available, defaulting to home");
              id(page_index) = 0;
            }
          }
 
          ESP_LOGI("wakeup", "Page index set to: %d, will trigger update", id(page_index));
      - delay: 200ms
      - lambda: |-
          ESP_LOGI("wakeup", "Executing component update for page: %d", id(page_index));
          switch(id(page_index)) {
            case 0:
              ESP_LOGI("wakeup", "Updating dashboard_image_home");
              id(dashboard_image_home).update();
              break;
            case 1:
              ESP_LOGI("wakeup", "Updating dashboard_image_energy");
              id(dashboard_image_energy).update();
              break;
            case 2:
              ESP_LOGI("wakeup", "Updating dashboard_image_plants");
              id(dashboard_image_plants).update();
              break;
            case 3:
              ESP_LOGI("wakeup", "Updating dashboard_image_wallpaper");
              id(dashboard_image_wallpaper).update();
              break;
            default:
              ESP_LOGW("wakeup", "Invalid page index %d, updating home", id(page_index));
              id(dashboard_image_home).update();
          }
 
  - id: check_time_and_sleep
    mode: single
    then:
      - lambda: |-
          auto time = id(homeassistant_time).now();
          if (!time.is_valid()) {
            ESP_LOGW("sleep_script", "Time not available, sleeping for 30 minutes");
            id(onboard_led).turn_off();
            id(deep_sleep_1).set_sleep_duration(30 * 60 * 1000);
            id(deep_sleep_1).begin_sleep();
            return;
          }
 
          int hour = time.hour;
          int minute = time.minute;
          ESP_LOGI("sleep_script", "Current time: %02d:%02d", hour, minute);
 
          if (hour >= 22 || hour < 6) {
            ESP_LOGI("sleep_script", "Night time (22:00-06:00), switching to wallpaper page");
            id(page_index) = 3;
          }
      - if:
          condition:
            lambda: |-
              auto time = id(homeassistant_time).now();
              int hour = time.hour;
              return (hour >= 22 || hour < 6);
          then:
            - component.update: dashboard_image_wallpaper
            - delay: 30s
            - lambda: |-
                auto time = id(homeassistant_time).now();
                int hour = time.hour;
                int minute = time.minute;
 
                int minutes_until_6am;
                if (hour >= 22) {
                  minutes_until_6am = ((24 - hour) * 60 - minute) + (6 * 60);
                } else {
                  minutes_until_6am = (6 - hour) * 60 - minute;
                }
 
                ESP_LOGI("sleep_script", "Sleeping for %d minutes until 6am", minutes_until_6am);
                id(onboard_led).turn_off();
                id(deep_sleep_1).set_sleep_duration(minutes_until_6am * 60 * 1000);
                id(deep_sleep_1).begin_sleep();
          else:
            - lambda: |-
                ESP_LOGI("sleep_script", "Day time (06:00-22:00), sleeping for 60 minutes");
                id(onboard_led).turn_off();
                id(deep_sleep_1).set_sleep_duration(60 * 60 * 1000);
                id(deep_sleep_1).begin_sleep();
 
online_image:
  - id: dashboard_image_home
    format: PNG
    type: RGB565
    buffer_size: 65536
    url: http://homeassistant.local:10000/eink-e1002/home?device=seeed-reterminal-e1002&theme=Graphite+Light
    update_interval: never
    on_download_finished:
      - delay: 100ms
      - component.update: epaper_display
 
  - id: dashboard_image_energy
    format: PNG
    type: RGB565
    buffer_size: 65536
    url: http://homeassistant.local:10000/eink-e1002/energy?device=seeed-reterminal-e1002&theme=Graphite+Light
    update_interval: never
    on_download_finished:
      - delay: 100ms
      - component.update: epaper_display
 
  - id: dashboard_image_plants
    format: PNG
    type: RGB565
    buffer_size: 65536
    url: http://homeassistant.local:10000/eink-e1002/plants?device=seeed-reterminal-e1002&theme=Graphite+Light
    update_interval: never
    on_download_finished:
      - delay: 100ms
      - component.update: epaper_display
 
  - id: dashboard_image_wallpaper
    format: PNG
    type: RGB565
    buffer_size: 65536
    url: http://homeassistant.local:10000/eink-e1002/wallpaper?device=seeed-reterminal-e1002&theme=Graphite+Light
    update_interval: never
    on_download_finished:
      - delay: 100ms
      - component.update: epaper_display
 
display:
  - platform: epaper_spi
    id: epaper_display
    model: Seeed-reTerminal-E1002
    update_interval: never
    lambda: |-
      if (id(page_index) == 0) {
        it.image(0, 0, id(dashboard_image_home));
      } else if (id(page_index) == 1) {
        it.image(0, 0, id(dashboard_image_energy));
      } else if (id(page_index) == 2) {
        it.image(0, 0, id(dashboard_image_plants));
      } else if (id(page_index) == 3) {
        it.image(0, 0, id(dashboard_image_wallpaper));
      }
 

This code has been updated for ESPHome 2025.11.X, and that would be the minimum version required. This version implemented a new display model, model: Seeed-reTerminal-E1002, which automatically sets all the required pins for the display to work on this device, so I have removed all the extra lines from the code.

Full code for ESPHome, Automation and Dashboard on GitHub

The Result

A picture can be worth a thousand words, so that’s why I decided to show you how this look on our wall. The epaper is the photo on the bottom left (the only unblurred one). The epaper blends in superbly when showing a photo, rather than a dashboard. This meets my goal. Whenever the context demands it, the automation driven by Home Assistant will display the dashboard page that will give me the information that I need in that moment.

Spot the epaper. A photo being displayed in the epaper blends in really well with regular framed photo prints.

Battery life update

After a couple of months “live”, I can better comment on the actual battery life.

With the overnight deep sleep and 60 minutes between updates ( as in the example code above), I can get a full month out of the battery.
In my personal device, I have updates every 45 minutes (with a long deep sleep overnight) and I get almost 25 days out of the battery.

This is pretty much in line with what I expected based on the previous model.

Footnotes

1. The new functionality is available since version 2.4.0 of the Puppet add-on. ↩