ESP8266 Community Forum

- Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:06 am #86183 Hi all,
is there some example on how to connect a 3V-6V water pump to the D1 Mini ESP8266?

I know that ESP8266 has a 3.3V output on the digital pins, can I connect a 3V-6V water pump on the digital pin directly?
Is there someone who succeded in connecting a pump to the ESP8266?

If not, can you give me some simple example on how to connect the pump to the ESP considering the fact that my ESP will be powered by a solar panel with a 18650 lithium battery.
I don't want to add other power sources if possible.

Thanks.

- Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:12 am #86184 I would connect the pump directly to the battery via a Mosfet with a flyback diode. There are a lot of tutorials online for this sort of circuit and your pump is just a motor.

Thinking about it you should disconnect the pump if the battery gets to low or it will damage it. You could measure the battery level on the A0 pin and shut off the Mosfett if the voltage is to low.

Simple ideas start to get complicated quite quickly!

- Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:30 am #86185 Not solar powered but the pump driving part of my instructable https://www.instructables.com/id/Battery-Powered-Plant-Watering/ may give some ideas. The deep sleep scheduled software may also be applicable.

Note that you should check how much current your pump motor will draw.

- Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:54 am #86187 I have a D1 Mini Relay shield, is that a good alternative to mosfet+diode circuit?
Can I connect the pump to the battery directly and then power it on/off using a relay?

Is the voltge of a 18650 enough to drive a pump similar to the one use by @btidey ?