ESP-01s vs Wemos D1 Mini

[Semper Talis]

I do not know if I am the only one with this problem , so please give feedback if you can.

I added the ESP-01s to the ALTAIR Duino and it seemed to work .

However I discovered quickly problems with unstable WiFi connections, slow response and breakdown of the connection after a few minutes.

First I blamed it on the weaker WiFi in my Office as my WiFi is optimized for the rest of the house but not my office.

But relocating the Altair closer to the WiFi router did not improve much and only very close proxy to the router made it stable.

As ESP-01s and the Wemos D1 Mini are practically the same , just that the Wemos has more accessible IO, I programmed a Wemos with the Serial2WiFi passthrough and replaced the ESP-01s .

The difference is breathtaking , no lag , rock solid connection even in my WiFi “hole” in my office 

Additionally more than one Telnet connection at a time is now possible.

I can Telnet in from my office computer and my laptop at the same time.

I checked the web for explanation and all I could find is that the ESP-01s has in deed a weaker antenna performance due to his small size .

It was also mentioned that the Wemos has a cleaner power supply wich may or may not improves the overall performance.

In summery here is what I did:

Replaced the ESP-01s with a Wemos D1 Mini loaded with the exact same Arduino sketch used for the ESp-01s.

The parts are naturally not incompatible , so either use wires to make the right connections or build a little adapter board.

Price difference is minimal , 

ESP-01s price ( $2.34 up to $9.79)

Wemos D1 Mini (~$3.41 or $2.17 in bulk) Sometimes you can snatch them for under $2

You can even get Wemos D1 with external antennas for even better reception.

Another advantage of the Wemos, it has a USB port included, so you need no programmer and can even change the software in place without disassembly of the Altair.

Also it has more memory and you can expand the capabilities by adding a HTTP server access and/or adding sensors, real time clock, etc .

[Semper Talis]

Correction I meant to say "pin compatible" not incompatible 

[Cliff Chism]

That’s all very interesting. I’ve got the esp01s sitting on my desk,waiting for time to install it. Maybe I’ll order the wemo to sit next to it for a while…lol. 

[Semper Talis]

Cliff,

well I am looking forward what your experience with the ESP-01s is .

If your WiFi router is in the same room you should not see much impact.

First thing I noticed when I moved away from the router was some lag/delay in the response from the Altair.

Then it would get a bit spotty and finally it just hang up on me.

But as I said , that is maybe just me , I had a very old ESP-01s laying around which I reused for this.

I think I got this almost a decade ago and played with it a little.

[Cliff Chism]

Ordered one this morning. I just dont know how long it will be before I get to install it. I teach my granddaughter a class on computers (now including computer history with the AltairDuino and IMSAI8080esp) and I decided that I wanted to show her how we communicated with BBS’s before the internet. But, i haven’t had a landline in over 10 years, so I started building a local PBX for the computers to connect to. Then, I had to set up a dos computer to run a bbs server and then we decided it would be cool if she had her own phone in her room to call her Papaw anytime she wanted to (she lives about a quarter mile away) so I am expanding the local pbx to her house using a wifi Halow link. It will also be interesting to see how high of a baud rate the Halow link will allow between modems at a quarter mile. The project has just ballooned. But, at the very least I should be able to look at the two boards and look for design differences that might influence wifi range before I actually install them. Be well. 

[Semper Talis]

That sounds to be a fun project .

Make sure she experience 300 baud :-) 

If I remember right I could get never higher than 1200 baud back then .

BTW, I was living In Germany in the late 80's and it was a real cost factor to call a BBS in the next town.( Calling local wasn't cheap either) 

I did it once and my mom got really angry with me when we got the phone bill.

I do not know how the situation was here in the US but even local BBS had a time limit when you called and you had to plan what you wanted to do otherwise you got disconnected in the middle of data transfer.

Beside all this , in Germany the telecom laws at the time where draconian .

You where not allowed to add anything to the phone line which was not brought via the German telecom.( Deutsche Bundespost) 

Not even an extension cable!.

Everyone with a computer and a modem where always on the lookout as the telecom where hawkish on checking that nobody touches "their" system.

It changed slowly in the 1990's but at the time it was ridiculous .