I recently purchased a waveshare esp32 nano to run audio. The board does everything required except wifi. It firmly refuses to connect. I resorted to a simple sketch to connect. The sketch runs perfectly on all my esp32 boards but on the nano it returns 'idle' status=0. The nano will run the scan sketch and returns 4 networks found in the location I am running it. In the same location a standard esp32 dev board shows 11 networks found with a much higher RSSI than the nano. I suspected the problem might be poor antenna so I tried the board next to the router....same result: IDLE.
A lot of ESP32 boards have the antenna printed on the PCB but this one has that red ceramic SMD component at the end.
There is a discussion about that component here and how to improve the antenna, but I can't comment on how much improvement it gives because I haven't tried it myself.
I have enhanced an antenna on an ESP8266 by adding some wire in the past and it did improve its range so it can work.
It does seem odd though that you are getting idle status 0 even right next to the router. Do you have a multi-meter? It might be worth checking whether there is continuity between that component and the LNA in pin (1 I think) on the chip although you might need something finer than a standard probe to find the pin on the ESP32 chip.
Thanks for the headsup Bitseeker.
I tried a piece of copper wire(1/2 wave at 433mhz which I use for weather stations) earlier and it changed the RSSI from -84 to -68 so the smd antenna is connected. I didn't measure the reception when it was next to the router. Without looking at the wifi library code I am suspicious of the chip at this point.
I have another n16r8 S3 unit on order which I know works with the audio code so I'll consign the nano to the spares box for use where wifi is not required....having wasted the last 4 days chasing this I think it's time to move on....
many thanks for looking.
It's notceramic. It is a double-sided piece of circuit board, made with vias into a 4-turn mini coil. Only one side is connected to the main board.
I have too given up on using boards with these chip antennas, and moved succesfully to Seeed branded boards.
thanks, yes it's definitely the red thing, and it must be working because the scan works, even if a bit restricted compared to other boards.
edit:
**** got a temporary result bu chosing arduino esp32 nano board and compiling/uploading using the esptool...but it only worked once and further compiles resulted in the no dfu error...which always happened when I compiled using the normal compile/upload button......
the last compile with the esptool resulted in losing the port connection.
I think I've pulled out enough hair now...this board is in the parts bin to be used only in desperation.
The only board I can select in the IDE to make this nano board work is esp32S3 dev module
and
I have to make some changes in the tools section i.e
usb on cdc at boot enabled(else the serial monitor doesn't work)
set the flash to 16 MB
set the psram to OPI and make sure the partition is set default(spiffs)
In post #9, you showed that you are using an Arduino NANO ESP32. Now you have switched to a normal ESP32, which is it? Your OP says ESP32 Nano but I know of no such board. I thought you were using an Arduino NANO ESP32.
Until you get the board correct I can't help you. Here is the Arduino NANO ESP32. Is that the board you are using?
Based on post #1, it seems that the OP is using Arduino Nano ESP32 compatible board, not the original one. The one he is using seems to be https://www.waveshare.com/esp32-s3-nano.htm .
My guess is he should not have used Arduino Nano ESP32 as his board selection.
To be clear I am using physical board waveshare els32-s3-nano, as I explained in post 3 in answer to bitseeker question.
As I tried(not very well as it happens) to explain in post 12 I could not get that waveshare board to compile and load with the arduino esp32 nano selected in IDE 2. It compiles and uploads successfully if I chose esp32 s3 dev board in arduino IDE 2.
For 4 days I tried every configuration of board choice I could and the board always returned wifi status IDLE(0). In desperation I tried one more time with the board selected as arduino esp32 nano and upload with esptool....it worked twice and then dropped the port connection and I subsequently couldn't connect to the board. I did the reset connecting B1 to ground and the chip got it's port connection back.
I subsequently recompiled and uploaded as normal with ESP32 S3 dev board chosen in IDE....it immediately worked, and has done ever since.
I must emphasize that the sketch remained the same throughout, no changes whatsoever.
