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ESP32 MQTT –
Publish and
Subscribe with
Arduino IDE
This project shows how to
use MQTT communication
protocol with the ESP32 to
publish messages and
subscribe to topics. As an
example, we’ll publish
BME280 sensor readings to
the Node-RED Dashboard,
and control an ESP32
output. The ESP32 we’ll be
programmed using Arduino
IDE.

Project Overview
In this example, there’s a
Node-RED application that
controls ESP32 outputs and
receives sensor readings
from the ESP32 using
MQTT communication
protocol. The Node-RED
application is running on a
Raspberry Pi.
We’ll use the Mosquitto
broker installed on the
same Raspberry Pi. The
broker is responsible for
receiving all messages,
ltering the messages,
decide who is interested in
them and publishing the
messages to all subscribed
clients.

The following gure shows

an overview of what we’re
going to do in this tutorial.

The Node-RED application

publishes messages (“on”
or “o “) in the topic
esp32/output. The ESP32
is subscribed to that topic.
So, it receives the message
with “on” or “o ” to turn the
LED on or o .
The ESP32 publishes
temperature on the
esp32/temperature topic
and the humidity on the
esp32/humidity topic. The
Node-RED application is
subscribed to those topics.
So, it receives temperature
and humidity readings that
can be displayed on a chart
or gauge, for example.
Note: there’s also a similar
tutorial on how to use
the ESP8266 and Node-RED
with MQTT.

Prerequisites
You should be familiar with
the Raspberry Pi – read
Getting Started with
Raspberry Pi.
You should have the
Raspbian operating system
installed in your Raspberry
Pi – read Installing
Raspbian Lite, Enabling and
Connecting with SSH.
You need Node-RED
installed on your
Pi and Node-RED
Dashboard.
Learn what’s MQTT and
how it works.

If you like home

automation and you want
to learn more about Node-
RED, Raspberry Pi, ESP8266
and Arduino, we
recommend trying our
course: Build a Home
Automation System with
Node-RED, ESP8266 and
Arduino. We also have a
course dedicated to the
ESP32: Enroll in Learn
ESP32 with Arduino IDE
course.

Parts Required
These are the parts
required to build the
circuit (click the links below
to nd the best price at
Maker Advisor):

Raspberry Pi – read Best

Raspberry Pi 3 Starter Kits
ESP32 DOIT DEVKIT V1
Board – read ESP32
Development Boards
Review and Comparison
BME280 sensor module
1x 5mm LED
1x 220 Ohm resistor
Breadboard
Jumper wires

You can use the preceding

links or go directly to
MakerAdvisor.com/tools to
nd all the parts for your
projects at the best price!

Introducing the
BME280 Sensor
Module
The BME280 sensor
module reads temperature,
humidity, and pressure.
Because pressure changes
with altitude, you can also
estimate altitude. However,
in this tutorial we’ll just
read temperature and
humidity. There are several
versions of this sensor
module, but we’re using
the one shown in the gure
below.

The sensor can

communicate using either
SPI or I2C communication
protocols (there are
modules of this sensor that
just communicate with I2C,
these just come with four
pins).

To use SPI communication

protocol, use the following
pins:

SCK – this is the SPI Clock

pin
SDO – MISO
SDI – MOSI
CS – Chip Select

To use I2C communication

protocol, the sensor uses
the following pins:

SCK – SCL pin

SDI – SDA pin

Schematic
We’re going to use I2C
communication with the
BME280 sensor module.
For that, wire the sensor to
the ESP32 SDA and SCL
pins, as shown in the
following schematic
diagram.

We’ll also control an ESP32

output, an LED connected
to GPIO 4.

Here’s how your circuit

should look:
Preparing the
Arduino IDE
There’s an add-on for the
Arduino IDE that allows you
to program the ESP32
using the Arduino IDE and
its programming language.
Follow one of the next
tutorials to prepare your
Arduino IDE to work with
the ESP32, if you haven’t
already.

Windows instructions –
ESP32 Board in Arduino IDE
Mac and
Linux instructions – ESP32
Board in Arduino IDE

After making sure you have

the ESP32 add-on installed,
you can continue with this
tutorial.

Installing the
PubSubClient Library

The PubSubClient library

provides a client for doing
simple publish/subscribe
messaging with a server
that supports MQTT
(basically allows your ESP32
to talk with Node-RED).

1. Click here to download the

PubSubClient library. You
should have a .zip folder in
your Downloads folder
 2. Unzip the .zip folder and
you should get
pubsubclient-master
folder
3. Rename your folder
from pubsubclient-master
to pubsubclient
4. Move the pubsubclient
folder to your Arduino IDE
installation libraries folder
5. Then, re-open your Arduino
IDE

The library comes with a

number of example
sketches. See File
>Examples >
PubSubClient within the
Arduino IDE software.

Important: PubSubClient
is not fully compatible with
the ESP32, but the example
provided in this tutorial is
working very reliably during
our tests.

Installing the BME280

library

To take readings from the

BME280 sensor module
we’ll use the
Adafruit_BME280 library.
Follow the next steps to
install the library in your
Arduino IDE:

1. Click here to download the

Adafruit-BME280 library.
You should have a .zip
 folder in your Downloads
folder
2. Unzip the .zip folder and
you should get Adafruit-
BME280-Library-master
folder
3. Rename your folder from
Adafruit-BME280-Library-
master to
Adafruit_BME280_Library
4. Move the
Adafruit_BMPE280_Librar
y folder to your Arduino
IDE installation libraries
folder
5. Finally, re-open your
Arduino IDE

Alternatively, you can go to

Sketch > Include Library >
Manage Libraries and
type “adafruit bme280” to
search for the library. Then,
click install.

Installing the
Adafruit_Sensor library

To use the BME280 library,

you also need to install the
Adafruit_Sensor library.
Follow the next steps to
install the library:

1. Click here to download the

Adafruit_Sensor library.
You should have a .zip
folder in your Downloads
folder
2. Unzip the .zip folder and
you should get
 Adafruit_Sensor-master
folder
3. Rename your folder from
Adafruit_Sensor-master to
Adafruit_Sensor
4. Move the
Adafruit_Sensor folder to
your Arduino IDE
installation libraries folder
5. Finally, re-open your
Arduino IDE

Uploading code
Now, you can upload the
following code to your
ESP32. The code is
commented on where you
need to make changes. You
need to edit the code
with your own SSID,
password and Raspberry
Pi IP address.

/*********
Rui Santos
Complete project details at https://randomnerdtutorials.com
*********/

#include <WiFi.h>
#include <PubSubClient.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_BME280.h>
#include <Adafruit_Sensor.h>

// Replace the next variables with your SSID/Password combination

const char* ssid = "REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_SSID";
const char* password = "REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_PASSWORD";

// Add your MQTT Broker IP address, example:

 //const char* mqtt_server = "192.168.1.144";
const char* mqtt_server = "YOUR_MQTT_BROKER_IP_ADDRESS";

WiFiClient espClient;
PubSubClient client(espClient);
long lastMsg = 0;
char msg[50];
int value = 0;

//uncomment the following lines if you're using SPI

/*#include <SPI.h>

View raw code

This code publishes

temperature and humidity
readings on the
esp32/temperature and
esp32/humidity topics
trough MQTT protocol.

The ESP32 is subscribed to

the esp32/output topic to
receive the messages
published on that topic by
the Node-RED application.
Then, accordingly to the
received message, it turns
the LED on or o .

Subscribing to
MQTT topics
In the reconnect() function,
you can subscribe to MQTT
topics. In this case, the
ESP32 is only subscribed to
the esp32/output:

client.subscribe("esp32/output");
In the callback() function,
the ESP32 receives the
MQTT messages of the
subscribed topics.
According to the MQTT
topic and message, it turns
the LED on or o :

// If a message is received on the topic esp32/output, you

// Changes the output state according to the message
if (String(topic) == "esp32/output") {
Serial.print("Changing output to ");
if (messageTemp == "on") {
Serial.println("on");
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
}
else if (messageTemp == "off") {
Serial.println("off");
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
}
}

Publishing MQTT
messages
In the loop(), new readings
are being published every 5
seconds:

if (now - lastMsg > 5000) { ... }

By default the ESP32 is

sending the temperature in
Celsius, but you can
uncomment the last line to
send the temperature in
Fahrenheit:
 // Temperature in Celsius
temperature = bme.readTemperature();
// Uncomment the next line to set temperature in Fahrenheit
// (and comment the previous temperature line)
//temperature = 1.8 * bme.readTemperature() + 32; // Temper

You need to convert the

temperature oat variable
to a char array, so that you
can publish the
temperature reading in the
esp32/temperature topic:

// Convert the value to a char array

char tempString[8];
dtostrf(temperature, 1, 2, tempString);
Serial.print("Temperature: ");
Serial.println(tempString);
client.publish("esp32/temperature", tempString);

The same process is

repeated to publish the
humidity reading in the
esp32/humidity topic:

humidity = bme.readHumidity();
// Convert the value to a char array
char humString[8];
dtostrf(humidity, 1, 2, humString);
Serial.print("Humidity: ");
Serial.println(humString);
client.publish("esp32/humidity", humString);

Creating the
Node-RED ow
Before creating the ow,
you need to have installed
in your Raspberry Pi:
 Node-RED
Node-RED Dashboard
Mosquitto Broker

After that, import the

Node-RED ow provided.
Go to the GitHub
repository or click the
gure below to see the raw
le, and copy the code
provided.

Next, in the Node-RED

window, at the top right
corner, select the menu,
and go
to Import  > Clipboard.

Then, paste the code

provided and click Import.

The following nodes should

load:
After making any changes,
click the Deploy button to
save all the changes.

Node-RED UI
Now, your Node-RED
application is ready. To
access Node-RED UI and
see how your application
looks, access any browser
in your local network and
type:

http://Your_RPi_IP_address:1880/ui

Your application should

look as shown in the
following gure. You can
control the LED on and o
with the switch or you can
view temperature readings
in a chart and the humidity
values in a gauge.
Demonstration
Watch the next video for a
live demonstration:

[DEMO] ESP32 MQTT – Publish and Subscribe with Arduino IDE

Open the Arduino IDE serial

monitor to take a look at
the MQTT messages being
received and published.

Wrapping Up
In summary, we’ve shown
you the basic concepts that
allow you to turn on lights
and monitor sensors with
your ESP32 using Node-
RED and the MQTT
communication protocol.
You can use this example
to integrate in your own
home automation system,
control more outputs, or
monitor other sensors.

You might also like

reading:

Learn ESP32 with Arduino

IDE Course
Alexa (Echo) with ESP32
and ESP8266 – Voice
Controlled Relay
Build an All-in-One ESP32
Weather Station Shield
ESP32 Publish Sensor
Readings to Google Sheets
ESP32 with DHT11 DHT22
Temperature Humidity
Web Server