Wakespeed refusing to update firmware

[tanglewood]

Originally Posted by NaClyDog

Do you have access to a VPN service? If so, try that.


Something may have triggered their firewall on a block of IPs that includes your ISP.


Also, have you tried on your phone with your wifi disabled?

I'll try another ISP/network as soon as it's available. No cell service where I am - just my satellite.

[notz]

I've used Wakespeed for years (https://seabits.com/tag/wakespeed/) and appreciate the fact that the product is a fresh approach to regulating an alternator. Using more than just voltage as a guide, and using technology that mirrors a standard AC charger just makes a lot more sense, and we should not only have one company to choose from that has taken this approach.

However, the product is hard to use, changes constantly, and is an absolute pain in the ass to configure. I'm a seasoned tech nerd, having spent my life since I was 16 working in the guts of computers, command line, and everything else in between. I still do that to this day, and even with that background, I find the command syntax and configuration files for Wakespeed to be frustratingly difficult to work with.

Having to use a USB cable to program and monitor it is difficult as well - at the minimum there should be some factory provided means of monitoring the device given the price and complexity. Blinking lights on the front just don't cut it. Yes, you can create a NMEA 2000 cable for it, but that is a moving target as well - I've had a decent amount of issues with it interacting with other devices.

I have over 200 email threads around Wakespeed going back almost 5 years. Many of these are trying to work through issues, understand configuration, or generally just use the product. I think that in and of itself is a red flag for anyone wanting to use the technology who doesn't have a lot of time and patience.

I still like the product and think it is one of the only choices we have for LiFePO4 or other high charge applications, but you have to know what you're getting into. You'll need a lot of time to configure and manage things, and patience when an upgrade changes behavior that may not be well documented.

[SavvySailingGrl]

Hi All,


I have been trying to find/download the STM32 BOOTLOADER driver to update the firmware on our WS500 and can't find it anywhere online. The links that I did see are broken or no longer exist. On the Wakespeed site, there's a download for the firmware 2.5.0 zip file, but not the Windows 10 drivers. Does anyone know where I can find and download the drivers? I read that several people have found, installed and successfully upgraded their firmware.



Thanks,
Sher

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by SavvySailingGrl

I have been trying to find/download the STM32 BOOTLOADER driver to update the firmware on our WS500 and can't find it anywhere online. The links that I did see are broken or no longer exist. On the Wakespeed site, there's a download for the firmware 2.5.0 zip file, but not the Windows 10 drivers. Does anyone know where I can find and download the drivers? I read that several people have found, installed and successfully upgraded their firmware.

On the ST Micro site: https://www.st.com/en/development-to...-stm32102.html .

Note that they say to use the inbox (inbuilt?) driver instead with Win 10.

Greg

[SavvySailingGrl]

Unfortunately, the ST drivers didn't work (as you noted, they say use inbox driver for Windows 10, but you need to know some specific info to load the correct inbox driver and I couldn't find that. I just sent a message to Wakespeed and will post a response when/if they get back to me.

[Tessellate]

[Edited repost after I got the firmware update completed]:
The firmware update process needs some work. Apparently the Windows program doesn't work on Windows 11 (the current version of Windows for almost 2 years now). But they don't tell you that in the documentation or in the program that wipes your firmware.

So I ran it on Win 11 and it got stuck wiping firmware, leaving me with a bricked device essentially. Good thing we weren't cruising in some remote area (Victron does frequent firmware updates, which I do from remote places - firmware updates need to be rock solid).

Fortunately I had an old backup laptop on the boat with Win 10 and the update program does work on that so I was able to recover the device.

Wakespeed is an innovative product and the founders are master engineers, but the product configuration is a mess. Too much complexity with too many tools that are buggy and/or poorly documented or don't play well together. (Ex, Android app is great to have, but it's buggy and not everything works).

The support under Dragonfly is suffering as well because all the support routes through Dragonfly sales reps. They think / insist that they know all there is to know about the device, but they don't, and they're resistant to putting you in contact with Wakespeed (who actually do know everything, but their time is understandably limited).