PyBadge Wi-Fi

This post contains instructions on how to get an Adafruit PyBadge connecting to Wi-Fi using an Adafruit Airlift FeatherWing.

The code here can also be used to connect a PyPortal to Wi-Fi using the built in ESP32 chip

Hardware

• An Adafruit PyBadge - this is a Circuit Python device that has a display and controllers similar to a game console. Out of the box it doesn't have Wi-Fi connectivity, but it does have a FeatherWing socket on the back to plug in add-on boards.

• An Adafruit Airlift FeatherWing - this is an ESP32 based Wi-Fi add-on board for Adafruit devices. It comes with headers, and when soldered on can plug into the FeatherWing socket on the back of the PyBadge.

Assembling the hardware

1. Solder the headers to the Airlift FeatherWing

   

2. Plug the FeatherWing into the socket on the back of the PyBadge

   

3. Connect the PyBadge to your computer via the USB socket

Software

The software to connect to the Wi-Fi needs some Adafruit Circuit Python libraries, as well as some custom code. You can find the code on my GitHub.

Install the Adafruit libraries

1. Head to the Circuit Python Releases on the Adafruit GitHub repo

2. Download the latest version of the libraries for the version of Circuit Python you are using

3. Unzip the downloaded file if necessary

4. Locate the PyBadge on your computer. It should be mounted as a drive called CIRCUITPYTHON

5. Inside the PyBadge folder, open the lib folder

6. Copy the following files/folders from the downloaded Circuit Python libraries to the lib folder on the PyBadge

   Name	Type
   adafruit_bus_device	Folder
   adafruit_esp32spi	Folder
   adafruit_requests.mpy	File

Define a secrets file with Wi-Fi details

Rather than encode Wi-Fi connection details in code, it is better to put them in a separate file that can be hidden from source code control, either by adding it to your gitignore, or by hiding changes using this technique.

1. Create a file called secrets.py in the root of the CIRCUITPYTHON folder.

2. Add the following to this file
   

   secrets = {
        'ssid' : '<SSID of your Wi-Fi>',   # Keep the two '' quotes around the name
        'password' : '<Password>',         # Keep the two '' quotes around password
   }
   

   Set <SSID of your Wi-Fi> to be the SSID of your Wi-Fi

   Set <Password> to be the password for your Wi-Fi

Connect to the Wi-Fi

1. Create a new file in the root of the CIRCUITPYTHON folder called connection.py

2. Add the following code to this file. You can find this file my GitHub if you just want to copy it to your PyBadge
   

   import board, busio
   from secrets import secrets
   from digitalio import DigitalInOut
   import adafruit_requests as requests
   import adafruit_esp32spi.adafruit_esp32spi_socket as socket
   from adafruit_esp32spi import adafruit_esp32spi
   
   class Connection:
       def __connect(self, spi, cs, ready, reset, log):
           esp = adafruit_esp32spi.ESP_SPIcontrol(spi, cs, ready, reset)
   
           requests.set_socket(socket, esp)
   
           if log:
               print("Connecting to AP...")
   
           while not esp.is_connected:
               try:
                   esp.connect_AP(secrets['ssid'], secrets['password'])
               except RuntimeError as e:
                   if log:
                       print("could not connect to AP, retrying: ",e)
                   continue
   
           if log:
               print("Connected to", str(esp.ssid, 'utf-8'), "\tRSSI:", esp.rssi)
               print("My IP address is", esp.pretty_ip(esp.ip_address))
   
       # Connect a PyPortal
       def connect_pyportal(self, spi, log = False):
           esp32_cs = DigitalInOut(board.ESP_CS)
           esp32_ready = DigitalInOut(board.ESP_BUSY)
           esp32_reset = DigitalInOut(board.ESP_RESET)
   
           self.__connect(spi, esp32_cs, esp32_ready, esp32_reset, log)
   
       # Connect a PyBadge
       def connect_pybadge(self, spi, log = False):
           esp32_cs = DigitalInOut(board.D13)
           esp32_ready = DigitalInOut(board.D11)
           esp32_reset = DigitalInOut(board.D12)
   
           self.__connect(spi, esp32_cs, esp32_ready, esp32_reset, log)
   

3. Add the following code to the code.py file in the CIRCUITPYTHON folder. This file should already be there as part of the default install, but if it is not there, create it. This file is run when the PyBadge boots up.
   

   import board
   import busio
   import adafruit_requests as requests
   from connection import Connection
   
   spi = busio.SPI(board.SCK, board.MOSI, board.MISO)
   
   conn = Connection()
   conn.connect_pybadge(spi, True)
   
   TEXT_URL = "http://wifitest.adafruit.com/testwifi/index.html"
   
   print("Fetching text from", TEXT_URL)
   r = requests.get(TEXT_URL)
   print('-'*40)
   print(r.text)
   print('-'*40)
   r.close()
   
   print("Done!")
   

   This code uses the Connection module to connect to Wi-Fi, then downloads some test to show that it is working.

4. Save the file. The PyBadge will reboot and connect to the Wi-Fi. You will see the connection on the PyBadge screen and in your terminal if you are connected to the serial output.
   

    Press any key to enter the REPL. Use CTRL-D to reload.soft reboot
   
    Auto-reload is on. Simply save files over USB to run them or enter REPL to disable.
    code.py output:
    Connecting to AP...
    Connected to <SSID>         RSSI: -52
    My IP address is 192.168.197.188
    Fetching text from http://wifitest.adafruit.com/testwifi/index.html
    ----------------------------------------
    This is a test of Adafruit WiFi!
    If you can read this, its working :) 
   
    ----------------------------------------
    Done!