Waveshare Nano ESP32 (S3R8) and Alexa/Sinric *** SOLVED ***

Other Hardware 3rd Party Boards
1

Updating this but leaving it here in case anyone else finds it useful.

Arduino Nano ESP32 is stuck at version 2 (2.0.18 as of writing) which leaves out a load of stuff such as LEDC updates and SinricPro for Alexa integration.

Espressif esp32 will compile everything, BUT, it’s not obvious which board selection to use.

**There is a ‘hidden’ board that I could not find in the list.
**
When the port is selected it identifies the board as Arduino Nano ESP32.
If you go to the Arduin ESP32 Boards there is only the Arduino Nano ESP32 to select.
If you go to the esp32 Boards there are so many, but it is not searchable. There is an Arduino Nano ESP32, way down the list. (I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure it was there at the beginning, I searched so many times. In my list, it’s sitting a few rows above the Waveshare block.)

At some point, it automatically selected it otherwise I would not have know it was there.

So now I have successfully implemented a connection to SinricPro and Alexa.

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Original Post

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First of all, I can upload simple led blink type sketches with no problem, using the Arduino Nano ESP32 boards option. My main target/goal is to control some LED lights through Alexa. See below for the things that have so far failed!

I would like to try SinricPro, but it fails to compile using the Arduino ESP Boards/Arduino Nano ESP32 option, because of the version 3/C++17 items (std::variant etc).

It will compile using the Espressif esp32/ESP32 Dev Module option, but fails to upload because (I believe) it expects the USB to UART bridge. Error message below:

A serial exception error occurred: Cannot configure port, something went wrong. Original message: PermissionError(13, 'A device attached to the system is not functioning.', None, 31)
Note: This error originates from pySerial. It is likely not a problem with esptool, but with the hardware connection or drivers.
For troubleshooting steps visit: https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esptool/en/latest/troubleshooting.html

Failed uploading: uploading error: exit status 1

I tried forcing the port to use the SiliconLabs VCP USB to UART driver, but that gives me an error in Device Manager and still doesn’t upload.

Questions:

  1. Is there any way to get the espressif esp32 board options to work with a nano esp32? Are there any other ways to connect via UART for example? Through other pins maybe?

  2. Might I get somewhere going down the MicroPython line and using their SinricPro implementation?

Background

I have tried espalexa and fauxmo through the Arduino Nano ESP32 board option. The probgram compiles, loads and functions. The ‘discovery packet’ from Alexa gets to the nano esp32, but Alexa on my Echo Dot can’t see it. From all the digging around, I suspect, being a later version of the Echo, it doesn’ like the TCP Philips Hue emulation of these libraries.

Any suggestions (including - “just give up”) welcome. Thanks for reading this far!

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Try ESP32S3 Dev Module as the Nano ESP32 uses the S3 chip..
Should work..
know nothing about alexa, sorry..
good luck~q

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(Damn - I tried to include everything in the post. )

I tried the esp32s3 Dev board too. Same as the esp32 Dev. It’s not the processor, it’s the comms that it fails on.

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what does it show in the device manager??
just read the wiki on the device, thought it was an Arduino Nano ESP32 it's not but very similar..
pretty sure the s3 has native usb meaning no driver to install..
what OS version??
~q

5

Updated the post. Found the right board option. I’m somewhat baffled, I went through the list so many times.

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