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 worry about source codes, compilers, libraries and the likes.
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". 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 download the pre-compiled binary file for the prop firmware you want to install; for all the DTM props, a binary file is provided in the install folder of their respective repository. For direct download, click on one of the links below:
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 DTMPropInstaller.
Your browser is not supported. Please use Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.HTTPS required, HTTP not supported
After the upload has finished, disconnect the ESP32 from your computer, put it in/on your prop (if you haven't done that already), and power-up the prop. Next, 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 (= the file you downloaded in the first step), and click "UPDATE" to proceed. The selected firmware will be installed on your ESP32.
Future firmware uploads/updates can be done through the prop's WiFi-accessible Config Portal.