Tag: ESP32
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The Hidden Trap Inside ESP32‑C3 Super Mini Boards from AliExpress
Why Two Identical‑Looking Boards Can Be Completely Different The ESP32‑C3 has quickly become one of the most popular microcontrollers for DIY electronics, IoT projects, and low‑power wireless applications. It is small, efficient, inexpensive, and fully compatible with Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth. Naturally, the market is full of tiny ESP32‑C3 development boards—especially on AliExpress—sold at unbelievably low…
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Meshtastic: Off‑Grid Communication for Modern Times
What would happen if tomorrow cell phones and the internet went down? Whether caused by a datacenter fire, natural disaster, terrorist attack, or even war, losing communication would leave us blind and disconnected. For those of us living in regions close to geopolitical tension—like Poland, right next to Ukraine and Russia—this isn’t just a thought…
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How to use stepper motors with Arduino
Stepper motors are the workhorse of modern automation and mechatronics. You want something to more and move precisely how much wanted it to move? You use a stepper motor. This is why, we use steppers in cars, robots, all kinds of automation, 3D printers, CNC machines. You name it. The main difference between a stepper…
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LILYGO T5 4.7-inch E-paper ESP32 development board
One of the biggest advantages of ESP32 development boards (without even counting the speed, flash size, WiFi, Bluetooth, and two cores) is that they come in a variety of shapes and sizes: bare boards, with OLED, with color LCD, with LoRa chipset, with GPS modem, etc., etc. And finally, you can get them with an…
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How to generate PPM signal with ESP32 and Arduino
The PPM protocol for encoding Remote Control channel values is now a legacy. Still, it is widely accepted by different hardware and when tinkering with Arduino, remote control, and working on own accessories for flight controllers, PPM is still a valid option. A few years ago I presented a code that allows generating PPM stream…
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ESP32, Arduino and Timer/Alerts
Because of completely different architecture, ISR and Timer solutions known from other Arduino compatible platforms, especially AVR/ATmega does not work on ESP32. They don’t. At all. If you would like to port any code that uses timers from AVR Arduino to ESP32 Arduino, you would have to rewrite them completely. However, timers and alarms with…
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ESP32 and multiple I2C buses
One of the advantages of the ESP32 microcontrollers over the competitions is dual-core architecture and two I2C buses. Yes, the I2C bus allows connecting multiple slave devices to single pair of SCL SDA wires. As long as slave device addresses are unique, everything will work just fine: OLED display, LM75 temperature sensor, MPU6050 gyroscope. However,…
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QmuBeacon – ESP32 and LoRa based GPS recovery beacon and locator
Having a broken leg, limited mobility, and paid sick leave have some perks after all. I’ve finally found some free time to sit on the project I started, I think, two years ago: ESP32, LoRa based GPS beacon, and locator. You know, put it on an airplane and have a way to get the distance…
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ESP8266, ESP32 and ESP32-S2 comparison
Currently, there are 2 types of MCU from Espressif on the market: ESP8266 from 2014, ESP32 from 2016 and ESP32-S2 that debuted in the second half of 2019. Although ESP32-S2 is not yet very popular, it is expected it will replace ESP8266 as a cheaper, more powerful and more secure alternative in the upcoming years.…