ESP32-MiniWebRadio

ESP32-S3-MiniWebRadio V4

MiniWebRadio Features:

• User interfaces: TFT touchscreen display, web browser and FTP
• Functions: WiFi Radio, Digital Clock, MP3 player, Alarm, Sleep timer, adjust screen brightness, EQ settings and Volume, web browser User Interface, access SD card via FTP (e.g. FileZilla), IR remote controller support
• Up to 999 pre-set stations can be held in stations.csv file on SD card (can edit using web UI)
• Each station can display its own station icon (when saved to SD card)
• Time is obtained via Network Time Protocol (NTP) from internet. Local Time Zone can be set from web UI
• Web UI - MiniWebRadio can be accessed via any web browser (e.g. IE/Edge/Chrome/FireFox)
• Internal SD card can be accessed via FTP (e.g. FileZilla)
• Your home WiFi router SSID and password can be set using the browser on your smart phone (only required on first boot) or edit the networks.csv file on SD card
• Play audio files on SD card or on DLNA home network (via web UI)
• Use Infra-Red (IR) remote controller (38kHz NEC-encoded - e.g. arduino or mp3 remote). The web UI allows you to configure the buttons if required
• One Alarm time can be pre-set using display (choose days, Monday-Sunday)
• A Sleep timer can be set using display (switches off sound and screen after a pre-set time - max. 6 hours)
• Can announce the time each hour when in radio mode (set via web UI)
• Screen brightness can be adjusted using display (if the display has a backlight-pin)
• Supports the Latin, Greek and Cyrillic character sets
• Community Radio Browser is integrated as a search engine. User can find new stations and then add them to the station list via web UI (with station icon if available) and then save the list and station icon file to the SD card
• Channel lists can be exported or imported in Excel format (for data backup).

• ESP32-S3 or -P4 board with 8MB of flash or more, and at least 4MB of PSRAM
• At least 16MB of flash is required for OTA, 8MB without OTA
• DAC (e.g. PCM5102a)
• SPI Display with Display controller ILI9341 (320x240px), ILI9486 (480x320px), ILI9488 (480x320px) or ST7796 (480x320px) with TP Controller XPT2046 or FT6x36
• DSI Display with Display controller ST7701 (800x480), EK97007(1024x600) or JD9165 (1024x600) with Touchpad GT911
• SD Card (FAT32) + SD adapter (can use SD slot on back of TFT display if available)
• Display Sizes




• Tested Displays

• IR receiver + IR remote controller according to the NFC protocol
• KCX_BT_EMITTER V1.7, for connecting external Bluetooth devices, needs sufficient free GPIOs
• BH1750 light sensor: The BH1750 has a wide range of values, which is still sufficiently sensitive at average room brightness. On the display, you can set the desired brightness when the sensor is darkened. Then the display is dimmed to this value 'at night', needs sufficient free GPIOs.

Control is via the display touchscreen or a web page in a browser, no additional components such as switches, rotary encoders, capacitors or resistors are required.

Schematic
SPI Display


RGB Display

DSI Display

Display Layout

Using the Community Radio Browser

How to install : PlatformIO is definitely recommended as the IDE.

Some features:

• The audioprocess works in its own task and is decoupled. This prevents dropouts when drawing on the display or when the website is loading.
• The SD card is wired as SD_MMC to improve stability and increase speed. This means that the GPIOs cannot be chosen freely. The SD card adapter must not have any resistors in series. For best display update speed, use 40MHz frequency for SD card if possible (SDMMC_FREQUENCY 40000000 in common.h).
• Audio can be decoded using software. Possible formats are mp3, aac, mp4, opus, vorbis and flac.
• External DACs (e.g. UDA13348, MAX98357A, PCM5102A) are connected via I2S, ES8388 and AC101 also require an I2C connection
• 480x320px display supported. The ILI9486 (SPI display from the Raspberry PI) is also supported
• The SD card files can be accessed via FTP. See settings for Filezilla. The username and password are ‘esp32’ (this can be changed in ‘common.h’)
• Access Point SSID/password can be set using mobile phone browser - no need to modify source code or networks.csv file on SD card
• Stations URLs support entry of username and password if the server expects access data, “URL|user|pwd”
• Can process local playlists in m3u format
• Either the ESP32 or the ESP32-S3 can be used (PSRAM is highly recommended)
• IR remote button codes can be changed by user using web UI
• Improved web UI reliability
• VU meter added to display
• Timezone can be set using web UI
• Play media files on home network DLNA (uPNP/DLNA app on smart phone, router, etc.)
• Prevent clicks when changing radio stations

self-made devices of the users

Known problems

SD Card

In the simplest case, the SD card is connected directly to the ESP32

Some SD card adapters for displays use series resistors. These are useless and in many cases harmful. Therefore, it is better to remove them and replace them with solder bridges.

If an ESP32 is used, any existing pull-up resistor at pin D0 must be removed (ESP32 - bootstrap pin). This will be added again later via SW. This is not necessary with the ESP32-S3. (Photo from the ESPuino forum)

Display

Many displays can be used without any problems. If the touchpad does not work, it may be that the TFT controller does not enable the SPI bus. This is the case with my ILI9488 display. Then MISO of the TFT controller must not be connected.
The values ​​of the PLCK frequency specified for RGB displays are not fully achieved. The reason for this is the high load of PSRAM for audio processing.

DAC

On some PCM5102 boards the solder bridges are missing on the back.

This is how the DAC CS4344 is connected:

This is how the DAC CS4344 is connected:

If the DAC PT8211 is used, the I2S_COMM_FMT must be changed in common.h. This DAC requires Japanese LSBJ (Least Significant Bit Justified) format

IR Receíver

Various 38KHz IR receivers can be used. While the TSOP4838 can be used without any problems, the VS1838B is very sensitive to high frequency fields despite its metal shielding. The VS1838B should not be installed near the WiFi antenna. The HS0038A2D is also suitable. HS0038 - HS0038A2 can be used with Vcc 5V.

IR Remote Control

The remote control must support the NEC protocol. If several remote controls are operated in one room, they must have different address codes to avoid mutual interference. The “Arduino” remote control on the left in the picture uses the address code 0x00FF and the “Android X96” remote control (right) uses the address code 0x01FE.

KCX_BT_EMITTER

The RT pin is not part of the soldering strip, but is located in the middle of the right side.

WiFi Credentials

If you see that, there are illegal characters in the WIFI access data. Sometimes only an erase flash help