esp8266-vfd-clock

A clock on a VFD display driven by an esp8266.

initial setup

1. install the platformio core CLI tools
2. plug an esp8266 into your computer
3. make it programmable:

• cut power
• hold reset
• restore power while still holding reset
• wait a couple seconds
• release reset

4. run pio run -t upload -e serial
5. after 15 seconds (WIFI_TIMEOUT_SEC), a new wifi network will appear
6. connect to the new wifi network, which will be esp8266-xxxxxx. Take note of this name!
7. visit http://192.168.4.1
8. enter wifi credentials and UTC offset, then click 'save'
9. connect a Samsung HCS-12SS59T vacuum fluorescent display according to the chart in the display wiring section below
10. click 'Restart device'

display wiring

ESP	VFD
VU	5v
GND	GND
D0	RST
D1	CS
D2	VFD_ON
D5	CLK
D7	DIN

over-the-air updates

To configure your machine to flash the device over local wifi:

1. ensure port 8266 on your dev machine is open for LAN traffic
2. open platformio.ini
3. set upload_port to the name of the device's wifi network, with '.local' appended
4. set the --auth flag in upload_flags to the password for the device's wifi network

Now you can run platformio run -t upload -e ota to update the device as long as:

• the device is reachable from your computer's network
• the device is regularly calling ArduinoOTA.handle();
• mDNS is configured properly on your dev machine