IMPORTANT! – If you didn’t remove the diode from the D1 mini you must remove your battery before flashing the firmware via USB cable. For more information check out my iSpindel Assembly post.
Please note that the community has reported that you can flash the D1 mini before doing any soldering or assembly. The iSpindel can be assembled after the D1 has been flashed with the firmware.
This blog post assumes that you have already built your iSpindel and you are ready to flash the firmware. If you have not yet built your iSpindel please check out my blog post on how to obtain the parts and assemble them.
The software utility to flash the iSpindel can be downloaded from here. Or you can search Github for “nodemcu” and find the “modemcu-flasher”. Flashing with this piece of software makes the process easy.
The latest version of the iSpindel firmware can be found here. Make sure you find the version labeled “Latest release”. Click on firmware.bin under Assets.
Ensure that the iSpindel battery is fully charged and that you don’t have any unneeded pieces of hardware plugged into your computer. We want to avoid flashing the wrong piece of hardware. Full flashing instructions are found in my youtube video walkthrough.
After the initial flashing of firmware, you’ll need to press the Reset button on the D1 mini 3 or 4 times in order to get back to configuration mode. The blue LED on the D1 Mini will flash every second while in this mode. Configuration mode enables the open wifi network named iSpindel to show in a list of available wifi networks to connect to. After connecting to the open wifi network the configuration page can be accessed through the IP address http://192.168.4.1.
If things aren’t saving correctly.
If you change your unit of temperature, cycle off and on the iSpindel, and your unit of temperature did not save then you will need to take additional steps to complete the flashing of your iSpindel. I followed these steps in this post on the HomeBrewTalk.com forum. You can go to the forum or you can see the same instructions below. I wanted to make a copy of them in case the pictures, or the forum goes offline one day.
Using NODEMUCU FIRMWARE PROGRAMMER
To Clear Flash:
- In Config Tab
- 1st Line “INTERNAL://NODEMCU” Address “0x00000” (remove quote marks)
- 2nd Line “INTERNAL://BLANK” Address “0x01000” (remove quote marks)
- In the Advanced Tab Set the Baudrate to 115200
- On the Operation Tab press Flash
Flash iSpindel Again
- Back into Config Tab
- 1st Line “C:\iSpindel-5.2.1.bin” Address “0x00000”
(remove quote marks – add your own path to the firmware) - In the Advanced Tab Set the Baudrate to 115200
- On the Operation Tab press Flash
Find iSpindel in your Wireless Networks. If it doesn’t appear press Reset 3 or 4 times. When the blue LED blinks about once per second your iSpindel is in configuration mode. Connect your web browser http://192.168.4.1
You should now see the Configuration page. Test that the unit of temperature now saves as expected after cycling the power off and back on again.