Introduction
This guide takes you through the steps to building your Light Touch devices. In this stage we will show you how to:
- upload firmware to the ESPS32S board
- set up a network between two Light Touch devices
- assemble the hardware
Do take your time to go through each the steps. If you have any problems or need support you can visit our FAQs pages.
Once you have finished the assembly you can move to Stage 2 and build your own enclosures.
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Download the USB driver so the ESP32 board can communicate with your computer. The Windows version can be found here.
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Unzip the download and open the installer CP210xVCPInstaller_x64.
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Click Next to go through the installation wizard.
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After installing successfully, the wizard should report that the driver is ready to use. Click Finish to exit the wizard.
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Unzip the downloaded app and open the contents of the extracted folder. The app should be inside the extracted folder.
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Plug your ESP32S board into your computer with the USB cable. You should see a red light on the board, which means it is powered up.
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Open the Yo-Yo Firmware Uploader and select the device in the drop down menu. You may need to press “refresh list” if you do not see it in your list.
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Your board's serial port should appear as something along the lines of COM# (COM3 in this case).
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Leave the 'Erase Wifi Details' box unticked.
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Use the 'project' drop-down menu to select which device you are making.
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When you're ready, click on Upload to upload the latest firmware.
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When prompted, hold the BOOT button on your board to set it to "programming mode". You can let go of the button once you see the text "Writing" in the console text.
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When the uploader finishes transferring the firmware to the device, it will say "Success!" If you have another device to set up, you can repeat this process with the new ESP32S board.
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Power up the first ESP32S (with uploaded firmware) using a USB port or USB power supply and wait 10 seconds.
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If you are setting up two devices in the same space, turn on the second ESP32S at least 10 seconds after the first. If you are setting them up remotely, you do not need to synchronise in this way. You should still wait at least 10 seconds before proceeding so the ESP32Ss can establish a network.
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With your mobile device or computer, connect to the newly created Wi-Fi network named “Yo-Yo-####” with the password “blinkblink”. If you are viewing these instruction online on our website, use another device to connect to the new network so you can keep the instruction open. This procedure is the same whichever method you are using.
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A captive portal should open automatically.
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Fill in the prompts with credentials for the Wi-Fi network that you want to connect to.
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Copy the text under the heading “Your Yo-Yo Code”.
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Send your Yo–Yo Code to your partner via SMS, email, etc., in exchange for the one from their device.
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Enter the Yo-Yo Codes for the partner devices in the text field named “Remote Yo-Yo Code”. It should be in the same format as yours eg: “4289 423988”. Once the forms are complete, press “Save”.
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Wait for the devices' blue LEDs to blink 3 times to confirm the local wifi details are correct. If these details have been inputted incorrectly, please reconnect to the Yo-Yo-#### network and try again.
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Once both devices have confirmed they can connect to their respective wifi networks, the connection between the devices can be tested. This is done by pressing the “BOOT” button of one device to blink the on-board led of the other.
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Gather your components and take a moment to identify them.
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DIN = Data In
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VDD = Supply voltage
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GND = Ground
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DOUT = Data Out
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Bread boards are used to create quick connections between electronic components.
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They have sockets that are electrically connected in rows. The connected sockets are shown as green lines in this diagram.
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Jumper leads and components place in these rows will be connected together.
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Place LEDs in breadboard as pictured. Make sure the orientation of the LEDs are the same (short legs to the left of the breadboard)
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Place one side of the ESP32 onto the other side of the breadboard. The side used should be the same side as the button labelled boot.
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Wire the leftmost pin (DIN) of the LED to pin D5 of the ESP32.
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Next, wire the adjacent two pins (VDD and GND) to the equivalent pins on the other LED.
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Connect the remaining leg (DOUT) of the lefthand LED to the leftmost leg (DIN) of the righthand LED
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Add a wire in line with the LED's centre left leg (VDD) and connect that to the ESP32 3v3 pin. This LED leg is the shorter leg of the middle legs.
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Add a wire in line with the LED's centre right leg (GND) and connect that to the ESP32 GND pin. This LED leg is the longer of the middle legs.
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Add the final jumper wire in line with ESP32 pin D4.
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An external Button can be used instead of capacitive touch by adding a switch between pin D23 and GND on the ESP32.
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Plug in your USB micro cable.
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Make another Light Touch device using the same steps (11 - 21).
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Press and hold the capacitive touch lead (white) on one Light Touch device to scroll through different colours. Let go to select a colour.
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Tap quickly on the capacitive touch lead to send this colour to the other Light Touch Device.
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Using the second Light Touch, select and send a colour back.
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This step is optional, but the red power LED on the ESP32S board can seem quite bright in a darkened space and interfere with the main LED's. Covering this LED with a piece of Blu Tack or tape will eliminate the issue.
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By default, the LED's are programmed to slowly fade to off over 6 hours from the last touch. However, the fade time can be adjusted by adding additional jumper leads.
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To reset the fade time to 3 hours from the last touch, to off, add a jumper lead between pin D22 on the ESP32S and ground (GND) as shown in the first picture.
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To reset the fade time to 1 hour from the last touch, to off, add a jumper lead between pin D21 on the ESP32S and ground (GND) as shown in the second picture.
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To reset the fade time to 9 hours from the last touch to off, add jumper leads between pin D21 & D22 on the ESP32S and ground (GND).
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Now that your Light Touch device is working you can now think about what kind of enclosure you want to encase it in.
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We have a few examples in the Enclosure section of the website , or feel free to invent your own.
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Congratulations, you’re ready to build an enclosure for your Light Touch device!
Congratulations, you’re ready to build an enclosure for your Light Touch device!
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