I am wondering as a part of the work on icons and buttons that I raised a few months ago, if you could please add the ability to configure WiFi through the thermostat itself. The ESP touch software version you are using is problematic in that it is only available for android and it repeatedly fails without details many times before it works in our work on customer sites. This ends up taking a lot of time.
Later versions of the ESP touch software don’t work at all so aren’t currently an option.
If a keyboard is the problem with the keys, a common approach to this setup is for the device to launch into access point mode and offer a web page where the information could be entered to add the thermostat to a specific Wifi network. This would also be good because it ensures the installer doesn’t need an android device. About 20% of phones are iphones and our installer got stuck on one attempt because of this. It also avoids the need to download an App for this purpose.
I would also recommend a keypad sequence pattern to allow the thermostat to be placed into access point mode. For the ESP32, there are several existing webservers that can be used directly.
The lighting business has a lot of nodes and networking going on and they make it look like Bluetooth is the way to go. I was thinking we’d start with a Bluetooth app for initial setup and see where things lead. Adhoc wifi mode seems to be on the way out due to security issues I guess. A burner Android phone costs < $50 so its cheap as far as setup tools are concerned.
I have 3 apps on my phone for the different light bulbs in the house as well as two for wireless switches and it does work but I do find it cumbersome. In terms of security, my previous role was in internet security and the key to security with access points is limiting their availability. Having an access point come up just for configuration is a completely different beast than maintaining an access point indefinitely so that is something to consider.
We have now tried to setup the WiFi on 3 separate site visits without success. The ESP Touch software is awful because it provides no feedback as to what it does not like or even if it detects the thermostat over bluetooth, just spinning until it indicates a generic failure. We have tried the software on 2 different android devices. We have rebooted the thermostat multiple times. We have temporarily moved the thermostat to within 1 meter of the router. We have brought the thermostat back to our shop to setup and it works fine there.
Whatever solution you choose to implement, please make sure it provides copious amounts of feedback because what is in place now is simply a non starter.
I just checked with the team to be sure, and they are confirming once again that we don’t use the ESPTouch program. Its basically a black box and we have no way to debug it. On the newer products using the ESP32 cpu we use RS485 or Ethernet if the product has it, for initial configuration of the Wifi credentials. We will work on a Bluetooth commissioning tool soon…we could keep 100 developers busy around here. If there’s anyone out there who can help put together a simple Bluetooth commissioning tool give me a shout. I will sponsor you to help out.
I am assuming your response means you are not using it in the future product revisions. It is linked directly off of the TStat10 page currently and that is what we have been using.
I installed the ESP Touch APP on my Android phone to test it and found that it does not work.
We have never had much success with it. I am guessing this app is out of date as well. Please forget it and use RS485 to configure WIFI information. We will develop a new APP adapted to the ESP32 chip as more products roll out with this new chip.
Can you recommend an RS485 to USB adapter that your team knows works with the TStat10? Also where is the connector information for the TStat10 available?
