Improve WiFi&Manual IP docs (#38)

esphomeyaml/components/ota.rst

@@ -44,6 +44,17 @@ Configuration variables:
    to ``3232`` for the ESP32 and ``8266`` for the ESP8266.
 -  **id** (*Optional*, :ref:`config-id`): Manually specify the ID used for code generation.
 
+.. note::
+
+    If you get errors like
+
+    .. code::
+
+        ERROR [esphomeyaml.espota] Failed
+        ERROR [esphomeyaml.espota] Host livingroom.local Not Found
+
+    when attempting to upload via OTA, please try setting a :ref:`manual IP for WiFi <wifi-manual_ip>`.
+
 See Also
 --------
 

esphomeyaml/components/wifi.rst

@@ -67,6 +67,36 @@ can connect to. Additionally, you can specify both a "normal" station mode and A
 same time. This will cause esphomelib to only enable the access point when no connection
 to the wifi router can be made.
 
+.. _wifi-manual_ip:
+
+Manual IPs
+----------
+
+If you're having problems with your node not connecting to WiFi or the connection
+process taking a long time, it can be a good idea to assign a static IP address
+to the ESP. This way, the ESP doesn't need to go through the slow DHCP process.
+
+You can do so with the ``manual_ip:`` option in the WiFi configuration.
+
+.. code:: yaml
+
+    wifi:
+      # ...
+      manual_ip:
+        # Set this to the IP of the ESP
+        static_ip: 10.0.0.42
+        # Set this to the IP address of the router. Often ends with .1
+        gateway: 10.0.0.1
+        # The subnet of the network. 255.255.255.0 works for most home networks.
+        subnet: 255.255.255.0
+
+After putting a manual IP in your configuration, the ESP will no longer need to negotiate
+a dynamic IP address with the router, thus improving the time until connection.
+
+Additionally, this can help with :ref:`Over-The-Air updates <ota>` if for example the
+home network doesn't allow for ``.local`` addresses. When a manual IP is in your configuration,
+the OTA process will automatically choose that as the target for the upload.
+
 See Also
 --------
 

esphomeyaml/guides/faq.rst

@@ -169,9 +169,7 @@ Some steps that can help with the issue:
    patches. See :ref:`esphomeyaml-arduino_version`.
 -  The issue seems to be happen with cheap boards more frequently. Especially the "cheap" NodeMCU
    boards from eBay sometimes have quite bad antennas.
--  Play around with the ``keepalive`` option of the :doc:`MQTT client </esphomeyaml/components/mqtt>`, sometimes
-   increasing this value helps (because it's causing more pings in the background), some other times a higher
-   keepalive works better.
+-  Give your ESP a :ref:`static IP <wifi-manual_ip>`.
 
 Devices that will (hopefully) be supported soon:
 ------------------------------------------------
@@ -242,9 +240,6 @@ First we temporary 'remove' (comment out) all components from the ``yaml`` file,
 
 This will result in really small firmware data which has a high chance of fitting the remaining space on your device. After this OTA update has succeeded you are left with a device with no functionality except OTA. Now you can re-enable all components previously commented out and perform a 'normal' OTA update again.
 
-How to manully flash a firmware binary
---------------------------------------
-
 See Also
 --------