EN Installing firmware

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Installing USB2Serial driver

The operating system of the computer which will upload the sensor software or "firmware" to the NodeMCU - also called to flash - will need a driver to communicate with it. The computer will interact with the USB2Serial chip on the NodeMCU. This will also depend on the version of the NodeMCU. Linux natively provides drivers already.

Identify NodeMCU version

If the version of the NodeMCU is unknown, a description of either CP2102 or CH340G can be found on the back. Alternatively one of the chips are marked,in which case you will most likely need a magnifying glass.

CP2102 (NodeMCU v2)

CP210x USB TO UART Bridge Drivers

• Mac/Win drivers

CH340G (NodeMCU v3)

CH340G Bridge Drivers

• Driver page of manufacturer (Chinese)
• Mac drivers, or for Sierrra see these successfully tested instructions
• Windows drivers
• Raspberry Pi drivers

Restart the computer after installing the drivers. Comment MacOS >10.9: Unsigned drivers have to be explicitly allowed. A good description can be found here.

Install firmware

Caution: Do not use USB cables longer then 1m for uploading the firmware to NodeMCU.

We will be describing two variants of installing the sensor software. VARIANT 1 includes compilation of the source code, whereas with VARIANT 2 you use the esptool of the Arduino IDE to upload binaries. VARIANT 2 is recommended for beginners. For both variants you'll need the follow these instructions:

1. Download and install Arduino IDE.
2. Install platform packages for ESP8266 with Boards Manager following these instructions.
3. Close Arduino IDE.

Identifying the USB port

In order to upload the firmware you will need to supply information of the USB port the operating system is supposed to use. You can do this by connecting the NodeMCU to the port you want use later on and then start the Arduino IDE. At Tools → Port the available ports will be listed and the NodeMCU should be easy to find. To confirm this is actually the right port: Select the port and select Tools → Get Board Info. In the status bar, under VID and PID you should now see codes. Close the IDE now to free up the ports.

• MAC: CP2102 on /dev/cu.SLAB_USBTOUART and CH340G on /dev/cu.wchusbserialXXXXXXXX.
• Windows: COM3. If its not that port, just try the next ones in the list of available ports.
• Linux: /dev/ttyUSB0 or similar

VARIANT 1 "Arduino IDE"

Here we show how to compile the firmware yourself and upload it to the NodeMCU.

4. Start Arduino IDE (after previously installing platform packages and closing it).
5. Install the following libraries. Compare Readme.md and note license:

• ArduinoJson (5.13.1) (MIT)
• Adafruit Unified Sensor (1.0.2) (Apache)
• Adafruit BMP085 library (1.0.0) (BSD)
• Adafruit BMP280 library (1.0.2) (BSD)
• Adafruit BME280 library (1.0.7) (BSD)
• DallasTemperature (3.8.0)
• DHT sensor library (1.1.1) (MIT)
• ESP8266 and ESP32 Oled driver for SSD1306 display (4.0.0) (MIT)
• OneWire (2.3.4)
• LiquidCrystal I2C (1.1.2)
• Adafruit HTU21DF Library (1.0.1)
• SoftwareSerial (1.0.0) (GNU Lesser Public License >=2.1)

6. In the IDE at Tools → Board select
   • NodeMCU 0.9 (ESP-12 Module) for NodeMCU v1
   • NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E Module) for NodeMCU v2 und v3
7. Now connect NodeMCU via USB and select the port at Tools → Port.
8. Copy the source code to your computer. Best and most convenient method is to clone the repository or download the repository as archive and unpack it. Alternatively all files from the source code directory can be manually copied as well. If you do choose the latter, the RAW button might help.
9. Open the sketch (INO) file in Arduino IDE.
10. Change the ext_def.h to meet your requirements (WLAN configuration, sensors, ...)
11. Now flash the NodeMCU with the upload button (right arrow).

    

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