Smart Energy Meter Using ESP32 & PZEM004T V3.0 - Flashing ESP32 With Tasmota

This article is the first of several that will be published soon. The main aim is to build a "Smart Energy Monitoring Solution for Electrical Appliances/Loads" using the ESP32 Development Board and Tasmota. 

I would suggest all readers have their notes on a book. It will help a long way. The action plan written in the book has to be the first step.

1. A Laptop (or) a PC with MS Windows (or) CentOS (or) any Operating System of the user's choice
2. ESP32 Development Board
3. Micro USB Cable

The following steps should help the reader prepare the ESP32 Development board to install Tasmota.

1. Connect ESP32 to Laptop/PC
2. Identify the COM port to which the ESP32 is connected
3. Open an Internet Browser of your choice and browse https://tasmota.github.io/docs/
4. Select "Web Installer"

Proceed with the next steps.

On selection of "Web Installer", the reader of this article should be able to view the following screens:

1. "Install Tasmota" screen. The browser navigates to https://tasmota.github.io/install/
2. Pan down the same page to see a "Connect" button. Select it to move further.
3. It is not time to connect to your serial port (COM5 in this case. Please note that the port number may be different in your case.
4. Select the listed ("CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller (COM5) - Paired" in this case) and hit "Connect".
5. You may encounter an error (Serial Port is not ready). Close any other application using it and try again.
6. Repeat the steps in S.No. 2 & 3. If everything goes well, you will be prompted to "INSTALL TASMOTA (ENGLISH)"
7. You will also be prompted to "Erase device: Do you want to erase the device before installing Tasmota (English)? All data on the device will be lost." A word of caution: If you have any other code on your ESP32, it is better to back it up before proceeding.
8. "Confirm Installation - Do you want to install Tasmota (English)? All data on the device will be erased." will be the next screen. Hit "INSTALL" to proceed further.
9. You may also come across "Installation Failed - Failed to initialize. Try resetting your device or holding the BOOT button while clicking INSTALL". Hit "BACK" to resolve any issues and proceed further. In my case, I just left the board without holding the BOOT button. I hit the "BACK" button and continued the installation (process explained in previous steps) by holding the "BOOT" button on ESP32.

The installation is simple. You will come across the following steps:

1. You will receive a message "Installing - This will take 2 minutes. Keep this page visible to prevent slow down".
2. On successful completion, "Installation Complete" appears. Hit "NEXT" to continue.
3. On completion of the installation, you are suggested to configure Wi-Fi. Proceed with the next steps by entering the network SSID and password for your home/office Wi-Fi router. In my case the Network SSID is "Smaragdine 2G".
4. On successful connection to Wi-Fi, the Tasmota web interface will throw a message "Device Connected to the network". You may proceed by selecting "VISIT DEVICE".
5. "The connection to 192.168.29.195 is not secure" > Hit on "Continue to site" to continue. You will be redirected to the Tasmota Home Screen.

Note: While you move the cursor over "VISIT DEVICE", you can observe an IP address in the bottom left corner of your web page. You will be taken to this IP address by selecting "VISIT DEVICE". In my case, my home router has allocated an IP address: 192.168.29.195.

Readers of this article are suggested to take help from the screenshots provided in this section to understand the Tasmota environment.

Note: An ESP32 is a microcontroller chip with a built-in 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi radio. It can connect to wireless networks operating on the 2.4 GHz frequency band. ESP32 is designed to work with standard 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi networks commonly used in most homes and devices.

I wish to publish more important and useful projects (For Undergraduates and Graduates of different disciplines) on this platform. I incur heavy expenses to purchase different microcontrollers, electronic items, tools, and miscellaneous items required for practically performing these experiments, and explaining them step-by-step on different online platforms.

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