ESP8266 Community Forum

So I finally got myself a ESPS8266, super stoked to build numerous projects with it!

I bought mine on Ebay, no where states what firmware it is, I'm assuming it's default.

When I boot it there's no blue blink at all, I'm able to connect via serial and send commands. Blue led blinks on Rx, however I do not get any response back to serial monitor (in this case using arduino IDE, but using anything got no response).

First thing I did was connect the usbuart ux=>rx via the ESP: Serial monitor shows that commands are definitely being sent.

Any idea on potential issue?

So I actually realized that CH_PD needs to be connected to 3.3v.. At first it didn't make sense because was getting pretty warm, so I kept disconnecting it. At one point keeping it connected and running a serial test returned the garble I was looking for at 115 baud rate (it's really stupid that all the sellers have this value all over the place).

Sad part now is the usb-uart stopped working completely, regardless of driver reinstallation.

I have noticed many guys getting started have problems with using esp parts on breadboards.
For me, it is worth the extra cost for an engineered product.
If I ever want to spin a circuit board for a project it is helpful to have a known good example for copying the power and pull-ups.

I have had good luck with these from a US vendor.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ESP8266-ESP-12-WIFI-Eval-Brd-w-2A-Battery-Holder-Free-Shipping-Arr-1-10-Biz-Days-/281585428919?hash=item418fcca9b7
For other countries, the AliExpress price is very good for the same item. (Better actually, I just noticed they went from a 12 to 12E. More exposed pins!)
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP8266-ESP-12E-serial-WIFI-Industrial-stable-version-A-full-test-board-Full-IO-leads/32370570377.html?spm=2114.01020208.3.2.A4MUd1&ws_ab_test=201407_3,201444_6,201409_5

These are so generic, they don't even have a manufacturer logo or revision on the pcb silkscreen.
The bent connector pin on the one from aliexpress is either horrifying or hilarious. The price is low... quality is

ridge wrote:I have noticed many guys getting started have problems with using esp parts on breadboards.
For me, it is worth the extra cost for an engineered product.

My problem was that the jumper wires didn't contact with the arduino's tx/rx pins.
Once I fixed that everything was working.