ESP8266 Community Forum

I have tried to power my ESP modules (ESP-01, ESP-03, ESP-07) in several ways.
There's no problem powering with batteries (1S LiPo or LiIon) or 3.3V regulator.
Powering with CP2104 USB to serial didn't work well, but when i use FT232RL adapter everything works fine.
The adapter that I've bought on e-bay has a counterfeit FT232RL chip (I did not know that when I bought it) and I was very upset when it got bricked with new windows driver.
I managed to unbrick it and use it with older driver.
Original FT232RL can supply only 50mA from its 3.3V regulator, so I was curious about regulator on fake FT232RL.
I connected 10ohm between 3.3V and GND output, and I'm happy to say that output voltage was still above 3.1V, while supplying more then 300mA!
So don't trow those fake FT232 adapters away, they are very well suited for our beloved ESP8266.

I can confirm the same.
I also used fake FTDI from aliexpress, but fortunatelly I plug it in later ( after ftdi stops blocking fake chips ) so it is working well without any problem and with default win7-64 drivers. But, to be honest, there is one problem - I have to connect it via usb hub, when connected directly to pc it is sometimes not recognised.
But it is powering ESP201 without a problem.