ESP8266 Community Forum

hello guys,

this is my very first post in here so I apologise if I am not giving you all the information that I should.

I am creating this topic to ask you help regarding how to control and use the v3 output of my Nodemcu.

I have a script which is working fine to power on and off a led by using one of the GPIO and the ground. However, my project requires to power on a small engine - which requires a 3V - if I connect this engine to the ground and to the 3V output it works fine but I can't control it, it always spins as I don't know a way to turn on or off that 3V output but if I connect this engine to a GPIO pin I can control but it spins very slow.

What am I missing?

Thank you for your time,

Ade

Please describe "Engine"...

The max. current an ESP can deliver (per GPIO) is around 12mA (and this is a max value, lower is better).
Use a transistor/MOSFET or a relay if you want to control higher loads.

QuickFix wrote:Please describe "Engine"...

The max. current an ESP can deliver (per GPIO) is around 12mA (and this is a max value, lower is better).
Use a transistor/MOSFET or a relay if you want to control higher loads.

Hello QuickFix, thank you for your reply. Probably engine is not the right word, I assume that motor is. It's a tiny motor that should turn for one second and then stop.

I have a 4n25 chip, is this a good alternative? if so, how should I connect it?

Thank you

You might want to do a search here on this forum for connecting an electric motor to an ESP.
Since a motor is not a static load, a few precautions have to be taken to protect the ESP.