esp8266-weather-clock-opensource/docs/INSTALLATION.md

Installation Guide

Complete step-by-step guide to flash this firmware on your ESP8266 weather clock.

Table of Contents

1. Prerequisites
2. Arduino IDE Setup
3. Hardware Connection
4. First Flash (via FTDI)
5. Initial Configuration
6. OTA Updates
7. Troubleshooting

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Prerequisites

Hardware Required

• ESP8266 Weather Clock (TJ-56-654 or compatible)
• FTDI USB-to-Serial adapter (3.3V!)
  • Recommended: FT232RL, CP2102, CH340
  • ⚠️ Must support 3.3V - 5V adapters will damage ESP8266
• Jumper wires (male-to-female, 5 pieces)
• USB cable (for FTDI adapter)

Software Required

• Arduino IDE (1.8.19+ or 2.x)
  • Download: https://www.arduino.cc/en/software
• USB drivers for your FTDI chip:
  • FT232: https://ftdichip.com/drivers/vcp-drivers/
  • CP2102: https://www.silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers
  • CH340: Usually auto-installed on macOS/Linux

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Arduino IDE Setup

1. Install ESP8266 Board Support

Method 1: Via Board Manager (recommended)

1. Open Arduino IDE
2. Go to: File → Preferences
3. In "Additional Board Manager URLs", add:

   http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json
   

4. Click OK
5. Go to: Tools → Board → Boards Manager
6. Search: "ESP8266"
7. Install: esp8266 by ESP8266 Community (version 3.0.0 or newer)
8. Wait for installation to complete

Method 2: Manual Installation

See: https://arduino-esp8266.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installing.html

2. Install Required Libraries

Go to: Sketch → Include Library → Manage Libraries

Install the following libraries (search by name):

Library	Author	Min Version	Purpose
Adafruit GFX Library	Adafruit	1.11.0	Graphics primitives
Adafruit SSD1306	Adafruit	2.5.0	OLED display driver
NTPClient	Fabrice Weinberg	3.2.0	NTP time sync (base)
WiFiManager	tzapu	2.0.0	Captive portal setup
AsyncHTTPRequest_Generic	Khoi Hoang	1.13.0	Async weather fetch
ESPAsyncTCP	me-no-dev	1.2.2	Async TCP (required by above)

Installation steps for each library:

1. Search library name in Library Manager
2. Click Install
3. Wait for "INSTALLED" badge
4. Repeat for all libraries

3. Board Configuration

Important: Configure these settings before compiling:

1. Go to: Tools → Board → ESP8266 Boards
2. Select: Generic ESP8266 Module
3. Configure settings:

Setting	Value	Why
Flash Size	1MB (FS:64KB OTA:~470KB)	Enables OTA with 470KB max firmware
Flash Mode	DIO	Compatible with most ESP-01S modules
Flash Frequency	40MHz	Safe default for all ESP8266
CPU Frequency	80MHz	Standard (can use 160MHz for more speed)
Crystal Frequency	26MHz	Default for ESP-01S
Upload Speed	115200	Balance between speed and reliability
Debug Level	None	Reduces firmware size
IwIP Variant	v2 Lower Memory	Better for 1MB flash devices
Erase Flash	Only Sketch	Preserves config on re-flash

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Hardware Connection

Step 1: Identify Pins

ESP-01S pinout (looking at module from top, antenna up):

       ┌─────────────┐
       │             │
       │  [antenna]  │
       │             │
3V3 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ GND
 TX ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ GPIO0
 RX ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ GPIO2
 EN ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ GND
       │             │
       └─────────────┘

Step 2: Wire FTDI to ESP-01S

Connections:

FTDI Pin	ESP-01S Pin	Wire Color	Notes
3.3V	3V3	Red	Power (NOT 5V!)
GND	GND	Black	Ground
TX	RX	Yellow	Data: FTDI transmit → ESP receive
RX	TX	Green	Data: FTDI receive → ESP transmit
GND	GPIO0	Blue	Programming mode (temporary)

⚠️ CRITICAL:

• Never connect 5V to ESP-01S - it's not 5V tolerant!
• Double-check polarity before powering on
• GPIO0-to-GND connection is temporary (only for programming mode)

Step 3: Enter Programming Mode

1. Connect all wires as shown above (including GPIO0 to GND)
2. Plug FTDI into USB (ESP-01S powers on in programming mode)
3. Verify: Some FTDI adapters have a power LED that should light up
4. Remove GPIO0-to-GND jumper (keep other connections)

ESP-01S is now in programming mode, ready to receive firmware.

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First Flash (via FTDI)

Step 1: Open Project

1. Download or clone this repository
2. Navigate to: esp8266-weather-clock-opensource/src/
3. Open: clock_ntp_ota_v1.9.ino in Arduino IDE

Step 2: Verify Board Settings

1. Go to: Tools → Board → Generic ESP8266 Module
2. Confirm settings match those in Board Configuration
3. Go to: Tools → Port
4. Select your FTDI adapter:
   • macOS: /dev/cu.usbserial-* or /dev/cu.wchusbserial*
   • Linux: /dev/ttyUSB0 or /dev/ttyACM0
   • Windows: COM3, COM4, etc.

If port doesn't appear:

• Check USB cable is data-capable (not charge-only)
• Install FTDI drivers
• Try different USB port
• Check wire connections

Step 3: Compile Firmware

1. Click: Sketch → Verify/Compile (or press Ctrl+R / Cmd+R)
2. Wait for compilation (1-2 minutes)
3. Check output for:

   Sketch uses X bytes (X%) of program storage space.
   Global variables use Y bytes (Y%) of dynamic memory.
   

4. Verify:
   • Program storage < 470KB (for OTA to work)
   • IRAM usage < 95% (shown in verbose output)

Step 4: Upload Firmware

1. Ensure GPIO0 was grounded during power-on (then removed)
2. Click: Sketch → Upload (or press Ctrl+U / Cmd+U)
3. Watch serial monitor for:

   Connecting........
   Chip is ESP8266EX
   Uploading stub...
   Running stub...
   Writing at 0x00000000... (X %)
   

4. Wait for: Hard resetting via RTS pin...
5. Success message: Done uploading

If upload fails, see Troubleshooting.

Step 5: Power Cycle

1. Disconnect FTDI from USB
2. Remove GPIO0-to-GND wire (very important!)
3. Reconnect FTDI to USB (ESP-01S boots into normal mode)
4. Firmware should now be running!

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Initial Configuration

Step 1: Connect to Device AP

1. On your phone/laptop, scan for WiFi networks
2. Look for: TJ56654-Setup (or similar)
3. Password: 12345678
4. Connect to this network

Step 2: Captive Portal

Automatic (iOS/Android):

• Captive portal should pop up automatically
• If not, manually browse to: http://192.168.4.1

Manual (laptop):

• Browse to: http://192.168.4.1

Step 3: Configure WiFi

1. Click: Configure WiFi
2. Select your home network from the list
3. Enter WiFi password
4. (Optional) Set custom hostname
5. Click: Save
6. Device reboots and connects to your WiFi

Step 4: Find Device IP

Method 1: Router Admin Panel

• Log into your router
• Look for device: "tj56654-clock"
• Note its IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.47)

Method 2: mDNS (if your OS supports it)

• Browse to: http://tj56654-clock.local/
• Works on macOS, Linux, iOS out-of-box
• Windows: Install Bonjour Print Services

Method 3: Serial Monitor

1. Keep FTDI connected (no GPIO0 to GND!)
2. Open: Tools → Serial Monitor
3. Set baud rate: 115200
4. Press reset button (if available) or power cycle
5. Watch for: WiFi connected! IP: 192.168.x.x

Step 5: Access Web Interface

Browse to: http://<device-ip>/ or http://tj56654-clock.local/

You should see:

• Current time display
• Navigation links (Config, Debug, Update)

Step 6: Configure Settings

1. Go to: http://<device-ip>/config
2. Configure:
   • Timezone offset (in seconds from UTC)
   • DST enabled (for European DST rules)
   • Weather location (latitude, longitude, city name)
   • Display settings (brightness, rotation interval)
3. Click: Save Configuration
4. Device reboots with new settings

Timezone examples:

• UTC+0 (London winter): 0
• UTC+1 (Paris winter): 3600
• UTC-5 (New York winter): -18000

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OTA Updates

After initial FTDI flash, all future updates can be done over WiFi (no wires!).

Method 1: Web Interface (Easiest)

1. Download latest .bin file from releases
2. Browse to: http://<device-ip>/update
3. Login:
   • Username: admin
   • Password: admin (change in source code!)
4. Click: Choose File
5. Select .bin file
6. Click: Update
7. Wait for upload (~1 minute)
8. Device reboots automatically
9. Check version at: http://<device-ip>/debug

Method 2: Arduino IDE

1. Open .ino file in Arduino IDE
2. Go to: Tools → Port
3. Select: tj56654-clock at 192.168.x.x (network port!)
4. Click: Sketch → Upload
5. Wait for upload
6. Device reboots automatically

Note: Network port only appears if device is online and mDNS is working.

Method 3: curl (Command Line)

# Build firmware first, then:
curl -u admin:admin -F "file=@/path/to/firmware.bin" http://192.168.x.x/update

Replace:

• 192.168.x.x with your device IP
• /path/to/firmware.bin with actual path to .bin file

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Troubleshooting

Upload Fails

Error: "espcomm_open failed"

• Check: GPIO0 was grounded during power-on
• Check: FTDI driver installed
• Try: Different USB port
• Try: Lower upload speed (57600 instead of 115200)

Error: "espcomm_upload_mem failed"

• Check: Wire connections (especially RX↔TX swap)
• Check: FTDI is 3.3V (not 5V)
• Try: Power ESP-01S from external 3.3V supply (FTDI may not provide enough current)

Error: "Chip sync error"

• GPIO0 must be LOW during boot
• Try: Hold GPIO0 to GND, reset ESP, then release GPIO0

Compilation Fails

Error: "library not found"

• Install missing library via Library Manager
• Restart Arduino IDE after installing

Error: "Sketch too big"

• Flash size must be set to 1MB
• Reduce features if necessary (disable weather, etc.)

IRAM overflow error

• Some functions missing ICACHE_FLASH_ATTR
• Use version from this repo (already optimized)

WiFi Connection Fails

Device creates AP but won't connect to home WiFi

• ESP8266 only supports 2.4GHz (not 5GHz)
• Try: Different WiFi channel (1, 6, or 11)
• Check: WiFi password is correct
• Check: Router supports 802.11n

Device reboots in a loop

• Likely: Power supply too weak (brownout)
• Solution: Use powered USB hub or different power adapter
• Minimum: 500mA @ 5V

Display Issues

Display is blank

• Check: I2C wiring (SDA=GPIO0, SCL=GPIO2)
• Check: Display I2C address (try 0x3C and 0x3D in code)
• Test: Use /api/i2c-scan endpoint to detect display

Display shows garbage

• Wrong display library or initialization
• This firmware is for SSD1306-compatible OLED
• Verify display model is GM009605v4.3 or similar

Display is upside down

• Change display_orientation in /config
• Values: 0 (normal), 1 (90°), 2 (180°), 3 (270°)

Time Not Syncing

Time shows 00:00:00

• Check: WiFi is connected (/api/status)
• Check: NTP server is reachable (default: pool.ntp.org)
• Check: Router firewall allows UDP port 123
• Try: Different NTP server (e.g., time.google.com)

Time is wrong by hours

• Check: Timezone offset in /config
• Remember: Offset is in seconds, not hours
  • Example: UTC+1 = 3600 seconds

Weather Not Updating

Temperature shows 0.0°C

• Check: Internet connectivity (/api/debug)
• Check: Latitude/longitude are correct
• Check: Open-Meteo API is accessible (visit https://open-meteo.com/ in browser)
• Try: Manual weather fetch at /test-weather (if implemented)

OTA Update Fails

Web upload hangs at 0%

• Check: Device is online and responsive
• Try: Smaller firmware (disable features)
• Try: Upload via Arduino IDE instead

Upload completes but device doesn't reboot

• Wait 30 seconds (sometimes slow)
• Manually power cycle device
• Check serial output for errors

Serial Monitor Shows Errors

"DNS resolution failed"

• In v1.9.0 (fixed in v1.9.1)
• Upgrade to v1.9.1 or later

Watchdog reset / exception

• Likely: Code bug or memory corruption
• Check: IRAM usage < 95%
• Report: Open issue with serial log

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Advanced: Custom Configuration

Change OTA Password

Edit in source code (line ~60):

ArduinoOTA.setPassword("your-secret-password");

Change Web Admin Password

Edit in source code (line ~430):

if (!server.authenticate("admin", "your-secret-password")) {

Disable Features

To save memory, disable unused features:

Disable weather:

• Set weather_enabled = false in /config
• Or remove weather code from source

Disable sunrise/sunset:

• Set show_sunrise_sunset = false in /config

Disable display rotation:

• Set display_rotation_sec = 0 (manual switch only)

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Getting Help

If you're still stuck:

1. Check existing issues: https://github.com/your-repo/issues
2. Open new issue with:
   • Arduino IDE version
   • ESP8266 board package version
   • Library versions
   • Full serial monitor output
   • Steps to reproduce
3. Join discussion for general questions

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Happy flashing! 🚀