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I've spent three days trying to upload some code to my ESP8266 and it failed every time. Now I just plugged the Arduino at my Desktop and it works. Notebook USB port does not provide enough current I think.

Comments
  • 3
    That's a sweet microcontroller. I'm building a custom, clunky, garage-made drone with it 😍
  • 4
    I don't see any resistors on that breadboard... You do know the the esp8266 runs on 3.3 volts right?
  • 3
    😅 gulp @FTcuber

    It does? I better put one in before I fry my chip.

    Bloody book didn't mention it.
  • 1
    @saintograph I already fried mine 😔
  • 1
    @FTcuber my Arduino has a 3.3v output
  • 0
    @math-silva isn't that an uno?
  • 0
    @math-silva also, I think you need to make sure the Arduino is not sending 5v over the data lines as well.
  • 1
    @Dacexi yes, it is.
  • 0
    @math-silva Arduino Uno does not have 3.3 tho. That's what I have and now I have a dead esp :/
  • 1
    There are some rather cheap FTDI adapters with jumpers which let you select the voltage (5V or 3V3). Either way, 5V won’t fry a 3V3 ESP chip, it’s just gonna make it a little warmer. There is a series of ESP boards with faulty flash chips (I burned a couple with a 3V3 cable), and they release the magic smoke if you try to flash anything other than the stock AT firmware
  • 1
    Dont fukin buy that garbage again! Get a reliable wifi module instead :)
  • 1
    @Bor3i which is better?
  • 0
    If you want to get start with an ESP8266 why not buying a NodeMCU devkit?
    It's cheap and very robust against newbish behaviour...
    You can even power it up with 12V without cooking the circuits.
    Downside: it consumes more power and comes with some overhead, but is very versatile.
  • 1
    @saintograph @math-silva the uno does have a 3.3v output, but it has a max current output of 150mA, which might not be enough for the esp under load. Also, the data pins are always running on 5v and, since it is using the uart protocol, which pulls the pin high when on standby, it would probably be a good idea to get those pins down to 3.3v to help the chip last longer. I guess a simple 1k-2k resistor voltage divider should do the trick.
  • 1
    @fuzzyT because all I want it is to do an HTTP request. Maybe you said that because of the Arduino, but I am using the Arduino only to upload the code.
  • 1
    @FTcuber Yeah, for the final product it will be more sophisticated. But I saw examples that wasn't using resistors, then, for the hello world I didn't use it too.
  • 0
    @math-silva yeah, you can easily find forum posts and tutorials saying 5v works fine for the data pins and they are correct but I will probably shorten the life span of the device considerably. I'm quite lazy so most of the testing I've done on this chip used the 5v directly :P
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