ESP32 Programmer V2

ESP32 Programmer V2 can be used in multiple ways to program ESP8266, ESP32, or any other microcontroller that needs boot Pin and Reset Pin control along with UART RX and TX for flashing the MCU with a new program.

Or one can also use it as a USB to UART adapter.

We see many designs where developers put the USB to UART (with auto reset and boot) on their custom hardware to easily reprogram the board in the production & field with the same interface.

But, this is not recommended because this poses a risk.

Someone can hack your hardware to do something else with their firmware or break it easily to make you look bad in front of the customer. All these things happen in real life.

So, it would be best if you did not have an easy way to reflash your MCU.

You should have a 6-pin connector(RX, TX, 3.3V, GND, EN, IO0) on the board and buy a programmer board to do the programming in the production. For the field to have a secured OTA or secured physical interface.

Customer’s Feedback about our ESP32 Programmer Board

(Check the review on the Tindie Store)

ESP32 Programmer V2 Features

Made in India
Compact size: 50mmx30mm
USB-C Type Interface: you can connect a USB in any direction. Use USB-A to USB-C Cable or even use USB-C to USB-C cable.
LEDs for Power, RX, TX
Switch for Reset and Boot
Uses WCH Electronics CH340C USB to UART Bridge
Both 3.3V and 5V are available on the O/P connector
All signals on a standard 2.54mm Pitch Header (Header will come along with the board (unsoldered))
X3 connector option is available where RXD, TXD, RTS, DR, DCD, RI, DSR, and CTS signals are exposed.
We test every ESP32 Programmer V2 board before shipping.

ESP32 Programmer V2 Pinout

X2 Connector

3.3V DC (100mA Max.)
TXD
RXD
GND
Reset/RTS
Boot/DTR
GND
5V DC (500mA Max.)

X3 Connector

ESP32 Programmer V2 Connection with ESP32 Module

Connection with Custom Hardware

What was the motivation behind ESP32 Programmer?

We at CAPUF Embedded aim to build tools that empower companies and their engineers to build embedded products easily.

In the last few months, we designed several custom-embedded products for our customers, using ESP32 for Wi-Fi connectivity.

We faced the challenge with the ESP32 Flash programming once the board is ready.

No ESP32 programmer board was available in the market to be used for programming the production boards easily.

At least we could not find it easily which we can buy and use.

We had to use readily available ESP32 Dev kits to handle the situation. We took out the ESP32 module from them and then took RX, TX, Boot, and Reset pin along with 3.3V, and GND signals onto a header connector via a small cable and used it as an ESP32 programmer.

See, it looked like the one shown below.