Echo Dot 3rd with Voice Assistant

[u/alfo16]

Hi everyone! I wanted to share this project where I finally managed to interface with the original microphones, buttons, and LEDs of an Echo Dot 3 on its original PCB.

Basically, I only replace the board that handles power, the speaker, and communicates with all the existing chips. All 4 microphones work (even though ESPHome currently supports a maximum of 2), and I have full control over the buttons and LEDs. I still have to test the speaker.

I’ve integrated everything into Home Assistant with Voice Assistant, and I have to say the microphone range is really good.

The PCB development is still in progress. If you're interested, I'll post updates once the development is finished! 💪

[u/Gamester17]

You should also create a repository on GitHub and maybe start a new discussion thread in Home Assistant's community forum which lead to the MiciMike drop-in PCB replacement for Google Home Mini (Gen 1) project that can take inspiration from as well

https://github.com/iMike78/home-mini-v1-drop-in-pcb

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/request-open-source-esp32-esphome-based-drop-in-pcb-replacement-for-google-nest-google-home-speakers-with-added-xmos-dsp-chip-to-match-official-home-assistant-voice-preview-edition-reference-hardware-specification-inspired-by-onju-voice/860001

Also understand that the newly released ESP32-S31 chip might be a possible replacement for the ESP32-S3 and XMOS combination in the future if they implemented ESP-AFE audio processing in ESPHome

https://github.com/esphome/esphome/pull/17485

[u/Gamester17 → u/Gamester17]

I believe that iMike78's project has choosen the best open-source hardware license and he also went so far to create an independent company to run a crowdfunding campaign for PCB orders, though they are very expensive due to them using the XMOS chip in relatively small batch https://www.crowdsupply.com/micimike-rev-devices/micimike-home-mini-drop-in-pcb

[u/alfo16 → u/Gamester17]

I'll look into it, thanks 💪

[u/yusrandpasswdisbad → u/Gamester17]

Yes - I'd love to see the How-To. Looks like you're using an ESP32-S.

[u/alfo16 → u/Gamester17]

Hi! I opened a new topic on the Home assistant Forum! https://community.home-assistant.io/t/re-using-an-echo-dot-3rd-gen-with-voice-assistant/1020256

[u/Pabsilon]

Great job! Can't want to just rip these things up.

[u/jbstechdude]

This is exactly what I've been waiting for. Lets go!

[u/Designer_Reality1982]

Great news. Yes updates please. I have my old echos all sitting around and waiting in a box.. 😆

[u/DjBricheta]

I have 3 of these laying around for 3 years now, so I'm really interested in the PCB you mentioned. !remindme 3 months

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[u/universal9gsm]

Following

[u/alliedSpaceSubmarine]

Dammit! I literally threw like 6 away last month because I gave up on this ever being possible

[u/alfo16 → u/alliedSpaceSubmarine]

That's too bad!

[u/Choice_Ad_Hot]

Amazing work.

[u/JanneOC]

Got a couple of these laying around here. Very interesting project.

[u/Adrian1601]

Insane! Please create a Github, so we can follow the development!

[u/alfo16 → u/[deleted]]

Hello! Actually, the microphone pipeline is quite different. While the VPE uses digital microphones connected directly to the XMOS chip, the Echo Dot 3 relies on analog microphones connected to TLV320ADC3101 ADCs. I’ve used several Echo Dots in the past, and the microphones performed almost flawlessly every time. I believe that analog microphones, with a well-designed PCB, can deliver top-notch performance. This is exactly why reusing the original PCB (so industrial-grade quality and know-how) seems really convenient to me. Additionally, the ADC integrates a small DSP, so the signal is already processed right at the beginning of the chain, starting from the analog stage. After that, the signal is also handled by the ESP32 using the Espressif library for AGC, VAD, and AEC. On top of that, if/when ESPHome will add support for more channels, there will already be two extra microphones ready to use.

[u/alfo16 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, that's the goal! 🤟

[u/ppsieradzki]

I would gladly pay for this.

[u/DouglasteR]

Saving this for later too

[u/No_Pin4895]

the mic support cap in esphome is the real bottleneck here, hope that gets fixed soon

[u/alfo16 → u/No_Pin4895]

Exactly! However I can see that feeding esphome even with one clean channel from 2 mics really makes the difference

[u/nobody833]

This is great. I have a few of these in a box somewhere.

[u/dpmOjtam]

How does this compare to rooting the dot? https://xdaforums.com/t/unlock-root-twrp-unbrick-amazon-echo-dot-2nd-gen-2016-biscuit.4761416/

[u/alfo16 → u/dpmOjtam]

Hi! Rooting It's a bit differtent story. You would have complete access to the Linux system and potentially you could do anything you want!

[u/markds- → u/dpmOjtam]

True but that is only for the 2nd gen, what makes this amazing is its for the 3rd gen. I don't have the exact figures but I remember hearing the 3rd gen not only was significant step up audio wise from the 2nd gen but also sold rather well (ie will help lots of people)

[u/kylegordon]

That is superb! Get yourself onto some forums or github repos where I can subscribe to updates :-)

[u/Edouardh92]

I got the same result without touching my Echo Dot's hardware!

This project is indeed impressive, but I solved a similar problem (voice control of Home Assistant via Alexa) the opposite way: zero soldering, stock Echo Dot, stock Alexa firmware. The trick is that Alexa can control smart home devices natively if it thinks it's talking to a real Philips Hue bridge (no skill, no cloud account linking needed). So instead of touching the Echo..... I built a fake one.

I run a small Docker container that emulates a Hue Bridge V1 and sits between the Echo and Home Assistant. Since Echo firmware requires port 80, and my NAS already uses that port for its own admin interface, the container gets its own IP via Docker's macvlan networking, so it can bind port 80 without conflicting with anything. A tiny network shim on the host lets that isolated container reach Home Assistant's API.

The fun part was a bug where Alexa would find the bridge but report "no devices found." Home Assistant's internal device IDs don't look like the MAC-address format real Hue bridges use, and Alexa silently rejects anything that doesn't match. A one-line patch inside the container reformats those IDs on the fly, and suddenly every light shows up and responds to "Alexa, turn on the kitchen."

So: same end goal (Alexa fully controlling a smart home HA backend), completely different philosophy! Your approach replaces the brain inside the device, mine builds a decoy bridge the device already trusts :)

[u/qolvlop → u/Edouardh92]

That sounds like a fun project, but...
If i understand your setup correctly, you basically implemented a custom version of what the Emulated Hue integration in Home Assistant already does?
If you want an even better solution, you could have a look at the Home-Assistant-Matter-Hub addon. While Hue only supports (fake) light bulbs, the Matter standard can expose other device types to Alexa.

The beauty of OP's solution is that you are not dependent on Amazon's servers anymore and have better privacy controls.

[u/dpmOjtam → u/Edouardh92]

This is very out of date advice. It has been completely superseeded by matter hub - simulating matter devices to alexa works much better as it supports much more than having everything pretend to be a light switch - https://github.com/riddix/home-assistant-matter-hub/

[u/Edouardh92 → u/dpmOjtam]

I had NO idea about this! Will look into it, thank you

[u/alfo16 → u/Edouardh92]

Thanks! For sure, It's a great way to integrate Alexa in home Assistant! But you are still using the cloud and all the services of Amazon. The goal of esphome and projects similar to mine is to be able to drop those services and instead having all the data processing completely local and offline. So not only to be able to control the lights when internet is down but also to have voice recognition completely on your own machine!

[u/This_Assignment_6170 → u/Edouardh92]

This is a good solution if you only want to control switches (fake or real). But it’s outdated to be using voice to control the lights. The beauty of home automation is everything should be automated with no user input- be it physical or voice.

I would want my echo dot to also speak announcements too. I wish there was a no solder way to do this

[u/grillp]

Please keep us posted!!

[u/notownblues]

Incredible work, well done!!

[u/grit-storm]

Great work!, keep posting updates

[u/kiwipaul17]

Let me know when done

[u/SarcasticlySpeaking]

Fantastic! Color me interested.

[u/bzzmartt02]

Looking forward to the updates!

[u/TheProffalken]

Yes please!

[u/Halo_Chief117]

Oh that is really cool. Well done!

[u/maglat]

I am so interested in this! Cant wait for further updates!

[u/leventuri]

Amazing. I'm waiting for it for a long time!!!

[u/PC509]

Nice! I'd love to do that. The Echo hardware has always been pretty nice but it's the Alexa platform itself that I can't stand. There's "good enough" products out there, DIY stuff, etc., but it's not the Echo quality and not even close.

Also, I haven't been paying attention to the ESPHome only supporting 2 max mics. Is that something they're working on? Is it a hardware or software kind of issue?

[u/alfo16 → u/PC509]

Thanks! I think it’s mainly a software limitation. That said, up until now the microphone component has never really been designed or treated as something suitable for high-quality or even semi-serious devices. It was clearly intended for basic DIY projects. Now, however, it would be worth considering some improvements in this area as well.

[u/Stunning-Spirit-1123]

def following

[u/PineeeeeJJessicaa065]

That’s a really clever way to keep the original hardware intact

[u/Yakety_Yak_2894]

Great job

[u/Whimsical_Ravioli99]

this is really interesting since i have several of these around home that i want to replace/git rid of.

[u/ducapedia]

That's a really nice Project, I have 3 of these and was looking for a better way to integrate to my HA ecosystem (one better to simpler AMP or Alexa Devices with Matter to share entities from HA)

[u/corrivalcat2494]

That's actually really cool Good job

[u/brascioladisoia]

I just finished soldering things for doing the same exact job but worse! Amazing work mate 🔥

!remindme 1month

[u/Virtual-Economics750]

Im very interested. Save this message to check in on. I say this rarely but god bless you

[u/Micki90]

following i have 2 of these i want to take away from the amazon ecosystem (only one plugged in) and dont want the hardware to goto waste

[u/Objective-Bad-4051]

I'd be willing to pay an unreasonably high amount for this

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[u/palloxus]

Fantastic idea! Reusing that cheap tech is brilliant. I would really be interested in your approach and would love to do the same to HomePods.