No connection to UART

[Elarion245]

Hello,

I just got myself a Toniebox 1 from ebay which is of ESP32 type. After unpacking, I used the tonies app to update it to the latest firmware and ensured that it was able to play a tonie.

I also got myself the recommended clamp and a CP2102 USB to TTL converter for which I manually loaded the drivers under Windows 11. The adapter is recognized in my case as COM6. This is the adapter: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005006444198784.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.89.11f95c5fPoJM79&gatewayAdapt=glo2deu

Based on my research, the TX pin is supposed to operate at 3.3V, the RX can receive either 3.3 or 5V.

I ensured that the TX and RX of the Uart and the board are crossed, i.e. GND-GND, TX to RX and RX to TX. Sadly, I get nothing from the UART. WebSerial on Chrome cannot connect. Using ubuntu also a screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 shows nothing. The adapter is recognized as ttyUSB0 though in dmesg.

I then tested the adapter as this guy recommends by connecting RX and TX and performing an echo test. I am receiving all echos just fine (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3vaUPjzCmw).

The Toniebox otherwise seems to behave nominally. When J100 is connected, it does nothing but a single short red light flash, without the J100 connection the green light comes up normally.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks a lot for your help!

P.S: I have also tried to connect TX to TX and RX to RX, but obviously that did not help either…

[Elarion245]

Below an image of the connection:

[Elarion245]

Okay, issue found. I could not believe it, but the UART to TTL adapter - even though freshly received from China - was not working.

I figured that the first video of the echo test was not leading to any lights activity on the device, so I tried the echo test with Putty as another youtube video recommended and Putty never was able to get to the point that I could type in something. I also had an older Sparkfun FDTI unit, which worked out of the box!