11/28/2015

ESP8266QuickStartGuide

ESP8266QuickStart
PeterJennings

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ESP8266QuickStart
ThispageismeanttobeaquickintroductiontotheESP8266forthosewhoareconfusedbyalloftheinformationavailableonthevariousblogs
andforumswhojustwanttotryoutthisexcitingboardintheshortestpossibletime.ThisguideisforWindowsuserswhowanttousethe
NodeMCUenvironment.
Notcountingwaitingforhardwaretoshiptoyou(110days),youshouldbeabletouseyourESP8266forsomethingusefulinlessthananhour.
Ready?

WhatdoIneedtobuy?
YouwillneedanESP8266developmentboard.ThereareseveralESP8266boardsavailable,usuallynumberedESP01throughESP12.Check
thepinsoftheactualboardyouorderwiththeinformationfromyoursourceastherapiddevelopmentoftheseproductshasledtoconfusionand
duplicationofboardidentificationnumbers.
Thepricesvaryfromaround$2forasimpleESP01to$15foracompleteboardwithUSBtoserialand3.3voltregulator.TheESP01isa
simpleboardtostartwith.TheESP12ispopularbecauseofitssizeandthenumberofpinsbroughttothesideoftheboard.Recently,more
developmentboardshavebecomeavailablewithadditionalsensors,relays,LEDsandvoltageregulatorsontheboard.
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A3voltpowersupply.TheESP8266runsonanythingfrom2.8to3.5volts,soacoupleofAAbatterieswillwork.Mostofususea3.3volt
regulatedpowersource.Maximumcurrentdrawis300mA,souseasupplythatcansupply500mAtobesafe.Moreisbetter.Aweakorpoor
qualitysupplywillcausetheboardtoresetunexpectedlyandmakedebuggingdifficult.TheNodeMCUDevelopmentBoardhasaUSBto3.3V
powersupplyontheboard.
AUSBtoserialadapter.Thisshouldbea3.3voltcompatiblemodel.Itispossibletolevelconvertifyoualreadyhavea5voltadapter.The
NodeMCUDevelopmentBoardhastheUSBtoserialinterfaceontheboard.Whenyoureceiveyouradapter,verifythattheactualvoltage
outputis3.3voltsassomecheapadaptershavebeenfoundtobemislabelled.Anyofthefollowingshouldwork:FTDi,CH340,FT232RL.

WhatdoIneedtodownload?
TheESP8266boardyouboughtmayhaveoneofmanydifferentfirmwareversionsonit.ManycomewithATfirmwareforserial
communications.Somecomewithnouserfirmwareatall.IrecommendtheNodeMCULuafirmwareasastartingpointbecauseitgivesyouan
interactiveprogramminglanguagewhichallowsyoutoexperimentandbuildsimpleworkingprogramswithoutalotofeffort.Ifyouarenot
familiarwithLua,youwillfindthatitisnothardtolearn,atleastforthesimpletasksneededtogetstarted.
ThetoolyouwillusetoflashtheNodeMCUfirmwareonyourESP8266boardisthenodemcuflasher.Itisopensourceongithub.Gotothe
nodemcuflasherpageandchooseWin32orWin64dependingonyourcomputersystem.ClickonESP8266Flasher.exeandthenrightclickon
ViewRawandSaveLinkAs...todownloadtheapplicationtoyourPC.Orusethedirectlinksbelow:
ESP8266Flasher.exeforWin32
ESP8266Flasher.exeforWin64

WhatdoIhavetoconnect?
TheactualconnectionswilldependontheboardyouhaveandtheUSBtoserialadapteryouareusing.

Power.
+3.3voltstoVcc
ground
Communications.
TxDontheboardtoRxDontheadapter
RxDontheboardtoTxDontheadapter
Ground
Jumpers.
ConnectVcctoCH_PDtoenablethechip
ConnectGPI0toGNDtoenableflashreprogramming

HowdoIinstallNodeMCUonmyESP8266?
PlugtheUSBtoserialadapterintoyourPC.MostadaptersareautomaticallyrecognizedbyWindows7and8.UsersofXPorolderversionsof
WindowsmayneedadriverwhichshouldbesuppliedbythemanufactureroftheUSBadapter.TheadapterwillappearasanewCOMporton
yoursystem.ChecktheDeviceManagerifnecessary.
RunESP8266Flasher.exe

IfyouonlyhaveoneCOMdevice,theportwillappearautomatically.Ifyouhavemorethanone,selectthecorrectonefromthedropdown
menu.
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TheflasherprogramcomeswithdefaultNodeMCUfirmwareinmemory.Thisisunlikelytobethelatestversion,buttogetstartedquickly,use
thedefaultinternalimage.Later,youcandownloadthelatestfirmware,thenselectthe[Config]tabandchoosethenew.binfile.Selectthe
0x7C000defaultand0x7E000blanksections.Unchecktheboxforthe0x10000IROMsection.
ClickonFlash(E)tostarttheprogrammingprocess.IftheMACaddressesdon'tappearwithinafewseconds,disconnectthepowertotheboard
andreconnectit.Ifitstilldoesn'twork,checkyourconnections.MakesurethatthejumperbetweenGNDandGPIO0istheresothattheboardis
inreflashmode.
Reflashingthechipwilltakeacoupleofminutes.Whenthejobisdone,disconnectpowerfromtheboardandremovethejumperfromGND
toGPIO0toleavereflashmode.
YouarenowreadytoprogramtheESP8266foryourownapplication.

HowdoIcommunicatewiththeESP8266?
TheNodeMCULuafirmwareyouhavejustinstalledcommunicateswiththePCovertheseriallink.YoucanusePuTTY,SimpleTerm,orany
otherterminalprogramthatyouliketowriteLuaprogramsorenterdirectcommandstotheboard.Thedefaultspeedis9600baud,butthatcan
bechangedtoanyotherbaudrateonceyouhaveestablishedcommunications.

LuaLoader
LuaLoaderisaWindowsprogramforuploadingfilestotheESP8266andworkingwiththeLuaserialinterface.Aswellasbeingasimple
terminalprogram,ithasbuiltinLuacommandbuttonsthatmakeiteasytointeractandexperimentwiththeESP8266board.
Download:LuaLoader.zip
LuaLoader.exeisasimpleWindowsapplicationthatrequiresnospecialinstallation.

FromtheSettingsmenu,selectCOMPortSettingsandchoosetheappropriateCOMportforyourUSBtoserialadapter.Don'tchangeany
othersetting.
ClickingbuttonsonLuaLoadersendscommandstotheboard.Poweryourboardandwatchfortheinitialmessage.Afterdisplayingsomefunny
characters(thesearefirmwareresetparameterssentat74880baud),youshouldseetheversioninformationoftheNodeMCUbuild:
NodeMCU0.9.5build20150107poweredbyLua5.1.4
LuaLoaderwillwarnyouifalaterfirmwarebuildisavailable.
Afterbooting,NodeMCUwillattempttorunafilecalledinit.luainflashmemory.Sinceyouhaven'tputitthere,itwillreportanerrorandshow
the>prompt.YouarenowreadytointeractwithLuaontheESP8266.

ClicktheHeapbuttontodisplaytheamountofRAMavailable.LuaLoaderwilltypethecommand=node.heap()and
theESP8266willrespondwith23016orsomeothervalue,followedbythe>promptagain.
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HowdoIconnecttoanAccessPoint?

EntertheSSIDandpasswordofyourclosestaccesspointintheappropriatetextboxonLuaLoader.
ClickSetAP.LuaLoaderwilltypethecommandstosettheWiFimodeandconnect.Thisinformationissavedinflashmemoryandwillbe
remembereduntilchanged,eveniftheboardispowereddown.
Clickthe

WiFibuttontochecktheconnectionstatus.

ClickGetIPtoconfirmthattheESP8266isconnectedtoyouraccesspoint.

ClicktheSurveybuttontolisttheavailableaccesspointsvisibletotheESP8266.The
SSID,authenticationmode,signalstrength,MACaddressandchannelareshown.
AllofthecommandstypedbyLuaLoadercanbeenteredmanually,orsavedinafiletoberunautomatically.

HowdoIreadaGPIOinput?
TheLuafunctiongpio.read(pin)readsthevalueoftheinputspecifiedbypiniftheGPIOhasbeensetupasaninput.

LuaLoadermakesthiseasytotest.Selectpin3GPIO0fromtheGPIOdropdownmenu,
selectinputandfloatingfromthemodedropdownmenus.ClickSet.Then,clickRead.Thecurrentpinvaluewillbe0or1.Inthiscase,1asthat
pinisheldhighnormally.
NotethatifGPIO0islowonreset,thechipwillenterreflashingmode,soyoumustensurethatanyuseofthatGPIO0foruserinputishigh
whenthedeviceispoweredonorreset.
Toreadthevalueoftheinputpinrepeatedly,inLuaLoader,clickontheclockbesidetheReadbutton.Note,thatifyouareusingtheNodeMCU
developmentboard,thebuttonmarkedFLASHwillchangethevaluefrom1to0whenthebuttonispressedasitisconnectedtoGPIO0and
ground.ThereadratecanbechangedintheSettingsmenu.

HowdoIsenddatatoaserver?
Thedemoscripthttpget.luaconnectstothiswebserverandsendsthetimeittooktoconnect(inmicroseconds)andtheamountofheap(RAM)
availableatthattime.
Downloadthescripttoyourcomputer,thenuploadittoyourESP8266usingtheUploadFilebutton.
testedonNodeMCU0.9.5build20141222...20150108
sendsconnectiontimeandheapsizetohttp://benlo.com/esp8266/test.php
print('httpget.luastarted')
Tstart=tmr.now()
conn=nil
conn=net.createConnection(net.TCP,0)
showtheretrievedwebpage
conn:on("receive",function(conn,payload)
success=true
print(payload)
end)

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onceconnected,requestpage(sendparameterstoaphpscript)
conn:on("connection",function(conn,payload)
print('\nConnected')
conn:send("GET/esp8266/test.php?"
.."T="..(tmr.now()Tstart)
.."&heap="..node.heap()
.."HTTP/1.1\r\n"
.."Host:benlo.com\r\n"
.."Connection:close\r\n"
.."Accept:*/*\r\n"
.."UserAgent:Mozilla/4.0"
.."(compatible;esp8266Lua;"
.."WindowsNT5.1)\r\n"
.."\r\n")
end)
whendisconnected,letitbeknown
conn:on("disconnection",function(conn,payload)print('\nDisconnected')end)

conn:connect(80,'benlo.com')

ConnecttoyouraccesspointfirstusingtheSetAPbutton.ThisisnotnormallynecessaryifyouhavesetthecorrectAPsincethelasttimeyou
flashednewfirmware.
Usethedofilebuttontorunthefileyouhavejustuploaded.
Thecontentsoftheretrievedpageshouldbedisplayed.

Feelfreetousemyserverforafewtests,butpleasechangetoyourownwebserverorsignupforoneofthepublicinternetofthingsservers,
suchasthingspeak.com.Claudiuchiruhaspostedanexampleofsendingtemperature(usinganinexpensiveBS18B20I2Csensor)to
thingspeak.com.
ThissimplescriptisallittakestomakeusefulgadgetsfromthesimplestESP01board.Theboardcanbeconnectedsothatitreceivespower
whenadeviceison,abuttonispressed,motionisdetected,amagnettripsareedswitch,etc.etc.
Thephpscriptwillreceivethesignalandcanbeprogrammedtosendanemail,sendansms,pushanotificationtoyourphone,orsimplylog
eventsforfuturereference.
OurwellpumpisnowmonitoredbyanESP01runningasimplescriptonceevery30secondswhenthepowerison.Aswellasloggingthe
activityandsendingadailyemailreport,thescriptsendsoutemergencynotificationsifthepumprunsformorethan2hours,orhasn'trunfor
morethan36hours.
AmotiondetectorwitharelayturnsonanotherESP01whichrunsthesameprogrambutcallsadifferentphpscripttoalertmewhenthereis
motioninfrontofthehouse.Myphonereceivesthealertbeforethedoorbellispressed.

HowdoImaketheprogramrunautomatically?
WhentheESP8266starts,itrunstheinit.luafile.Simplycreateafilecalledinit.luawhichrunsthefilewithyourprograminstructions.Itisalso
agoodplacetoinitializeanyvariablesyouareusing,suchastheSSIDoftheaccesspoint.Whiledebugging,itisagoodideatouseatimerto
callyourfileafterafewseconds.Ifyoumakeamistake,causingacrash,youwillhaveafewsecondstostopthetimerwiththetmr.stopbutton
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beforetheprogramstartstorunagain.Fortheexampleabove,onelinewilldo:
tmr.alarm(0,10000,0,function()dofile('httpget.lua')end)
Armtimernumber0toexecutethefunctiondofile('httpget.lua')in10seconds.

HowcanIlearnmore?
TheHelpmenuofLuaLoaderhasalargenumberoflinkstoESP8266andLuaresourcesforconvenientaccesswhileprogramming.Thereis
alsoamenuitemlinkingfilesonyourcomputeryoumayhavedownloadedforreference.
UsefulLinks:
NodeMCULuaAPIReference
Theesp8266communityforum.Lotsofsamplescripts.
TechnicalOverviewoftheESP8266byNurdspace
Lua.org,homeoftheLualanguage.
NodeMCUgithubLuasourceandlatestbinaries
EspressifSystems,manufactureroftheESP8266

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