The relay hadn't been triggered for hours before the module failed, so I don't see how the lack of a flyback diode could cause the issue but I'll add one when I rebuild the circuit. For now I'm back to the breadboard and bench (ATX) supply, I ordered some ESP8266-08 modules to try them, I programmed 1 with the same arduino code and hooked an LED up to P12, I put a 103 ceramic in parallel with the supply, I added 1k pull ups to P0 and P2. it has been running for about 24 hours now but it is also throwing the same exceptions:
Exception (3):
epc1=0x4000dfb4 epc2=0x00000000 epc3=0x00000000 excvaddr=0x40232a10 depc=0x00000000
ctx: cont
sp: 3ffea9b0 end: 3ffeac20 offset: 01a0
>>>stack>>>
3ffeab50: 00000001 00000001 3ffe9009 40205d08
3ffeab60: 00000009 0000000b 3ffe8b67 3ffeac4c
3ffeab70: 3fffdc20 00249f00 3ffe9700 40202519
3ffeab80: 40232a10 00249f00 3ffeac78 3ffeac4c
3ffeab90: 3fffdc20 00249f00 3ffe9700 4020222b
3ffeaba0: 3ffe9048 0a01a8c0 3ffeac78 40205f99
3ffeabb0: 3fffdc20 3ffeac78 00249f00 402022ec
3ffeabc0: 3ffe8eb8 00000000 000003e8 00176be1
3ffeabd0: 00000000 00000000 3fff4ed0 00000101
3ffeabe0: 00000000 00000000 00000016 40101c71
3ffeabf0: 402017ed 00000019 00000019 00000000
3ffeac00: 3fffdc20 00000000 3ffeac44 4020184a
3ffeac10: 00000000 00000000 3ffe9c00 40100378
<<<stack<<<
ets Jan 8 2013,rst cause:1, boot mode:(3,6)
load 0x4010f000, len 1264, room 16
tail 0
chksum 0x42
csum 0x42
~ld
What does the Exception Code mean? I will let it run on the bench supply through the weekend (checking on it periodically of course). If it doesn't burn up I guess it crashing and rebooting isn't a huge deal as long as it always restarts and responds after. Thanks