ESP8266 Community Forum

Hi all,

I was just wondering if its advisable to just use ESP's GPIOs to control appliances (lights, fans, switches etc) for a home automation project (using the relay circuitry with transistors) or should I use an external Microcontroller to do this? I am looking to control, say, 4-6 appliances over WiFi and I believe ESP8266 does come with enough GPIO pins to support them. I am hoping to minimize the cost by not having to use an external Microcontroller.
Also, I am planning to develop an app to be able to control the appliances (have done that using Arduino Yun), so can ESP8266 support that or would I need the external Micrcontroller for that anyway? (Sorry, I am new to ESP8266 so havent figured out this yet!)

I don't see why this would not be possible. As long as you have enough GPIO. The ESP8266 can run a TCP server to receive commands, or can even poll an external server.

That is right. Given the fact the ESP8266 is a processor with wifi stack, and enough GPIOs for such systems. I do not see any reason for using external uC. I am using the ESP GPIOs to drive relays. Of course, I ought to use GPIO driving some FET to keep the GPIOs down on current drain.

I do not see any reason for using external uC.

one reason is ease of use.
let,s say arduino.

my 12year old nephew can do what he wants with his arduino + esp module.
but never can do the same with esp module alone.