Arduino IDE - How to update the arduino core of the installed board

This is a quick write up on how to update the Arduino core of ESP32 and ESP8266 in Arduino IDE.

1. Navigate through Tools -> Board -> Boards Manager.

ESP32 - OTA firmware update using Arduino IDE

This post is a quick write up of me following the instructions provided by G6EJD on how to do OTA firmware from inside Arduino IDE.

His instruction video can be found at the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=lQavz_U8nd4&feature=emb_logo

Here is the link to his GitHub page for this project: https://github.com/G6EJD/ESP32-OTA-Example

ESP32 - Compact breakout board for low power applications

This is a compact ESP32 breakout board for low power applications. To ensure minimum power consumption, aside from the ESP32-S module itself, all the other components that consume power have been removed.

This breakout board was developed for prototyping on PCB or a perf board. Instead of soldering the ESP32-S module to the PCB / perf board directly, this breakout board allows for the reuse of the ESP32-S module without the need to de-solder it.

ESP32 - Breadboard friendly breakout board for low power applications

This is an ESP32-S breakout board for low power applications. To minimize power consumption, all the components (LDO, LED, USB - Serial Chip, etc.) that consume power have been removed. The difference between this breakout board and the common NodeMCU-32S can be seen in the photo below (Left: Low Power Breakout Board, Right: NodeMCU-32S).

ESP32 - Working with SD Card

This post is about how to interface ESP32 with SD Card.

Using SD Card Reader Module

Schematic

Note, Be sure to check the specs. of the card reader on whether it needs to take 5V or 3.3V as VCC. The one shown below needs 5V as VCC.

Fan controller that enables control and monitoring of DC12V ~ DC48V 4-wire PWM fan over LAN / WAN

This fan controller could control and monitor the speed of 4-wire PWM fan that runs on DC12V to DC48V power supply. The fan speed could be controlled manually by user via a web interface or automatically according to user-define temperature - fan speed settings.

VS Code & PlatformIO - How to upload sketch data to the SPIFFS disk of ESP32

This post is about how to upload sketch data to the SPIFFS disk of ESP32 in VS Code using PlatformIO.

Below is the version info.

How to develop Arduino ESP32 firmware using VS Code and PlatformIO

This post is about how to do firmware development for ESP32 using VS Code, PlatformIO, and Arduino-ESP32 Core.

In case the environment for VS Code and PlatformIO hasn't been set up, please refer to the post below.

How to develop Arduino ESP8266 firmware using VS Code and PlatformIO - Part 1

Create a new project for ESP32

1. Launch VS Code and click on the "PlatformIO: Home" icon.

Watchdog for ESP8266 and ESP32

This post is a quick summary of using watchdog to help deal with unexpected hang / crash.

Arduino Sketch

Note, the code "watchdogCount = 0;" is commented out so the watchdog is triggered every 5 seconds.

Arduino-ESP32 - How to update to the latest Arduino-ESP32

Arduino-ESP32 is still under development and, from time to time, newer version is released with patches and/or enhancements. In the event that you encounter problem with your sketch (like the sketch works on ESP8266 but not on ESP32), aside from checking the libraries, it's a good idea to update to the latest version of Arduino-ESP32.

Here are the steps for updating to the latest Arduino-ESP32.

1. Go to https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32 to check for the availability of the latest version of Arduino-ESP32;

Below is a screenshot at the time of writing this post.

Arduino-ESP32 - Solution to "Invalid library found"

After updating Arduino-ESP32, I notice that there is a line of message at the bottom of the message window of Arduino IDE.

The message reads "Invalid library found in C:\Users\WeiHsiungHuang\Documents\Arduino\hardware\espressif\esp32\libraries\BLE: C:\Users\WeiHsiungHuang\Documents\Arduino\hardware\espressif\esp32\libraries\BLE"

ESP32 - Solving the problem of WiFiManager "failed to connect"

This post is a quick summary on how to solve the always "failed to connect" issue when using WiFiManager on ESP32.

The Symptom

The password is saved but the Connection Result always returns 1 (Failed to connect).

*WM: WiFi save
*WM: Sent wifi save page
*WM: Connecting to new AP
*WM: Connecting as wifi client...
*WM: Connection result:
*WM: 1
*WM: Failed to connect.

If you reset manually the board the connection will established, so the password is correctly stored.
I tried with old Arduino core version and all functionality work correctly, so should be a problem whit some modification on new commit (is there also some IDF sdk update)

ESP32 module that supports external antenna

I recently developed a breakout board based on ESP32-WROVER-I because some of my projects use metallic enclosures and I need a way to attach an external antenna to ESP32 so that the radio wave could be propagated outside the enclosure.

ESP32 - Working with 74HC4067 (16-channel MUX/DEMUX)

This post is a quick summary of how to work with 74HC4067 (16-channel MUX/DEMUX) using ESP32.

Schematic

ESP32 - Setting up ESP-IDF and starting a project using MINGW32

This post is about how to setup ESP-IDF for ESP32 development on computer running MS-Windows 8.1 OS. The post is based mainly on the material available at https://esp-idf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/get-started/index.html#get-esp-idf with additional info. added by myself while testing it out.

Host OS: MS-Windows 8.1, 64 bits
CPU: Intel Core i5, Dual Core.

Note,
It's extremely slow (2~3 hours) to execute the make command in MINGW32. It's better to install Ubuntu in VirtualBox for ESP32 development (only 1~2 minutes to execute the make command).

Setting up ESP-IDF

According to "ESP-IDF Programming Guide", the following are needed for developing applications for ESP32:

- PC loaded with either Windows, Linux or Mac operating system;

- Toolchain to build the Application for ESP32;

- ESP-IDF that essentially contains API for ESP32 and scripts to operate the Toolchain;

- A text editor to write programs (Projects) in C, e.g. Eclipse;

- The ESP32 board itself and a USB cable to connect it to the PC.

ESP32 - Working with NodeMCU board

This post is about how to work with ESP32 NodeMCU Module.

ESP-32S NodeMCU V1.1 Pinout

Source: https://www.shenzhen2u.com/NodeMCU-32S

Adding support for NodeMCU-32S Module to Arduino IDE

This post is about how to add support for ESP32 to Arduino IDE and how to upload a sample Arduino sketch to NodeMCU-32S.

For info. on how to update an already installed Arduino-ESP32 support package, please visit http://wei48221.blogspot.tw/2018/04/arduino-esp32-how-to-update-to-latest.html.

Below is the NodeMCU-32S module used for this post.