HyperLED Wiki

Install the firmware

You write HyperLED to the ESP32 once over USB. After that, updates work over Wi-Fi from the web interface.

The installation has three steps: flash the firmware, flash the web interface, connect to Wi-Fi. You can skip none of them.

What you need first

Visual Studio Code, free from code.visualstudio.com.
The PlatformIO IDE extension for VS Code (search for "PlatformIO IDE" in the Extensions view). The first start downloads some tools, which takes a few minutes.
The HyperLED source code: either click Code → Download ZIP on the repository page and unpack it, or use Git:
```
git clone https://github.com/KaelanTesseract/HyperLED.git
```
Your ESP32-S3 connected to the computer with a USB data cable.

Note

The releases on GitHub contain the files for the online update. The first installation always goes through the source code, as described here.

Step 1: flash the firmware

The firmware is the program: Wi-Fi, LED control and the web server.

In VS Code choose File → Open Folder and open the HyperLED folder.
Wait until PlatformIO has finished loading (see the status bar at the bottom).
Click the → (Upload) arrow in the blue bottom bar. PlatformIO builds the firmware and writes it to the ESP32. The first build takes a while.

Or in a terminal inside the project folder:

pio run -t upload

If the upload cannot find the board, try another USB cable, then put the board into download mode: hold the BOOT button, tap RESET (or plug in the cable while holding BOOT), then release BOOT and start the upload again.

Step 2: flash the web interface

The web interface (the pages you see in the browser) lives in the data folder and is written to a separate memory area of the ESP32 (LittleFS).

Warning

If you forget this step, the ESP32 starts and joins Wi-Fi, but the browser only shows "Not Found" or an empty page.

Click the PlatformIO icon (the alien head) in the left bar of VS Code.
Under Project Tasks → esp32-s3 → Platform click Upload Filesystem Image.

Or in the terminal:

pio run -t uploadfs

Step 3: first start and Wi-Fi

After both uploads the ESP32 restarts and sets up its own Wi-Fi network, because it does not know your home Wi-Fi yet.

On your phone or computer open the Wi-Fi list and connect to HyperLED-AP (it has no password).
A setup page opens by itself ("captive portal"). If not, open http://192.168.4.1 in your browser.
Choose your home Wi-Fi from the list (Scan for networks), enter the password and save.
The ESP32 restarts and joins your Wi-Fi. Reconnect your phone to your home Wi-Fi.

Note

HyperLED works with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. A 5 GHz-only network will not be found.

Open the web interface

Open one of these addresses in a browser on a device in the same network:

http://hyperled.local (macOS, iOS, Android, Linux)
http://hyperled (Windows)

If neither works, look up the IP address of the device "hyperled" in your router's list of connected devices and open http://<that address>.

You should now see the HyperLED web interface:

Tip: add the page to your phone's home screen to start it like an app.

Next step

First light: tell HyperLED which LEDs you connected.

← PreviousWiring and power Next →First light

The wiki on GitHub