Flowcode Support Board

When creating a product using an ESP32 device it is important that it can connect to the network of the person buying the product.

This is complicated as the ESP32 requires that the network SSID and password be defined by the user and this requires a means of getting the data into the ESP32 device.

Luckily as the ESP32 features the ability to host it's own network we can use this to create a simple web interface where the user can enter their network details.

Here I've created a simple example that uses the Webserver component to allow a user to connect the ESP32 to their own network and store the settings into none volatile EE memory.

On startup the firmware checks the EE memory and attempts to connect to the stored network. If successful then the program continues and WIFI communications can occur on the user's network.

If the connection was not successful then the ESP creates it's own open network called FlowcodeWifi. This SSID name can be reconfigured as required and even made so a specific password has to be entered to allow access.

If you connect to this network and then visit the URL 192.168.4.1 then you will be presented with a configuration page.

Upon filling out the details in the page and clicking submit the confirmation page below will be shown, the entered details will be stored and the ESP32 will attempt to connect to the network. If successful then the FlowcodeWifi network will dissapear and the ESP will continue with the program as before.

If not successful then the FlowcodeWifi network will eventually reappear allowing you another attempt at connection.

Please note for this project to compile and work you will need the latest component updates via the library update system.

Hopefully this is useful and easy to follow. Let me know if there are any questions or problems encountered.

Thanks, Ben.
That is a brilliant idea!
I know, what I will be trying out!

Hi Ben

Nice software.

I tried on my tablet with chrome
I can connect to the webserver and fill my network and pw. When I press register there is a message: page can not be reached.

So I get a notebook with windows and there it's working. I can press register and it confirm.

But how can I connect now to the ESP32 (maybe it's connected to my network)

regards

Stefan

Hi Stefan,

Odd about the tablet, I'll see if I can replicate that here.

Yes once the ESP is on your network you need to find the local IP address of the ESP to do further communications, you could show the IP address on a display but this is not ideal for most situations. An alternate method is to do a scan of your network by logging onto your your router or using a mobile phone app such as Fing to scan your network and find the ESP device.

The next project I want to do is a TCP broadcast which hopefully should allow us to find and communicate with specific devices on a local network with ease.

Hi Ben

I used a Android-Tablet with Chrome......

TCP broadcast can you do this (found) with the Appdevelopper?

For a test I loadet a complet new program in the ESP32 and read the EEprom and send it to the USB-C.
I received realy my password.....
I will use your webserver for many other parameters soon.

And I saw that the ESP32 has a RTC. So there will be a way to set time and date by wlan ...

regards

Stefan

TCP broadcast can you do this (found) with the Appdevelopper?

I'm not 100% at the moment but yes it looks like it should be possible.

As for the RTC I'll get it on the list. I think once your connected to a network that has internet syncing up the RTC with a time server and getting the time/date should be simple.

RTC and SNTP support for the ESP32 has now been done and is working well.
I'll post the component to the update system tomorrow along with an example.

Hi Ben

Great, I would like to use it.
thanks a lot.


What about a component for the ESP32 poweroption?

few comand to set to one of the powermode and few option to "wakeup"

regards


• Active mode

• Modem-sleep mode

• Light-sleep mode

• Deep-sleep mode

• Hibernatation mode


from esp32_technical_reference_manual_en.pdf

31.3.9 Predefined Power Modes
In ESP32, we recommend that you always use the predefined power modes first, before trying to tune each power
control signal. The predefined power modes should cover most scenarios:

• Active mode
– The CPU is clocked at XTAL_DIV_N (40 MHz/26 MHz) or PLL (80 MHz/160 MHz/240 MHz).
– The chip can receive, transmit, or listen.

• Modem-sleep mode
– The CPU is operational and the clock is configurable.
– The Wi-Fi/Bluetooth baseband is clock-gated or powered down. The radio is turned off.
– Current consumption: ∼30 mA with 80 MHz PLL.
– Current consumption: ∼3 mA with 2 MHz XTAL.
– Immediate wake-up.

• Light-sleep mode
– The internal 8 MHz oscillator, 40 MHz high-speed crystal, PLL, and radio are disabled.
– The clock in the digital core is gated. The CPUs are stalled.
– The ULP coprocessor and touch controller can be periodically triggered by monitor sensors.
– Current consumption: ∼ 800 μA.
– Wake-up latency: less than 1 ms.

• Deep-sleep mode
– The internal 8 MHz oscillator, 40 MHz high-speed crystal, PLL and radio are disabled.
– The digital core is powered down. The CPU context is lost.
– The supply voltage to the RTC core drops to 0.7V.
– 8 x 32 bits of data are kept in general-purpose retention registers.
– The RTC memory and fast RTC memory can be retained.
– Current consumption: ∼ 6.5 μA.
– Wake-up latency: less than 1 ms.
– Recommended for ultra-low-power infrequently-connected Wi-Fi/Bluetooth applications.

• Hibernatation mode
– The internal 8 MHz oscillator, 40 MHz high-speed crystal, PLL, and radio are disabled.
– The digital core is powered down. The CPU context is lost.
– The RTC peripheral domain is powered down.
– The supply voltage to the RTC core drops to 0.7V.

Hello Stefan,

Another great suggestion I'll get it on the list.

The component is now on the library update system and there is a simple example here.


The internal clock of the ESP32 can drift a bit, worst case I believe a few hundred seconds over the course of a day so in the example I re-sync the internal clock with the time server once at the start of every hour.

I beleive you can add a 32.768KHz crystal to the ESP32 and enable it by editing the config file to improve the overall accuracy of the internal clock.

Hi Ben


Perfect working!

What I'm missing are some set command to set the TimeDate with Touchscreen, Bluetooth or USB

The RTC1 component (Real Time Clock Internal, DS1307, DS3231, DS3232) is supporting a lot of set command
but for me is a setcommand for all in one go also possible even without a separator like.

"yyyyMMddHHmmss"

regards

Stefan

The RTC1 component with a lot of set commands:

Working perfect received string from the ESP32 (set by wifi) and my computertime: