Quick start guide
This page is intended to get you started using a newly built node consisting of a main module and sensor module(s).
This guide assumes that you have a node ready to be used. See this page for details on how to build one.
- A PC running Windows, Linux or MacOS
- A Micro USB cable and Mini USB cable (depending on the MCU boards you used for building the node)
- PlatformIO IDE (get the latest version here)
- 5V USB power supply with Micro USB head
- About 15 minutes of your time and this guide
Optional: A smart phone for configuring the node
If desired, you can compile the firmware for the modules into a binary format and flash them separately to the MCUs.
You can flash the .bin and .hex firmware binaries directly to the MCUs using these tools:
For the ESP32: ESP-32-GUI-Flasher (Download)
For Ateml AVR boards: avrdudess (Download)
Clone the master branch of the repository or download the latest release here, then unzip the project files somewhere. You should have a directory structure like this:
Follow the instructions on their website. We recommend using the VS code version.
Once you have platformIO installed, add all the folders of each module you want to flash to the current workspace. It should look like this:
Connect the main module via USB to your PC. Then open main.cpp in the main module project and click "Upload"
Once the process is done, you should see a success message in the terminal window. Once that has completed you can close platformIO and keep the main module plugged in for power to then configure it.
The process is exactly the same as with the main modules, but choose the appropriate firmware for your module.
When you are done, you don't need to supply power to the sensor modules separately. The main module supplies power to them once they are connected to the main module.
With the node powered up, connect to it via WiFi by searching for it in the WiFi settings of your device. You should see a network called "MainModule-XXXX" (XXXX being numbers)
Connect to that network on your device and navigate to http:///192.168.1.1/_ac You should see the main page.
Click on "Module configuration" and configure the settings for the node.
Upon saving, you should be redirected to the home page to see the current settings.
Next, click on "Configure New AP" from the menu and add the WiFi network you want the node to connect to.
Once you click save, the main page will be reloaded with the IP address of the module on the network.
Note down the IP and close the webUI. The node will soon stop it's WiFi access point and then connect to the specified network. If your device is on the same network, you can access the node again at the address specified or if your router supports MDNS, you can access the node at your_node_name.local (your_node_name being the name set in the module configuration).
You now have a running node that will collect data and send it to your service of choice.
You can change settings and check on it anytime from its IP address or MDNS as described earlier.
Note that you can hot swap and change out sensor modules at any time. You can see the live data coming from those sensor modules using the "Live sensor viewer" page.