Hi
I got myself this little VFD clock from aliexpress which works nicely.
https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005007122808097.html
But I would like to tinker with it and modify the code e.g. Lower brightness, change text etc.
Anyone managed to get itvdonevor knows how to do it?
It has esp-12 on board, some drover module and 8 segment vfd display.
Any help or guidance appreciated.
To modify the code, you must first have it. Do you have a source of this clock?
Sorry to be not so clear. No I don't have a code
That's what I was wondering about if someone managed to write up one that would work on this clock.
If there is no code, there is nothing to modify. You'll have to write it from scratch.
If you plan to do this, first you need to disassemble the clock and draw up a complete diagram of it. Then post it on the forum
Maybe someone has already done all that... 
I moved your topic to an appropriate forum category @bortek.
In the future, please take some time to pick the forum category that best suits the subject of your topic. There is an "About the _____ category" topic at the top of each category that explains its purpose.
This is an important part of responsible forum usage, as explained in the "How to get the best out of this forum" guide. The guide contains a lot of other useful information. Please read it.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
Hi @bortek.
From the product listing:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256806936493345.html
Configure network: When the indicator light on the back flashes quickly, turn on the phone's Wi Fi connection named WIFI_ Clock or VFD_ Clock's password free Wi Fi. After connecting to this Wi Fi, the networking interface can pop up normally.
What this is describing poorly is that the clock has a mode where it produces a Wi-Fi access point. When you connect to that access point, you can then open a configuration web page served by the ESP8266 in your web browser. I'm guessing they use a captive portal to make this page open automatically, but they also specify how you can open it manually if that doesn't work:
If the webpage does not pop up, open the browser and manually enter the address 192.168.4.1 to open it.
When you open that web page, do you see a link or any identifying information? It might be that there is an open source firmware running on the ESP8266, but the seller didn't provide this information. If you can get some identifying information about the firmware, you might then be able to track down the source code on the Internet. If you found it, that would give you a great starting point for your modifications.
I noticed there seems to be a serial port. It might be possible to upload replacement firmware using this port. You would need to solder some PCB headers and get a USB-serial adapter.
If you upload new firmware, you will lose the original firmware. I don't know if it's possible to back up the existing firmware so you can restore it later if your new firmware dies not work. Worthwhile researching that.
Alternatively, accept your clock for what it is and build your own from scratch. It might actually be easier!
I recommend a Wemos D1 mini
I've built quite a few VFD clocks and one with a display similar to yours. In fact it is quite an obsession of mine. The main (but certainly not the only) difficulty you'll have with writing replacement firmware for that ready made clock is reverse engineering the schematic including display connections and working out how to use the VFD driver chip(s) on it. For the rest, there are enough ESP clock projects around as a starting point and anyway you really only need a few lines of code (if you hard code the WLAN credentials, time zone etc.). Of course it is better to also run a web server on it for such configuration settings.
Here are couple from my collection (sorry about the picture quality). The smaller one I made quite recently and documented here: ESP32-C3 Supermini clock with VFD display
Thanks for replies. I will have to take a look at it's wifi if there is anything to scrape from there.
But I agree that perhaps I should let this clock stay as it is right now and build another one from scratch.
