No Wifi connect with ESP32-C3 super mini

Using Arduino Networking, Protocols, and Devices
1

I can't manage a Wifi connect with ESP32-C3 Super Mini. The board itself works as far as I can tell (i.e. addressing an OLED via I2C and ssd1306 lib) and it should be able to handle Wifi. Here is my stripped code:

#include <WiFi.h>
char ssid[] = “xxxx”; // my network SSID (name)
char pass[] = “xxxx”; // my network password
WiFiClient client;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  delay(1000);
  Serial.println(“Attempting to connect to WPA network...”);

  int status = WiFi.begin(ssid, pass);
  if ( status != WL_CONNECTED) {
    Serial.print("Couldn't get a wifi connection: ”);
    Serial.println(status, DEC);
    while(true);
  }
}

void loop() {}

In the Serial Monitor this appears:

Attempting to connect to WPA network...
Couldn't get a wifi connection: 6

6 means WL_DISCONNECTED
What am I doing wrong? I am using IDE 2.3.3 on Windows 11.

2

Not waiting long enough for the WiFi to connect?

Try replacing the above code with the following code

  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) 
  {
    Serial.println("Trying to connect");
    delay(500);
  }
  Serial.println("Connected");
3

I did with this result: "Trying to connect" forever

4

I assume you replaced the "xxxx"s with your real ssid / password.
I don't know what the problem could be. I use ESP32 Dev Kit C V4 (WROOM-32D). I've never had a problem connecting to WiFi, but it does sometimes take up to 10 seconds. I can't remember what authentication protocol my router uses.

5

Correct, I was using real ssid/pwd. Is there an api request if radio is working at all? Or with wrong base frequencies? I haven'f found.

6

It doesn't support 5.0GHz, so be sure to connect to a 2.4GHz WiFi.

7

My AP is a 50cm away and supports both 2.4 and 5.0GHz.
I had doubts if Wifi really works on that module, so I tested it in VS Code with ESP-IDF extension and built a wlan station application. It works, he're the terminal output (I edited secrets to xxxxxx):

....
I (471) phy_init: phy_version 1180,01f2a49,Jun  4 2024,16:34:25
I (521) wifi:mode : sta (48:ca:43:da:e3:cc)
I (521) wifi:enable tsf
I (521) wifi station: wifi_init_sta finished.
I (681) wifi:new:<1,0>, old:<1,0>, ap:<255,255>, sta:<1,0>, prof:1, snd_ch_cfg:0x0
I (681) wifi:state: init -> auth (0xb0)
I (1681) wifi:state: auth -> init (0x200)
I (1681) wifi:new:<1,0>, old:<1,0>, ap:<255,255>, sta:<1,0>, prof:1, snd_ch_cfg:0x0
I (1681) wifi station: retry to connect to the AP
I (1681) wifi station: connect to the AP fail
I (1731) wifi:new:<11,0>, old:<1,0>, ap:<255,255>, sta:<11,0>, prof:1, snd_ch_cfg:0x0
I (1731) wifi:state: init -> auth (0xb0)
I (1741) wifi:state: auth -> init (0x8a0)
I (1741) wifi:new:<11,0>, old:<11,0>, ap:<255,255>, sta:<11,0>, prof:1, snd_ch_cfg:0x0
I (1741) wifi station: retry to connect to the AP
I (1751) wifi station: connect to the AP fail
I (4151) wifi station: retry to connect to the AP
I (4151) wifi station: connect to the AP fail
I (4161) wifi:new:<11,0>, old:<11,0>, ap:<255,255>, sta:<11,0>, prof:1, snd_ch_cfg:0x0
I (4161) wifi:state: init -> auth (0xb0)
I (4171) wifi:state: auth -> assoc (0x0)
I (4191) wifi:state: assoc -> run (0x10)
I (4251) wifi:connected with xxxxx, aid = 1, channel 11, BW20, bssid = 44:4e:6d:3f:e2:ca
I (4251) wifi:security: WPA2-PSK, phy: bgn, rssi: -54
I (4261) wifi:pm start, type: 1
I (4261) wifi:dp: 1, bi: 102400, li: 3, scale listen interval from 307200 us to 307200 us
I (4271) wifi:set rx beacon pti, rx_bcn_pti: 0, bcn_timeout: 25000, mt_pti: 0, mt_time: 10000
I (4301) wifi:AP's beacon interval = 102400 us, DTIM period = 1
I (4311) wifi:<ba-add>idx:0 (ifx:0, 44:4e:6d:3f:e2:ca), tid:6, ssn:2, winSize:64
I (5781) esp_netif_handlers: sta ip: 192.168.3.140, mask: 255.255.255.0, gw: 192.168.3.1
I (5781) wifi station: got ip:192.168.3.140
I (5781) wifi station: connected to ap SSID:xxxxxx password:xxxxxx
I (5791) main_task: Returned from app_main()
8

Update: I tried another Arduino IDE example "WifiScan". This one works, it shows me available networks.

Scan start
Scan done
5 networks found
Nr | SSID                             | RSSI | CH | Encryption
 1 | xxxx                      |  -38 | 11 | WPA2
 2 | xxxx                     |  -48 | 11 | WPA2
 3 | xxxx                      |  -74 |  1 | WPA2
 4 | xxxx                     |  -77 |  1 | WPA2
 5 | xxxx                     |  -91 |  1 | WPA2

I tried example "WifiClientConnect" - this one fails too.

[WiFi] WiFi is disconnected
[WiFi] SSID not found

It looks like WiFi.begin(ssid, pass); fails for whatever reason here.

9

I'm trying to turn off Wi-Fi, so I can make pin5 available as an ADC input. There is very little documentation on ESP32-C3 SuperMini, however more people are starting to use them because of size and price. Apparently A0-A4 are free to use but A5 will not work as ADC with Wi-Fi enable.

I added, but it makes no difference:
#include <WiFi.h>
WiFi.disconnect(true);
WiFi.mode(WIFI_OFF);

10

using a ESP32-C3-MINI-1 the example File>Examples>WiFi>SimpleWiFiServer connects to my WiFi OK
serial monitor displays

Connecting to XXXXXXX
..........
WiFi connected.
IP address: 
192.168.1.65
New Client.
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 192.168.1.65
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:132.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/132.0
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en-GB,en;q=0.5
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
DNT: 1
Sec-GPC: 1
Connection: keep-alive
Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1
Priority: u=0, i

Client Disconnected.

a web client displays

image
image372×170 17.2 KB

11

document Espressif ESP32C3 ADC states
Since the ADC2 module is also used by the Wi-Fi, reading operation of adc2_get_raw() may fail between esp_wifi_start() and esp_wifi_stop(). Use the return code to see whether the reading is successful.

1 Like
12

The Sketch I'm doing is for a 21-band Audio Spectrum Analyzer for which I need A0-A2 for audio in, and A3-A5 ADC for Trim pots such as brightness, sensitivity and peak-hold. It works fine on ESP32D which has more pins than I need, and even the Arduino NANO, which only has 32k RAM. I'm using this ESP32-C3 SuperMini 16pin since it has more RAM for the many RGB patterns to the 420 LEDs. I kinda need ADC2 to be made available, but I'm seeing this message in Serial Monitor even with Wi-Fi turned off (supposably).

E (849051) adc_oneshot: adc_oneshot_new_unit(87): adc unit not supported

13

The first version of ESP32-C3 super mini has a broken antenna design. The workaround is after WiFi.begin reducing the Tx-Power to reduce reflections.

	WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
	WiFi.setTxPower(WIFI_POWER_8_5dBm);

Then I saw in
http://esp32.io/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=42069
the pin 21 issue.
I soldered out the single row male pin 21 and removed

	WiFi.setTxPower(WIFI_POWER_8_5dBm);

again and it connected every time.