In the previous examples, the microcontroller was provisioned via a binary firmware file that was either downloaded from esphome.io, or downloaded from your ESPHome Dashboard. ESPHome Web Tool or Adafruit ESPTool was then used to upload the firmware file to the microcontroller.
Here is another way to provision a fresh microcontroller. It directly uploads the firmware to the microcontroller without first exporting the firmware to a file.
Prerequisites
There are two rules that need to be met in order to directly provision a device from within ESPHome:
- Direct USB-Connection To ESPHome: the microcontroller must be connected via USB cable to the computer that is running ESPHome. When you run ESPHome locally, this is your own computer, but if you run ESPHome Add-On inside Home Assistant, it would be the computer that runs Home Assistant. Often, this is a Raspberry Pi. If it is physically accessible, connect the USB cable to one of its USB ports.
- Compatible Microcontroller: the microcontroller (board) must be compatible with ESPHome Web Tool. If you can’t upload firmware with this tool, then you can’t upload it directly, either, because ESPHome is using the same tool chain. So if you get connection errors with your microcontroller, you are limited to manual provisioning.
Provisioning Directly
Here are the steps to provision a new microcontroller directly from within ESPHome:
- Add New Device: create a New Device in ESPHome Dashboard.
- Connect To ESPHome: connect the microcontroller via USB cable to the computer that is running ESPHome.
- Install: install the firmware directly to the microcontroller via USB cable.
Keep in mind that we are talking here about provisioning fresh microcontrollers. The approach discussed here may be a convenient way to provision new microcontrollers. Once a microcontroller runs ESPHome firmware (regardless of how you eventually uploaded it), it is typically receiving future firmware updates wirelessly.
Visit ESPHome Dashboard
If you are using Home Assistant, click ESPHome in its sidebar.
How To Open ESPHome Dashboard Without Home Assistant
If you have installed ESPHome stand-alone, you need to first start the local ESPHome webserver via this command: esphome dashboard d:\esphome_projects. Make sure you adjust the path at the end of the command with the path to your local ESPHome project folder that you created during installation.
You can enter above command in any CLI console (i.e. cmd.exe or powershell.exe), or you can press WIN+R to open the Run dialog, and enter the command here.
The command opens a console window that runs the local webserver. Now open a browser, and enter this url: http://localhost:6052. This opens the local stand-alone ESPHome dashboard.
Add New Device
Inside the ESPHome Dashboard, add a new device:
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Click NEW DEVICE. A dialog opens and explains things that you can ignore for now. Just click CONTINUE.
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Assign a name to your new device that describes your project and is not used with any other existing ESPHome device. Spaces are converted to hyphens. Click Next.
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Select the type of microcontroller you are using.
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Accessing your device is protected by a secret key that is shown on the next dialog page. Since this key is saved in the configuration file, you don’t need to remember it.
If you want to review or edit the configuration, click SKIP.
Else, proceed directly to uploading the firmware by clicking INSTALL.
Uploading Firmware
There are many ways how you can upload firmware. In this article, the firmware is directly uploaded via USB cable:
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If you haven’t initiated the firmware upload process above by clicking INSTALL, then look for the tile of your ESPHome device in ESPHome Dashboard, and click its three-dot icon, and choose Install.
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Choose Plug into the computer running ESPHome Dashboard.
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The port connected to the microcontroller in the screen shot below is shown as dev/tty/USB0, indicating that this port is provided by a Linux system (actually a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant). On a Windows machine, the port would show as COMxxx.
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ESPHome compiles the firmware and uploads it to the microcontroller. This can take several minutes. A terminal window logs each step taken.
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Wait for the installation process to be finished. There is no distinct finish message: the dialog simply shows the output of the serial monitor until you click STOP. When you feel the installation is done (or when you are no longer interested in viewing the log entries), click STOP to close the window.
The tools used here are fundamentally identical to the ones found in the ESP Web Tool, so the same limitations apply: microcontroller boards that are incompatible with ESP Web Tool (like the *ESP32 S2 Mini) do not work with direct connections either.
Verify Success
Once the firmware has been uploaded to your microcontroller board, it reboots and becomes available: in ESPHome dashboard, its tile is now marked ONLINE in its upper right corner:
If your board does not show ONLINE after a few seconds, review the troubleshooting tips.
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(content created Jun 03, 2024 - last updated Jul 12, 2024)