Basic Sensor Build Instructions
Disclaimer
For the DIY hardware you will, as the name suggest, have do it yourself. This includes sourcing parts, basic soldering, and 3D printing. You will be responsible for all troubleshooting.
It is your own responsibility to properly build and use the hardware.
Material Foundry cannot be held responsible for any damage, either directly or indirectly caused by Material Foundry or any associated hardware, software or service.
This includes damage caused by incorrect documentation, bugs in the software or firmware, or wrong advise.
If you are uncomfortable with this, consider buying the pre-build production hardware.
This page discusses the fabrication of the basic DIY sensor. If you are not sure whether you want to build the full or basic sensor, please head over to the hardware overview.
Discussed on this page are the required tools, materials and parts you need and the build instructions.
Before You Get Started
The basic sensor build requires a compatible ESP32 board. Almost any ESP32 or ESP32-S3 board is compatible. It will need to be dual core (so no ESP32-SOLO based boards) and based on whether you have an ESP32 or ESP32-S3, you will need to make sure that the following pins are available on the board:
| Board | Pins |
|---|---|
| ESP32 | 21 & 22 |
| ESP32-S3 | 8 & 9 |
Compatible Boards
For Material Plane, there is no noticable difference between an ESP32 or ESP32-S3, so pick the one that you can source or the one that is cheapest.
Below is an incomplete list of boards that should be compatible.
| ESP32 | ESP32-S3 |
|---|---|
| ESP32-DevKitC | ESP32-S3-DevKitC |
| ESP32-PicoKit | Arduino Nano ESP32 |
| Wemos LOLIN32 | Wemos S3 (also the Mini and Pro) |
| FireBeetle ESP32 | LilyGo T7-S3 |
| And many more | And many more |
Things to Avoid
When looking through the product listing, make sure you don't see any of the following terms:
- ESP32-S2
- ESP32-Cx (can be C2, C3 or C6)
- ESP32-H2
- ESP-WROOM-02
- ESP8266
- Solo
- Zigbee
Requirements
Required Tools
- Soldering iron + solder
- Wire cutter
- Wire stripper
Bill of Materials
- 3D printed parts
- An ESP32 or ESP32-S3
- DFRobot SEN0158
Sourcing Parts
Please note that the links below are a suggestion only and there may be mistakes. It is your own responsibility to make sure the part is compatible.
If you find an incompatible part or a dead/incorrect link, please contact me.
| Supplier | ESP32/ESP32-S3 | DFRobot SEN0158 |
|---|---|---|
| Mouser (US) | ESP32-DevKitC ESP32-S3-DevKitC |
link |
| Digikey (US) | ESP32-PicoKit ESP32-S3-DevKitC |
link |
| RobotShop (US) | FireBeetle ESP32 Arduino Nano ESP32 |
link |
| TinyTronics (NL) | ESP32 Board Wemos LOLIN32 |
link |
| OpenCircuit (NL) | FireBeetle ESP32 Lilygo T7-S3 |
link |
| Gotronic (FR) | NodeMCU ESP32 Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32S3 |
link |
| Botland (PL) | ESP32-DevKitC ESP32-S3 DevKit |
link |
| DFRobot (CN) | FireBeetle ESP32 FireBeetle 2 ESP32-S3 |
link |
Instructions
The instructions for the basic sensor are really simple.
Solder the wires of the DFRobot SEN0158 to the following pins:
| Wire Color | Function | ESP32 pin | ESP32-S3 pin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red | Power | 3V3 | 3V3 |
| Black | Ground | GND | GND |
| Yellow | SDA | 21 | 8 |
| Green | SCL | 22 | 9 |
That's it. Any further additions to the sensor are up to you.