trying to flash the kc868 A16

[wdiechmann]

I am literally in kindergarten  

I finally got som help from a friend to flash the KC868 A16 with v2.2 firmware (version number major 2 but the .2 i am not so sure about). That left me with the A16 responding on HTTP - so I can see settings, network, and stuff - and I have both an ethernet connection and a WiFi connection working (the A16 responding to GET requests on both IP Addresses). I am macOS (M4) user and I run most everything in Docker containers on a Synology NAS, so I had to ask for help to upgrade the firmware from PC.

I have used the yaml I found in this forum - https://www.kincony.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1772 - with changes to network to match my situation.

But when I try to write that configuration yaml - the output is always an error. Whether a 111 or this:

Code:

Successfully created ESP32 image.
merge_factory_bin([".pioenvs/kincony/firmware.bin"], [".pioenvs/kincony/firmware.elf"])
Info: bootloader.bin not found - skipping
Info: partition-table.bin not found - skipping
Info: ota_data_initial.bin not found - skipping
Info: kincony.bin not found - skipping
Using FLASH_EXTRA_IMAGES from PlatformIO environment
Merging binaries into /config/.esphome/build/kincony/.pioenvs/kincony/firmware.factory.bin
Merging binaries with esptool
SHA digest in image updated.
Wrote 0x7ed80 bytes to file '/config/.esphome/build/kincony/.pioenvs/kincony/firmware.factory.bin', ready to flash to offset 0x0.
Successfully created /config/.esphome/build/kincony/.pioenvs/kincony/firmware.factory.bin
esp32_copy_ota_bin([".pioenvs/kincony/firmware.bin"], [".pioenvs/kincony/firmware.elf"])
Copied firmware to /config/.esphome/build/kincony/.pioenvs/kincony/firmware.ota.bin
========================= [SUCCESS] Took 26.04 seconds =========================
INFO Package configuration completed successfully
INFO Package configuration completed successfully
INFO Successfully compiled program.
INFO Uploading to 10.4.3.33
ERROR Cannot upload Over the Air as the ota configuration is not present or does not include platform: esphome

[admin]

if you have installed RF 433MHz receiver, please remove it when download firmware.

[wdiechmann]

Is that the 'usual suspect' when this error presents itself? I'm confused but - anyways, no; I did not buy a RF433Mhz receiver to go with the A16 board.

I find it very hard to accumulate/digest a ton of different how-to's that each will touch on the subject from very different angles and all seem to arrive at the goal (Home Assistant integration) more or less with out any issues at all ?

I know, criticism does not offer any way forward - but I really would like the A16 'family' to succeed because it's such an obvious complementary product to Home Assistant (HA), and the Smart Home market is certainly booming. One way to make this happen would be to present the integration in an easy to follow YouTube (series if necessary) covering at least 2 "camps" (at least) one being the HAOS camp running HA directly on the hardware/OS, and the other being the VM camp running HA as a (cluster of) container(s) mostly in Docker or like environments.

I'm in the Docker camp and I'm trying a gazillion different things to get to integrate this stuff (I originally thought the hard part would come when I had to solder wires from my IHC 'buttons' in order to have A16 emit either MQTT messages or somehow otherwise tell HA that this or that button had gone 'high' and now HA was expected to send a signal to some Zigbee device flicking the on/off on a relay in effect turning on/off the light in my bathroom - but no; I guess I'm still weeks if not months away from that).

So - checklist time:

1: flash the KC868 A16 with the version 2 software
2: find it in HA as an integration (nope - not happening)
3: flash a yaml with HA config to the board from a container running esphome (nope - see above error)
4: ehh i'm out of ideas (and chatgpt spent all my tokens telling me what "it" thought was a good idea) ?

[admin]

KC868-A16 yaml file: https://www.kincony.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1628