Fail of the week with ESP8266 Cheap Wifi

17 Oct 2014

A little more than a month ago a friend told me about a cheap wifi module. So I searched for this piece of wifi magic and founded the ESP8266 Wifi module. And it is really cheap. Depending on where you get it and the version we can say is between $5 and $8 for one module. Told myself I can spare $8 for this Wifi promise land so I ordered two for a little more than $8.

Yesterday I got them, right away I got very exited!! On yes, new toy!

First I realized that I ordered the ESP8266 ESP-03 model. Seems to be one of the favorites (from the forums) because it has several exposed digital IOs. But .... (there is always a but) it has no pin headers, so I said, no problem I solder a few and get done with it. Pin space separation is not the same as my pin headers. I then move to plan B (or C, hard to keep track when you are exited to get this working). Anyhow, the idea was to place it on a perf board and solder small wires to the position of some pin headers so I can wire this up.

I did manage to hook up some wires then the moment came. I got the usb to serial, connected to the device, opened the terminal window and.... and..... nothing! Nothing at all.

As of now I do not know if I damaged the device or the soldering is not good enough or even if I am totally wiring it incorrectly. For that I air my frustration here while I manage to get a lease from sleeping time to continue working on this.

It may be nothing, but this board has the antenna upside down. Comparing it to the other, and to others in the web. It might be nothing.

What is my future plan:

I got two of this, in the new un-touched one I will be more carefull.

1. Only wire the needed pins to avoid overheating the thing.

2. Hook everything through a level shifter to make sure I am on the safe side of the 3.3V

3. Pray

4. See what happens

Also there is one of the other versions in the way so I will try with other versions. I am sure this will be sorted out, and I will be able to use this for the Christmas decorations. But if someone is using one of these modules, or just have any comment, please do.

I will update with progress about this for others to benefit, there are not that many youtube videos about this device. However it seems to be working for a lot of folks.

I don't easily give up. Hope tonight I have the time to make this work.

Top Comments

camuyano over 10 years ago in reply to Former Member

As soon as I have the time will do and let you know. It sounds like a good plan. thanks
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camuyano over 10 years ago in reply to hansaya

Thanks for the link, the video was great. I used a level shifter with other ESP8266 board. But I didn't knew how it worked, (I copied the design from a Sparkfun bidirectional level shifter).Here is the link of the board I did ESP8266 interface board on it's way (WifIco) On that board I did some mistakes specially with the silk screen. These days I am very busy with other projects, but plan on retaking this 01 model to make it work.
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hansaya over 10 years ago in reply to Former Member

ESP-03 requires
GPIO15 to be connected to GND
CHPD to be connected to vcc (3.3v)
VCC to be connected to +3.3v at least 150mA source
GND at GND

This is all you need to power the chip

When comes to communication, RX pin on the chip, voltage sentive. You have to use a proper voltage shifter otherwise it wont work. There many ways to do it. I uses a resistor with with zener diod to cut over voltage, and simple resistor divider wont work at high bud rates.

Watch this videohttp://youtu.be/t-yuYasIKtY

FYI dont use a arduino for now to communicate. Use a usb serial converter till you get the hang of it
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Former Member over 10 years ago

Did you try flashing the firmware? When I ordered the ESP-01 it came without a firmware. So burn the official firmware and let me know the status.
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Former Member over 10 years ago

Thanks...its been 24 years since playing with electronics and man am I rusty. I love the programming part of it now. Thanks for the tip Javier.

Hooked up 2 double AA batteries and it stays on nicely....to program I put GPIO0 to low but when i try to talk to it it only echos back what I say.. When i take GPIO0 off of low and remove the TX and RX from the arduino I can then see the WIFI on my cellphone. Any reason why i am getting echo? I tried using Terminal and the arduino serial interface.

Dave
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