It worked! I was able to load Blink (as a test to see if everything is working) to the board! Thank you, you wonderful human! Also, your child's babbling is absolutely adorable. :)
Thanks! As a beginner with the 8266 it was very useful, and on my first try it worked like a charm! It's only 10pm but I'm feeling it will be a long night. :)
Hahaha! In that video, my 1 year old was stood next to me whilst I was recording! I thought, "Yeah, she can be in the video!". It's a bit of fun I suppose!
Thanks for the very clear instructions, Antony. I've only just received a couple of these ESP8266 NodeMCU v3 boards and I now have a led blinking on D7. I have used a lot of Arduinos and so I was happy to learn that I could program the ESP8266 boards using the same method.
If you receive: error: espcomm_open failed error: espcomm_upload_mem failed Make sure that the NodeMCU is in flash mode. You can do this by holding the flash button down, then by tapping reset, then letting go of reset a second afterwards. If this doesn't work: Check your wiring. Make sure you are using a data cable, not a power cable. Make sure Windows installs the correct driver. You'll be able to see it if you press Windows+X. Make sure you've selected the correct COM port in Arduino. Make sure you have selected the correct board from boards manager. Check your version of Arduino Studio. Older versions may work better! Thanks to +Wizencrowd for his contribution to this comment. Antony...
I did the whole work and it worked pretty well. now please anyone can suggest me how can I reset this nodeMCU.please its very urgent.I want to upload another code.how can I do it?please anyone
Antony Cartwright I think it's really nice that you still respond to all comments so fast, even after so many months! Not many people do that, unfortunately!
Bloody lifesaver! I just couldn't get my NodeMcu to do anything(afaict) and the internal led is just USELESS. I honestly thougt it was duff. Once I changed the code to D7 (and then D6 just to be sure) everything is great! Now for some serious coding. Many thanks!!!
I like your video. It is short and sweet. Thanks for making it. Please note, that in your video, what you are calling a UART is not a UART. The UART is actually internal to the ESP8266 SoC. What you pointed to was a USB to 3.3 volt serial converter (USB interface). In the old days(semi old days) we would call that chip (circuit) a USB to TTL serial interface. The reason we do not call it that anymore is because TTL is 5V logic, this ESP8266 uses 3.3V logic. That USB to serial data chip you pointed to was probably a CH340. To see why the CH340 is not a UART Google the CH340 data sheet, then Google what a UART is. *When you said people could use their own UART and connect to the board's Rx / Tx pins, the key here is to understand that this connection is a direct 3.3V serial connection to the ESP8266 SoC rather than a USB serial connection to the ModeMCU board. **The Rx / Tx pins (between pins D8 and G) connect more directly to the UART within the ESP8266 SoC. DON'T use 5V data swings on those pins. Those pins are 3.3 volt ONLY. There are other requirements to flash code directly via the Rx / Tx interface (like manually twiddling the bootloader invoke pin) but I only wanted to correct for your viewers the important distinction between a UART and a USB to serial interface. They are two different things. When teaching people things that are new to them, accuracy is best. Have a great day.
Hey, thanks for your comment. You learn something new every day. For some reason, I still call that chip a UART even now, (one year after making this video). It's fairly obvious that the chip isn't a UART though as like you said, the UART is in the Module's chip! Yes, about RX/TX pins, ofcourse, you can't use USB as the control logic and voltage is different. The way I used to do it, was to use a standalone 'UART' (Which I will now call a 'UART Serial Converter'). :-)
Thanks for your response. I'm not sure what what you are calling a chip and what you are calling a module. There are multiple components interconnected to create the NodeMCU "module". The NodeMCU is a module with another module attached to it. Basically the NodeMCU is a module built around another module. That smaller module is not actually an ESP8266 chip. That smaller module, when I look at your video is called an ESP12E. AI-THINKER made the ESP12E "module" in your video. Espressif Systems (China) provided the SoC to AI-THINKER who then made the smaller module on your larger NodeMCU module. The ESP8266 is a"chip" UNDER the metal can on the AI-THINKER module where you cannot see it. The ESP8266 chip is hidden. The AI-THINKER module assembly is soldered to the NodeMCU module (PCB). What you are calling a UART in your response to me above could be a FTDI USB to Serial interface (module). You are connecting the FTDI module between your computer and the Rx /Tx pins on the NodeMCU module, correct? Sorry if you or others reading this think I'm being pedantic. I don't want to be a prick. A few weeks ago I started watching dozens of UA-cam videos so I could learn about Lua, microPython, MQTT, SonOffs devices (which use ESP8266 chips) and other IoT things. I became very confused by what was an ESP8266, what was an ESP12E, what was a NodeMCU and why this has anything to do with Arduino. I'm getting it all figured out now. Frustratingly I ran into so many people inventing their own terms for things which already had industry standard terms assigned. Folks using the wrong terms for components made for an unnecessary heck of a time understanding it all. It is crazy confusing for us "students" to sort it all out when the wrong words are used by the "teacher". The industry terms are what should be used to keep confusion to a minimum IMHO. Then again, maybe I'm just old. I am 60. Please be aware that an FTDI chip on a PC board or module is unlikely to be a UART chip. I'm un-sure if the FTDI company from Glasgow, Scottland even makes a UART chip. Their claim to fame is their line of USB bridges. I don't know why but the many FTDI bridges I've seen are on red PCBs. I have a couple of these red FTDI bridges. They are genuine, not the counterfeits (Hi Fred Dart :-)). There are stand alone CH340 USB bridge modules from China ( I have a few) which are often on small blue PCBs. It doesn't matter if the USB bridge module you use is red or blue (FTDI or CH340), these are not UARTs. I'm not trying to be a jerk. I think it helps everyone, including me, if content creators use the proper terminology during their tutorials. As good as your tutorials are, you will be doing yourself a favor in the long run if, in your head, you use appropriate terms. You do your viewers a favor too because many of them are already confused by this technical stuff. I'm not that smart therefore I'm easily confused. Tutorials using incorrect terms isn't helping. I'm not singling you out. This applies to all the IoT tutorials on the web. Thanks.
Hi, I call the NodeMCU the "module" and the inner module a "chip" (even though it is also a module). Correct too, the standalone serial converter which I'd have used would have been either FTDI, CH340, PL2xxx, etc. FTDI was by far the best though and the one I used to use more. Ofcourse, to connect Microcontroller to PC. I'm not worried about you being or not being pedantic, feel free to say whatever you want. :-) I'm a learner also, everyone on UA-cam is or has been a 'learner' at some point. I've also been though the inconsistencies, and spending hours learning, seeing/hearing wrong terms, etc. Ideally, if one knows the industry terms, it is good to use them, I agree with that! Also, when discussing complex things such as these, it is great to keep things as simple as reasonably possible, as you said. I don't think your age comes into that, I'm 31 and I feel the same way. FTDI do make very good UART interface chips, I have a few of them myself (My FTDI modules are also red). Mine are most likely counterfeits though since they were super cheap. They are what you call (quite correctly) 'Serial Converters'. Although they may not have a UART inside of them, they are still called UART modules from time to time too, presumably because they connect to a UART. You can see them here if you wish: www.ftdichip.com/Products/ICs/FT232R.htm If you type in 'UART' into ebay for example, you'll see a whole host of USB - UART, UART Serial Converters, TTL UART, UART adapter, UART Interface Chips, etc... Although the correct name is 'UART Serial Converter', you can't help what people call them! Pretty much everyone I know calls these things 'UART' even though they are not! It's just presumably short for 'UART Serial Converter'! People call me 'Tony' quite often, my name isn't 'Tony', it's 'Antony', but things are the way they are I guess. But now, getting to the point, please bear these points in mind; UA-cam content creators often create voluntarily and freely. We are often not qualified teachers - we are just enthusiasts! We often cover that many topics that we do not have time or the desire to learn every single detail/term. We often have no formal training from electronics companies. We are also under absolutely no obligation what-so-ever to assure that our content is fault-free - that's not how UA-cam works! You seem to have us confused with some sort of professional training company which is given lots of time to research very technical subjects in extreme detail, and is then paid significant amounts of money in order to deliver it with a great degree of professionalism! Many of us on here are lacking in two of those areas: we do not have enough time to learn all the details, and we do not get paid anywhere near enough in order to do so! I hope this clears things up for you! :-) Thanks for your comments.
Its all good. Thanks again. I appreciate you not getting cross with me trying to help your viewers/readers from getting confused. You are 100% correct UA-camrs are not obligated to provide accurate information. Nice when they do though. Like I wrote earlier I'm old. "Back in the day"... (isn't that what old people are supposed to say?)... UARTs were their own component (chip/integrated circuit) which would connect to other chips. The UARTs job was (is) to take non-serial data, and serialize it. A.K.A take parallel data (often 8 bits wide) and convert that into one bit width (serially). At the end of a line, another UART would reverse the process restoring the serial back to parallel. UART is an acronym which stands for Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter. The FT232R "connect" to a UART but the FT232R is not a UART. Like I said, back in the day UARTs were a component (chip). Today however the UART is integrated into a chip which has other functionality, on the same die. There is a UART "inside" the ESP8266. There is a UART inside an ATMEL Atmega328 microcontroller chip (the heart of the Arduino Uno). An external "thing" has to "bridge" that UART to a PC's (Windows, Linux, Apple) USB port because PCs stop offering native RS232 serial ports. There is no UART inside the FT232R. In the ESP8266, which is on-board the ESP12E, which is soldered to the ModeMCU, there is a UART. That UART's Rx and Tx pins are what the NodeMCU brings to the board edge. Deviating subjects slightly, I never understood why those folks at Arduino (smart people for sure) wanted to create their own terminology for stuff that already had terms technical people understood. I hated that a program was a "Sketch". ugh. I hated that a daughter board or expansion was a "Shield". To me and people where I come from (my background) it was nonsense talk. For people who knew nothing about electronics or embedded control, they knew no different. Why does this matter? Same reason you and your friends calling a USB Bridge a UART breaks the lines of conversation when seeking help from an expert. When Arduinos became "a thing" and friends who knew I was knowledgable in microelectronics and writing embedded code would call me and say they have a question about "the Shield" they bought from Italy. I'd say "what the Hell are you taking about, Shield?" Argh. It is a daughter board which plug ontop of the main Arduino Board. Sketch? Don't use a pen, use a pencil. Sketch? WTF. It is program code (probably written in some flavor of C or BASIC). No one in the World called a program a Sketch until those Italians started spreading it around. Grrrrr. Us old-timers aren't going to change how we talk about embedded controls, just because some Arduino dudes want to take over with new (unnecessary) lingo. A sketch is something Bob Ross did, or a comedy piece on Saturday Night Live, not a C program coded on an ASCII keyboard and injected into flash memory. Thanks for listening. Thanks for taking this as helpful not critical.
xxM5xx well, there's no point in me being cross... You're bringing up perfectly valid points. It would be very foolish of me to discourage anyone from pointing out any problems, especially since I'm an amateur. I've been learning electronics for around 18 months now. (Although I've been a programmer for many years) I also hate the words sketch and shield. You may have heard me moan about the word 'sketch' in my videos. About the UART word, I don't know why we call it that, my guess is that we got lazy and shortened UART to USB Serial Converter to UART. I have no idea! We make other mistakes too... For example, I call Arduino functions 'methods'. But in C++ (Arduino), they are actually called functions. Why not keep the names the same?!?! I don't know. There's one thing I know though; things are getting further advanced, faster, more complex and more difficult to learn by the minute! I'm not even sure if frameworks and APIs existed in the 80s!
Port issues: if your ESP8266 NodeMCU doesn't appear to have a port connection, then check that the cable you are using supports data. Some USB cables only supply power for charging purposes. You can get the port number by opening up Device Manager in Windows and you'll find it under Ports (COM & LPT) -> Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge (COMx); where x is the port number. Speaking of Silicon Labs, this is the driver and can be found at www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers. Sorry I can't offer anything for Mac/Linux users, but you may be able to fill in the gaps based on the above information. As far as using D7 goes, this isn't necessary as LED_BUILTIN will find the internal LED port (as mentioned in the code comments). This video helped me to finally get this thing working (thanks for that!) with a few tweaks just mentioned. Happy hacking :)
if you get an error with downloading the link in the preferences, run cmd and paste this "setx _JAVA_OPTIONS -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true" and press enter
Great video. Thanks. If you get the following error(s): error: espcomm_open failed error: espcomm_upload_mem failed May be worth mentioning (in addition to your pinned troubleshoot guide) that running the newst version of Arduino IDE (1.8.4) may cause issues. I tried common troubleshooting methods, but still did not work. So I reverted to 1.8.2, as noted in the GitHub repo, and all is well. Moving forward, I'll be sure to remember to check for the latest Arduino IDE tested/supported. Hour of my time gone - lesson learned. Now on to the fun stuff!
Hey I know this is a little late, but you didn't use a resistor on the led in the video. Do the ESP8266 boards not need one, or were you just living on the edge?
Thanks Antony for sharing this. You got me up and running with the NodeMCU really quickly, seems much easier than trying to get it going in Lua. Do you know if there are any benefits/restrictions in terms of functionality to using with the Arduino IDE vs using the ESP toolkit? Not having to learn Lua seems like a big benefit to me :-)
hey bro...plz help me...when i am entering the url and then when i am going to the boards manager ..it's saying error downloading....why bro..please help ma...please.....
i wana use the relay instead of leds for home automation project. then i want to ask you to how many home appliances i can control with single nodemcu esp8266 for control them over internet.
Hi, I have a problem with my NodeMcu. I have a sketch , It is good but I don't read any GPIO. When I program and I write analogread() or digitalwrite() , The connection to Wifi down up. Thanks from Venezuela😀
I found this device and instantly wanted it! I bought it and got it, I get com ports... Only 1 (com port 3), all the videos I have watched they use com port 9. If I go on my phone and try to connect to it on my wifi, it shows a open unlocked networked called ESP. I downloaded the flasher and Arduino and it seemed like everything went well until it showed com port 3 instead of 9, and I still can't get it too work. Any suggestions?
Help me please.. i am using d1 t0 d8 pins. Problem is that. When power recycle in nodemcu it not work.. code fineshed. And i have to uplaod again and again
Bro i want to connect a hard drive with this esp8266 or esp32 and use them as a server through which i can access my hard drive data wirelessly is that possible in any way??
Hi, I have a question. can i power up a 5 volt 4 channel relay module with a 5 volt 0.7-0.8 mAh wall type charger, which is basically use for charge the simple mobiles. If yes, then how i connect, i mean what will be the circuit diagram. which wire will be connect with the vcc and which wire connect with the ground and which wire is connect with the ESP8286. OR, ESP8266 nodeMCU board 3.3volt is sufficient for 4 channel 5 volt relay? i am try to built a home automation project. Thank you very much. Please help me
Hi Can you help with the esp8266 in home automation? I'm using it for home automation and the problem is when it reboots as the power gone, it automatically turns everything on . I don't need anything to be on state. Please help with it ?
See if the esp8266 has an eeprom. If it has one, save states to it every 60 seconds. If not, add and eeprom and do the same. On restart, read from the eeprom and voila!
Yes you can, but if you do so, you lose debugging. If I remember rightly, when the device restarts, it will lock up. It's better to use Hardware Serial (if possible on this module).
3:41 "..just RESTART ARDUINO....." HALELUJAH!! This is what no-one else mentioned and is most likely why I've had no success!! Thank you Antony, (perhaps an subtitle to stress/highlight that?).
Thanks, yup same as yours. The firmware reads .09 not 1.0 on mine. Does it matter? I think the extra pins can be used in lua firmware, not in arduino ide. Have you tried the Blynk app for android. I got my phone to toggle a simple led wohoo. But because i don't know jack about code i can't get a dht22 to work. Don't know how to add or combine code. Would like to figure how to use tabs to separate files also. If you ever get around to something with Blynk let me know.
Sick Vic! The firmware doesn't matter too much in my opinion. The extra pins, yes, I don't know, you're probably right. The blynk app, I've not tried Blynk but I written my own app instead. It worked, but it took me a long time to write. It's easier to make a web application in ASP.NET or something. I've never wired up a DHT22, but it would probably be easy, are there any tutorials on here?
hi , may i ask u something about nodemcu? why my nodemcu show leaving ... hard resetting rts pin when it already done upload. i cant connect my phone with nodemcu i need helppp...
Hi.. I have a slight problem with ESP8266, the ESP's LED (blue LED) showed momentary flash after it connected to the USB port and also Port on Arduino IDE didn't detected the ESP's port. What should I do?
Hi there... I did everything as per the tutorial. It's working fine. Thanks a lot. Now I tried to connect to Wi-Fi. Just wrote a simple code to connect to Wi-Fi. Using Wi-Fi.begin(ssid, password). But it doesn't connect. So I tried to run the Wi-Fi scan from the examples. It scans and says no network found. Can someone please advice
hey Antony, you should do a video with a rubber ducky USB or a Bad USB as i know i could do with a bit more help and im sure other people do to plus its just a cool gadget to have and its not to hard to program either nor its scrips but its still nice to have a channel that demonstrates the scrips and shows you how to set it up 😀🙂😎
Hey Harvey! To build one or to use one? I think the USB Rubber Ducky thing is basically a USB keyboard isn't it? Well, it is a keyboard without keys! Ha!
Haha! I'll see what I can do. I've currently got a backlog of videos to edit first though. To come: My drone - Part 6, Salvaging Lithium Ion Cells (new series), Post is here and Solar Update.
cool cant wait for that :) also just got my nodemcu chip which i just tried to do by myself which was really stupid so now going to try your way lol also the boad uploaded to 2.3.0 so hopefully its still workes this way
An esp8266 can source approx 12ma per io pin. I have a device that runs at 20ma. Can I sink this higher current without burning up the io pin? And, is that a good idea?
am i able to apply bin files to the esp8266 via arduino thing you opened in the video? like most of us, i'm also trying to make a wifi deauther but i have the code in a .bin file.
Hi, I'm not sure. I've never applied .bin files to an ESP8266. I use .ino files but I don't flash them, the Arduino software compiles them and flashes them.
Baby subtitles made my day :D
Sergey Tkach Adadadada aboo boo boo!!!! :D
Sergey Tkach same😁
same...Loved that baba
It worked! I was able to load Blink (as a test to see if everything is working) to the board! Thank you, you wonderful human! Also, your child's babbling is absolutely adorable. :)
Does this work for esp-12e
Baby's Voice made me smile : )
ThankYou
Lol, thanks!
Thanks! As a beginner with the 8266 it was very useful, and on my first try it worked like a charm! It's only 10pm but I'm feeling it will be a long night. :)
I love how you put subtitles for what the baby was saying 😂 that was cute. Also thanks for the tutorial.
Thanks Mr Sizzle!
I am going to subscribe to your channel just coz u added subtitles for the baby's voice. Super cute. Great video :)
Hahaha! In that video, my 1 year old was stood next to me whilst I was recording! I thought, "Yeah, she can be in the video!". It's a bit of fun I suppose!
shrikumar kulkarni ikr
agree XD
so nice to hear the baby, so glad for you!
Thanks for the very clear instructions, Antony. I've only just received a couple of these ESP8266 NodeMCU v3 boards and I now have a led blinking on D7. I have used a lot of Arduinos and so I was happy to learn that I could program the ESP8266 boards using the same method.
Yes
If you receive:
error: espcomm_open failed
error: espcomm_upload_mem failed
Make sure that the NodeMCU is in flash mode. You can do this by holding the flash button down, then by tapping reset, then letting go of reset a second afterwards.
If this doesn't work:
Check your wiring.
Make sure you are using a data cable, not a power cable.
Make sure Windows installs the correct driver. You'll be able to see it if you press Windows+X.
Make sure you've selected the correct COM port in Arduino.
Make sure you have selected the correct board from boards manager.
Check your version of Arduino Studio. Older versions may work better!
Thanks to +Wizencrowd for his contribution to this comment.
Antony...
Yes, that data / power cable advice was spot on. Thank you so much for making the setup process this simple.
I did the whole work and it worked pretty well.
now please anyone can suggest me how can I reset this nodeMCU.please its very urgent.I want to upload another code.how can I do it?please anyone
Write your code in Arduino Studio, plug the device in, then press CTRL + U.
that means I dont need to clear,just uploading a new code will automatically over ride the previous one.
Thnx alot for fast reply!!
Correct.
I think the special guest was trying to warn you to use a resistor with the LED
Perfect ESP8266-12e starter tutorial - and upto date on the place to download the arduino code etc. Just what is needed ! - Subscribed :)
DaveWilsonDesigns Thanks for your comment! I'm just wondering, what is your project with the nodemcu? :)
Hi Anthony.. Remote central heating valve controls for zone monitoring and time controlled environments.
Hey, thanks! It's always interesting to know what projects other people are working on. :-)
Awesome video thanks a lot.
Tried for a month and today finally got what I wanted.
Thanks bro
It worked! It actually worked! Thank you so much! Mine had a built-in LED so I left it like it was, and it worked!
Dan Great news! :)
Antony Cartwright I think it's really nice that you still respond to all comments so fast, even after so many months! Not many people do that, unfortunately!
Dan Yeah! I try! :)
Lovely special guest!
akif safi haha! Thanks1
I am new to all this and the video was the most helpful I have watched so far. Thank You!
Daves test channel Thanks!!! What are you working with?
thank you. First step to learn ESP8266 - checked
lol@2:33 , so sweet! subbed for that :D
Thanks for this. Hopefully, I shall now be able to do my fishtank light thingy that I have been promising to do for a while for this dude.
Ok this was the only tutorial that worked for me, thank you
Thanks!
Bloody lifesaver! I just couldn't get my NodeMcu to do anything(afaict) and the internal led is just USELESS. I honestly thougt it was duff. Once I changed the code to D7 (and then D6 just to be sure) everything is great! Now for some serious coding. Many thanks!!!
Thank you for your very informative tutorial on the WiFi. Very well explained. Subscribed to your channel. Cheers, Bob!
BOB ANDERSON Thanks Bob! There's some exciting stuff to come. Stay tuned.
Thanks man I was really searching this kind of video
Thanks
good stuff. works on my esp8266MOD
Excellent video! Helped me get up and running. Really appreciate it.
your made a good friendly tutorial !!
I am looking forward to the next video
I like your video. It is short and sweet. Thanks for making it. Please note, that in your video, what you are calling a UART is not a UART. The UART is actually internal to the ESP8266 SoC. What you pointed to was a USB to 3.3 volt serial converter (USB interface). In the old days(semi old days) we would call that chip (circuit) a USB to TTL serial interface. The reason we do not call it that anymore is because TTL is 5V logic, this ESP8266 uses 3.3V logic. That USB to serial data chip you pointed to was probably a CH340. To see why the CH340 is not a UART Google the CH340 data sheet, then Google what a UART is.
*When you said people could use their own UART and connect to the board's Rx / Tx pins, the key here is to understand that this connection is a direct 3.3V serial connection to the ESP8266 SoC rather than a USB serial connection to the ModeMCU board.
**The Rx / Tx pins (between pins D8 and G) connect more directly to the UART within the ESP8266 SoC. DON'T use 5V data swings on those pins. Those pins are 3.3 volt ONLY. There are other requirements to flash code directly via the Rx / Tx interface (like manually twiddling the bootloader invoke pin) but I only wanted to correct for your viewers the important distinction between a UART and a USB to serial interface. They are two different things. When teaching people things that are new to them, accuracy is best. Have a great day.
Hey, thanks for your comment. You learn something new every day. For some reason, I still call that chip a UART even now, (one year after making this video). It's fairly obvious that the chip isn't a UART though as like you said, the UART is in the Module's chip! Yes, about RX/TX pins, ofcourse, you can't use USB as the control logic and voltage is different. The way I used to do it, was to use a standalone 'UART' (Which I will now call a 'UART Serial Converter'). :-)
Thanks for your response. I'm not sure what what you are calling a chip and what you are calling a module. There are multiple components interconnected to create the NodeMCU "module". The NodeMCU is a module with another module attached to it. Basically the NodeMCU is a module built around another module. That smaller module is not actually an ESP8266 chip. That smaller module, when I look at your video is called an ESP12E. AI-THINKER made the ESP12E "module" in your video. Espressif Systems (China) provided the SoC to AI-THINKER who then made the smaller module on your larger NodeMCU module. The ESP8266 is a"chip" UNDER the metal can on the AI-THINKER module where you cannot see it. The ESP8266 chip is hidden. The AI-THINKER module assembly is soldered to the NodeMCU module (PCB).
What you are calling a UART in your response to me above could be a FTDI USB to Serial interface (module). You are connecting the FTDI module between your computer and the Rx /Tx pins on the NodeMCU module, correct?
Sorry if you or others reading this think I'm being pedantic. I don't want to be a prick. A few weeks ago I started watching dozens of UA-cam videos so I could learn about Lua, microPython, MQTT, SonOffs devices (which use ESP8266 chips) and other IoT things. I became very confused by what was an ESP8266, what was an ESP12E, what was a NodeMCU and why this has anything to do with Arduino. I'm getting it all figured out now. Frustratingly I ran into so many people inventing their own terms for things which already had industry standard terms assigned. Folks using the wrong terms for components made for an unnecessary heck of a time understanding it all. It is crazy confusing for us "students" to sort it all out when the wrong words are used by the "teacher". The industry terms are what should be used to keep confusion to a minimum IMHO. Then again, maybe I'm just old. I am 60.
Please be aware that an FTDI chip on a PC board or module is unlikely to be a UART chip. I'm un-sure if the FTDI company from Glasgow, Scottland even makes a UART chip. Their claim to fame is their line of USB bridges. I don't know why but the many FTDI bridges I've seen are on red PCBs. I have a couple of these red FTDI bridges. They are genuine, not the counterfeits (Hi Fred Dart :-)). There are stand alone CH340 USB bridge modules from China ( I have a few) which are often on small blue PCBs. It doesn't matter if the USB bridge module you use is red or blue (FTDI or CH340), these are not UARTs.
I'm not trying to be a jerk. I think it helps everyone, including me, if content creators use the proper terminology during their tutorials. As good as your tutorials are, you will be doing yourself a favor in the long run if, in your head, you use appropriate terms. You do your viewers a favor too because many of them are already confused by this technical stuff. I'm not that smart therefore I'm easily confused. Tutorials using incorrect terms isn't helping. I'm not singling you out. This applies to all the IoT tutorials on the web. Thanks.
Hi,
I call the NodeMCU the "module" and the inner module a "chip" (even though it is also a module).
Correct too, the standalone serial converter which I'd have used would have been either FTDI, CH340, PL2xxx, etc. FTDI was by far the best though and the one I used to use more. Ofcourse, to connect Microcontroller to PC.
I'm not worried about you being or not being pedantic, feel free to say whatever you want. :-)
I'm a learner also, everyone on UA-cam is or has been a 'learner' at some point. I've also been though the inconsistencies, and spending hours learning, seeing/hearing wrong terms, etc. Ideally, if one knows the industry terms, it is good to use them, I agree with that! Also, when discussing complex things such as these, it is great to keep things as simple as reasonably possible, as you said. I don't think your age comes into that, I'm 31 and I feel the same way.
FTDI do make very good UART interface chips, I have a few of them myself (My FTDI modules are also red). Mine are most likely counterfeits though since they were super cheap. They are what you call (quite correctly) 'Serial Converters'. Although they may not have a UART inside of them, they are still called UART modules from time to time too, presumably because they connect to a UART. You can see them here if you wish: www.ftdichip.com/Products/ICs/FT232R.htm
If you type in 'UART' into ebay for example, you'll see a whole host of USB - UART, UART Serial Converters, TTL UART, UART adapter, UART Interface Chips, etc... Although the correct name is 'UART Serial Converter', you can't help what people call them! Pretty much everyone I know calls these things 'UART' even though they are not! It's just presumably short for 'UART Serial Converter'! People call me 'Tony' quite often, my name isn't 'Tony', it's 'Antony', but things are the way they are I guess.
But now, getting to the point, please bear these points in mind; UA-cam content creators often create voluntarily and freely. We are often not qualified teachers - we are just enthusiasts! We often cover that many topics that we do not have time or the desire to learn every single detail/term. We often have no formal training from electronics companies. We are also under absolutely no obligation what-so-ever to assure that our content is fault-free - that's not how UA-cam works!
You seem to have us confused with some sort of professional training company which is given lots of time to research very technical subjects in extreme detail, and is then paid significant amounts of money in order to deliver it with a great degree of professionalism! Many of us on here are lacking in two of those areas: we do not have enough time to learn all the details, and we do not get paid anywhere near enough in order to do so!
I hope this clears things up for you! :-)
Thanks for your comments.
Its all good. Thanks again.
I appreciate you not getting cross with me trying to help your viewers/readers from getting confused. You are 100% correct UA-camrs are not obligated to provide accurate information. Nice when they do though.
Like I wrote earlier I'm old. "Back in the day"... (isn't that what old people are supposed to say?)... UARTs were their own component (chip/integrated circuit) which would connect to other chips. The UARTs job was (is) to take non-serial data, and serialize it. A.K.A take parallel data (often 8 bits wide) and convert that into one bit width (serially). At the end of a line, another UART would reverse the process restoring the serial back to parallel. UART is an acronym which stands for Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter. The FT232R "connect" to a UART but the FT232R is not a UART. Like I said, back in the day UARTs were a component (chip). Today however the UART is integrated into a chip which has other functionality, on the same die. There is a UART "inside" the ESP8266. There is a UART inside an ATMEL Atmega328 microcontroller chip (the heart of the Arduino Uno). An external "thing" has to "bridge" that UART to a PC's (Windows, Linux, Apple) USB port because PCs stop offering native RS232 serial ports. There is no UART inside the FT232R. In the ESP8266, which is on-board the ESP12E, which is soldered to the ModeMCU, there is a UART. That UART's Rx and Tx pins are what the NodeMCU brings to the board edge.
Deviating subjects slightly, I never understood why those folks at Arduino (smart people for sure) wanted to create their own terminology for stuff that already had terms technical people understood. I hated that a program was a "Sketch". ugh. I hated that a daughter board or expansion was a "Shield". To me and people where I come from (my background) it was nonsense talk. For people who knew nothing about electronics or embedded control, they knew no different. Why does this matter? Same reason you and your friends calling a USB Bridge a UART breaks the lines of conversation when seeking help from an expert. When Arduinos became "a thing" and friends who knew I was knowledgable in microelectronics and writing embedded code would call me and say they have a question about "the Shield" they bought from Italy. I'd say "what the Hell are you taking about, Shield?" Argh. It is a daughter board which plug ontop of the main Arduino Board. Sketch? Don't use a pen, use a pencil. Sketch? WTF. It is program code (probably written in some flavor of C or BASIC). No one in the World called a program a Sketch until those Italians started spreading it around. Grrrrr. Us old-timers aren't going to change how we talk about embedded controls, just because some Arduino dudes want to take over with new (unnecessary) lingo. A sketch is something Bob Ross did, or a comedy piece on Saturday Night Live, not a C program coded on an ASCII keyboard and injected into flash memory.
Thanks for listening. Thanks for taking this as helpful not critical.
xxM5xx well, there's no point in me being cross... You're bringing up perfectly valid points. It would be very foolish of me to discourage anyone from pointing out any problems, especially since I'm an amateur. I've been learning electronics for around 18 months now. (Although I've been a programmer for many years) I also hate the words sketch and shield. You may have heard me moan about the word 'sketch' in my videos. About the UART word, I don't know why we call it that, my guess is that we got lazy and shortened UART to USB Serial Converter to UART. I have no idea! We make other mistakes too... For example, I call Arduino functions 'methods'. But in C++ (Arduino), they are actually called functions. Why not keep the names the same?!?! I don't know. There's one thing I know though; things are getting further advanced, faster, more complex and more difficult to learn by the minute! I'm not even sure if frameworks and APIs existed in the 80s!
Port issues: if your ESP8266 NodeMCU doesn't appear to have a port connection, then check that the cable you are using supports data. Some USB cables only supply power for charging purposes. You can get the port number by opening up Device Manager in Windows and you'll find it under Ports (COM & LPT) -> Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge (COMx); where x is the port number. Speaking of Silicon Labs, this is the driver and can be found at www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers. Sorry I can't offer anything for Mac/Linux users, but you may be able to fill in the gaps based on the above information. As far as using D7 goes, this isn't necessary as LED_BUILTIN will find the internal LED port (as mentioned in the code comments). This video helped me to finally get this thing working (thanks for that!) with a few tweaks just mentioned. Happy hacking :)
Do you need to program every chip?
thanks for the video, I can now sleep peacefully since I can upload my code to the node mcu
Thank you. But I want to ask why did not you put a resistor? Isnt it dangerous?
Excellent bootstrap video, thanks!
thanks for video. i watched and completed task using captions as was able to succeed.
Clear instruction and a very good explanation..ty bro
if you get an error with downloading the link in the preferences, run cmd and paste this "setx _JAVA_OPTIONS -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true" and press enter
Great video. Thanks.
If you get the following error(s):
error: espcomm_open failed
error: espcomm_upload_mem failed
May be worth mentioning (in addition to your pinned troubleshoot guide) that running the newst version of Arduino IDE (1.8.4) may cause issues. I tried common troubleshooting methods, but still did not work. So I reverted to 1.8.2, as noted in the GitHub repo, and all is well. Moving forward, I'll be sure to remember to check for the latest Arduino IDE tested/supported. Hour of my time gone - lesson learned. Now on to the fun stuff!
Jashua White Thanks! I'll add it to the list now. Antony...
Just start, what happen when port is not available. What you do next to have port back
Thank you for sharing this cool video! 🐶🖐🏾
Thanks!
im not getting a COM number in the port tool. can you help?
i have esp32 and can't seem to flash it, I have downloaded the latest codes, no idea what i'm doing, I did follow around 5 different videos.
Hey I know this is a little late, but you didn't use a resistor on the led in the video. Do the ESP8266 boards not need one, or were you just living on the edge?
I should have used an LED but for the purposes of simplicity, it's ok.
You don't need any register?
In this tutorial you have used the board as a regular Arduino Uno without using the WIFI?
Means we could use the board as node or as uno?
Very Much Thank You Sir. btw Your Guest sounds cute
what are the software needed and how to install them?
keep up the good work mate
if the LED is already blink.. is that mean the nodemcu has connected to wifi??
I bought a MakerFocus ESP8266 on Amazon. Do you think its a NodeMCU also?
Yes. :)
Thanks Antony for sharing this. You got me up and running with the NodeMCU really quickly, seems much easier than trying to get it going in Lua. Do you know if there are any benefits/restrictions in terms of functionality to using with the Arduino IDE vs using the ESP toolkit? Not having to learn Lua seems like a big benefit to me :-)
Hi, thanks, I'm not aware of any downsides to using Arduino... There is probably some small overhead, but I'm not sure. Antony...
It's 2021, i have a problem. That is "hard resetting via RTS pin..."
So help.
Worked exactly as explained
I am getting random junk in console in the same board like reverse question-marks while communicating.Help!!!
Thanks! great video
hey bro...plz help me...when i am entering the url and then when i am going to the boards manager ..it's saying error downloading....why bro..please help ma...please.....
Thanks for making easy video
Anjali Pareek thanks!
So the arduino IDE setup is kinda like any arduino compatible board - Hoped you'd at least demonstrate some rudiments of its wifi capabilities.
Can I power it with 5V batteries?
No need resistor for led ?
how many relays we can connect with a nodemcu at the sametime ?
Mohit kundu probably 10-15 with transistors/mosfets to drive them.
i wana use the relay instead of leds for home automation project. then i want to ask you to how many home appliances i can control with single nodemcu esp8266 for control them over internet.
Mohit kundu 255 devices...
that baby was the star of this video :D
is it possible to use a Arduino UNO or Nano source code for Node or ESP 8266?
Fantastic, thank you!
how do you tell the difference between the 12 and 12-E?
Great lesson. Thanks!
outsidersTexas Thanks!
Thank You Sir Great work !!!!!!!!
Hi, I have a problem with my NodeMcu. I have a sketch , It is good but I don't read any GPIO. When I program and I write analogread() or digitalwrite() , The connection to Wifi down up. Thanks from Venezuela😀
I found this device and instantly wanted it! I bought it and got it, I get com ports... Only 1 (com port 3), all the videos I have watched they use com port 9. If I go on my phone and try to connect to it on my wifi, it shows a open unlocked networked called ESP. I downloaded the flasher and Arduino and it seemed like everything went well until it showed com port 3 instead of 9, and I still can't get it too work. Any suggestions?
Help me please.. i am using d1 t0 d8 pins. Problem is that. When power recycle in nodemcu it not work.. code fineshed. And i have to uplaod again and again
requiere mucho tiempo para calentarse?
Good informative video . Thanks
Does this also work with iphone?
Bro i want to connect a hard drive with this esp8266 or esp32 and use them as a server through which i can access my hard drive data wirelessly is that possible in any way??
Hi, I have a question. can i power up a 5 volt 4 channel relay module with a 5 volt 0.7-0.8 mAh wall type charger, which is basically use for charge the simple mobiles.
If yes, then how i connect, i mean what will be the circuit diagram. which wire will be connect with the vcc and which wire connect with the ground and which wire is connect with the ESP8286.
OR,
ESP8266 nodeMCU board 3.3volt is sufficient for 4 channel 5 volt relay?
i am try to built a home automation project.
Thank you very much. Please help me
Hi
Can you help with the esp8266 in home automation?
I'm using it for home automation and the problem is when it reboots as the power gone, it automatically turns everything on .
I don't need anything to be on state.
Please help with it ?
See if the esp8266 has an eeprom. If it has one, save states to it every 60 seconds. If not, add and eeprom and do the same. On restart, read from the eeprom and voila!
@@AntonyCartwright I have Checked with it. But though it is turning on when it reboots. Now I ll check with eeprom. Thank you sir
Do I do the same thing you are showing in this video if I ahve a NodeMCU?
Yes, The NodeMCU is basically an ESP8266 with some supporting components.
Can I use TTL RX & TX to connect to other Master Slave Devices
Yes you can, but if you do so, you lose debugging. If I remember rightly, when the device restarts, it will lock up. It's better to use Hardware Serial (if possible on this module).
can we add timer to spesific device? for example if i connect to wifi, 15 minutes later ill be disconnected automatically
Thank you so much man! :)
thanks!
Please tell me how to recognize a original NodeMCU?
3:41 "..just RESTART ARDUINO....." HALELUJAH!! This is what no-one else mentioned and is most likely why I've had no success!! Thank you Antony, (perhaps an subtitle to stress/highlight that?).
I've got the same Lolin board maybe, how do we know which one 12 or 12e
Sick Vic probably by the version number... or my the look of the esp module!
Thanks, yup same as yours. The firmware reads .09 not 1.0 on mine. Does it matter? I think the extra pins can be used in lua firmware, not in arduino ide.
Have you tried the Blynk app for android. I got my phone to toggle a simple led wohoo. But because i don't know jack about code i can't get a dht22 to work. Don't know how to add or combine code. Would like to figure how to use tabs to separate files also.
If you ever get around to something with Blynk let me know.
Sick Vic! The firmware doesn't matter too much in my opinion. The extra pins, yes, I don't know, you're probably right. The blynk app, I've not tried Blynk but I written my own app instead. It worked, but it took me a long time to write. It's easier to make a web application in ASP.NET or something.
I've never wired up a DHT22, but it would probably be easy, are there any tutorials on here?
when size is your LED just a random question
7 Inches long :) size doesn't matter. I gave up on Blynk
for anyone having trouble uploading the script onto your board , install cp210 drivers then the com port should show up and itll work out
hi , may i ask u something about nodemcu? why my nodemcu show leaving ... hard resetting rts pin when it already done upload. i cant connect my phone with nodemcu i need helppp...
Não consigo tirar esse erro : "Placa generic (plataforma esp8266, pacote esp8266) é desconhecida" . Pode me ajudar ?
serial.serialutil.SerialException: could not open port 'COM6': FileNotFoundError(2, 'The system cannot find the file specified.', None, 2)
PLS HELP
Nice video, can you help me with my project? esp8266, 4 ch relay and android app for home automation? TIA
It's a WiFi jammer right?
Hey no need to push reset button?
did you have to plug the esp into breadboard to upload something to it? because My computer won't recognize the esp when it's plugged in
Curtiss Peabody ESP? or NodeMcu? you can just plug the NodeMcu in via USB. Your computer may install the drivers automatically.
b? :-D
Why are some wifi networks displaying yellow and some are green?
Hi.. I have a slight problem with ESP8266, the ESP's LED (blue LED) showed momentary flash after it connected to the USB port and also Port on Arduino IDE didn't detected the ESP's port. What should I do?
HI, the NodeMCU uses a UART to communicate with the PC. If the Arduino software doesn't recognise this, it is most likely to do with drivers.
I just tried CP210x, is it the right driver I have to install?
Any android micro usb cable can be used right? Because I'm facing a problem where my arduino ide cannot detect the connection to my laptop's port
I found the solution to my problem. I have to download driver to be installes to my computer from Silabs. You made a great video! Thank you!
Thanks!
Koon Kee Ohhh.. Thnx... Was facing the same problem
Can we connect 4 (12V) dc motors to it
Not directly no!
is there a way to do so?
after i done what you did, there's no esp8266 listed only EPROM wire, software etc
Hi there... I did everything as per the tutorial. It's working fine. Thanks a lot.
Now I tried to connect to Wi-Fi. Just wrote a simple code to connect to Wi-Fi. Using Wi-Fi.begin(ssid, password). But it doesn't connect. So I tried to run the Wi-Fi scan from the examples. It scans and says no network found. Can someone please advice
hey Antony, you should do a video with a rubber ducky USB or a Bad USB as i know i could do with a bit more help and im sure other people do to plus its just a cool gadget to have and its not to hard to program either nor its scrips but its still nice to have a channel that demonstrates the scrips and shows you how to set it up 😀🙂😎
Hey Harvey! To build one or to use one? I think the USB Rubber Ducky thing is basically a USB keyboard isn't it? Well, it is a keyboard without keys! Ha!
yer pritty much but i think it'll by nice if you do a video on it or just get a keyboard and do a video on that lol :)
Haha! I'll see what I can do. I've currently got a backlog of videos to edit first though. To come: My drone - Part 6, Salvaging Lithium Ion Cells (new series), Post is here and Solar Update.
cool cant wait for that :) also just got my nodemcu chip which i just tried to do by myself which was really stupid so now going to try your way lol also the boad uploaded to 2.3.0 so hopefully its still workes this way
Thank you very much!
Thanks!
An esp8266 can source approx 12ma per io pin. I have a device that runs at 20ma. Can I sink this higher current without burning up the io pin? And, is that a good idea?
It's not a good idea to go against the specs, just power it externally.
Thanks, I was just trying to avoid more components. I noticed that the esp8266 could sink 20ma but wanted your opinion on it.
William Miller you will only need one more component, AMS1117. :)
how do you replace existing script on your nodemcu? do we format it again using ESPlorer?
ampdeck No, simply get your new sketch, then press ctrl+u.
am i able to apply bin files to the esp8266 via arduino thing you opened in the video? like most of us, i'm also trying to make a wifi deauther but i have the code in a .bin file.
Hi, I'm not sure. I've never applied .bin files to an ESP8266. I use .ino files but I don't flash them, the Arduino software compiles them and flashes them.
In my code #include was not worked..it cause no such file or directory error
I've tried all USB ports of my computer and it does not recognize the NodeMCU. It does blink when I plugin the USB.
Francisco Alves Which Operating System are you using?
Using Windows 10, but I tried on Windows 7 too.
Windows 10 works fine and drivers install automatically. Is it possible that you have a faulty NodeMCU or faulty cable? Or even faulty USB port?
I'm afraid that the NodeMCU is faulty :/
:-(