Espressif Category - Page 82 of 96 - CNX Software

November 22, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Bolt IoT Platform Combines ESP8266, Mobile Apps, Cloud, and Machine Learning (Crowdfunding)

There are plenty of hardware to implemented IoT projects now, but in many cases a full integration to get data from sensors to the cloud requires going though a long list of instructions. Bolt IoT, an Indian and US based startup, has taken up the task to simplify IoT projects with their IoT platform comprised of ESP8266 Bolt WiFi module, a cloud service with machine learning capabilities, and mobile apps for Android and iOS. Bolt IoT module hardware specifications: Wireless Module – A.I Thinker ESP12 module based on ESP8266 WiSoC Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi secured by WPA2 USB – 1x micro USB for power and programming Expansion – 4-pin female header and 7-pin female header with 5 digital I/Os, 1x analog I/O, and UART Misc – Cloud connection LED The hardware is not the most interesting part of Bolt IoT, since it offers similar functionalities as other ESP8266 boards. […]

November 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Giveaway Week Winners – November 2017

Like every year, I’ve organized a giveaway week to send some of the items I’ve reviewed in the past year or so. There was a good mix of devices this year starting with a mini Linux NAS kit, following by some ESP32 boards, and Amlogic development boards among others. The results are in, and instead of 10 winners, I actually have 11 winners due a “timing issue”, and to make for one missing ESP32 board, a LinkIt Smart 7688 Duo board was also given away. While it started strongly for Eastern Europe, We have winners from 3 continents this year: NanoPi NEO2 NAS Kit – Hap Hapablap, Serbia Muses Beta DVB Encoder and Modulator Board – Luka, Slovenia ESP32 PICO Kit v3 boards (5 Winners): Andrius Kurtinaitis, Lithuania (2x ESP32 boards) Kebab, Turkey (2x ESP32 boards) Zoobab, Belgium (2x ESP32 boards) Sollie, Germany (2x ESP32 boards) BobR, USA (1x ESP32 […]

November 1, 2017November 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 240 Comments

Giveaway Week – ESP32 PICO Kit v3 Boards

I don’t have one, but eight boards to give away to four winners (2 each) with Espressif Systems ESP32 PICO Kit v3 board based on ESP32-PICO-D4 SIP, an all-in one package with ESP32, 4MB SPI flash, crystal oscillator, and passive components, which allows for smaller boards. The board is very similar to any other ESP32 boards, and software compatible, but it’s just quite thinner, and easier to work with on breadboards. Since I had already played with Arduino Core and Espruino (JavaScript) on other boards, I used one of the 10 boards provided by Espressif to play with Micropyhon on ESP32. Each winner will get two ESP32 PICO Core board in order to make it worthwhile with regards to shipping costs. To enter the draw simply leave a comment below. Other rules are as follows: Only one entry per contest. I will filter out entries with the same IP and/or […]

October 27, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Sonoff Wireless Switch Family Gets a $3 IP66 Waterproof Enclosure

ESP8266 powered ITEAD Studio Sonoff wireless switches have been popular because they are inexpensive, highly customizable thanks to work from the community leading to open source projects such as ESPurna and Sonoff-Tasmota, and come fully packaged so you don’t need to make your own case for it. That works well for indoor projects, but if you needed to control outdoors lights, gate, water pump, etc… you had to protect the device from humidity/rain. That may not be necessary anymore as the company is now selling Sonoff Basic with an IP66 waterproof enclosure for $7.75, or the case only for $2.90.Sonoff waterproof case: Ingress Protection Rating – IP66 Material – PC V0 Dimensions – 132.2 x 68.7 x 50.1mm (See details) Weight – 145.0g IP66 rating is not suitable for prolonged immersion, but it should be good to protect against rain or high humidity. The box ships with two standardized PG7 […]

October 16, 2017December 26, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Getting Started with MicroPython on ESP32 – Hello World, GPIO, and WiFi

I’ve been playing with several ESP32 boards over the months, and tried several firmware images. I started with a tutorial for Arduino Core on ESP32, a few month later I tested ESP32 JavaScript programming with Espruino on ESPino32 board, and recently Espressif Systems sent me ESP32 PICO core development board powered by their ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP, and while I took some pretty photos, I had not used it so far. So I decided to go with yet another firmware, and this time, I played with MicroPython on ESP32, and will report my experience with basic commands, controlling GPIOs, and WiFi in this getting started post. Flashing Micropython Firmware to ESP32 Board Source code is available on Github, as a fork of MicroPython repo as ESP32 support has not been upstreamed yet. We could built the firmware from source, but there’s also a pre-built binary which you can download on MicroPython website. […]

October 13, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 25 Comments

This TTGO Board Combines ESP32, LoRa Radio, and OLED Display for just $10

Just one year ago, it would cost around $15 to $20+ to get an ESP32 board, that is if you were lucky/fast enough to order one one before it went out of stock. Since then, availability is no longer an issue, and you now can get an ESP32 development board for as low as about $7, or even around $4 during promotions. Today, I was made aware of another board sold under the “TTGO” brand, that includes not only ESP32 WiFi and Bluetooth SoC, but also a (433 MHz) LoRa radio, and an OLED display. Price? Just $10 plus shipping ($1.75 here). TTGO ESP32/LoRa board specifications: WiSoC – Espressif ESP32 Storage – 32MB on-board flash (or maybe just 16MB?) LoRa Semtech SX1278 with u.FL connector + 433MHz antenna (N.B.: Antenna must be connected during use or the Semtech chip could be damaged) Sensitivity” ~ -148dBm; output power: +20dBm Display – […]

October 5, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Review of Sonoff B1 Smart RGB Light Bulb – Part 2: Sonoff-Tasmota Firmware

I’ve already reviewed Sonoff B1 light bulb using the stock firmware combined eWelink app for Android, and as promised in the first part of the review, I’ve also tested the ESP8285 based WiFi light bulb with Sonoff-Tasmota open source firmware, and report my findings in this new post. Before we can play with the new firmware, we need to install it, and I’ve just explained how to upgrade Sonoff devices to Sonoff-Tasmota firmware either using some soldering skills and a USB to serial board, or some network configuration skills and perform an OTA update using ITEAD Studio/eWelink original firmware update mechanism. So for this part of the review, I’ll assume we have just freshly update the light bulb with Sonoff-Tasmota using the binary images released by the developer. First, you’ll need to find the IP address of the light bulb with your router or tools like nmap or arp, and […]

October 4, 2017February 15, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Upgrading Sonoff Stock Firmware to Sonoff-Tasmota – USB to Serial, and OTA Update Methods

This post was initially supposed to be part 2 of Sonoff B1 light bulb review, where I would have explained how easy it was to use OTA mechanism to update to Sonoff-Tasmota open source firmware, and shortly show about its features and capabilities. However, it took me over 10 hours to make that work, mostly due to misunderstand in the documentation, and time spent to configure routers. I also failed the first time with Sonoff B1, so I used the serial console method, and instead managed to use SonOTA method with Sonoff POW switching from stock firmware to Sonoff-Tasmota without having to solder or tear down anything. Updating software with a USB to Serial Board Using a USB to serial board is the most common method to switch from stock firmware to open source firmware such as ESPurna or Sonoff-Tasmota in Sonoff devices or other ESP8266 based devices. It’s quite […]