ESP8266 12 / 7 - How to solder breakout board and flash with Arduino IDE

[@englishrupe01]

Three and a half years later and your video is still helping us hobbyists! Thank you VERY much for helping me!

[@BernhardHofmann]

Nice job. A tip I saw that helps me get the pins lined up is to put them in a breadboard before soldering. That makes sure they line up nicely.

[@arnokeijser9075]

After so many years still valid and helping, thank you!

[@sullivanzheng9586]

There is no need to connect GPIO15 to GND and CH_PD to VCC, since GPIO15 has been pulled down by R3 (10k) on the white breakout board to GND , and CH_PD pulled up via R1(10k) to VCC.

[@budimulyanto7997]

Hi, thanks for the clear instructions. First I follow exactly what you did in this video. later I tried to disconnect CH_PD and GPIO15, it works as well. Just power cycle the board once the flashing failed.

[@Valeriy7D0]

7:00 That type of breakout board ALREADY HAS pull-up for CH_PD and pull-down for GPIO15 (these small SMD resistors on the edge). So, you don't need to connect CH_PD to Vcc and GPIO15 to GND! Only GPIO0 for flashing.

[@RandomHacks]

Yes, I realized that later, I had an annotation on the video but youtube removed all the annotations from videos as this feature was deprecated. Thanks.

[@Valeriy7D0]

@@RandomHacks Thank you for the great introduction video!

[@mudaserawan1457]

Bundle of thanks for the very clear and accurate video. I had been struggling with the module for long time and finally your video helped get my ESP to work. Please keep making such great videos.

[@c0r0y]

With your help I really managed to solder the ESP-12S to that PCB. Thanks so much for this great help!

[@vijaynaru]

Thanks a lot bro...I was struggling with this board since last many months...your video made it work....

[@Ed19601]

the flux surely will help, but managed to do it quickly without flux. What I did do though was to add a spot of tacky glue between board and module, put it in proper position and then let it dry for some moments

[@jeffreyjsmith1980]

People using this board should add a 0.1 uF capacitor from VCC to GND to increase stability of the ESP8266. You can easily solder it from the center 0 Ohm resistor to the GND pin.

[@RandomHacks]

Yep! I heard that before. It's not always needed though. The project I made to control 5 relays is running for 8 months straight, super stable without that capacitor :) Thanks for the comment.

[@jeffreyjsmith1980]

No problem. I had the most trouble during flashing. Adding the capacitor to the ESP board and another 100uF to the programming board solved that.

[@ptiwatthanont]

Thanks. Anyway, in case we need a regulator, how do we solder it? Do we have to remove the zero-Ohm resister? (because it links between Vcc-pin and Vin of the module)

[@jeffreyjsmith1980]

Yes, you remove the zero Ohm resistor if you are going to solder on a regulator. If you do that, be sure to solder on two 0.1uf capacitors - one on each side of the regulator. Once you remove the zero Ohm resistor, you can use the two exposed pads for this. One pad will be the source voltage and the other will be the regulated voltage. Just use the two pads exposed to solder one leg on each capacitor and then connect the other leg to ground.

[@ulfholt6434]

I used two 0805 SMD capacitors and soldered direct betwen pin 1 and pin 2 and connected the other from pin 3 to pin 1 using a jumper. Looks nicer than having bigger capacitors on the other side of the board.

[@vojtechpernicek7431]

Výborně video i pro cloveka, ktery s esp nikdy nepracoval. :-)

[@olivercopleston]

I enjoy your methodical style. Great video!

[@brettefantomet]

you deserve more subs!

[@RandomHacks]

Thanks!

[@micha915]

Thanks so much! Simple tutorial but very helpful. From scratch to working server

[@TR7H]

Just the information I was looking for! Thank you, I'm going to do this right away!

[@RandomHacks]

You are welcome, how did it go?

[@TrasteIAm]

Just a tip, the "Witty" is a cheap(

[@RandomHacks]

Cool! Thanks for the tip, I will order some.

[@TrasteIAm]

I happened to have both in front of me and saw they fit together so I tried it and it worked. First few times I had to push the "flash" button on the programmer board, but then I changed a setting in the IDE ("reset mode" I think it was) and then it worked fine. It's still a bit tricky as you need to connect any sensors "on-top" or solder so the pins are accessible both as you show here, and sticking up. Maybe you can figure out a smarter way.

[@pamiesss]

Hi, why does the usb to ttl converter has a jumper? (minute 7:38) I guess that you are forcing the CTS pin to be high, but I don't understand why... Is it necessary?

[@peterpepo9232]

Hello, what usb ttl do you use? Ch340 or FTDI, or it doesn't matter?

[@MrBobWareham]

thank you for the video very interesting I have just ordered 2 of the esp8266-07 board's mine have come with a ceramic A/E the programmer you used is it set to 3.3 volts as well, please I look forward to your other videos on this board as I want to try and make a door notification sm text. many thanks Bob

[@ericthecyclist]

I liked your idea of using two boards. I was using one board and it was a real pain to route the wires underneath it.

[@AugustoRada]

Nice vid!. What about the ground pad that is in the back? it not necessary? Thanks!

[@newtron762]

thank you so much, God bless you always.. it works perfect, i am now integrating it to gsm.

[@muhammadalam4470]

My board is flashing but cant seem to connect. esptool.FatalError: Failed to connect to ESP8266: Invalid head of packet (0xA8) _ the selected serial port _ does not exist or your board is not connected Any idea what am I doing wrong here?

[@renesolis2604]

Good day, mi kit included the regulator that goes on the back is a 7333-1 (1 to 3) minute 5:14

[@thelama255]

Thank you so much! This was just what I was looking for.

[@aladino10100]

Hi RandomHacks, clear and methodic instructable, thank you. One doubt: while uploading a sketch to the chip, on the connections of CH_PD to 3.3V and GPIO15/GPIO0 to ground, is any resistor necessary? I saw other instructions on the web, and sometimes they advise 10K resistors. Another doubt: during normal run, all the three connections of CH_PD to 3.3V & GPIO15/0 to ground have to be removed? Sorry for the very basic questions, but I'm struggling since 1 week and got a lot of error messages

[@cesarmartin1084]

Hi. Any special care about the 5V on the TX and RX when programming? I think the TX pin from the FTDI board delivers 5V and the ESP8266 can tolerate only 3.3 in all pins, doesn't it?

[@RandomHacks]

Hi, yes you should use a 3.3v serial adapter, most have a jumper that let's you chose between 5v and 3.3v. But to be honest I accidentally connected the esp8266 to 5v for about 10 minutes and it didn't die, I wouldn't recommend it though.

[@guelweles]

Hi there, first of all this was a great tutorial, it helped me getting started with esp8266, thanks for sharing your knowledge, though this may sound as a stupid question I gotta ask you, do you happen to know why this breakout board has no pin headers for the bottom pins of the chip? I also have the same chip and breakout board and was wondering about it, I've seen people saying that we should not mess with those pins as they could cause some errors/crashes although GPIOs 9 and 10 are usable, but in order to use them we'd need some hardware modification, the article I'd seen was pretty much referring to esp8266 12 E and 201, not F which is what I also got, dunno if those statements are also valid for 12 F, have you ever played around with the bottom pins? I'd appreciate if you could comment anything about them, keep up the good work buddy, cheers from Brazil.

[@Ryudaio]

Finally a simple tutorial! Thanks! [Subbed]

[@c0r0y]

I would be very interested if the white ready-to-use PCBs are really ready to use or how I need to prepare them to work. I have soldered an ESP-12S on one of these white boards but I am unsure about how are the connections on the PCB itself. I mean how are the resistors on the PCB connected? I see you have drilled holes in the PCB-connections?

[@ibadoffs]

Thanks a lot. Very easy and good explain. Waiting more arduino videos)))

[@rubiskelter]

why some people use resistors to connect to the GPIOs? and CH_PD?

[@srinia7652]

Hi, could you share the link where you bought the breakout boards from?

[@jpbkk1]

hi Great tuto, thanks. Unfortunately, I follow all steps but I keep having " trying to connect"/ esp_send command: sending command header/sending payload/ warning espcom_sync failed .. I noted that my 3,3 V drops to 3,05V. ( using a bench power supply) any idea where it could come from?thanks from Thailand

[@eskantuDev]

what is the name of the module you are using to connect the esp8266 to the laptop??

[@rayzecor]

Can this board be used with an Arduino Uno?

[@henninb]

This video was easy to follow, thanks!

[@RandomHacks]

Thanks for the feedback, it means alot to me.

[@henninb]

I made 1 slight modification to your instructions and put female headers as opposed to male headers (it looks a lot like a wemos d1 mini). Amazing little device.

[@MMphego]

Successfully subscribed, very good and well explained. Thanks

[@yajatcharpe7880]

pls give the link for the breakout boards

[@mihaitza6247]

I know its 5y late but do you still have the board blueprint ?

[@henninb]

I would like to put the esp-12e into deepSleep mode every 5 minutes. Can this be done by running a pin from GPIO 16 to the RST?

[@amoladora-t1171]

hi! thanks for sharing this instuctions. i have a question, maybe you can helpme. on tue arduino ide I run the example checkflashconfig.ino program: they give me: flash real size: 1048576 flashide speed: 40000000 flash ide mode: dio flash chip configuration: wrong! is ok to to set on the configuration of the arduino generic esp8266 module the ide flash size: 1m (256k spiffs)? thanks!

[@daitedve1984]

Related pins: you put 'em on bottom side - for what purpose? Is it just for use on breadboard?

[@RobinBlood]

Hi there, I'm a bit confused with the board, hopefully you can help. There is a socket for an AMS1117-3.3V Regulator on the back. If I would equip the board with one of them, do I need to remove R2? and where do I supply the 5V and drain 3.3? Having a hard time figuring out the wiring of this, ...

[@sandeshrokade]

Same here. Did you figure out ?

[@polemos74]

Does this breakout board have the necessary resistors for GPIO0 and GPIO2?

[@OffroadMX]

The new cheap USB to TTL programers from Ebay (etc.) have both, 5V and 3.3V output pin, so you dont need the extra power supply, just plug the ESP8266 on 3.3V pin, right?

[@RandomHacks]

Just make sure it can provide enough current for the esp8266, if you have problems flashing it the programmer probably does not provide sufficient current.

[@daitedve1984]

BTW how do you manage SPI interface on third side of the board?

[@WL00]

May i ask, i already compile it without problem but when open the serial monitor it's just blank XD. Any ideas?

[@rendirestman4615]

Sir, i try same as your video. But after uploading, there is occur "leaving... Hard resetting..." And when i try to check serial monitor there was nothing appear

[@c0r0y]

Liked and subscribed. Cannot do anything else. :D You showed all of it very good. Thank you very much.

[@RandomHacks]

Thank you for your comment! I need more comments like this :D

[@daitedve1984]

Before you start soldering, I saw your board doesn't look like "just unpacked" - seems you put more solder on contacts? Flux: I don't like such spreading of flux - simple toothpick can make it way more accurate. And of course it's not necessary to record fluxing.

[@CraigFryer]

I could not load the firmware using this configuration. I needed 10k resistors to some of these connections.

[@englishrupe01]

The resistors should be built in to these boards........weren't yours? I know mine are.

[@uj_tech618]

can you explain the three pull up resistor connections on the adapter board? .... Thanks in advance

[@RandomHacks]

Sure. There is a pull up resistor for the pin CH_PD on de left side of the breakout board and a pull down resistor for GPIO15 on the right side, these are needed for the esp8266 to work, in case you have this breakout board you don't need to connect these two pins to VCC or GND like I showed in the video. On the middle there is a 0ohm resistor that bypasses the 3.3v voltage regulator that you can solder on the backside of the breakout board.

[@zxzx38862002]

Hello,I use ESP-07,and I have a question. I want to send 'AT' command to ESP-07 and it is not answer to me . Do I miss some step? How to do ?? Thanks your video,I run all. It is can run example "HelloServer".

[@chimmango]

I've done as you explained, but keep getting this error: espcomm_upload_mem; i searched in many forums but can't find a solution. Instead of using a serial to usb module, im using an aruino uno. Else is the same. If you have any hint to give me, i will appreciate it. Thanks

[@chimmango]

Tony Pendleton I just bought an Ethernet shield. I've tried everything but had no luck. I know some people that couldn't make it work with Arduino either... the c Arduino WiFi is a good option! lol

[@Jakob122]

try to unplug Arduino before uploading code

[@lfrdo7815]

Hello how to use this module in normal mode, what pins should go high or low?

[@bravemadoun6729]

Please, how can I use the ESP8266 ESP-12E with Arduino Mega? thank you so much

[@magnuseriksson4697]

hi. RandomHacks . Do you possibly have drawings on these those breakout boards I'm a bit intrigued by it. mvh magnus

[@alokmohanty86]

I don't have a soldering station. So, what can be the maximum wattage of the solder iron that I can use? Any suggestion would be of great help. Thanks

[@RandomHacks]

Anything between 25W and 60W should be fine, just heat the pads until you see the solder flow .

[@alokmohanty86]

Thanks Sir. I am a newbie to soldering and electronics. Liked your video a lot. It was clear and lucid. Once again, thank you very much.

[@sameermfaroor9856]

Can you please share the serial converter you have used in this?

[@joseluizliresdomingues6921]

How are you doing ? One question please...may i consider this flashing mode for the esp-07 ?

[@RandomHacks]

Hi, yes the process is the same.

[@joseluizliresdomingues6921]

Many thanks !

[@thilinadeshan9820]

my module has EN pin instead of CH_PD does it matter??

[@mradaChris]

I bought one of these and I was concerned about the soldering but you made it look easy enough. What is flux and why do you use it? Since I don't use Arduino, use Pi3 instead, how can I burn firmware changes to device?

[@RandomHacks]

Flux is used to make the soldering job easier and better, it reduces oxidation on the metals you want to stick therefore creating a better connection. You can use the same method shown in the video to flash the esp8266, no arduino needed just the IDE which is the software you can download from www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software Have fun!

[@mradaChris]

Thank you for returning a reply to my post. I have noticed that some solders have flux in them which made no sense and now it does. Thanks for the link too.

[@nitinsharma-oc5kl]

can any body send me the link that we need to paste in the preference additional board box

[@anelwei]

Hello, I have a problem, I can compile the sketch without issues but when I open the serial monitor I get garbage characters. Any ideas?

[@RandomHacks]

Hi, are you using the same baud rate on the serial monitor as the one you set in the code with the Serial.begin(xxxx) line?

[@anelwei]

yes bro

[@anelwei]

I get this message ts Jan 8 2013,rst cause:2, boot mode:(7,7) waiting for host in 74800 boudrate

[@RandomHacks]

Does this only happen when you try to open the serial monitor? Are you able to actually flash your code to the esp8266? How are you powering it? Try to connect the reset pin to 3.3V. Also try using a different baudrate like 9600 or 115200

[@anelwei]

yes i can actually upload the sketch, the problem is when try to test it in the serial monitor

[@lfrdo7815]

Hi, if i flash this board this way may i use it as a wemos board or is a different firmware?

[@RandomHacks]

I don't have a wemos board but from what I could tell it is based on the esp8266 so it should be the same.

[@Fbbb5ggaa]

Thank you! Great video.

[@osamamohamed1958]

after soldering this board , should the Vcc of the breakout board be 5v or 3.3 v???

[@RandomHacks]

Hi, if there is no voltage regulator on the backside of the breackout board (where the pins come out) then it should be 3.3V if there is a regulator you can use 5V. In my case there is no regulator as you can see at 5:13

[@osamamohamed1958]

thanks alot

[@chintanpansuriya9106]

What is the value of 3 ressister

[@azucarestaurant]

Thanks for a great video. You win another subscriber. I did every step and I could flash the module. But at the end It didnt show the IP address. Did I miss somthing?

[@RandomHacks]

Hi, thanks for subscribing. It should work, do you get anything on the serial monitor? Does it show that it is connected to the network? I guess you did check that the ssid and password are correct, right?

[@pawanvijaykumar705]

Can we connect usb TTL TX to esp8266 TX and TTL Rx to esp 8266 12E Rx

[@RandomHacks]

Hi, the correct is TX to RX and RX to TX but sometimes cheap ttl adapters come mislabeled. Think about two people talking to each other, one person talks with the mouth (tx) while the other hears with the ears (rx) that is how serial communication works.

[@pawanvijaykumar705]

@@RandomHacks thank you for your replay sir I designed my own PCB like node mcu I'm design i miss connected them TTL Rx to esp12e Rx TTL tx to esp12e tx Any remedy for this

[@RandomHacks]

@@pawanvijaykumar705 unfortunately I think the only solution in that case is to cut the PCB traces and correct the mistake with wires

[@pawanvijaykumar705]

@@RandomHacks helpful info and good tutorials thank you sir 👍👌 Can you please give me node MCU schematic 8266 12E and / esp32 link please

[@charlesgalvez133]

I used Arduino Uno for this, Why isnt it working?

[@igrewold]

what is the difference between ESP8266 7 & 12?

[@CBurns-gh7om]

igrewold esp 12 has an copper trace antenna esp 7 has an smd antenna

[@igrewold]

H1ghTech The 7 also has a ceramic antenna, it is that Rainsun thing: esp8266.ru/wp-content/images/esp8266-modules/ESP8266_ESP-07.jpg www.soselectronic.com/novinky/obr/obr1256_uvod.jpg www.rainsuncn.com/products_list.html

[@CBurns-gh7om]

igrewold yea thats what i meant with smd

[@igrewold]

H1ghTech OK :) then there is this ESPduino for fastest devving on ESPs: www.banggood.com/ESPDuino-Development-Board-ESP-13-WiFi-UNO-R3-from-ESP8266-p-1023370.html that makes you forget the wiring and concentrate on your project at hand.

[@CBurns-gh7om]

Nice just bought it xD

[@vincenttor8680]

Thanks, got it working!!!!

[@rohanprak]

anyone with this error Error downloading arduino.esp8266.com/staging/package_esp8266com_index.json any suggestion / help ??

[@rohanprak]

got the new working link if above doesn't work , now its working arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json

[@c3celea]

thank you so much! I was getting the same error

[@АрхитектурнаяСтудия-ъ8ц]

worked ! Thanks a lot

[@roystervi]

hi I have the esp8266 12f with the AI-THINKER firmware.. I was able to add my script to turn a light on and off.. one problem I have, when the esp connected to my router, the esp8266 F12 obtain a IP address 192.168.0.113 from the router. however the esp8266 also shows up with another IP address 192.168.4.1 that is open and shows up an open wifi where anyone can login and turn my light on and off. is their anyway to disable the or add a password to the firmware password?

[@RandomHacks]

Hi, sorry for the late reply. Can you send me the code through private message so I can check?

[@roystervi]

thanks I find this code ......."WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);" ...... which I pace under the ....."void setup"....and its not showing up when I do a wifi scan on my phone..... and working great..

[@surveyingworld5219]

Great work

[@rohansethi2465]

warning: espcomm_sync failed error: espcomm_open failed error: espcomm_upload_mem failed This error is persistent when we try copying what you have done. Any solutions for this?

[@RandomHacks]

I didn't make it clear in the video but every time you change from flashing mode to normal running mode you have to power cycle the esp (if you want to flash it, first connect GPIO15 and GPIO0 to ground and only then switch the power on). Also some serial adapters have the connectors mislabeled so try to switch the RX and TX leads (TX of the adapter being connected to TX of the esp and RX to RX instead of TX to RX and RX to TX), don't forget that the ground from the serial adapter has to be connected to the same ground as the esp8266. Make sure you have the right com port selected on the arduino ide (tools - port 9:20 ) and the speed (baud rate) is 115200. Hope this helps. Have fun!

[@naveenventuri8949]

tried the other way but i didnt work out .It throws the same error always

[@RandomHacks]

That is strange. Are you sure that the serial adapter is in working condition?

[@ericthecyclist]

I've been having the same problem. I've tried flipping tx/rx. I believe the usb-serial works because I can do loop back with it (and I tried a second usb-serial). One thing of note: I wasn't able to communicate with the board before trying to program it: no lua or at instruction set. It's warm, meaning its getting power.

[@nathan2035]

Same here

[@codewithanuj1762]

can you please provide the code?

[@SolarMiracle]

Looking at your soldering is not boring

[@jaydipkarar]

Arduino: 1.6.13 (Windows 7), Board: "NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E Module), 80 MHz, 115200, 4M (3M SPIFFS)" Sketch uses 249,259 bytes (23%) of program storage space. Maximum is 1,044,464 bytes. Global variables use 35,776 bytes (43%) of dynamic memory, leaving 46,144 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 81,920 bytes. warning: espcomm_sync failed error: espcomm_open failed error: espcomm_upload_mem failed error: espcomm_upload_mem failed This report would have more information with "Show verbose output during compilation" option enabled in File -> Preferences. not working

[@RandomHacks]

How are you powering the esp8266?

[@jaydipkarar]

RandomHacks 3.3v in mcu....

[@RandomHacks]

Right... but where are you getting those 3.3V from? If you are trying to power the esp directly from the usb flasher that might be the problem as most flashers don't provide enough current. Have you tried to swap the RX and TX connections? sometimes the silk screen on the ttl adapter is wrong. Also make sure you selected the correct COM port. The connections for flashing mode should be GPIO0,GPIO15 and GND to ground (the grounds of the flasher and the 3.3v supply should be connected together), VCC and CH_PD have to be connected to a 3.3v power source, TX from the ESP to RX of the TTL adapter and RX to Tx. If this does not work try to pull the GPIO2 pin also to 3.3V.

[@MrBobWareham]

It is such a shame they made the board so wide!!

[@mich1993cheater]

frying bacon on ur laptop?

[@RandomHacks]

+Raphael Artemeier Yes, it was quite hot :)

[@prasetyadimaswardhana5348]

can i get your esp schematic ? hehe

[@briwicklab]

very...very...very useful

[@Златамассажист]

Молодец,все понятно

[@hectordanielramirezrodrigu9685]

Diagram? Friend you win a new subscriptor

[@UllulAmar]

How we connect to GPIO9, GPIO10, MISO, MOSI, CS0, .......... ??

[@aju5405]

thanks alot...

[@bobpaydar]

thanks :)

[@maliridwan9141]

esp series module is bad module...difficult to upload the sketch