Howto: £15 Megasquirt Wifi Connection
Jan 28, 2021 19:53:32 GMT
atlex, wannabe, and 3 more like this
Post by jon on Jan 28, 2021 19:53:32 GMT
Hi All
I thought this might be of use to some on here - I've been looking for a cheap/easy way of getting a wireless connection to my MS3 - you can get off the shelf wifi and bluetooth adaptors but they tend to be pretty pricey - it turns out you can build your own for sub £15 fairly easily...
Hardware Needed:
Node MCU - circa £6 : www.amazon.co.uk/AZDelivery-NodeMcu-ESP8266-Development-including/dp/B06Y1ZPNMS
You can buy these cheaper in bulk / ebay / china etc if you want...
RS232 TTL module - circa £6 : www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07ZCRW3KJ
Again, probably available cheaper elsewhere, or if you can find the male half not a pair. This also comes with the patch leads which makes life simple.
Instructions:
mobisquirt.org/2018/07/wifi-hardware-update/
It's a pretty simple process - download some packages, flash the NodeMCU with the firmware (I used the alpha version) and it should power up. You can then connect to it's wifi connection and change the settings (wifi SSID / security etc) and change the baud rate to match your MS.
For the serial port, you will have to solder a connection to enable +5v to be passed through from the MS serial port. The instructions above show how to solder a jump cable, on my RS232 module there was a pair of solder pads that you could bridge to enable the connection easily.
After that it's a case of connecting power up - the instructions above show how to use resistors to drop the 5v from the MS to 3.3v, I didn't bother - according to the NodeMCU instructions the VCC pin is regulated anyway as the unit is designed to be powered from 5v USB..
For connecting TX / RX - depending on how your RS232 module is labelled you might need to swap them round to get it to work when connected to the MS. I did.
That's it - plug it onto the MS serial port, turn the key and it should power on. Connect to the wifi network, open Tunerstudio (or your app of choice), choose the IP you gave it earlier (or 192.168.4.1 if you kept the defaults), port 23 and you should be good to go If it powers up but Tunerstudio doesn't connect, try swapping TX/RX round.
Don't forget to put it in a case / insulate it to stop it from releasing the inner smoke if it shorts out.
A couple of points:
If you try and connect via USB at the same time as the wifi module, you will get dropouts on both connections, so unplug one before using the other.
It's also possible to hardwire the NodeMCU module direct into the MS3, bypassing the TTL conversion stage and making everything sit inside the case - but this involves desoldering parts from the mainboard. I was happy enough to put up with some (minor?) speed loss compared to hardwired USB for convenience and less chance of me screwing something major up
This should work for other ECUs with serial ports, but may require a USB power source if there isn't 5v on the serial port. The NodeMCU firmware was made for presenting serial ports for routers / switches on the network, so you should be able to make it work with anything that has a serial port..
I hope this is of use to someone else!
I thought this might be of use to some on here - I've been looking for a cheap/easy way of getting a wireless connection to my MS3 - you can get off the shelf wifi and bluetooth adaptors but they tend to be pretty pricey - it turns out you can build your own for sub £15 fairly easily...
Hardware Needed:
Node MCU - circa £6 : www.amazon.co.uk/AZDelivery-NodeMcu-ESP8266-Development-including/dp/B06Y1ZPNMS
You can buy these cheaper in bulk / ebay / china etc if you want...
RS232 TTL module - circa £6 : www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07ZCRW3KJ
Again, probably available cheaper elsewhere, or if you can find the male half not a pair. This also comes with the patch leads which makes life simple.
Instructions:
mobisquirt.org/2018/07/wifi-hardware-update/
It's a pretty simple process - download some packages, flash the NodeMCU with the firmware (I used the alpha version) and it should power up. You can then connect to it's wifi connection and change the settings (wifi SSID / security etc) and change the baud rate to match your MS.
For the serial port, you will have to solder a connection to enable +5v to be passed through from the MS serial port. The instructions above show how to solder a jump cable, on my RS232 module there was a pair of solder pads that you could bridge to enable the connection easily.
After that it's a case of connecting power up - the instructions above show how to use resistors to drop the 5v from the MS to 3.3v, I didn't bother - according to the NodeMCU instructions the VCC pin is regulated anyway as the unit is designed to be powered from 5v USB..
For connecting TX / RX - depending on how your RS232 module is labelled you might need to swap them round to get it to work when connected to the MS. I did.
That's it - plug it onto the MS serial port, turn the key and it should power on. Connect to the wifi network, open Tunerstudio (or your app of choice), choose the IP you gave it earlier (or 192.168.4.1 if you kept the defaults), port 23 and you should be good to go If it powers up but Tunerstudio doesn't connect, try swapping TX/RX round.
Don't forget to put it in a case / insulate it to stop it from releasing the inner smoke if it shorts out.
A couple of points:
If you try and connect via USB at the same time as the wifi module, you will get dropouts on both connections, so unplug one before using the other.
It's also possible to hardwire the NodeMCU module direct into the MS3, bypassing the TTL conversion stage and making everything sit inside the case - but this involves desoldering parts from the mainboard. I was happy enough to put up with some (minor?) speed loss compared to hardwired USB for convenience and less chance of me screwing something major up
This should work for other ECUs with serial ports, but may require a USB power source if there isn't 5v on the serial port. The NodeMCU firmware was made for presenting serial ports for routers / switches on the network, so you should be able to make it work with anything that has a serial port..
I hope this is of use to someone else!