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Wireless USB

The Wireless USB is a small USB-A stick that ncSender uses to talk to your wireless accessories — the Pendant, AutoDustBoot, and Smart RGB LED — over the air. One Wireless USB can host all of them simultaneously; you plug it into the computer running ncSender once and forget it.

Wireless USB stick

What it does

  • Radio bridge between ncSender and each paired accessory (no Wi-Fi network required — it uses ESP-NOW, a low-latency direct-radio protocol).
  • Multi-device pairing. On firmware v0.3.0 and newer, one Wireless USB can hold up to 8 paired devices at once. Older firmware only supports a single paired pendant.
  • Per-Wireless-USB licensing. Some accessories check the Wireless USB's licence when they connect — activation is per-Wireless-USB, not per-device, so a licensed Wireless USB serves everything paired to it.

The Wireless USB dialog

Everything you need to pair, unpair, activate, or check device status is in one place — the Wireless USB dialog in ncSender.

To open it: click the Wireless USB icon in the ncSender toolbar (circled in the screenshot below — sits next to the workspace / status indicators). The dialog opens over the visualizer.

Opening the Wireless USB dialog from the ncSender toolbar

The dialog shows whether the Wireless USB is plugged in and activated, and lists every accessory in the paired-device catalogue. Ones you've paired show as Connected with an Unpair button; ones you don't own yet show a Get One link. Use + Pair New Device at the top of the list to pair a new accessory.

Pairing a new device

The pendant, AutoDustBoot, and Smart RGB LED all pair the same way from the ncSender side.

  1. Click the pendant icon in the toolbar to open the Wireless USB dialog.
  2. Click "+ Pair New Device". A 30-second countdown starts — the Wireless USB is now listening for a new device to pair.
  3. On the accessory, enter pairing mode. The exact gesture varies by device:
    • Pendant — Setup → ESP-NOW → Scan
    • AutoDustBoot — hold the pair button for 3 seconds (LED blinks)
    • Smart RGB LED — hold the pair button for 3 seconds (strip flashes white)
  4. Verify. The device appears in the Wireless USB dialog's device list as Connected within a few seconds.

The 30-second window closes fast

Start the accessory's pairing gesture as soon as you click + Pair New Device — if the window closes before you finish, just click it again.

Unpairing a device

In the Wireless USB dialog, click Unpair next to the device you want to remove and confirm. The device stays paired on its own side until you clear it there too (each accessory's page has its own unpair step).

When to flash new firmware

Under normal use you never touch the Wireless USB. Flash a firmware update when:

  • You're enabling wireless multi-device support. Running the pendant alongside AutoDustBoot or Smart RGB LED on the same Wireless USB requires v0.3.0 or newer; older firmware only supports a single paired pendant.
  • A newer firmware fixes an issue you're hitting — pairing failures, intermittent disconnects, LCD glitches, etc.

How to flash the Wireless USB firmware

You only have to do this once

v0.3.5 is the last firmware that needs the browser flasher. From v0.3.5 onward the Wireless USB can update itself, so every future update — for the Wireless USB and for every accessory paired to it — is done from inside ncSender / ncSender Pro under Accessories. No BOOT button, no unplugging, no browser. Flash v0.3.5 once, and you are finished with this page.

Unlike the pendant / AutoDustBoot / Smart RGB LED, the Wireless USB is flashed from your browser, not from inside ncSender. You'll need Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge (v89+) — Safari and Firefox do not support the Web Serial API the flasher uses.

  1. Quit ncSender on every computer that has this Wireless USB plugged in. Only one program can hold the serial port at a time — if ncSender is running, the flasher's Connect step will fail.
  2. Open the flasher in Chrome or Edge: Wireless USB Flasher →
  3. Pick a firmware version from the list on the page. v0.3.5 is the current release, and it is the last one you will ever flash this way — see the note below. It is also required for wireless firmware updates: on v0.3.3 and older the Wireless USB resets itself partway through an over-the-air update, so pendant / AutoDustBoot / Smart RGB LED updates stall and never finish.
  4. Put the Wireless USB into boot mode:
    1. Press and hold the small BOOT button on the Wireless USB.
    2. While still holding, plug it into a USB port on your computer.
    3. Continue holding for about 1 second, then release.
  5. Click Connect in the flasher. A browser dialog asks which serial device to attach — pick the entry that just appeared (usually shows ESP32-S3 or similar). If nothing appears in the list, the Wireless USB isn't in boot mode — unplug it and repeat step 4.
  6. Click Flash firmware. A progress bar fills as the new firmware writes. It takes about 10–20 seconds. Do not unplug the Wireless USB while it's flashing.
  7. When the progress reaches 100%, unplug the Wireless USB and plug it back in. On power-up it shows the new firmware version on its own LCD.

Checking the Wireless USB firmware version

The Wireless USB prints its firmware version on its own LCD at power-on (e.g. v0.3.0). You can also see it at the top of the Wireless USB dialog in ncSender.

Compatibility

Accessories and the Wireless USB running mismatched firmware major versions may fail to pair. If you update the Wireless USB to v0.3.x, make sure your accessories are on their v0.3.x-compatible firmware too (see each accessory's page for the exact minimum version).

After a major firmware update

A major-version bump on the Wireless USB (for example v0.2.x → v0.3.x) wipes the stored paired-device list. Every previously-paired accessory will show as disconnected even though both devices power on normally. Re-pair each one — you only have to do this once per major-version change.