TBD Controls ESP8266 ESP-01 WiFi Microcontroller for Arduino

It took me a while before I can write this review. I want to make sure that I fully grasp how to setup these ESP8266. Unlike the NodeMcu dev boards, the ESP8266 isn't easy to work with. It's not because they are difficult to work with but it's because of the lack of quality information on how to set this up. You only have two GPIOs and the pins aren't breadboard friendly.However, once you've managed to survive the learning phase, the ESP8266 works amazingly well! Let me reiterate that. The ESP8266 is magic! For beginners here are my tips:* Google online for tutorials on ESP8266 ESP-01. In most cases you'd find one on ESP8266 with dev boards. You don't want those. You want the ones for ESP-01.* The pin layouts on some ESP8266 are marked as follows===> RX, TX, VCC, GND, GPIO0, GPIO2, RST, CH_PD.However some pin layouts have it like this:===> RX, TX, 3v3, GND, IO0, IO2, RST, EN.GPIO0 and GPIO02 correspond to IO0 and IO2. CH_PD corresponds to EN. VCC corresponds to 3v3* You will need a FTDI USB adapter or cable to power up and program the ESP8266. Make sure you find a good one with a reliable working FTDI driver. I recommend this "Micro USB FTDI Basic Breakout Module for Arduino 3.3V/5V" from TINYSINE. I have two and they work perfectly with my Mac OS* When you are flashing the firmware or programming the board, you will need that FTDI adapter/cable always. The TX and RX always go the opposite way on the FTDI adapter. For example:===> ESP8266 yellow cable on RX and green cable on TX.===> On the FTDI adapter, yellow cable goes to TX, whereas green cable goes to RX everytime!* You only need the FTDI adapter when flashing the firmware or programming the board. Once your favorite program is loaded, you can remove the FTDI adapter. All you need to use in your ESP8266 are the VCC, GND (obviously!!!), GPIO2, EN (or CH_PD) pins.===> VCC goes to VCC of course===> GND goes to GND===> EN or CH_PID goes to VCC===> GPIO2 goes to your LED or whatever device you want to control. Of course you have to write the program that updates the GPIO2 pin.* If you prefer not to take out the FTDI adapter (like on some of my photos), you'll have to make sure the VCC and GND are connected to VCC and GND.* Please tidy up your cables. Shorten them up or tape them up so when you are working on your breadboard, you don't get confuse which cable is which. A tidy setup makes learning easier and more straightforward* If nothing works, try playing with one LED first before you go with complicated setups.* I suggest using Platform IO to install and run your program. Don't go with the Arduino IDE. My bias opinion is that tool is ugly. Platform IO is free. Google it. Send me a message if you need help on this. I plan to make a tutorial soon "hopefully"Pros:* 4x ESP8266 for a cheap price!* WIFI-capability!* Good build and fairly resilient to abuseCons:* No pin labels. You can Google this but it would be nice without the need to Google.* It takes sometime to figure out the pins. How to load the firmware and how to run the program. Most of the available tutorials are either for NodeMcu or dev board kits. The ones with ESP8266 tutorials are often written by someone who can't properly teach things to beginners. Their designs are too dirty to appreciate the simplicity of this device.* Micropython firmware will not install properly. It will eventually spit out a corrupted filesystem. I tried a gazillion times and Micropython just won't work* Not breadboard friendly. I know ahead that this will be the case, but I didn't realize later it would be a hassle to figure out how to make it breadboard friendly when you want your design to look clean. I suggest following one of the Instructables DIY breadboard adapter. Or buy a prebuilt adapter. I chose to use jumpers and just tape them around.Firmware:* I used the Arduino ESP8266 board but I programmed and uploaded it via Platform IO (which use Atom and esptool)* Don't use Micropython here. It doesn't work here. I prefer Micropython though on NodeMcu boardsItems I used on first project:* JBtek Breadboard Power Supply* Adafruit Neopixel Ring* TBD ESP8266 of course* Bunch of cables* Ignore the OLED lcd. I haven't used it yet on this project* Standard breadboard from ElegooItems I used on second project:* Yellow LED* 330 Ohm resistor* FTDI Adapter* ESP-8266* Bunch of cables to tie up and shorten the jumpers.* Ravpower portable battery* Mini breadboard from ElegooNote: I have 14 photos here. If you don't see 14, please send me a message and I will complain to Amazon!

The chips themselves are fine - but the packaging on the shipping was terrible. All four microcontrollers arrived with severely bent pins. I was able to bend the pins back with a knive and some needle nosed pliers. I did NOT include the packaging and shipping damage in my review because I want to review the PRODUCT, not the shipping (though I did submit a separate review of the shipping and packaging).First - you MUST have a FTDI board to program these chips. I used the "Micro USB FTDI Basic Breakout Module for Arduino 3.3V/5V" by "TinySine". I'm sure there are plenty of other similar products that work fine - this is just the one I found that works and was a decent price. You only need the FDTI board for programming. Once these chips have been initially programmed, you do not need the FTDI (unless you want to re-program the chips).Second - I followed the "Easy IFTTT Button" project on hackster.io (google it and it should be one of the first results) and the "ESP8266 Quick Start" guide on benlo.com. Using those two guides, I was able to get it up and running in an hour or so.Other than that, it's fairly easy to work with once you get it figured out. The documentation is confusing and some of the information I found online was conflicting. I did have a lot of trouble getting it set up initially, but I think that was a problem with the computer I was using. I was able to successfully flash nodeMCU to the chips using the FTDI board, but could never get it to load up any code (in my case, lua files). Once I tried a different computer, though, I was able to re-flash the chips and load my lua files on the first try.Overall, they are a bit tricky to get up and running but once you get over the initial learning curve (and work out all the kinks getting the hardware and software to play nice), it's actually quite easy and quick to get it up and running.

I can program these modules via my USB-TTL adapter. Wire it up as everyone one the internet says, and it works. BUT as soon as i take it out of the breadboard and power it back up somewhere else, whether it be another bread board, a protoboard, whatever) IT DOES NOT WORK. I'm not sure if my program is getting deleted from the chip, or if it just won't connect back to the wifi. I don't know. So the only way I can get this to work basically is if i keep it powered from the moment I program it, and somehow manage to move it from the breadboard or protoboard while keeping it powered the entire time.