ESP8266 Community Forum

Hi
I have been using an esp-01 and esp-12 without level shifting the serial communication without any issues so far. I know its best practise to as the esp operates at 3.3v but so far my modules are handling it no problems.

Has anyone experienced problems with communicating with a 5v device without level shifting? I am wondering if during communication parts of the chip are heating up and will eventually fail.

I might setup a continuous data feed to the esp to see what happens over 12,24 hrs maybe a week straight?

Use a level shifter. Some 3.3v devices have 5v tolerant pins but tolerant often doesn't mean robust and any variation over 5v can mean the pin gets blown.

yeah yeah ive read it 100x on here use level shifting. but have you personally experienced a blown pin?

Hi
The reason you may not have had problems is that the voltage from the serial device may not be 5V!.
I recently connected a 5V serial device to my esp without problem, but when I measured the output voltage on an oscilloscope it was only 3.6V which the esp could easily handled.

Gerry