ESP8266 Community Forum

- Thu Jul 23, 2015 4:27 pm #24064 Hi, tonight I’ve been working on a project using ESP8266-01s to report when a door is opened (standard security reed relay & magnet) or the batteries need changing (voltage divider) that will be assembled on strip board using a 4x2 socket connector for the ESP8266. It became apparent that I would only need to breakout 4 of the pins to the stripboard (VCC, GND, GPIO 0 & GPIO 2) as long as RST & CH_PD where taken high somewhere. I ended up with the following:

Code: Select allURTX -> not required                                          VCC -> required
GPIO 0-> required                                             RST -> not required but needs to be pulled high.
GPIO 2-> required                                             CH-PD -> not required but needs to be pulled high.
GND-> required                                                UTDX  -> not required


I came up with this idea

Code: Select allURTX (remove pins from socket)                                 VCC
GPIO 0                                                         RST (remove pins from socket) (solder to above pin on ESP8266)
GPIO 2                                                         CH-PD (remove pins from socket) (solder to above pin on ESP8266)
GND                                                            UTDX  (remove pins from socket)


You end up with

Code: Select allURTX -> NC                                                     VCC
GPIO 0                                                         RST -> NC / VCC
GPIO 2                                                         CH-PD -> NC / VCC
GND                                                            UTDX -> NC


Leaving the connections on your 4x2 connector.

Code: Select all VCC
GPIO 0
GPIO 2
GND


Which are the only ones most of us will need to break out, which land on 4 diferent tracks of stripboard.
I appreciate that the ESP8266 can’t be flashed whilst socketed in this board, but that was never a requirement. Even with VCC,RST &CH_PD soldered together on the ESP8266 it can still flashed / put into flash mode when socketed into a board that accesses the above as well as URXD & UTXD by powering down.
Posted as it might help someone working on stripboard like myself.

- Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:02 pm #24086 Got a picture? Even a hand drawn sketch scanned in will do .

Get you modules here:

https://www.banggood.com/custlink/KvGGhGF4wG

- Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:18 pm #24088 Nice idea. It does frustrate me that on the 01 model pin layout tx and RX generally have to cross over as do gnd and vcc because of where they are positioned.
Not too bad on a strip board as you are generally using a cable to bridge anyway. Pain on a pcb though. This idea of flipping the esp pins to the top and some to the bottom could solve that.

- Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:15 am #24164 Hi, here is a photo. For my project I only need to breakout Vcc, GPIO 0, GPIO 2 & GND. I want to use stripboard for this simple project.

The down side is that the ESP8266 cant be flashed whilst in the stripboard, but can be removed and flashed on another board as UTXD & URXD are untouched. As both CH_PD & RST are tied high to enter flash mode the power needs to be disconnected and reapplied whilst GPIO 0 is held low as normal.
This one is going to open my gates as the 433mhz transmitters are about shot. Hope this helps someone.