Almost as if I was trying to beat a WDT reset. I put a tiny version of MicroPython on this module but I couldn't get many features working, not sure if it was due to being stripped down to reduce the size of the BIN or simply that MicroPython wont run on this module. Wire GPIO0 to GND if you're programming, leave the pin floating (there's an on-board pull-up resistor) if you want to run its program. by Member #1338166 As soon as we tested this on our older Mac iOS v10.7.5 Lion, we received the same error. if so any chance of a batch having a SOIC pad? "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sparkfun/Arduino_Boards/esp8266/IDE_Board_Manager/package_sparkfun_index.json file signature verification failed. That was a bust because I could not find a micropython build that would load on this particular board. Is it possible or should I stick with turning off the radio with WiFi.mode(WIFI_OFF) and accept the higher battery drain?~~~ I believe I need to use system_rtc_mem_write and system_rtc_mem_read, about 8 years ago The PowerCell is pretty close to that circuit. I use deepSleep in my sketch & debugging/reprogramming requires switching that connection off & on each time. Used the ESP8266 Thing to interface with sensors and to post data to a MySQL database. If you want to improve it, it would be great if there were buttons for reset and programming or pads/traces to add your own. by Tomatoeyes It should now be in bootloader mode, and you should be able to upload a sketch to it with just GND, RX, and TX wired up from your RS232 Shifter. (I've lifted the power LED, etc, to extend batter life.) To flash the code, there are different tools out there that you could use. Thanks for your response. I have a funny feeling something funny is happening with the DTR and reset on programming.. Do you plan on offering this with 8 Mbit of SPI flash instead of 4 Mbit? This will help enable the CIUPDATE command in the latest SDK. It would save a lot of space for me. To charge efficiently, you'll want to get/build a solar powering circuit. I actually programed my thing in under 3 hours (including updating arduino ide and installing stuff) it was awesome. An introduction to Home Assistant, an open source home automation hub. Our technical support team will do their best to assist you. I connected a few I2C temp sensors (TC74) and a non-invasive current sensor to this board and had it sending data over the WiFi network in no time. It just shows reading from 30 to 60 where I was expecting a reading of 307 ( with 0,3 volts applied). The configuration is stored in flash and once configured it will frequently wake up momentarily to check sensors for leaks with deep sleep inbetween. It is a dud, fortunately ordered similar board from Chinese company for 8$ and works like charm. It seems to me that the battery connector is wired up backwards to convention. about 3 years ago ESP8266 Thing Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn verified purchaser. How can I be like Professor X? With or without the jumper, i get only griberish which as a result makes the use of AT commands impossible with this board. Well done SF! How much flash does this board have ? I have mine posting light sensor data to a phant.io stream and it's been doing great for months now with only a couple drop outs, maybe for a couple hours at a time, and it always reconnects itself. The only problem was it apparently doesn't pull down DTR, so then I hooked the fake ftdi to the DTR on the thing, opened putty on a second com port, the Thing dropped right into download mode and took sketch after sketch. I cannot read the part number (burned through) - what is an appropriate replacement FET in case I want to try it again? Failed Wifi Connect I will be buying some more as we expand our project definitely want to make some "Cloud Clouds"! There is a lot of similarity and code swapping capability between The Thing, the Ada fruit Huzzah and the Photon, but the lipo battery connector and charging circuit is a unique addition.ands is the space for a couple of other ic's. Skill Level: Competent - The toolchain for programming is a bit more complex and will examples may not be explicitly provided for you. Yes. Is anyone else having trouble with the sqrt(), log() and exp() functions in the Arduino environment? verified purchaser. We need to make sure it has secure access to this board so just not anyone can shut down or reset these systems. After you've wired GPIO0 to GND, reset the ESP8266 by sliding the on/off switch off then on. verified purchaser. I don't know if everyone already knew this, but here it is: I was having a lot of trouble trying to run this off of battery, whether the LiPo's that are sold as accessories, or a 3 AA holder at 4.5 V to the Vin Pin, or a 6V battery run through a 5V voltage regulator to the Vin pin. My roommate somehow damaged the sensor in his room (probably by stepping on it after he moved it from where I placed it, which wasn't on the floor) causing the bottom of the temp sensor wires I soldered through the board to puncture the thin covering of the battery. I posted a little more about my experience here: https://katygero.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/iot-light-sensor-its-a-thing/, about 7 years ago A basic soldering iron is all you should need. See this section of the hookup guide for more info. You can even program the Thing through the Arduino IDE by installing the ESP8266 Arduino addon. Like most things from Sparkfun, it's a well-engineered product that works as advertised. If you're using USB, you can probably expect around 500mA (minus a little bit for whatever the ESP8266 is pulling). Research into the problem leads me to believe that this is a general issue with the ESP8266, and not a flaw in the design of the Thing, but know that it will definitely affect you. Ok found the problem for the bad ADC reading. The ESP8266 Thing Dev board does not include a trace to cut the DTR pin which makes it easier to debug and send serial data to a serial monitor/terminal. The error occurred on Ubuntu 14.04 with Arduino 1.6.4 for me as well. The time/date stamp on data.sparkfun.com are all set to UTC, and that can't be modified. Does anyone have an idea about how to send the SSID and password to the board from an app/mobile/client using Soft AP? MQTT then gives me a very lightweight way to queue up messages and easily read. We've made the ESP8266 easy to use by breaking out all of the modules pins, adding a LiPo charger, power supply, and all of the other supporting circuitry it requires. about 7 years ago verified purchaser. PDF SparkFun ESP8266 Thing A sweet tutorial would be an example of how to use the SoftAP (?) I was laugh-out-loud happy with the web server! While there are such products on the market that target artists, they tend to be quite expensive ($300 and up per unit). verified purchaser. Really, all she wants to see is the box she can hold in her hand, with a power switch, USB for powering/recharging, and the LCD display. I now own both. Got bit by a fake FTDI chip. Add a coaxial power plug for attaching the solar cell. Will this thing cut off at 2.8V to protect the battery from over-discharge? Great board but not clear how it differentiates from Huzzah, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13231#comment-5571c58bce395fdd058b4567, https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/esp8266-thing-hookup-guide/resources--going-further, https://www.sparkfun.com/search/results?term=lipo+charger, https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/issues/275#issuecomment-104470653, https://github.com/igrr/esptool-ck/releases, https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0jwgLkjMWzDWU1pb0RseWdtbmM, http://www.instructables.com/id/ESP8266-ADC-Analog-Sensors/?ALLSTEPS, http://www.instructables.com/id/ESP8266-with-Multiple-Analog-Sensors/, https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/esp8266-thing-hookup-guide/discuss#comment-55a05571ce395f88538b4567, https://github.com/bwhitman/bread-detector, https://data.sparkfun.com/output/wpvZ9pE1qbFJAjaGd3bn?timezone=America/Denver, Integrated TR switch, balun, LNA, power amplifier and matching network, Integrated PLLs, regulators, DCXO and power management units, Integrated low power 32-bit CPU could be used as application processor. It appears as if there is a loop that takes too long to complete inside the these functions and the watchdog timer kicks the board out of the loop(). Again, overall a Great product. http://thesignalpath.com/blogs/2015/12/07/tutorial-and-experiments-with-esp8266-soc-blynk-app-arduino-and-internet-of-things-iot/. Herein lies the two improvements I can think of. Amazon.com: SparkFun ESP8266 Thing - Dev Board - WiFi-enabled Thanks. The 09717 cable is not the best choice for this device, but I made it work. by dafoink 36V, what micro-controller board can handle that much on it's own? about 4 years ago Getting it connected & Posting data to my site was the easiest part, particularly with the excellent example code. We lovingly call it the Thing -- it's the perfect foundation for your Internet of Things. I've reported the issue in upstream esptool-ck here: https://github.com/igrr/esptool-ck/issues/1#issuecomment-109005481. I can't wait to get this all pulled together. This is one of the best examples of great products by the folks at sparkfun. verified purchaser. by Member #441596 If there is something I am missing about this, I'd love to hear a suggestion. Needed to backup and figure out how to install the libraries for that. The device works well despite slightly flaky programming, even when USB-powered. I am aware that the chip might come from overseas, but sometimes the production quality of stuff from eBay (China) is not up to snuff or does not work at all. Also, the location of the holes to allow a jumper to be installed/removed from the DTR line is too close to the other holes. I know this has been done via NodeMCU, but I don't know if it's possible via the Arduino IDE. I don't think it's all that important in 99% of applications. Much more reliable and stable than the NodeMCU stuff. Much easier on fingers than fiddling with a tiny jumper next to the pin header. I purchased a few of these along with a bunch of other devices (Particle Photon, NodeMCU Dev v0.9 boards, ESP8266 boards, etc.). Shortly after it caught on fire and was thankfully discovered before it could do any serious damage. Is there a way to program this with Sparkfun's RS232 shifter https://www.sparkfun.com/products/449 ? Simplest and quickest way to get connected to a network/Internet, period! Have recently discovered that my unit was manufactured with the u.FL mounted "backward" - the center pin is connected to the "NC" pad instead of the signal input. If you've got the esp8266/arduino addon, select "Generic ESP8266 Module" as the board, then set the flash size to "4M", and that should work for the Thing. by Member #550453 Can the LiPo be attached as a backup power source for situations where the USB power source fails?? Info on simple $3.35 "proto shield" for devel work at bottom of verified purchaser. "world of warcraft gateway" 3D Models to Print - yeggi verified purchaser. After all, if the USB isn't connected, the FTDI chip isn't going to be doing anything useful. In this guide, we show you how to combine some simple components to remotely log temperature data, send yourself texts and control lights from afar. More then enough microprocessor power to remote control IoT devices and post data to Phant/ThingSpeak. Dito: arduino-1.6.4 on linux (ubuntu 14.04LTS). Providing holes for a removable jumper for that function would be very nice so I don't have to unsolder a wire to allow for program uploads. -------------------- Tech Support Tips/Troubleshooting/Common Issues --------------------. verified purchaser. this is handy since I can publish different things like whether the garage door is open or closed, what the current temperature is, and what my unread email account is. ~~~I'd like to know, though: is there a way to store some data and have it survive a spell in deep sleep? I included a Dallas Semiconductor I2C temperature chip (just because I wanted to try the I2C bus), a reed relay to sense the door, and stuck a magnet on the garage door frame. Added to all that is the fact that the engineers at SparkFun were thoughtful enough to include both an on/off switch (amazing how few devices out there include this---the $300 WiFi unit I mentioned above does not, meaning that you must connect/disconnect the battery from the JST socket every time you use the device, and that requires a tool unless you're willing to break a lot of fingernails) and an on-board charger for the battery (another feature almost universally omitted). Here are some guides on the basics of electronics, that we have written, which will help you with that: Thanks for the response, although my question was related to the esp thing specifically. We tried different board definition versions but we were unsuccessful. I uploaded to the "Thing" the example sketch "AP Web Server" with success. The ESP8266 things proved a simple wireless platform for 1-wire sensors. The shield comes with a USB to Serial port chip CH340G. Now that I have learned some off the tricks to using this Thing, I already have a few other ideas for it. I haven't tested the WiFi range but it works well sitting on my desk. (If you look at the schematics for the ESP8266 Thing, there are no breakout pins on the board to attach a power switch.). I found this out, because 2 of my Things have very weak antennas, not liking to be out of LOS to the router. Make an RGB colored cloud light! (Using it for a touchscreen WiFi clock + bedside controller for Magic-Home WiFi lights -- kind of a DIY Chumby, if anyone remembers those). about 8 years ago But the Thing does not come flashed with the AT command firmware, so maybe that's why you're not getting a response. Examining the diverse world of Arduino boards and understanding the differences between them before choosing one for a project. I keep getting the dreaded I flashed ESP Basic 1.89, using esptool.py and the FTDI Basic 3.3. I did try with 115200 (the baud rate I used with the wifi module) but nothing happens. verified purchaser, Easy to program, I've got my chicken-door open/closed sensor (almost) up and running. Using Sparkfun's excellent setup guides and example code I was able to create wireless temperature sensors that post data to ThingSpeak (an unrelated but equally awesome cloud data collection service) with only a couple hours of work. The Thing still works off of USB and the battery charger chip seems to have survived (it is putting out 4.3V to the battery connector) but the FET is a goner. I plugged one of my 500 maH single cell helicopter batteries into it (Blade Glimpse) and it smoked Q1. capability to allow the Thing to bring up a web service and allow a user to enter a SSID and password (if required) and then have the Thing attach to that WiFi network and push data via it. The Arduino add on rocks - it is great having the libraries available. Web site should be clearer. A 3.3V FTDI Basic is required to program the SparkFun ESP8266 Thing, but other serial converters with 3.3V I/O levels should work just fine as well. by rodnoy However, if you are looking for solutions to technical questions please see our Technical Assistance page. You must have read my mind. Special thanks to spapadim for confirming a replacement memory chip. Means to update the firmware over the air. When the jumper is in place I can't get the FTDI USB interface to attach to the header without bending things a bit. The user should try each one. Had my air quality sensors up and running and posting to ThingSpeak in 20 minutes. It took a while but I fixed this problem! This board works fine in two different versions of Linux. And a small module which will handle all the LiPo management (charging, converting to 3.3V, checking left capacity and other) will be very nice to have! What do I do with the DTR and VCC lines when using the sparkfun FTDI cable? It might be a couple simple solder joints, or require special reflow tools. while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED). But otherwise, this is an excellent board and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in experimenting with the ESP8266 chip. So is there actually any documentation available for this chip? If a board needs code or communicates somehow, you're going to need to know how to program or interface with it. Why the name? verified purchaser. Since you probably are only going to need it once or twice we figure we'd leave it off and let you use your own. (Along with comments on this Things cousin, the Thing, Dev Board.). The latest versions of the Espressif SDK required a minimum of 8mbit Flash onboard. I tried what you recommended though I can't stop getting the espcomm_sync failed and espcomm_open failed messages. Originally posted a comment about wall wart difficulty. Try resizing the video by clicking on the shortcut to view the product showcase in full screen. My wife's a ceramic sculpturer and is excited about it. I have a quick question, I am looking to purchase this over the WRL-13252 simply because it has an external antenna connector. It's all working perfectly and on such a small unit -- incredible. I can confirm that replacing the 4Mbit (512Kbyte) flash chip with it's 8Mbit version (Adesto AT25SF08) works, with no other changes required (other than boards.txt, if you're using Arduino). And, yes, every GPIO has PWM-capabilities -- assuming your using the Arduino addon. about 4 years ago Maybe an inline switch would be even better, but this is quick and easy enough. "Shield" proto board design: https://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=41147. (or better yet, integrate this capability into the FTDI so it can be triggered from the IDE similar to Arduino. verified purchaser. verified purchaser. So.. after reading all the comments I realize there is none greener than I on this board so please bear with me.. SparkFun ESP8266 Thing WRL-13231 $18.50 49 Add a Capacitor (or at least space for one), about 4700f 10v or so to stabilize a solar panel and a place where a 10K NTC thermistor can be added to the board for battery temperature measurement (the 73871 already supports this). Other than unsoldering the currently embedded switch and soldering an external switch to it, I don't see an easy solution. by 2BitBot When water is sensed it will connect to WiFi and send an email letting me know which unit (hostname) and sensor detected the water. Personally, I feel that this is a more reliable connection than using the external FTDI basic breakout based on my experience. I consider myself lucky to only have a hole burned through the carpet and a renter's insurance claim as a result. Finally, that's still probably not going to free up enough real estate, but for most applications, a slightly larger board would be worth the tradeoffs to get these added capabilities. The "ESP8266 Thing Hookup Guide" has a bug in the download version of "ESP8266_SoftAP_Server.ino". I am running an Internet-of-Things special interest group for our local makerspace. ), EEPROM size, Flash size, etc. about 6 years ago Does this setting need to happen with "Sparkfun Thing" as the board? Using the Sparkfun FTDI basic breakout 3.3V. I had some success by cranking the baud rate all the way up. 1. This was amazing easy to get up and running. This thing makes it very easy to get your thing on the internet. If you want something working right out of the shelf, without headache - that's you Thing. A program and reset button would have been nice, instead of the on/off button, about 7 years ago The Arduino IDE 1.6.10 does not work correctly in Windows XP. I can use the esptool command line utility to report the mac address & other info, but could never flash any new data or send commands. I bought this wanting to learn about micropython on 8266. I tried every single WiFi module out there, and this one is not only the cheapest, but by far the simplest to program and use. It's a reasonable idea; unfortunately the maximum voltage the MCP73831 Lipo charger can take is 7.0V, which could be exceeded by the large solar panel. Ah, that is to bad, as it is hard to find FCC certified.