ESP32 board with ripped USB socket

[bitwelder]

I have an ESP32-based small board (one of those small weather/soil condition monitor stations) where the tiny SMD micro-USB socket ripped off from the PCB.
Instead of trying it to re-solder it, would it be possible to plug just 'at flashing time' a USB-to-UART converter to the ESP32 TX/RX pins, and work it that way?

My hope is to flash there something like Mongoose OS or similar, so that after I flashed and configured it once, in future I could do OTA updates.

[m k]

If that kind of flashing is enabled then yes.
Connect a terminal and try it.
I read that speed is 115K, mode is unknown but try 8N1.
You should receive something meaningful.

[GodIsRealUnless DefinedInt]

Wish I was here last year, you can hook GND to GND, power 3.3V to the DevKitC and then USB>>Serial>>TTL level TX to the DevKitC RX and USB>>Serial>>TTL RX to the DevKitC TX. Then ground IO0 (Boot) and press the (EN) to enter programming mode. You should see something similar to:

rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x3 (DOWNLOAD_BOOT(UART0/UART1/SDIO_REI_REO_V2))
waiting for download

Then in the Arduino IDE you can upload your sketch. I use the same technique on Arduino UNO boards when having reprogrammed the second ATMEL firmware to be a USB HID but still needing to do program the main ATMEL / upload new sketches.

Get yourself the Free book on ESP32 available here: https://leanpub.com/kolban-ESP32 it will help you with your ESP32 endeavors.

[oliviasmithh900]

it won't be wise to use the usb pins that way, you should go with the default style