Smart Home Junkie has published a walkthrough for putting free Awtrix NG firmware on the new Ulanzi TC002 pixel clock and turning it into a Home Assistant display. The video is embedded in this post, and it is worth watching in full if you are considering one. We have not used this clock ourselves, so everything below comes from the video.
What happened
The TC002 has a 52×16 pixel display (832 LEDs), a speaker, a microphone, a rotary knob, three buttons, Bluetooth and a battery. Out of the box it runs Ulanzi’s app and cloud. Awtrix NG, free firmware by Blueforcer, replaces that, and the creator says nothing then depends on a manufacturer cloud. As they put it: “No cloud account, no Ulanzi app.” The creator also says holding the reset button for 5 seconds restores the Ulanzi firmware, so it is not a one-way trip.
Home Assistant talks to the clock through an MQTT broker, not directly. With discovery on, the clock shows up with the display as a light, indicator lights, volume sliders, app next/previous buttons, battery sensors, and the knob and buttons as automation triggers. The creator has also rebuilt 11 blueprints for it (notifications, sensor display, weather, rain forecast, calendar, to-do list, countdown, mood light and others). Those are sold on their Ko-fi page.
Voice works with the knob, not a wake word. You hold the knob, speak, and the clock sends it to a Home Assistant assist pipeline and answers through its speaker. The creator notes that if you speak before the on-screen house opens its mouth, the start of your sentence is lost.
What it means for your install
- Network: the clock is 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only. You need an MQTT broker already running, and the creator says the blueprints need Home Assistant 2025.2 or newer.
- Install cable: the creator says a charge-only USB-C cable is the most common reason the installer cannot find the clock. Use the data cable in the box.
- Voice is optional: it needs an assist pipeline with speech to text and text to speech, and a long-lived access token entered on the clock. Treat that token like a password, and revoke it if the clock leaves your house.
- Text size: on the TC002, apps are drawn at double size, so only about 6 characters fit (about 4 beside an icon). Text that sat still on an older TC001 may now scroll. The creator says turning off large apps gives about 13 characters.
- Limits they name: the battery is rated for up to 2 hours at full brightness, there is no light sensor so no automatic brightness, and voice only starts from the knob or a Home Assistant trigger.
What owners are asking
One TC001 owner asked what Awtrix NG changes compared with the Awtrix 3 they run now, and whether earlier blueprint purchases carry over to the NG versions. The video does not answer either directly. It says the blueprints were rebuilt for Awtrix NG and that Ko-fi buyers get future updates, but it does not say how earlier purchases are handled. Ask the creator through the Ko-fi page before assuming. The creator also says the TC001 apps are smaller, which is why text behaves differently on the new clock, but a full feature comparison is not given.
Should you buy one?
It is a Wi-Fi and MQTT gadget, so none of your Zigbee, Z-Wave or Matter gear is affected. It adds a glanceable display fed by your existing Home Assistant data, fully on your own network. The creator says it is not sponsored, and the link to Ulanzi’s site in their description is an affiliate link. They quoted $95 at recording, which they say was a sale price. If you already run MQTT and want a desk display, it looks like a low-risk project. If you want a bright, auto-dimming display or a long battery life, wait or look elsewhere.