ESP32‐C6 upgrade for Standalone Edition

• Benefits
• Hardware upgrade procedure
• Disclaimer
• Bill of materials
• Software installation procedure

This upgrade is possible since the new Wireless-Tag WT0132C6-S5 (ESP32-C6) module is pin-to-pin compatible with the old Ai-Thinker ESP-12F (ESP8266) one.

Benefits

• better GNSS serial input stability
• better Wi-Fi stability
• (built-in) Bluetooth LE data output
• NMEA TCP data output

Hardware upgrade procedure

Un-solder ESP-12F component from NodeMCU board first, then solder the WT0132C6-S5 module.

Disclaimer

In general a lot of Chinese DIY electronics manufacturers are known to behave this way:

• sometimes they may not apply necessary Q.C. before releasing of a product from factory ;
• they may arbitrary change schematics and electronic components from one batch to the next one ;
• they may terminate manufacturing of a board just few month after initial production.

Because of that, author of SoftRF:

• will reject any hardware related claims associated with Wireless-Tag WT0132C6-S5 module. Ask for support from seller or manufacturer ;
• reserves the right to suspend or terminate support of Wireless-Tag WT0132C6-S5 product in the firmware at any time.

For the time being ( Jan '24 ) there were no critical hardware issues reported for current version of the Wireless-Tag WT0132C6-S5. However things my change over the time...
If you have issues with bringing up your new Wireless-Tag WT0132C6-S5 product or just not happy with the module - be prepared to execute your Purchase Protection plan.

Bill of materials

Part	Picture	Source
Wireless-Tag WT0132C6-S5 4 Mbytes		AliExpress 1 2 3 Alibaba

Software installation procedure

1. Connect pins RST and EN together with a jumper

2. Follow these instructions

3. Remove the jumper then plug the NodeMCU into your Standalone Edition

4. Open up the SoftRF WebUI status page to inspect if everything is doing good

Additional information

1. Wireless-Tag WT0132C6-S5 product info