This ESP32 project replaces a leaking shower head with a live temperature display that glows from blue to red

Credit: Hungry_Preference107 Published May 14, 2026, 10:52 PM EDT Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Sign in to your XDA account Summary Someone turned a leaky ceiling shower into an LED temperature display with live updates. ESP32 + OneWire sensor feeds two 5x8 LED matrices to show live temperatures and color-coded status. AI generated the code in minutes — a fun, practical weekend mod that gave broken gear new life. Using the shower after someone else is always a gamble. You're not sure if the water will be just the right temperature, freezing cold, or scalding hot. I know if my dad has used a shower before me, I need to turn it down before I get in, else it'll feel like my skin is melting off. But what if the shower itself told you how hot or cold the water is before you even stepped in? And what if it did this by showing a live temperature tracker on the ceiling, complete with a color indicator? Well, this ESP32 project just may be your next port of call. Related This ESP32 project takes the guesswork out of testing the waters It also looks very sleek Over on the ESP32 subreddit, user Hungry_Preference107 had a problem. They had a ceiling-mounted shower head that started leaking, so they did what any good tinkerer would do: replace everything they could with more cool tech. First, they turned the shower head into an LED array by adding lights within the individual spouts where the water used to come out. To ensure the shower still works like a shower, they extended the shower arm and added a new head to the end. They added a OneWire temperature sensor to the pipe, then wired up an ESP32 to grab the temperature of the water and relay it to the LED screen. The final project turned a leaky shower head into an LED 'screen' that turns blue when it's cold, white when it's comfortable, and red when it's too hot. The LED array also shows you what the current temperature is, thus removing any guesswork as to if the shower is suitable to climb into or not. It turns out that programming it was the easiest part: Coding was a 10-minute job using AI: I told it was a string of addressable LEDs arranged into two 5x8 dot matrix displays on GPIO 2 and a one-wire temperature sensor on GPIO 12, and how the color should change based on temperature. It was a fun little ESP32 weekend project, and much more useful than the leaking shower head it replaced. So there you have it: a cool example of taking something broken and making it even better than before, using the power of tech. Maybe this is your sign to tinker with some of your own broken stuff and see if you can give it a second life that's better than its first one. Related