ESP8266 Woes...

[James Cadman]

Hey guys,


I just receives a couple of these new esp8266 WiFi breakouts (specifically the wi07c from electrodragon) and so far the experience can only be described as frustrating!

I have managed to get thel talking directly over a UART adapter to coolterm but using the examples and getting started guides for arduino have come up with nothing but fruatration!

So far I've worked out you need to pull up the CH_PD pin to 3.3v (not documented on any official ish guides!) and they all have diagrams showing a direct connection to your arduino hardware serial port... But anyone who claims to have had any success seems to be using a level shifter.

So if you have any of these bits on their way from China, save yourself some frustration and make sure you have some level shifters handy! Proto PIC are flogging a zener diode type for £1.01 as they are about to discontinue it, so get them while they're hot... 112 in stock last check! Available here: http://proto-pic.co.uk/logic-level-converter

Happy Hacking,
James.

[Andrea Campanella]

I think a good old pull-up/pull-down resistor should do the job as well, if you want we can check the signal with the scope next time and try to understand the clearness of the signal...

[James Cadman]

Thanks Andrea, I would definitely appreciate some help so I'll make sure to bring them next week!

James.

[Andrea Campanella]

damn, i'm not in london next week :/

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Andrea "emuboy" Campanella

[James Cadman]

Well, I hope that you guys are up for a challenge, as these little chips are pretty challenging!

I'm at the point now where I've worked out that you need to hold CH_PD high along with GPIO0 otherwise they won't work at all.  In this configuration they work.... some of the time.  The same code, wiring and Arduino could work, then the same code after a reset won't....

I think no matter how awesome these little chips could be... they aren't there yet - and believe its down to firmware.  I've had them working some of the time but at this point I couldn't integrate one into a project and just be confident that it will work reliably.

I look forward to the next meetup though, some fresh eyes on this would be really helpful!

James.

[Adrian Godwin]

There are a few sites dealing with these. Are you following any one in particular ?

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[James Cadman]

Hi Adrian,

I think I'm following all of them!  I have spent hours every night over the last week playing and tinkering.  I've followed all ESP8266 related github repo's and scoured forums and all sorts.

I genuinely think the firmware is buggy.  The old firmware they shipped with I can get to work, some of the time.  The latest firmware from Electrodragon doesn't work at all, in any config I can find.  I think they changed some of the commands and/or responses but haven't had time to confirm that suspicion yet though.

James.

James

http://jamescadman.com

[Nigel Worsley]

> The latest firmware from Electrodragon doesn't work at all, in any config I can find.

I had the same problems, it nearly worked to begin with but now the module
goes busy when asked for a list of access points and stays that way forever.

I have a few spare modules if someone else wants to give them a try.

Nigle

[Carlos Cardoso]

The firmware is buggy... but I think the main problem is the protocol not being very Arduino-friendly. 

That being said, there are plenty of posts claiming that a new firmware has been created to solve some of the bugs and a better protocol, but I haven't had the chance to test it on my ESP8266 at home. 

Did you check the esp8266 forum? 

[Faraz Sayed]

Here's a little video of setting up the esp8266 and parsing the thingspeak website manually to get some information.

Cheap and Easy WiFi (IoT) Tutorial Part 1 - ESP82…: http://youtu.be/qU76yWHeQuw