ESP8266 Community Forum

Hello community! I want to make a motor controller using my ESP8266-01. I have 2 motors and need to control speed of first motor and direction of second motor by sending commands from my phone. But I am really new in ESP and I need your advice, please. Is ESP8266-01 eniugh for this? What is the first thing i need to do?

The ESP-01 only has a couple of GPIO pins broken out on the board, so it is possible to control two motors but you couldn't do anything else. The outputs from the board should not be connected directly to the motors - it won't work and might damage the chip. At the very least you will need a transistor and diode: e.g. http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-spin-a-dc-motor-with-the-arduino.html

If you are not in a rush, and could wait for this $7 combo to arrive from china. It would make everything much easier and nicer: all the other pins available and usb plug and play.

Bergenheis wrote:The ESP-01 only has a couple of GPIO pins broken out on the board, so it is possible to control two motors but you couldn't do anything else. The outputs from the board should not be connected directly to the motors - it won't work and might damage the chip. At the very least you will need a transistor and diode: e.g. http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-spin-a-dc-motor-with-the-arduino.html

If you are not in a rush, and could wait for this $7 combo to arrive from china. It would make everything much easier and nicer: all the other pins available and usb plug and play.

Thanks for your reply! No, I am not in rush, but projesct is a part of my ornithopter model and the weigth is very critically for me and I don't need to do anything else, only control motors. By the way, I read that it's possible to add more GPIO, like here or here (Sorry for russian website, anyway only images are important). Or it's better to buy ESP-09 (smaller and more GPIO)?

Ormgair wrote:By the way, I read that it's possible to add more GPIO, like here or here (Sorry for russian website, anyway only images are important).

I would definitely recommend buying a different module, rather than trying to hack an ESP-01.
The pins on the chip are only 0.25mm wide, so even with very steady hands and a good soldering iron with a fine tip it is rather hard to attach wires. And even if you manage to pull it off, the connections won't be very reliable.

Or it's better to buy ESP-09 (smaller and more GPIO)?

The ESP-09 is probably the smallest & lightest module available, but be aware, that it does not have an antenna.
I would rather recommend an ESP-12(e/f), it has an integrated antenna and is about the same size as an ESP-01. It weighs slightly more, but if you need to strip some weight, you could remove the metal shield.