ESP8266 Community Forum

I am attempting to create an IoT water sensor and I have an idea of what I want to do but no idea how to figure out what else I need to do.

Currently, I have a Stem Minds Soil Moisture Sensor V1.0 connected to a Seeeduino Xiao's A0 pin. The Seeduino Xiao's A0 port is then redirected to the Serial Monitor in the Arduino IDE on my computer.

My current goal is to connect an esp8266 module to my Xiao to then instead redirect the serial output still to my computer but without a connection. esp8266 does not have a microUSB connection, I am not sure how to go about connecting it. I am open to any suggestions.

To program the bare ESP8266's, you have to have some kind of USB connection. Typically the easiest is to get the ones that are already built-in.

1. Look up NodeMCU or WeMos. They're a little more expensive than the bare ones, but you don't need a separate programmer AND you can power them with some left-over USB charger. When you're not programming. This is the easiest. I've done the following three ways, but will never again.
2. Or you need a programmer... these are far more expensive. Although I have one, I still prefer choice 1. I have about a dozen ESP-07 bare ESP8266. I doubt I'll ever getting around to using them even with this programmer. #1 is just too convenient. Something like https://www.amazon.com/ESP8266-Firmware-Downloader-Download-ESP-01S/dp/B08F9HTR9Z
3. If you have an Arduino... UNO, micro, nano... do a search on Internet. You can wire it and use it to program the ESP8266. I did this once... never again.
4. Look up FTDI - This way is kind of crude, you have click buttons at the right time. Did this once... never again.

I've not used the sensor or the Xiao thing, so I can't advice you on those. It sounds like the Xiao is redundant to what the ESP8266 already has. It has an A0 analog to digital pin. I bet if you did a Google search with ESP8266 and that moisture sensor, you'd probably get plenty of example tutorials.

Good luck

I feared this was the best option, I am working on it with a professor who is just giving me the modules and saying go at it without any instruction. I will have to ask if they have the pins or if they can just order one with USB connection.

Inq720 wrote:To program the bare ESP8266's, you have to have some kind of USB connection. Typically the easiest is to get the ones that are already built-in.

1. Look up NodeMCU or WeMos. They're a little more expensive than the bare ones, but you don't need a separate programmer AND you can power them with some left-over USB charger. When you're not programming. This is the easiest. I've done the following three ways, but will never again.
2. Or you need a programmer... these are far more expensive. Although I have one, I still prefer choice 1. I have about a dozen ESP-07 bare ESP8266. I doubt I'll ever getting around to using them even with this programmer. #1 is just too convenient. Something like https://www.amazon.com/ESP8266-Firmware-Downloader-Download-ESP-01S/dp/B08F9HTR9Z
3. If you have an Arduino... UNO, micro, nano... do a search on Internet. You can wire it and use it to program the ESP8266. I did this once... never again.
4. Look up FTDI - This way is kind of crude, you have click buttons at the right time. Did this once... never again.

I've not used the sensor or the Xiao thing, so I can't advice you on those. It sounds like the Xiao is redundant to what the ESP8266 already has. It has an A0 analog to digital pin. I bet if you did a Google search with ESP8266 and that moisture sensor, you'd probably get plenty of example tutorials.

Good luck

Something like this one????
https://how2electronics.com/capacitive-soil-moisture-sensor-esp8266-esp32-oled-display/

Although, I'd punt the display, put a web server on the ESP8266 and just watch the plant from your phone, or desktop.