How to: Flash the ESP32

Hardware setup

Use the ESPPROG adapter with a micro USB cable and the 6 pin flat ribbon cable

Open

Ribbon cable orientation

Open

make sure the ESPPROG is not supplying any power i.e disconnect the jumper.

Software setup

The ESP32 can be flashed over the air or using a serial to USB adapter.

Visual studio setup:

Setup visual studio,

1. Clone gitub repo to workspace

2. Download Git Bash for windows

3. Cd into the folder “crs-wifi-car-firmware”

4. “git submodule update --init --recursive” this downloads the ESP-IDF

5. “source ./install.sh” install relevant tools

6. Done

 Instructions for serial adapter

1. Power up the car while pushing down the “BOOT“ button

2. Open visual code and click on “ESP-IDF Flash device”

Hardware design for the serial flash tool

The PCB has no onboard debugger of flash hardware, we will instead use an https://ftdichip.com/products/ttl-232r-3v3/ which we can share between the platforms. This is a simple USB to serial converter using 3.3V

The only hardware we need on the PCB is a button connected to the GPIO0.

Read more at https://github.com/espressif/esptool/wiki/ESP32-Boot-Mode-Selection

Simple example circuit:

Pinout of the FTDI:

https://docs.rs-online.com/588e/0900766b80d4cba6.pdf

Boot mode select

https://github.com/espressif/esptool/wiki/ESP32-Boot-Mode-Selection

https://github.com/espressif/esptool#entering-the-bootloader

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