Flashing Wyze Doorbell (VDB1) with Thingino over UART (YMODEM) - themactep/thingino-firmware GitHub Wiki

What You’ll Need

• DSD TECH SH-U09BL USB to UART adapter (or any 3.3V UART adapter)
• Minicom (Linux) or another serial terminal program that supports YMODEM
• Firmware file: thingino-wyze_vdb1_t31x_sc4236_rtl8189ftv.bin

Rename it for convenience:

mv thingino-wyze_vdb1_t31x_sc4236_rtl8189ftv.bin thingino.bin

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1. Connect the UART Adapter

• TX → RX pad on the PCB
• RX → TX pad on the PCB
• GND → GND
• ⚠️ Do NOT connect VCC — power the doorbell using its normal power source

UART pad location:

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2. Set Up Minicom

Start Minicom:

sudo minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 115200

• Replace /dev/ttyUSB0 with your adapter’s device path
• Baud rate: 115200
• Settings: 8N1, no flow control

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3. Interrupt Boot

• Power on the doorbell while watching the Minicom output
• Rapidly press ESC when text starts scrolling
• You should see:
  • Login prompt → u: root, p: thingino
  • Password change prompt
  • Bootloader prompt → isvp_t31#

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4. Send Firmware via YMODEM

In Minicom:

• Press Ctrl+A, then S
• Choose YMODEM
• Select thingino.bin
• Wait for the transfer to finish

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5. Confirm Firmware Size

At the bootloader:

isvp_t31# echo ${filesize}

Expected output:

01000000   # (hex) = 16,777,216 bytes

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6. Flash to NOR

Run:

isvp_t31# sf probe
isvp_t31# sf update 0x80600000 0x000000 ${filesize}
isvp_t31# reset

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7. Enable Wi-Fi

Clean up:

killall wpa_supplicant 2>/dev/null
killall udhcpc 2>/dev/null
ip addr flush dev wlan0
ip link set wlan0 up

Generate a minimal config:

wpa_passphrase "SSID" "PASSWORD" > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

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8. Get IP & Open Web Interface

Check IP:

ip addr show wlan0

Open in a browser:

http://{wifi_ip_of_doorbell}

This will display the Initial Configuration Page: