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 DTM props such as Time Circuits Display, Flux Capacitor, SID, Dash Gauges, VSR or Futaba Remote Control kit. 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.
Note that 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:
- NodeMCU ESP32 board (or TCD Control Board >= 1.4)
- USB cable
- Computer with Windows 10 or later, or MacOS >= 10.15.7
- 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 "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:
- Please select the firmware you want to install:
- Now connect your ESP32 board 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 [prop type].
Your browser is not supported. Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge required. HTTPS required, HTTP not supported - After the upload has finished, disconnect the ESP32 board from your computer and put it in/on your prop (if you haven't done that already). The next steps are to check for firmware updates on the prop's page (as the version presented here might be outdated), and afterwards to install the sound pack. Please see the prop's documentation, chapter "Installation", for details.
If you chose Generic, please power-up the prop and 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. On the page presented then, select the firmware binary to be installed (eg. a firmware binary from a CircuitSetup Time Circuits release), and click UPDATE to proceed. The selected firmware will be installed on your ESP32. - After the upload has finished, disconnect the ESP32 board from your computer and put it in/on your prop (if you haven't done that already). The next steps are to check for firmware updates on the prop's page (as the version presented here might be outdated), and afterwards to install the sound pack. Please see the prop's documentation, chapter "Installation", for details.