Using an ESP8266 ESP01 Module

In this video I take a look at using an ESP8266 ESP-01 module and see what its like to use and power.

Parts:
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Aliexpress:

Amazon:

Videos:
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Program ESP-01 With a Uno:

Program ESP-01 With a NodeMCU:

[tarawood-bradley]

I was so stuck setting up this esp-01 and this video is a breath of fresh air.

[PGUIMA]

Thanks a lot. I spent many hours trying to load a program to esp01 using esp01-programmer without success. When i putted the switch like you shown everything worked at first try.

[garrypkeogh]

I believe these have their place Brian. I just received 6 at a total cost of €11 shipped so sub €2 which in my book is negligable. I also ordered a USB to serial ESP01 programmer with the switch already in place, about €2.50 shipped IIRC.
For embedded projects that focus on the ESP8266's WiFi features as distinct from DIO applications they are great. This is what I use in my smart smoke alarm Pushbullet notifier as it is actually easier to fit this in a small space, even compared to a D1 Mini with no headers. Having good success using custom fields in the WiFi config (some stuff persists reflashing! SPIFFS perhaps making debugging frustrating) for super portability and sharability so exploiting some amazing features of a tiny chip on a ready to go module for <€2. The very concept of launching an ad hoc webserver to edit network configuration on a micro controller the size of a thumb nail at this sort of price is pretty awesome tbh! Https post to Pushbullet with hash/fingerprint, pretty powerful, no?
Now, a notifier for Mrs. when the washing machine spin cycle finishes...

[americanpsychosis]

Do you happen to have any tutorials on how to use an 01 with a single relay board?

[nbr]

Good video, but much has changed, Really like the adapter hack, Dremel tool will make cuts easy (to make adapter smaller). Some where I saw a video of someone soldering wires to surface mount chip and ended up with 6 io pins. Small boxes are easy to think outside of. Why pay extra for a built in programmer that you may need only once? Suspect you can get as many io's as any other esp8266 chip based board.

[robertthompson]

Nice video. I needed to set up a network of sensor modules throughout my home, and I wanted to make them small and inexpensive. I used an ESP-01 on a 170 hole breadboard for each one and that was perfect. I programmed the ESP-01s with a NodeMCU which was very effective for that.

[lohikarhu]

With I2C, you can do a lot of work with peripherals, like I/I expanders, ADC/DAC, LED drivers, and more...

[BGLENN-dptx]

VERY instructive. It was easy to make choice of module-type decisions. Thank you.

[rfdave]

Have replaced the flash with 1MB and use 4 gpio pins with Home assistant. Small module to drive RGB analog and digital RGB strips. Make sure use pullup resisters on the RX, GPIO0, and GPIO2. Must be high on boot. Happy Home assistant developing.

[rgmtb]

I have a few of these and was thinking they might be good for small IoT needs. Things like a window opening or even a mailbox alert tool. Question, since they are so minimal do you get a good power savings compared to a Wemos D1 Mini? Would this device be better for battery powered projects? If you toss in deep sleep would the be a good idea?

[gavinsmalley]

You only need to hold GPIO0 low while booting to enter program mode, so a momentary switch held down while you plug it in would work to.

Also you can use the Rx and Tx pins for GPIO as well so up to 4 digital GPIOs. No analogue in though unfortunately.

[SonalK]

What's the difference between and the larger ESP8266 with micro USB port?

[tikeshwardewangan]

Thank you sir for the video..
Can i use Rx and Tx as a gpio output?

[charlesgoehring]

Thanks for making this video. I bought a bunch of these because they were cheap and I figured you could put them all over the place in a network, maybe as slaves to a nodemcu device. The configuration of these modules is kinda stupid though because you have to adapt it no matter how you want to use it. That big connector takes up a lot of space. Maybe the answer is to remove the connector altogether.

[Gnoarnx]

Use it as a relay. With tx and rx connected to like a nodemcu

[muhammadfarooqi]

hello bro.. I tried to connect the programmer or powering USB device with esp-01, but devices device doesn't appear in thonny. BTW it works great with PICO. Any idea what am i missing. I've connected a swich connected with GPO1 and GND which I press while connecting to the USP port. .. also I've another switch RST+GND ..
i've tried ..
> press GP01+GND button and RST+GND button while connecting to USB..
> press GP01+GND button only while connecting to USB..
> press GP01+GND button and RST+GND button while connecting to USB, first released RST+GND Button and later the other
> pressed Only GP01+GND AFTER connecting to USB..
.. nothing works.

[uweri_]

thanks for the tip with 3.3V for CH_PD

[hermanvanwoensel]

The newer ESP-01 boards have the blue blink LED on IO2, not IO1. In addition the programmer is useless and has several design flaws: lack of program switch and reset button. On the signal lines there is +5V present, which is out of the ESP8266 specifications! The reason for this is that the USB-to-serial converter chip CH340G is powered by +5V. They should have used the 3V3 from the on-board regulator.

[whatelseison]

Holy sh*t blue tack! That's genius. This video was worth it for that alone!

[germas]

thanks for the help mate. do you happen to know how much program memory is in this device? i cant find any official documentation online. this is a nice piece of kit though, i just got myself 2.