BasicBoy's N00b problems

Recurrent H/W and software problems
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Basicboy
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Re: BasicBoy's N00b problems

Post by Basicboy »

[Local Link Removed for Guests] wrote: [Local Link Removed for Guests]Mon Jan 27, 2025 2:38 pm The Annex (and other) Web flashers automatically detect the Type of the connected chip.
You can use it to discover what's on your board.
I did but annex flasher and ESP tool just show a general "oh, It's an ESP32 C3"
It doesn't tell me which board to choose on Arduino IDE
Is it Adafruit? or Dev module or M2M...etc

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Basicboy
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Re: BasicBoy's N00b problems

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[Local Link Removed for Guests] wrote: [Local Link Removed for Guests]Thu Jan 30, 2025 3:15 pm
[Local Link Removed for Guests] wrote: [Local Link Removed for Guests]Thu Jan 30, 2025 10:29 amESP32 can use MQTT for IoT purposes, but for that it needs wifi connection
For ESP32 to ESP32, there is also ESPnow, implemented in Annex.
Yes of course, but I was meaning long distances (too long for ESPnow)
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Re: BasicBoy's N00b problems

Post by BeanieBots »

[Local Link Removed for Guests] wrote: [Local Link Removed for Guests]Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:26 am image.png
Things are getting a bit mixed up again!
What exactly are you trying to do?
Looks like you're using the Arduino IDE. If you use the Annex WEB tool it will tell you which firmware to use.
It will also tell you the flash & RAM sizes.

For your "long range" issue, what range do you need.
If it's around the world, then WIFI is the only option. LoRa can give several miles with a little care.
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Re: BasicBoy's N00b problems

Post by Basicboy »

[Local Link Removed for Guests] wrote: [Local Link Removed for Guests]Sun Feb 02, 2025 3:06 pm
[Local Link Removed for Guests] wrote: [Local Link Removed for Guests]Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:26 am image.png
Things are getting a bit mixed up again!
What exactly are you trying to do?
Looks like you're using the Arduino IDE. If you use the Annex WEB tool it will tell you which firmware to use.
It will also tell you the flash & RAM sizes.

For your "long range" issue, what range do you need.
If it's around the world, then WIFI is the only option. LoRa can give several miles with a little care.
Yes I'm trying to know which model to choose while using arduino IDE.

I checked the web installer indeed but as you can see its output is general "ESP32 C3" it doesn't say which model to use on arduino IDE

This is why I am showing screenshot from both of them
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Re: BasicBoy's N00b problems

Post by BeanieBots »

By "model", do you mean which development board?
I'm not familiar with the C3 variety so there might be different models as with the S3.
The Arduino IDE needs to know which development board you have. You can only tell by looking.
Annex does not care, it only cares about the processor.
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Re: BasicBoy's N00b problems

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[Local Link Removed for Guests] wrote: [Local Link Removed for Guests]Mon Feb 03, 2025 8:19 am The Arduino IDE needs to know which development board you have. You can only tell by looking.
Yes, that's my question here. I do look at the board but it pretty much all boards I have don't say anything that can help me figure out which option to choose on arduino IDE. ex this C3 says "Super mini" and that's it. How do I figure out which board to choose?
Also the ESP tool recommended didn't tell much (included in the image)
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Re: BasicBoy's N00b problems

Post by karlkloss »

The Arduino board presets just account for inbuilt peripherals (like LEDs on the board) and different naming schemes of the IOs, so that the examples that come with the Arduino IDE and the platform plugins work out of the box.
If in doubt, use one of the generic boards, like Espressif's devkits, and take care of the IO configuration yourself.
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Re: BasicBoy's N00b problems

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[Local Link Removed for Guests] wrote: [Local Link Removed for Guests]Mon Feb 03, 2025 9:34 am If in doubt, use one of the generic boards, like Espressif's devkits, and take care of the IO configuration yourself.
Hmmm... when you say "one of" do you mean that there can be MORE THAN ONE choice that will work? This may make my life easier as a few selections would work rather than just a single selection that is hiding in the middle of the others.
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Re: BasicBoy's N00b problems

Post by karlkloss »

Here's an overview of all the official devkits from Espressif:

https://www.espressif.com/en/products/devkits


Choose one that best fits your board, then use it in the Arduino IDE.

Another good overview is Adafruit's Circuitpython download site:

https://circuitpython.org/downloads


Filter for the ESP32 variant you have, and look if there's your board or something similar, then choose the best fit in Arduino (in most cases an Espressif board). You can also filter for the Manufacturer.
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Re: BasicBoy's N00b problems

Post by Basicboy »

Not a problem but rather I'd like your opinions on a crazy idea that I had:

I have been looking into MQTT and using it to control devices remotely off the internet. I've experimented with it a bit and wasn't very successful. I also didn't like the idea of registering on a website for the server.

So I had a CRAZY idea...

Sometime ago I found a YT video on how to upload data off ESP32 to Google sheets...

See where this is going?

1- One ESP32 (broadcaster) uploads a "command" to a google sheet online.
2- The second ESP32 (Receiver) keeps on checking a certain cell in the google sheet with a timer (every 5 secs or so)
3- When the second ESP32 finds a change, it downloads the value of the cell and executes the command
4- Then it deletes the command off the sheet and replaces it with an outcome (ex 1 or 0 to indicate success or failure of executing the command)

I haven't tried this yet, but I wonder if anybody thought of this before? Surely my N00b bum can't be the first person to think of it(?)

Would this work? If you think so please let me know and I'll invest sometime to actually try it

Bonus: Here's what ChatGPT thinks (I was initially concerned about the second challenge, but Google sheets allows up to 300 requests/min so should be fine) :

Your idea is definitely creative! Using Google Sheets as a makeshift MQTT server is unconventional, but in theory, it could work. Here’s my take on it:

Pros:
No Need for an MQTT Broker – You don’t have to set up or rely on a third-party MQTT server.
Accessible from Anywhere – Since Google Sheets is cloud-based, you can control devices from anywhere.
Free (Mostly) – Google Sheets API has a free tier, so as long as you stay within the API limits, it won’t cost you anything.

Challenges & Limitations:
Latency – Google Sheets API isn’t designed for real-time communication. Even with a 5-second polling rate, it’ll never be as fast as MQTT.
Rate Limits – Google Sheets API has a limit on how often you can read/write data (which varies depending on the method you use). Too many requests could get you temporarily blocked.
Polling Inefficiency – The receiver has to keep checking the sheet, which wastes processing power and bandwidth compared to MQTT, where messages are pushed instantly.
Security Concerns – Depending on how you authenticate, your Google Sheets data could be exposed if not properly secured.
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