[SOLVED]ESP8266 which shield/does it matter?

1

So I’m just getting interested in Blynk and looking to get a wifi shield. I can’t find any more detailed information on ESP8266 shields and I see plenty of varieties of shields with this chip, as such I’m unsure which to get?
Should I get a specific one or would any with the right chip work?
Honestly what I really need is a nice tutorial and guidelines on how to start up, something I haven’t found yet. Any advice or guidance would be appreciated, even if its just pointing me to something I’ve missed.

Thanks!

2

I can recommend the ESP8266 12E as an easy way to start with that series of chip. Mainly because you don’t need to worry about any extra hardware. Just plug it in to your computer with a usb cable and you are away.

3

So you’re saying between this and this the physical differences don’t make any difference to the running of the code (except for maybe pin allocation)?
And the setup for the Blynk link will be the same?

4

@AcrimoniousMirth all the ESP products are very similar. What are you looking to do with Blynk?

5

Honestly? I’m not sure yet, basically I just want a wifi app that I can use for my projects, both giving commands and receiving diagnostics.

6

Standalone or a arduino shield ? Question is a bit ambiguous.

For standalone, adafruit esp8266 huzzah or feather huzzah (usb built in), a nodemcu development board or clone, or a sparkfun esp “thing” seem to be the best ones I have found. most have usb built in, 5v regulator, some level shifting included and are based on esp 12e with lots of breakouts.

7

Sorry for the ambiguity! Shield, I mean to use it to interface with Arduinos.

8

Ok cause you can run the esp8266 as a dumb wifi module attached to an arduino ( usually in a shield form factor or dongled ), or actually run arduino ON the esp8266, which is considered standalone.

9

So wiring it up to one of these and using it as a transparent portal? Sorry, quite new to the more advanced topics (such as wifi shields).

10

Yes, it will act as your Wifi-dongle for the Arduino. You can get them cheaper though :smile: but with less Pins. The ESP-01 with two IO pins can serve you fine if you only want to use it as a shield and it is a bit cheaper.

11

Thanks, the ESP-01 sounds like a good idea! I take it that you could use the extra pins of subsequent versions for faster data transfer?

12

No not really, just more Input/Ouput :smile:

Speed is limited to the 2.4Ghz wifi band and about 115200 kbps for serial connections :slight_smile:

13

You are a veritable fount of knowledge! I meant as in “channels”, so splitting up the data across several pins instead of say 2 to speed up transfer.

14

Well, since you only have the Tx (Transmit) and Rx (Receive) channel, it doesn’t matter. That is just how it works. All the other pins, wether it be 2 or 15, can only be used to input sensor data or output data to relays, LED’s etc. They cannot be used for data transfer to the cloud or otherwise. Just to control peripheral device’s like sensor’s and buttons.

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15

That makes perfect sense! Thanks for the help :yum:

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16

The other pins are only used when using the microcontroller onboard the esp8266 , they are local gpios.
esp8266 is a fairly decent standalone arduino, but not as powerful as a uno of course.

17

Basically a Nano with wifi.