HELIOS_HUNTER is multi-coin mining firmware for the ESP32 Cheap Yellow Display. It combines an independent SHA-256d Stratum miner with balance pages for Cheetahcoin, WojakCoin, FixedCoin, DigiByte, eCash, Zcash, Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin.
HELIOS_HUNTER was not created by HeliosPool and is not an official HeliosPool product. I am simply a big fan of HeliosPool and wanted to create something for its community.
For support, I can be reached in the SOLO_HUNTER channel of the HeliosPool Discord server.
Two display versions are available:
HELIOS_HUNTER_ILI9341_v1.0.11_merged.binfor ILI9341 panelsHELIOS_HUNTER_ST7789_v1.0.11_merged.binfor ST7789 panels
Use only the firmware version that matches the display controller in your CYD.
- Added Garlicoin (GRLC) balances, logo, fiat prices, matching LED color and balance-increase alerts between WJK and FIX.
- Added a saved "Show on device" checkbox on every coin's web tab. Hidden pages are skipped in both directions; Home always remains available.
- Improved balance scheduling, price caching/fallbacks, TLS timeouts and memory use, including native flash-pixel logo drawing.
- Improved software-helper scheduling and buffered pool communication, with additional mining and reset diagnostics.
- Updated the pipelined hardware SHA engine with validated fallbacks.
- Added EUR alongside USD/CAD/GBP and kept all hashrates in kH/s.
GRLC and ZEC are balance tracking only. The miner uses SHA-256d. Actual hashrate depends on hardware and runtime conditions; this release does not promise a particular speed or zero watchdog resets.
- Hardware-accelerated ESP32 SHA-256d mining
- User-configurable pool, port, username, worker, and password
- Mining remains independent from the selected balance screen
- Screen order: HeliosPool, CHTA, WJK, GRLC, FIX, DGB, XEC, ZEC, BCH, BTC
- Looping swipe navigation and matching rear-LED colors
- Per-coin "Show on device" checkboxes in the web UI, saved across restarts
- Live hashrate, accepted/rejected shares, and best difficulty on every page
- Address balances and a selectable USD, CAD, GBP, or EUR value
- Block-found style notification when a tracked balance increases
- Browser-based setup and management UI
- Persistent Wi-Fi, mining, wallet, currency, brightness, and rotation settings
Third-party performance code and its required license notices are documented in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.
HELIOS_HUNTER is designed for the:
- ESP32-2432S028R Cheap Yellow Display
- ILI9341 or ST7789 320x240 display
- XPT2046 touch controller
Use this method for a new device, recovery, switching from unrelated firmware, or whenever the existing partition layout is unknown. Arduino IDE is not required.
Download the merged .bin file that matches your display from the latest GitHub release:
HELIOS_HUNTER_ILI9341_v1.0.11_merged.binHELIOS_HUNTER_ST7789_v1.0.11_merged.bin
Use an ESP32-compatible flashing tool and connect the CYD to your computer with USB.
- Select the merged file matching the CYD's ILI9341 or ST7789 screen.
- Flash it at
0x0000. - Restart the device and complete
HELIOS_HUNTER_SETUPwhen prompted.
The merged image contains the bootloader, partition table, boot application data, and HELIOS_HUNTER application. Do not assign additional offsets or flash the app-only update file during a new installation.
Use this method only on a device already running HELIOS_HUNTER with the Huge APP partition layout.
Download the update file matching the device's screen:
HELIOS_HUNTER_ILI9341_v1.0.11_update.binHELIOS_HUNTER_ST7789_v1.0.11_update.bin
- In the ESP32 flasher, select only the matching
_update.binfile. - Set its flash address to
0x10000(four zeros after the 1, not0x1000). - Set Erase Flash to No Erase, or disable full-chip erase.
- Flash the update and restart the device.
The update image replaces only the application. It leaves the NVS settings at
0x9000 untouched, preserving Wi-Fi, mining, wallet, currency, brightness,
LED, sleep, rotation, and coin-page visibility settings. Do not use this method if the flasher cannot
select 0x10000 and disable erase.
Always use the firmware matching the display controller:
- ILI9341 display → use the ILI9341 firmware
- ST7789 display → use the ST7789 firmware
Flashing the wrong display version may result in a blank, distorted, incorrectly colored, or unusable screen.
- Flash the merged firmware file that matches your screen at
0x0000. - Restart the ESP32 Cheap Yellow Display.
- Connect a phone or computer to the
HELIOS_HUNTER_SETUPWi-Fi network. - Select the Wi-Fi network the miner should use.
- Once connected, open the IP address shown on the Helios screen.
- Use the Mining tab to configure any compatible SHA-256d Stratum pool.
- Use each coin tab to save its balance address and choose Show on device.
Changing or viewing a coin does not change the active mining pool.
Mining is global and continues while the balance pages and web interface are in use.
The HELIOS_HUNTER source code is included in this repository for both supported display versions.
Separate source folders are provided for:
- ILI9341
- ST7789
Most users do not need to compile the source code. The precompiled merged .bin files can be flashed directly using an ESP32 flashing tool.
The source is provided for development, modification, troubleshooting, and community contributions.
Balance pages display public network data for the configured addresses. They do not represent unpaid pool earnings.
The firmware checks:
- Cheetahcoin (CHTA)
- WojakCoin (WJK)
- DigiByte (DGB)
- eCash (XEC)
- Zcash (ZEC, transparent
t1/t3addresses) - Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- FixedCoin (FIX)
through multiple independent explorer or Electrum sources. The firmware refreshes periodically and automatically tries a fallback when a provider is unavailable. DigiByte public data may occasionally be delayed by its provider.
The ZEC page tracks public transparent-address balances and fiat values. Zcash uses Equihash, so ZEC cannot be mined by HELIOS_HUNTER's SHA-256d engine.
The balance-increase notification assumes an increase may represent a mined reward. Incoming transfers can also trigger the notification.
Wi-Fi credentials, wallet addresses, and mining settings are entered after flashing and stored in the ESP32's local nonvolatile storage.
They are not embedded in this repository or in the released firmware files. Release binaries are built from the public source and checked for personal wallet addresses, Wi-Fi credentials, pool usernames, access tokens, email addresses, and local computer paths before publication.
The release copies also remove personal compiler/debug paths from read-only strings and update the ESP32 image checksums. Executable instructions are unchanged. Settings, filesystem, and core-dump partitions are checked to be blank; release images are not dumps from configured devices.
HELIOS_HUNTER does not require your wallet seed phrase or private keys.
Never enter a wallet seed phrase or private key into HELIOS_HUNTER. Only public wallet addresses are required for balance tracking.
Most users should install the release .bin with an ESP32 flasher. Arduino instructions are provided separately in BUILDING.md only for developers who want to compile the public source themselves.
HELIOS_HUNTER is distributed under GPL-3.0-or-later.
See LICENSE.