ESPHome firmware
This guide requires ESPHome already installed on your machine, more info on installation here.
Installation:
- In the ESPHome interface click on the + to add a new device.
- Choose a name for the device and click on continue.
- Select Generic ESP32 (WROVER Module) from the list and click continue.
- Enter your Wi-Fi network details and a password for OTA and API, then click continue.
- Click on submit.
- After a refresh of the page, the newly created device should be visible. Click on edit.
- You can now complete the configuration as shown in the example here.
Once the configuration is complete, you can upload the firmware onto the board. There are multiple ways to do this:
- Compile and download the firmware by clicking on the 3 dots of the device in ESPHome and selecting compile. You will get a .bin file that can be uploaded via the web interface or via USB.
- If you connect the board to the PC containing ESPHome you should be able to select the board from the ESPHome web interface and click upload.
Each board is shipped with a basic version of ESPHome that allows you to load firmware once connected to the hotspot created by the board. Once connected to the ESP32 SensorNode network, you can connect via browser to its web interface on 192.168.4.1 and upload the .bin firmware.
Another possibility is to use the esphome-flasher tool to upload the firmware via USB.
Due to the high consumption of the ESP32 with Wi-Fi enabled, the board tends to heat up over time and the measured temperature can increase by about 1°C.
The sensor has been isolated as much as possible from the rest of the system but it would be preferable to implement software that can limit consumption in order to obtain precise measurements.
At the time of writing, ESPHome allows you to configure wifi power saving but does not yet support light sleep, which would further reduce consumption and consequently unnecessary heat.