How to use ESP32 with power bank and be able to upload updates at same time?

Q&A Forum › How to use ESP32 with power bank and be able to upload updates at same time?

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William Lucid asked 5 months ago

Would like to use a power bank with access to recharge, power ESP32, and be able to upload sketch updates.

OTA is not an option. I understand you can not use Vin and USB at same time without damaging ESP32.

Trying to avoid opening project box every time a update is available or need to recharge the power bank.

William

7 Answers

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Sara Santos Staff answered 5 months ago

Hi.
What do you mean by “OTA is not an option”.
Regards,
Sara

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William Lucid answered 5 months ago

Good Morning Sara,

Project is a child’s game with no WIFI. Will be moved between different networks, There will be no one to configure WIFI credentials.

Regards,

William

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Anthony Hill answered 5 months ago

I’ve read different things about using USB and Vin ( i.e. 5V) at the same time. Whether it will work or cause damage depends on the actual ESP32 board that you are using. The boards with a proper design have diode isolation between the power from the USB port and the 5V power from Vin. So you can use either or both at the same time with no worries. it’s the poorly designed boards with no isolation between the USB 5V pin and the Vin pin that can cause issue. It won’t damage the actual ESP32 chip buy it might fry either your 5v power supply or the USB port in your computer.

tl;dr : check the schematic to ensure that USB 5V and Vin are diode isolated and go ahead if they are.

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William Lucid answered 5 months ago

Not supported by my device; still looking…

Regards,
William

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Sara Santos Staff answered 5 months ago

Hi.
Sending updates wirelessly without connecting to a network is kind of a challenge. At the moment, I’m not aware of a solution for that. Let me know if you find something interesting.
Regards,
Sara

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William Lucid answered 5 months ago

HI Sara,

Re-reading the documentation for Tzapu’s WilFiManager; found an additional command for the WiFiManager object:

wm.setConfigPortalTimeout(30); //Timeout in seconds –set to 30 seconds for testing

Command when used; allows Timeout of the Configuration Portal to close without entering WiFi credentials, while still having the ability to setup a network before Configuration Portal closes from timeout.

The problem was not having someone available every time anew network was encountered. When firmware update is available and someone can enter network credentials; will be able to use WiFiManager, Update function.

Just what what is needed! Tested in project; works perfectly!

Sara, you may mark as resolved, thanks for the forum!

Best Regards,
William

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Sara Santos Staff answered 5 months ago

That’s great!
Thanks for sharing your findings.
I’ll mark this issue as resolved. If you need further help, you just need to open a new question in our forum.
Regards,
Sara