Need to identify product by Mac Address

[rdeblock]

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My router is showing a mac address connected that I cannot identify and I believe all known WiFi devices are listed separately. Trying to determine what this device is. Mac Address is: 48:3F:DA:6F:37:EF. Based on first 6 characters, this is one of Espressif's. Is there a way to tell from the Mac Address, which company the final product came from?

[mbratch]

Perhaps this? Search for manufacturer by MAC address.

[rdeblock]

Unfortunately, this still only shows Espressif as the manufacturer. I am positive that I don't own any Espressif product other than what might be in another vendor's product. Still looking for help.

[vonnieda]

Any smart home device you own that connects to WiFi could be the culprit, and there is likely no way to find out which it is without port scanning it, and recognizing ports, or pinging it and turning things off till the ping stops.

Espressif chips are used in tons and tons of smart home devices: smart light bulbs, switches, outlets, sensors, fans, humidifiers, etc.

[mbratch]

I guess I need a little clarification on what the problem is. Are you saying you have a MAC address that is being misidentified by the online tool? Or are you saying you need more information just "Espressif"? Or something else?

[rdeblock]

I understand that the chip is the heart and soul of the products it is put into. My Desktop computer is similarly built around an Intel chip but it does not use the MAC Address of the Intel chip inside. It uses a Hewlett Packard MAC Address. Was hoping that maybe although the first part of the MAC Address shows that it contains an Espressif chip, the entirety of the Address might shed more light.

[mbratch]

I understand that the chip is the heart and soul of the products it is put into. My Desktop computer is similarly built around an Intel chip but it does not use the MAC Address of the Intel chip inside. It uses a Hewlett Packard MAC Address. Was hoping that maybe although the first part of the MAC Address shows that it contains an Espressif chip, the entirety of the Address might shed more light.

This depends upon the architecture of the device. I'm not familiar with all the raw capabilities of Intel's microprocessors, but supposing that, say, the i7 has integrated Ethernet capability, and if the i7 has configuration flash, then Intel could/might provide an Intel MAC address pre-configured. But whether they do or not, a manufacturer like HP would be able to program their own if they wish. The only rule is that the MAC address for any device that might find its way on the internet is unique to that device.

If you were to buy a network interface card to plug into your desktop PC, it would have its own MAC address provided either by the manufacturer of the interface card, or by the manufacturer of a chip they use if that chip is what actually provides the interface capability.

The ESP32 is a microcontroller with embedded networking interface and so they ship from the manufacturer with a MAC address. Any manufacturer that uses the ESP32 may, at their discretion, change that MAC address. If you look at the ESP-IDF components library, there's a function to do this. The manufacturers of the miscellaneous small home automation fixtures (like "smart light bulbs") that use ESP32 evidently chose to use EPS32's default MAC provided by Espressif. It's a simple approach.

[rdeblock]

Thank you for an excellent explanation.