PokyPow

We are now over 500 nerds subscribed to the CrowdSupply campaign. The initial goal of 200 subscribers has been well surpassed! :muscle: 

New Child Lock Feature

The new prototype will have a new feature. A child lock.
This will allow you to disable the physical button on your PC.
This might come in handy with kids or cats.

I got some validation from the [Home Assistant Community Day in Cologne (Germany)](https://ajfriesen.com/home-assistant-community-day-2025/) I organized.
About 50 smart home nerds gathered together to talk Home Assistant.
It was a fun day!

And coincidentally, I talked to a dad who just gave his teenage boy a gaming PC.
Gaming time was only allowed for an hour on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The PokyPow with Home Assistant would be a perfect fit for this use case!

I was pumped to check how the child lock would work in ESPHome.
I could not wait for the new board to arrive and had to test it in software with a breadboard and wires.
Here is a small YouTube video showing you how this might look like.
Please excuse my English and my noob YouTube skills :slight_smile: 

Contract for a new prototype

Initially, I had a friend helping me with the new design, but due to bad timing and external influences, we stopped that partnership.

No hard feelings.
Just bad timing and some time lost.
So I had to look for someone else to do this.

Now I have a contract with Soldered to build the next prototype.
The work started on the 30th of June and will now take a couple of weeks.
At some point, I will get the board and can test the software.
Will give you an update then.

If all goes well, I can use that board to do the price calculations and set a campaign goal!
Still a lot of work to do, but at least some progress!

Joining the Soldered Electronics Incubator

The PokyPow project joins the Soldered Electronics Incubator.

Meaning I will have a strong partner for manufacturing all PokyPows in the future.
And since they are already building the prototype as well, we can already optimize parts for their manufacturing process.

That is it for now.

This week my prelaunch page for my PokyPow launched.

If you are interested feel free to subscribe there!

PokyPow atCrowd Supply

We need at least 200 people to get to the next milestone.

Will update you, when we are there :)