Delorean Time Machine Prop Firmware Installer
This page is intended to ease initial firmware installation on fresh ESP32 boards for use in CircuitSetup/A10001986-designed movie props such as Time Circuits Display, Flux Capacitor, SID, Dash Gauges, VSR, Futaba Remote Control kit, or Lou's Cafe Jukebox. The installation works without installing any software apart from a USB driver. You don't have to deal with source code, compilers, libraries and the likes.
The procedure described on this page only has to be done once, on fresh, uninitialized ESP32 boards. Later firmware updates can be done through the firmware's WiFi-accessible Config Portal and over-the-air.
Requirements:
- Fully assembled CircuitSetup/A10001986 prop control board.
- SD card in prop's control board slot (maximum size 32GB, FAT32 formatted, empty)
- USB cable
- Computer with Windows 10 or later, or MacOS >= 10.15.7
- Firefox >= 151, Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser
- Driver for the USB bridge on your ESP32 board, see below
Driver for USB connection
- For ESP32 boards with a CP210x USB-to-UART chip (CircuitSetup boards all have those):
- Windows is said to come with a suitable driver. After connecting the ESP32, start the Device Manager, expand the "Ports (COM & LPT)" list and look for a port with the ESP32 or CP210x name. If there is none, or Windows shows messages about unsupported hardware or a missing driver, please install this.
- MacOS supports this chip since around 10.15.7 (Catalina). The port is named "CP210x USB to UART Bridge Controller" or "cu.usbserial-XXXX" ('XXXX' being a random number). If no such port is created upon connection, install this driver. The port is named "cu.SLAB_USBtoUART" after installing this driver. Do not use this driver to upload a firmware on TCD Control Boards >= 1.4, it will fail. Use the Apple built-in driver instead.
- For ESP32 boards with a CH340 USB-to-UART chip,
- Windows users may need to install a driver; see above on how to find out about the port.
- On Mac, the port is named cu.usbserial-XXXX, no additional driver is required for MacOS Mojave and later.
Let's get started:
-
Download the latest firmware for the prop(s) from these sources:
- All: All current firmware releases for all props.
- Time Circuits: Main firmware and sound-pack.
- Flux Capacitor: Main firmware and sound-pack.
- SID: One file.
- Dash Gauges: Main firmware and sound-pack.
- VSR: Main firmware and sound-pack.
- Futaba Remote Control: Main firmware and sound-pack.
- Jukebox: Main firmware and sound-pack.
- VSR and Jukebox only: Make sure that the VSR's display and/or pushwheels are connected. In case of a Jukebox, make sure the rotary encoders are connected.
- Connect your prop to your computer through USB and wait a few seconds. At this point, Windows users need to find out
about the port to choose, see above. Then click Connect, select a port, and click Install Generic Installer.
Your browser is not supported. Firefox 151 or later, Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge required. HTTPS required, HTTP not supported - After the upload has finished, connect your computer or hand-held to the WiFi network named "NP-AP". Navigate your browser to http://install.local or http://192.168.4.1 and click on Update.
- Now select the firmware file downloaded from the prop's website in step 1 and click "Update". In case of two-part-firmwares, select the main firmware file here, not the sound-pack file.
- For single-file firmwares: After the upload has finished, the prop will finish the installation automatically. You are all done at this point.
For two-part firmwares: After the upload has finished, connect your computer/handheld to the prop's WiFi network ("TCD-AP" for the TCD, "FC-AP" for the flux capacitor, etc), navigate to the props's config portal, click on "Update & Upload", select the sound-pack file in the bottom file selector, and click "Upload". After rebooting, the prop will finish installation, after which it is ready for use.