The first flash needs one USB cable and about five minutes — the flasher handles every step and installs the latest release. From that moment on, the bay updates itself over the air.
Five minutes, fully hands-free.
One USB flash puts the latest firmware on the chip — whatever the newest release is when you open the page.
Reach the port
The 7th Bay's ESP32-C3 has its own USB-C port — open the caddy to reach it. Plug a data cable into a desktop Chrome, Edge, Opera or Brave.
Open the auto flasher
Press Connect device and pick the chip in the browser's device picker — it shows up as USB JTAG/serial debug unit. The flasher loads the latest release automatically, nothing to download.
Flash — about five minutes
Press Flash. The flasher erases the chip, writes the firmware, double-checks every part and reboots the bay by itself. The LED strip comes up running the new firmware — the cable's job is done.
Unplug — that was the last time you needed it
Reassemble the caddy and power the ZimaCube normally. The bay serves its own dashboard at zimacube.local or 172.16.1.1 — on its WiFi and, once it joins your home network, from any device in the house.
Where your bay lives — one name, everywhere.
From v3.5 the bay answers at zimacube.local in both cases — you never have to remember a number again:
- Connected to its own ZimaCube WiFi — open zimacube.local, or 172.16.1.1 (that one always works, any version).
- On your home WiFi — anywhere in the house — once the bay joins it (from the dashboard's WiFi tab, or pre-configured during the USB flash), zimacube.local works from every device on the network. No hotspot-hopping, no IP hunting.
- Stock firmware — the hotspot address 172.16.1.1 is the way in. Another reason to move to the latest firmware.
Neither resolves? The flasher page has a network finder, and the bay always shows its own current address on its WiFi tab.
Updates happen on the bay itself.
The whole update path, end to end — this is as complicated as it gets.
Join your WiFi
On the dashboard's WiFi tab, scan, pick your network and connect. (Already pre-configured during the flash? It did this itself.) The bay gets its own address on your network — zimacube.local — reachable from every device in the house.
Updates happen on the device, forever
Open the dashboard's Update tab and press Check for update. If there's a new release, one more click downloads and flashes it — ~15 seconds, no cable, settings intact. The bay reboots and comes back exactly as you left it.
If anything ever goes sideways
The same cable and the same flasher page fix everything — a blank, broken or bricked chip is a normal USB flash away from working. And stock firmware is one pick away too, so nothing is permanent.
Ready when you are.
The flasher carries the latest firmware and the official IceWhaleTech stock — the same page installs, upgrades and reverses. Nothing it does is permanent.