Espixel by Bill Porter

**ukewarrior** · 02-08-2018, 09:56 PM

Most Excellent!
Glad to hear you got right through it to a successful conclustion.

Originally Posted by fillibar

That is where I started (http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com...6_ESPixel_Pops)...

But apparently I am an idiot (saw too many things on the page and figured I could "just do it"). I missed the Java tool and was struggling with doing it all via Arduino... Plus problems with my programmer (it does not automatically set the ESP8266 to programming mode) that I have now overcome (with a jumper wire)...

Basically it all boils down to:
Download the latest Firmware.
Install Java JRE.
Run the ESPSFlashTool.jar once Java is installed.
Configure your settings and let it upload.
Uploaded just fine and is working great.

Pretty easy. See, sometimes it just takes that person prompting you.

I will note two things for the webpages, it might be good if the WiFi password field was masked and if there WAS an admin login for the webpage (even if simplistic). If I notice anything else I will try to comment...

Either way, THANKS!

**fillibar** · 02-09-2018, 08:05 AM

Played with Vixen 3 a bit and got my test string working just fine.
I assumed they would have a bit more ability to control the Pixels without a separate controller (basically leaving the Test Modes active even after you reboot or POPO, they would come back on). All that is needed for some simple projects in fact.

But I can work from Vixen until I dig into the inner workings more, if I ever do.

**MikeKrebs** · 02-09-2018, 10:40 PM

@fillibar I think something like that would not be real hard to add. There is a popular arduino sketch that looks for data for a few seconds and if none is found goes into random mode. Similar code could be added to the espixelstick code. Of course, that means you would be back to trying to compile the sketch yourself.

**fillibar** · 02-12-2018, 01:50 PM

All part of the learning experience. Most of my past Arduino and Particle projects had fall back methods if they could not reach the network (and most of them were designed to be on the network). This is just checking if anything has come in for it and if not, MAYBE do something based on all sorts of factors. Like:
1) Is it actually on a network?
2) Was it supposed to do something or not?
3) Has it been on for so long that it should not regardless?
4) Did it get stuff before and that cut out (controller went down) and does it have a fallback plan? Also relates to #3.

**mattd** · 02-14-2018, 12:31 AM

Originally Posted by ukewarrior

The rub with all these deals is if they don't say they have the good flash chip, then you can't trust them anymore.
They probably made thousands and thousands of the bad modules and a lot of folks are going to get useless modules if they don't check.

BUT! Your point about how cheap you can get a pixel controller is quite true !

Looks like I lucked out!
20180213_213850-small.jpg

Unrelated, it looks like I accidentally bought 6V caps for C2. Will these work for 5V boards? Have some 16V 100uf on the way...

**jimboha** · 02-14-2018, 12:43 AM

Originally Posted by mattd

Unrelated, it looks like I accidentally bought 6V caps for C2. Will these work for 5V boards? Have some 16V 100uf on the way...

They will 'work' but the question is for how long. You have no safety margin - we usually look for something rated at least twice the voltage to be seen, especially for catalytics. I would wait for your 16V caps.

Jimboha

**mattd** · 02-14-2018, 01:11 AM

Originally Posted by jimboha

They will 'work' but the question is for how long. You have no safety margin - we usually look for something rated at least twice the voltage to be seen, especially for catalytics. I would wait for your 16V caps.

Jimboha

Thanks!

**ukewarrior** · 02-14-2018, 01:36 AM

Don't use them.

Originally Posted by mattd

Looks like I lucked out!
20180213_213850-small.jpg

Unrelated, it looks like I accidentally bought 6V caps for C2. Will these work for 5V boards? Have some 16V 100uf on the way...

**Scoobysnacks** · 02-21-2018, 03:08 PM

Wait a second, I thought the BOM called for 6.3v 220uF caps for location C2, per the BOM sheet on post #48 of this thread:

http://doityourselfchristmas.com/for...121#post467121

Is this incorrect?

**ukewarrior** · 02-21-2018, 09:36 PM

I think it says 8V not 6.3V.

Originally Posted by Scoobysnacks

Wait a second, I thought the BOM called for 6.3v 220uF caps for location C2, per the BOM sheet on post #48 of this thread:

http://doityourselfchristmas.com/for...121#post467121

Is this incorrect?