Jolly Roger

Overview 

 This project implements a distributed network of Halloween animatronics controlled by ESP32 microcontrollers . The system is organized around a master/slave architecture , with the Jolly Roger animatronic acting as the master unit and several additional animatronics operating as synchronized slaves. Communication between units is handled wirelessly over Wi-Fi (esp-now), allowing for coordinated, scalable effects. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Overview 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Each animatronic is controlled by an ESP32. Master has an LD2410 radar sensor to detect human presence and broadcasts triggers to slaves. 

 

 

 Audio: DFPlayer Mini on every unit. 

 

 

 Motion: SG90 hobby servos (powered from a 5V supply). 

 

 

 Lighting: addressable LEDs (WS2812-style) or simple LED strings — powered from 5V. 

 

 

 Eyes: GC9A01 round SPI LCD. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Power & decoupling 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Supply rails: 

 

 

 5V for servos, DFPlayer, LEDs, speakers (if using amp) — recommended common supply for power-hungry parts. 

 

 

 3.3V for ESP32 logic (ESP32's regulator when using 5V VIN). 

 

 

 

 

 Common ground : absolutely tie the 5V and ESP32 ground together. 

 

 

 Decoupling for servos & LEDs : 

 

 

 Add a 1000 μF electrolytic capacitor (or larger depending on the number of servos) close to the servo/LED power feed. 

 

 

 Add 0.1 μF ceramic capacitors near ESP32 Vcc pins. 

 

 

 

 

 Wire gauge : use thicker wires (20–18 AWG) for servo + LED power if several are in parallel to avoid voltage drop. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Master (Jolly Roger) wiring (high level) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ESP32 VCC -> 3.3V (or VIN from 5V via onboard regulator) 

 

 

 LD2410 

 

 

 VCC -> 5V (or module-specified supply) 

 

 

 GND -> common GND 

 

 

 Output -> ESP32 BUSY/INT pin (see section 5) 

 

 

 

 

 DFPlayer Mini 

 

 

 VCC -> 5V 

 

 

 GND -> GND 

 

 

 RX/TX -> ESP32 UART (use hardware UART, see section 6) 

 

 

 

 

 Servos (SG90) 

 

 

 VCC -> 5V rail 

 

 

 GND -> GND 

 

 

 Signal -> ESP32 PWM-capable pin 

 

 

 

 

 LEDs -> 5V + data pin to ESP32 (with 470Ω series on the data line recommended for WS2812) 

 

 

 GC9A01 -> SPI bus pins + CS/DC/RST (see section 7) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Slave animatronic wiring (same as master but no LD2410) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ESP32, DFPlayer, servos, LEDs, GC9A01 wired exactly like master nodes. 

 

 

 Each slave listens for the master broadcast and runs its local routine. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Level shifting & BUSY-pin handling 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Problem: DFPlayer BUSY may be open-drain/floating or output 5V. 

 

 

 If BUSY is 5V TTL : use a resistor divider (example below) or logic level shifter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Voltage divider (5V -> 3.3V) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 BUSY (DFPlayer) ---- R1 ----+----> ESP32 input 

 | 

 R2 

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 GND 

 

 Use R1 = 10kΩ, R2 = 20kΩ -> Vout ≈ 3.33V when BUSY = 5V 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 BUSY to input-only pins (GPIO34–39) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 These pins do not support internal pull-ups . If the BUSY line can float (open-drain), add an external 10k pull-up to 3.3V . 

 

 

 If you wire BUSY to GPIOs that support INPUT_PULLUP (e.g., 25, 26, 32, 33), you can use pinMode(pin, INPUT_PULLUP) . 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 DFPlayer wiring notes (UART) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 DFPlayer VCC -> 5V, GND -> common ground. 

 

 

 DFPlayer TX -> ESP32 RX (no level shift needed if DFPlayer TX ≈ 3.3V). If unsure, measure with a multimeter. 

 

 

 DFPlayer RX -> ESP32 TX (ESP32 TX is 3.3V, OK for DFPlayer RX). 

 

 

 Use one of ESP32 hardware UARTs (UART2 is convenient): e.g. TX2=GPIO17, RX2=GPIO16. These pins are commonly free on dev boards. 

 

 

 If these pins conflict in your build, pick other UART-capable pins and configure Serial2.begin(9600, SERIAL_8N1, rxPin, txPin); . 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 GC9A01 round LCD (SPI) wiring 

 Example mapping (shared SPI bus; one CS per display): 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 SCLK -> GPIO18 

 

 

 MOSI -> GPIO23 

 

 

 MISO -> (not used) 

 

 

 CS -> GPIO5 (per display choose unique CS if multiple) 

 

 

 DC -> GPIO21 

 

 

 RST -> GPIO22 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 These pins are examples — SPI can be remapped. Keep MOSI/SCLK on the same SPI peripheral for best performance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Servo wiring & recommendations 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 SG90 signal pins are 3.3V-logic-friendly. 

 

 

 Use separate 5V supply for servos to avoid brownouts on ESP32. 

 

 

 Add a 1000 μF cap across 5V and GND near servo power feed. 

 

 

 Use PWM pins for servo signals; each ESP32 can drive several servos using ledc or servo libraries.