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Welcome to the pvbrain2 wiki !

IMG_3917-2

The PCB tour :

Seen on the different areas of the map.

Also, find all BOM ^{(Aliexpress and Amzon links)} and some extra information in this ^{(in French)}.

What to do first ?

When receiving the card, if you have chosen to receive the pre-soldered card, do not plug any module.
Started by installing the fuses, then adjusting the steps downs if necessary starting with 5V, then 3V3 Once the voltages have been correctly adjusted and/or controlled, the different modules and the ESP can be plugged.

How to Use:

BME280
Dallas
DC Input
DC Output
Onboard LED
SX1509 GPIO Extender
RJ45 ports
WK2168
MCP2515
UART JST-XH outputs

How to install the (ESPhome) Software:

First of all be sure you have installed on your machine the ESP32 S3 driver from Sillicon Labs.

Classic procedure :

Click here for show the Classic procedure. ⤵️

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1️⃣ ➖ Retrieve the PVbrain 2.0 zip (by right clicking) and save it into a new created folder, eg. /pvbrain2

2️⃣ ➖ Uncompress the zip file into your local folder (/pvbrain2) or into your/config/esphome folder of HASSIO (use samba share to transfer the uncompressed files).

3️⃣ ➖ Open your esphome's secrets.yaml file and check if wifi_ssid, wifi_password and ap_password variables are correctly corresponding with your local WiFi informations.

4️⃣ ➖ Edit the PVbrain2.yaml and comment/uncomment each package according to your own solar setup.

5️⃣ ➖ Compile and upload the code on your ESP32 S3 device.

Dummy procedure (for newbabies) :

Click here for show the Dummy procedure. ⤵️

🔙

1️⃣ ➖ Create/sign in a Github accompt. You can create it faster with OAuth2 via your google account for example.

2️⃣ ➖ Open the following Gitpod link.

The first time you will need also to sign in into gitpod framework for example with your previously created Github account.

3️⃣ ➖ When logged into Gitpod, you will see during the ESPhome installation, some log lines printed in the terminal.

Wait a couples of minutes to let finish the processus.

When done, press the "Open Browser" located at the botton right of the Gitpod page.

It should open a new webpage with the ESPhome Dashboard.

4️⃣ ➖ On the ESPhome Dashboard, click first on "secret" button located at the top right corner.

Replace "xxxxxxxx", "yyyyyyyy" and "zzzzzzzz" with your own WiFi SSID/password and AP informations (AP password will allow to access to your PVbrain2 if your WiFi/LAN is down).

Be aware, WiFi password must be a minimum of 8 caractars.

If not, you will need to change your WiFi password correspondly.

Click on "save" and quit the secret page by clicking on the top left cross.

5️⃣ ➖ Click on "Edit" for the PVbrain2 model.

Comment and/or uncomment each package according to your own solar setup and save the file. (Tip: you can comment/uncomment several lines simultaneously by selecting the lines and press on CTRL + /)

6️⃣ ➖ Plug your ESP32-S3 with a USB data cable first then the on top right corner, choose "Install" then on "Plug into this computer" to compile the firmware. It can be a long processus !!!.

Wait a couple of minutes (it first compile the code at background during 3-4min) then it starts the flashing part.

You should see a progression bar running when flashing.

7️⃣ ➖ You finished the flashing procedure.

If you entered correctly your WiFi informations in the secrets.yaml file, you should see a notification in Home Assistant asking you to accept a new ESPhome device.

Accept it... You finished!!!!