/esp8266-vfd-clock

A clock for the HCS-12SS59T Vaccuum Flourescent Display

Primary LanguageC++OtherNOASSERTION

esp8266-vfd-clock

A clock on a VFD display driven by an esp8266.

initial setup

  1. install the platformio core CLI tools
  2. plug an esp8266 into your computer
  3. make it programmable:
  • cut power
  • hold reset
  • restore power while still holding reset
  • wait a couple seconds
  • release reset
  1. run pio run -t upload -e serial
  2. after 15 seconds (WIFI_TIMEOUT_SEC), a new wifi network will appear
  3. connect to the new wifi network, which will be esp8266-xxxxxx. Take note of this name!
  4. visit http://192.168.4.1
  5. enter wifi credentials and UTC offset, then click 'save'
  6. connect a Samsung HCS-12SS59T vacuum fluorescent display according to the chart in the display wiring section below
  7. click 'Restart device'

display wiring

ESP VFD
VU 5v
GND GND
D0 RST
D1 CS
D2 VFD_ON
D5 CLK
D7 DIN

over-the-air updates

To configure your machine to flash the device over local wifi:

  1. ensure port 8266 on your dev machine is open for LAN traffic
  2. open platformio.ini
  3. set upload_port to the name of the device's wifi network, with '.local' appended
  4. set the --auth flag in upload_flags to the password for the device's wifi network

Now you can run platformio run -t upload -e ota to update the device as long as:

  • the device is reachable from your computer's network
  • the device is regularly calling ArduinoOTA.handle();
  • mDNS is configured properly on your dev machine