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[Youtube] How to make BK7231 development board - NodeMCU conversion - soldering guide, hot air, SMD

p.kaczmarek2 1755 7
  • [Youtube] How to make BK7231 development board - NodeMCU conversion - soldering guide, hot air, SMD
    Here's a step by step guide showing how to make a BK7231 development board (WB3S and CB3S versions) from a very cheap NodeMCU ESP8266 board, by doing a simple WiFi module transplant. First we desolder ESP12 module with a hot air station, and then we solder a CB3S (or WB3S) in it's place. Our guide includes some basic soldering tips, so even a beginner should be able to do the shown process.

    We are aware that there is already some kind of BK7231 development board that can be bought online, but our solution is cheaper and more general. Futhermore, many people already might have a BK7231 module desoldered from IoT device (or may use this opportunity to do a WiFi module swap between NodeMCU and IoT device).

    What is required for this project?
    - CB3S or WB3S module (you can get that from IoT device, and solder the ESP from the NodeMCU in place)
    - hot air station (cheapest one will be enough)
    - basic soldering equipment and soldering iron will be also needed, so flux, leaded (Pb) solder, solder wick, PCB cleaner
    - NodeMCU board (it can be bought very cheaply online, it's available in many shops)

    Here's the guide:



    In addition, we're including a new pin mappings for a BK7231 board created that way.
    Warning: CB3S has slightly different pinout than WB3S, both pinout versions are included on the guide below:
    [Youtube] How to make BK7231 development board - NodeMCU conversion - soldering guide, hot air, SMD
    Here is NodeMCU schematic:
    [Youtube] How to make BK7231 development board - NodeMCU conversion - soldering guide, hot air, SMD
    Dev board in action:
    [Youtube] How to make BK7231 development board - NodeMCU conversion - soldering guide, hot air, SMD
    [Youtube] How to make BK7231 development board - NodeMCU conversion - soldering guide, hot air, SMD

    Thank you for watching. Please consider giving us a like and/or subscribe.
    You can also visit out BK7231 firmware page:
    https://github.com/openshwprojects/OpenBK7231T_App
    our BK7231 flash tool:
    https://github.com/openshwprojects/BK7231GUIFlashTool
    and our IoT devices teardowns list:
    https://openbekeniot.github.io/webapp/devicesList.html

    Have fun tinkering and stay free from the cloud!

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    About Author
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
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    p.kaczmarek2 wrote 5827 posts with rating 5812, helped 278 times. Been with us since 2014 year.
  • #2
    khoam
    Level 42  
    On ali you can buy an inexpensive board that has everything except the ESP system. It makes no sense to destroy NodeMCU.

    [Youtube] How to make BK7231 development board - NodeMCU conversion - soldering guide, hot air, SMD
  • #3
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
    Great idea! I was not aware that there is a relatively cheap board for this pad format and without a soldered module, although in retrospect it seems obvious.

    However, I would not be afraid of the "destruction" itself, because the ESP can go to the place of the desoldered WB3S / CB3S and there is a wolf full and a whole sheep, while the @khoam solution has another great advantage - no need to desolder with hot air ESP.
  • #5
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
    Good job with conversion. Which soldering station did you use?

    Btw, from a brief glance, it looks like the TM1638 on your photo may be very similar to gn6932 and also to TM1637. We'll see how it goes.
  • #6
    DeDaMrAz
    Level 13  
    From 1.17.53 build, you can switch logging UART via the example below:

    // Enable "[UART] Enable UART command line"
    // this also can be done in flags, enable command line on UART1 at 115200 baud
    SetFlag 31 1
    // UART1 is RXD1/TXD1 which is used for programming and for TuyaMCU/BL0942,
    // but now we will set that UART1 is used for log
    logPort 1
  • #7
    p.kaczmarek2
    Moderator Smart Home
    Yes, setting UART1 as log port (instead of UART2) will help on this board a lot, because UART1 has the CH340 hooked up (and is also used for programming), while, on the other hand, the default UART2 would require user to connect separate UART to USB converter, just to get log.