DIY — pick your path

Three ways to build a bimmerz box yourself. Same firmware, same web apps, same ECU communication on all three — only the hardware construction differs.

At a glance

	Module DEV-KIT	WiFi6 devkit	Custom PCB
Construction	Dev board + click / breakout boards + jumper wires	Single-board devkit + jumpered transceiver breakouts	Reflow your own PCB, source SMD parts
Tools	Soldering iron (for headers / wires)	Soldering iron (for jumper wires)	Reflow oven or hot-air station, paste, stencil
Cost	TBC	TBC	TBC
Time to first boot	A couple of hours	A couple of hours	A weekend
Size	Big — stack of breakouts in a 3D-printed enclosure	Small — devkit + two breakouts fit in a matchbox	OBD-II-dongle sized (~55 × 46 × 15 mm)
Ethernet / DoIP	Yes (LAN8720A on the carrier)	No (not broken out on the WiFi6 board)	Yes (on the PCB)
mikroBUS header	Yes (Click boards plug in)	No (wire the same breakouts with jumpers)	N/A
Looks like	A prototype	A prototype	A finished product
Good for	Firmware hacking with DoIP experiments	Compact bench rig, no Ethernet needed	Multiple units, finished installs, gift builds

Where to start

• DIY — Module DEV-KIT — Waveshare ESP32-P4 Module + carrier (SoM + Ethernet PHY + mikroBUS) with MikroE clicks and breakouts. Fastest path if you want Ethernet / DoIP experiments on the bench.

• DIY — WiFi6 devkit — Waveshare ESP32-P4-WiFi6 Devkit (single board, on-board C6 Wi-Fi 6, no Ethernet PHY) with external K-line + CAN transceivers on jumpers. Smallest / cheapest bench setup that runs the full firmware.

• DIY — custom PCB — KiCad design files, BOM, build steps. Reflow your own board. Same physical format as the ready-to-ship hardware.

Common to all three

• Firmware — same bimmerz_box.bin from the firmware repo. Pick the board overlay for your target (waveshare_p4_module_dev_kit, waveshare_p4_wifi6, or dongle); all three flash the same way.
• Web apps — same SD-card layout: sibling apps under /sdcard/apps/<slug>/, dashboard hub at /sdcard/sys/dashboard/, read-only vehicle data under /sdcard/data/.
• OTA + updates — same /settings/ upload form, same USB-MSC SD drop-in mechanism.

Or, skip DIY

If none of these sound appealing, ready-to-ship gets you the production hardware assembled, tested, and in an enclosure.