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Getting Started

This section walks you through the initial setup of your HALSER board.

What You Need

  • HALSER board
  • Power source: NMEA 2000 network or any 5–32 V DC supply
  • Panel connectors or cable glands for NMEA 2000, power, and any serial interfaces you plan to use (see Enclosures)
  • A waterproof enclosure (see Enclosures)
  • USB-C cable for programming
  • Development environment (see Software)

Quick Start

  1. Wire power and NMEA 2000 — Connect your power source to the 4-pin terminal block. See Connecting Power and NMEA 2000 for wiring details.

  2. Verify power — The red power LED indicates that the board has power. If firmware is running, the RGB LED also lights up — with the default firmware it shows a rainbow animation, confirming the ESP32-C3 is operating correctly.

  3. Set up your development environment — HALSER is a development board. For most use cases, you will need to build and flash custom firmware. See Software Overview for options.

  4. Connect your serial device — Wire your NMEA 0183, RS-232, or UART device to the appropriate terminal block. See the Usage section for interface-specific wiring guides.

  5. Flash and test — Upload your firmware via USB-C and verify that data flows between your serial device and the NMEA 2000 network or WiFi.

Default Firmware

HALSER ships with a basic NMEA 0183 → NMEA 2000 gateway firmware for quick evaluation. See Default Firmware for details. For most practical applications, you will want to develop custom firmware tailored to your specific needs.