TekOnline

How to Set Up the TekOnline 4-Zone Wall Controller in Home Assistant

If you have just received your TekOnline 4-Zone Wall Controller, this guide will walk you through the first setup and get it connected to Home Assistant.

Latest 4-Zone firmware: 17 May 2026 — 2026.05.17-v2-hold-dimmer-unique-spill-invert. This article applies only to the 4-Zone Wall Controller.

Start here

There are three parts to getting the controller online:

  1. Install the firmware over USB-C if this is the first installation.
  2. Connect it to Wi-Fi using the temporary setup network that appears after flashing.
  3. Add it to Home Assistant once it is on your normal network.

If your controller is already working on Wi-Fi and you are only updating it, go straight to Updating over the network. For a new or unflashed controller, begin with First installation: flash over USB-C.

Is your controller already flashed?

Controllers may be shipped without the final firmware installed. If this is the first installation, or if the controller has been erased, flash it over USB-C before looking for the Wi-Fi hotspot. The hotspot is provided by the firmware after it has been flashed.

If the controller is already running ESPHome firmware and is reachable on your network, skip to Updating over the network.

What the current firmware does

The current firmware provides local button control, relay control, Home Assistant integration, and a temporary setup hotspot after flashing.

Each front button:

  • controls its matching zone locally
  • toggles the zone with a short press
  • adjusts the zone level with a press-and-hold
  • changes its matching indicator LED
  • drives its matching relay output

That means the wall controller can still function locally even if Home Assistant is offline.

What you need before you start

You will need:

  • a 4-Zone Wall Controller
  • a USB-C data cable (not charge-only)
  • a computer with ESPHome Dashboard access for the first flash
  • a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network
  • Home Assistant on the same local network
  • a phone, tablet, or laptop

First installation: flash over USB-C

  1. Download the current 4-Zone public YAML — tekonline-4zone-wall-controller-v2026-05-17.yml — and add/import it into ESPHome Dashboard. If WordPress supplies it as .txt, rename it to .yml first.
  2. Connect the controller to the computer using a USB-C data cable.
  3. In ESPHome Dashboard, choose Install, select the connected USB/serial device, and start the install.
  4. If no serial device appears, try another known data cable/USB port and install the board’s USB-serial driver if required.

If the board does not enter flashing mode automatically, hold BOOT, tap EN/RESET, then start the install and release BOOT when writing begins. Do not hold front Button 2 while powering up or rebooting.

Wait for the USB flash to finish and for the controller to reboot. The first USB flash is required before Wi-Fi provisioning or OTA updates.

Wi-Fi provisioning after flashing

Power the controller and wait around 15 to 30 seconds.

If the controller has not been configured with Wi-Fi yet, it will create a temporary setup hotspot called:

TekOnline 4 Zone Setup

This hotspot does not require a password and is available after the USB flash when Wi-Fi has not yet been configured.

Step 2: Join the setup hotspot

On your phone, tablet, or laptop:

  1. Open your Wi-Fi settings.
  2. Connect to TekOnline 4 Zone Setup.
  3. If a setup page opens automatically, continue there.
  4. If it does not, open a browser and go to 192.168.4.1.

Step 3: Connect the controller to your Wi-Fi

On the setup page:

  1. Select your home 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network.
  2. Enter the Wi-Fi password.
  3. Save the settings.

The controller will reboot and join your local network.

Step 4: Add it to Home Assistant

Once the controller is on your Wi-Fi, reconnect your phone or computer to the normal home network:

  1. Open Home Assistant.
  2. Go to Settings > Devices & Services.
  3. Wait for the controller to appear as a discovered ESPHome device.
  4. Click Add.

In most cases, that is all you need to do.

If Home Assistant does not discover it automatically

If the controller does not appear within about a minute:

  1. Go to Settings > Devices & Services.
  2. Click Add Integration.
  3. Search for ESPHome.
  4. Enter the controller IP address manually.

If you prefer to use the local hostname, the controller hostname format is:

tek-4zone-wall-xxxxxx.local

The xxxxxx section is based on the unique hardware address of that controller.

How the front buttons behave

With the current firmware:

  • Button 1 controls Zone 1
  • Button 2 controls Zone 2
  • Button 3 controls Zone 3
  • Button 4 controls Zone 4

A short press toggles the zone between off and its last on level.

A press-and-hold ramps the zone level up or down.

Each change updates:

  • the local zone state
  • the matching LED
  • the matching relay

This gives you simple local zone control straight away, with Home Assistant integration layered on top.

Check the firmware version in Home Assistant

The current public firmware exposes a diagnostic entity called:

4 Zone Wall Controller Firmware Version

The current version is:

2026.05.17-v2-hold-dimmer-unique-spill-invert

The device also exposes the ESPHome build version as:

4 Zone Wall Controller ESPHome Version

If a zone is inverted

If a zone appears backwards, for example turning it off in Home Assistant turns the HVAC output on, use the relay inversion controls.

The current firmware exposes these config switches:

  • Zone 1 Relay Inverted
  • Zone 2 Relay Inverted
  • Zone 3 Relay Inverted
  • Zone 4 Relay Inverted

Turn on the inversion switch for any zone that behaves backwards.

Updating over the network

If your controller is already online and running ESPHome firmware, you can usually update it over the network from the ESPHome Dashboard.

Use the current public YAML:

tekonline-4zone-wall-controller-v2026-05-17.yml

If ESPHome cannot find the device by hostname, find the controller’s IP address in Home Assistant or your router and temporarily add this to your local copy of the YAML:

wifi:
  use_address: 192.168.1.123

Replace 192.168.1.123 with your controller’s actual IP address.

Do not add a private IP address to a public/shared YAML file.

Optional Bluetooth setup

Some phones and Home Assistant setups can also provision the controller over Bluetooth using ESPHome Improv.

If that option is visible in your app or browser, you can use it instead of the temporary hotspot.

If the controller has not yet been flashed, return to the USB-C section above. Bluetooth or hotspot provisioning cannot replace the first USB-C installation.

If you run into trouble

Check these items first:

  • your phone or laptop has reconnected to your normal home Wi-Fi after setup
  • your Home Assistant instance and the controller are on the same local network
  • your Wi-Fi network is 2.4 GHz
  • the Wi-Fi password entered during setup was correct

If needed:

  1. Power-cycle the controller.
  2. Wait one minute.
  3. Check Home Assistant again.

Important note

Button 2 uses an ESP32 boot-related pin, so avoid holding that button down while the controller is powering up or rebooting.

OTA updates only work once ESPHome firmware is already running on the controller and the device is reachable on your network. If the ESP32 flash has been wiped, use USB-C flashing first.

Need help?

If you need support, contact TekOnline and include:

  • your Home Assistant version
  • the controller IP address if known
  • the firmware version shown in Home Assistant
  • a screenshot of any error message
  • whether the TekOnline 4 Zone Setup hotspot appeared

Final note

The 4-Zone Wall Controller is designed to be simple to adopt for normal users while still giving advanced users the flexibility of ESPHome and Home Assistant.

If you want help with custom automations, advanced zone logic, or a more tailored setup, contact TekOnline.

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