The MCU was connected to the PC using a USB cable, and the port number was confirmed from Device Manager.
WLed identified the virtual serial port that the MCU was connected to and you were able to select that port.
The information pane counted up to 100% and displayed “Installation Complete!”
You selected “Next” and the ‘Configure WiFI’ pane appeared.
Your wifi network appeared in the drop down list and you selected it.
You entered the correct password for your network.
You selected ‘CONNECT’.
You got the message “Device connected to the network!”.
You selected 'Visit Device".
If you didn’t get that response or weren’t able to make those selections describe exactly what happened at that point.
If that sequence completed then the device address in the address pane of the browser is the address on your local network of the MCU that is running WLED.
Note that the address might change slightly, depending on what devices are connected to your network when the MCU powers up. Your modem will have an administrator login where you can see the currently connected wireless devices. That list will show you where the MCU is connected using the name ‘wled-WLED’.
To value add a little.
The ESP32 is a “micro controller” and needs firmware to work. Things like wifi and connection to the network are managed by the firmware flashed, so the device itself does not have an IP address as such, this is either set in code or dhcp’ed as per the flashed firmware.
As per the above post, the web site can find your esp32 if its connected to the PC and being detected as a serial port. It may or may not auto discover your ESP32 rather may just list your serial/comm ports and you will need to select the correct one.
Some ESP32 have USB to Serial converter chips as such the serial port should always be their (but may not be up if the firmware disabled the default serial port). Some ESP32 chips have built in USB and its up to the firmware to enable the USB - Serial (or don’t disable it). Looking at the board you have and being an S3 I will assume its using its built in USB to provide that serial port. If the “factory” firmware is not setting up the serial, then, as you said you tried, you need to force into boot loader mode, where the bootloader code should run and enable the USB-Serial.
The ESP32 have a basic bootloader and then a small bootloader partition. The bootloader partition can be updated/overwritten with newer versions; as such if the wrong bootloader gets written it may stop the full usb-serial from starting up.
If this is the case, you could try using a TTL - Serial Converter and connect to the TX/RX pins, then boot with the button pressed.
• I opened the browser to “install WLED”
• A USB cable was used to connect the microcontroller to the PC
• A serial port was detected upon the connection to the PC and yes it was selected
• The information pane displayed only 2 options: install WLED firmware or logs. After the WLED was confirmed to be successfully installed, there was no pop-up for “Configure Wifi” options. It simply returned back to the previous pop-up menu with the same 2 options at the start.
There is no additional pop-up - the text in the existing pop-up pane simply changes and the ‘next’ option appears.
What version number is displayed on the initial screen?
How long did you wait after the 'Installation Complete!" message?
Can you confirm that you are installing this using a PC that is connected to your WiFi network?
When you tried to re-do the installation, did you get the same initial install pop-up, or did you get one with different options? If so, what were those options?
Seems that the web install does not work 100% for the S3
I tested it on my S3 and post install it gets stuck in a loop.
the basic ESP32-WROOM32 did work and moved onto the select AP SSID etc.
I did not the S3 is not (yet) officially supported.
Some users got it to work with a different boot loader file, but that did not work in my test.
I wonder if there are some good S3 binary’s somewhere???
Edit: Searching threw their discord, I find a link to
I change the language to English at the top of the page.
then selected the image : ESP32-S3 (4MB Flash)
and click install.
This time post install it moved on to asking for the wifi setup.
Edit 2: Also if the firmware is installed and running OK but its not yet setup/connected to your wifi, it should default back to an wled AP mode; so if needed, reboot and keep scanning your network for the wled ssid and connect to that. Once connected it should auto or prompt you to go to a page, from there you can configure things.
That’s the exact website I used to attempt to install the firmware, it just never got to the wifi configuration part. The WLED firmware was confirmed to be successfully installed and took less than a minute to complete, but after that there was no next step to configure the wifi settings and just returned back to the same 2 options from the very beginning (install WLED and logs). I tried both 4mb, 8 mb and 16mb and both non-OPI and OPI-flash versions but the results remained the same. The PC only recognised the microcontroller as an unknown device despite installing the necessary drivers (CH341 and CP210x), though the serial port was detected.
Did you try using your phone to search for the wled SSID ?
I suspect the install needs the UART/Serial to come up to be able to confiure, but if that does not (e.g. your exact chip setup is not in the firmware) then you will need to use the ESP32 in AP mode to setup the wifi to connect to your AP.
So after you try flashing, reboot the ESP32 and scan for a New AP
I did try to use the WLED app on my phone to detect/add the ESP32-S3 but it only requires a valid IP Address or URL to do so and there seems to be no other way. So do I reset once the flashing process is complete or do I just set the ESP32-S3 to AP mode (not sure how that works) or could I be using the wrong WLED app (there were a few “WLED” apps so I just went with the one by CGagnier) ?
Im not a user of WLED so I just read and followed the information.
My understanding is once you flash (the correct firmware; S3 for S3) then by default the ESP32 S3 wont have the details to connect to your wifi (as you found). As such it will fall back to AP mode by itself. At this point, if you use are wireless computer/mobile phone etc and scan for wireless networks (just like you would do to connect to a friends Access Point), then the WLED should show up in the list.
If its in the list, then selected it and connect
SSID : WLED-AP
Password: wled1234
Note this is just your device connecting to an Access Point and nothing to do with any apps.
Once connected it will try to auto connect to the webpage, so depending on your device, it will auto redirect or you may need to select something). The page it takes you to is just the web interface for wled, so from that page you can setup the wifi connection (and all the other wled settings).
Note: If you connect but it does not auto show you the page, google that for help as there should be a default url/IP/page to connect to.
Use your phone WiFi facility (probably somewhere in a ‘Connections’ settings) to scan for local WiFi hotspots to connect to. You should find one with a label that indicates WLed. Connect to it (no passwword is required) and you should be able to configure it to your WiFi network.
What was the result when you tried to run the WLED install again using the same MCU? If the install worked (which it seems it did) trying it again should have taken you straight to the WiFi setup procedure.
If you got the message that the install worked then there is no problem with the PC connection to the MCU and things like the port or the memory configuration of the MCU are not relevant. However it would be best to try to connect to the MCU as a WiFi hotspot while it is not connected to the PC (ie powered from a separate USB supply).
The version number is 0.14.4 (Standard) and I tried the OPI Flash and non-OPI Flash, both which resulted with no difference. After I installed/flashed the firmware (which started of with a clean reset and data wipe and getting the “installation complete!”, I clicked “next”, which brought me back to the start: the same 2 options: Install WLED (ESP32-S3, 4/8 MB) and Logs & Console. There was no options for Wifi configurations after the firmware installation.
Also, is it necessary to apply the header pins to the microcontroller before soldering the cables of the LED strip? And if so, which side of the header pins should I solder the ends of the wires/cables to?
I presume you mean the same as they were when you did the first install. That suggests the installation did not complete. I would advise trying again with 0.15.0.
For the prototype you should solder the headers so that you can use the MCU with either push on connectors (Dupont) or a solderless prototyping board. For a solderless prototyping board the long end goes to the underside of the board so that when the MCU is plugged in the buttons are on top. If you only use the push on connector the direction depends on what is most convenient. For the final version you won’t use the headers pins at all - to keep everything as small as possible you will solder the wires onto the board.
I’m not sure if my soldering is correctly done, but going by your guidance and other’s instructions I did the best to follow the exact layouts and wiring’s color-coding arrangements.
Looking at that soldering, it looks like you might have only hit the wire itself rather than the solder pad and the wire, I’d recommend giving it another go, and definitely shorten up the exposed wire it should make it a little easier.
Its actually excessive solder and not the copper ends of the wires. I only added a little more solder to lock down and secure the wires to the MCU. The copper ends are not excessively stripped, I assure you. What I’m puzzled is; are the relevant wires connected to the appropriate pins/spots?
Your wiring cannot be evaluated without knowing what the other ends are connected to .
Also, images can be difficult to follow, and should be accompanied with a drawing showing what you intended. What gauge wire did you select? What GPIO pin did you choose?
But there is another question - why are you wiring up the prototype at this stage? You will likely make many changes before you are ready to make soldered connections. It is going to be very difficult to make changes and there is a risk of damaging components if you have to unsolder and resolder. If you attach the header pins once and then use the solderless prototyping board you can make as many changes as you like easily and with minimal risk. When you are happy with the setup the pins can be removed and the wires attached.
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