Ender 3 V2 – Upgrade the Firmware
Updating the Firmware
In this article we’ll be updating the firmware on the Ender 3 V2 by Creality and although these instructions are for the Jyer’s version, this will work with the one from Creality’s main website as well. I’m in no way responsible if any damages may occur, so do this at your own risk.
So there’s a couple of reason why you might want to update your machines’ firmware, but the main one is to fix any issues in operation, which can often include safety upgrades. Some community versions include added functionality, as well as a more up-to-date versions of marlin. The process will be identical for either versions of the firmware, as long as you understand some basics.
First off, there are two portions of the machine which typically need to be updated separately. The first is the motherboard, which is normally quite simple to update, and the second is the screen, which frequently requires some form of disassembly. I should point out that sometimes this process isn’t as straightforwards on certain machines, therefore you’ll always want to do some research before undertaking this task.
There are two different types of motherboards for this machine, and we’ll need to know which version ours is prior to uploading the firmware. To find this out, we’ll open up the base of the machine and read the labelling that’s on the motherboard. In my case, it was the 4.2.2. So that’s the version I will be downloading.
EDIT: The Ender 3 V2 started shipping 256k boards with some of their machines, and this affects the safety measures in the firmware. The PDF guide has been updated, but you must find out which CPU you have prior to doing this update. Here’s a link to the article which was brought to my attention.
In my testing, I did to update the machine with a larger 32gb card, however if you do run into issues you may which to switch to an 8 GB card instead. Once you’ve formatted the card to FAT32, you’ll download the files from either the Creality website or the GitHub page. In my case I’ve chosen to use the Community version since it includes several additional features which include but aren’t limited to the following. Manual levelling menu, Z offset menu, Pre-heat menu, Change filament, Support for the M600 command, Manual Mesh Levelling and an advanced menu which may be updated in the future.
First we’ll download the .bin file that’s going to be used to update the motherboard and that’ll be one of these files here. The files all follow a simple naming convention to make it easier to tell which option is the most suitable version for your machine. The first part of the name refers to the machine, which in this case is the Ender 3 V2. The second portion is the levelling method followed by the probing layout and Motherboard Version. If you’re looking to use the stock version, then you’ll want to choose the default version. In my case, I wanted to install the default version since I would be updating to a BLTouch at a latter date. Now that we have the motherboard firmware downloaded, we can now download the folder update for the screen. For this, you’ll scroll down and download the source code for the machine. Once you’ve downloaded this folder you’ll unzip it and go to Marlin + Display Firmware + Firmware Sets where you’ll pick the version that you want to use. In my case, I picked the DWIN_SET (Gotcha) version for this update. If you’re updating with the Creality versions, then all the necessary files will be within the Zip folder that you download.
You’ll copy the .bin file to your SD card once it’s been formatted to FAT32. Turning off your 3D printer, you’ll insert the SD card into the card reader, then power back on the machine. It will take a while longer to boot up, but once it’s finished loading the screen, the update should be complete. With the main motherboard updated, it’s now time to update the screen as well. In this case, updating the screen is optional, but I highly recommend doing it since it solves the contact issues which were present in the original version. Make sure to reformat the card again before copying your DWIN_SET (Gotcha) file to your SD card, you need to rename the folder, so you’re left with just DWIN_SET as the name. After turning off the printer, we’ll lift the screen out of it’s stand and turn it over to unplug the cable. Once that’s completed, we can then unscrew the cover and use a prying tool to remove the panel. You’ll notice an SD card reader, which is where we’re going to insert the SD card into. Simply turn on the machine to start the updating process. In this case, the screen will change to an orange colour once it’s finished updating. Simply close everything back up and put everything together, and you should be ready to go. One of the nice features in this update is the ability to change the interface colours to which every one’s you want. As you can see, I’ve begun playing around with these and many other settings to get the best results for this machine.
Personal notes
Supplies
- Micro SD Card (8GB or more)
- Access to Computer
Important notes
- Check Board Number (open the machine)
- Check CPU (512k swapped with 256k), 256k should only be updated with Creality firmware
- Micro SD formatted to FAT32
- Update motherboard + Screen
Yasmeen completed both the 2D and 3D animation course at Algonquin College and worked in the animation industry as a freelancer for a number of years before being hired to manage the 3D printing services at ItsYeBoi. While using the Alias of "Jenny" during her services, she was responsible for the testing, maintenance and upgrading of the machine while also filming and developing 3D printable assets for various projects.