12/26/2015

ESP32 beta breakout board

Breakout board for the new ESP32 beta module

Just a little addition to the previous post. I made some photos of the breakout board which was accompanied with the ESP32 beta module. Quite interesting is the thermal pad which is connected to ground. This might be important to solder to the beta module if you clock the chip higher than the standard 80MHz.

Breakout board top pcb
Breakout board bottom pcb

12/25/2015

ESP32 beta module HiRes pictures

ESP32 beta test module

 

I'm glad to be one out of the 200 beta testers for the new Espressif ESP32-chip (it's labeled ESP31B, the obvious name for the beta-ESP32?), which is brand new and adds some functions like Bluetooth (Low Energy) and a second core to the cheap-and-easy ESP8266.

Before soldering the module I took some photos with my Micro Nikkor 105mm/2.8f and stitched them together with Microsoft ICE. This results in photos of about 4400x3100 pixels, which means a quite big download if you click on the preview pictures.

If you want to have a look what I'm currently developing for a new smart home platform using the ESP8266 you can find more info here (CO2 sensor module) and here (Experimental Platform) which is currently in alpha testing.

Concerning the ESP32 Hackaday has a nice news flow and Limor "Ladyada" Fried from Adafruit made a detailed video on the new beta module.

If you are a german reader then you can read my article on the ESP8266 in the current edition of the german Make: magazine (10 pages).

So enjoy the the new module and stay tuned for more news.

Click here for the HiRes pictures: top (~7MB), bottom (~10MB).

ESP32 beta test module top

ESP32 beta test module bottom

2/08/2015

ESP8266 breadboard adapter board

This is an old design of the breadboard adapter. Please look at this blog post for the recent design.

I designed a single-sided ESP-12/ ESP-07 breadboard adapter PCB which will be easy to etch and solder for anyone who loves to play with the ESP8266 on a breadboard like me.

Eagle files are in my github repo

Features are:

* Fits ESP-12 and ESP-07 module
* Single-sided self-etchable design
* Few, cheap parts in SMD
* Breadboard-style - one row on each side accessible
* Vin >4.5V (max. 7V) input possible with 3V3 onboard voltage regulator (with two capacitors 10µF)
* Power-indicator LED
* (Schottky-) Diode as reverse polarity input protection possible (solder 0 Ohm resistor or just connect the two pads for no protection)
* RST, CH_PD, GPIO0 with 4k7 pull-up resistors on board (resistors can be omitted if remote access of those GPIOs is needed)
* GPIO15 with 4k7 pull-down (see above)
* Tactile switch connected to GPIO0 to get into flash mode
* Single post for 3.3V output near voltage regulator

Parts needed:

  • 1x Voltage Regulator (e.g, AMS1117-3.3V, 800mA)
  • 2x 10µF SMD ceramic capacitors
  • 4x 4.7k SMD Ohm resistors
  • 1x 330 SMD Ohm resistor
  • 1x SMD-LED (1006)
  • 1x 4*4mm SMD tactile switch
  •  2x 1*8 pin header (pitch 2.54mm)
  • optional: 1x Schottky-diode SMD
This is the actual revision 1.0 - improved for:

* Antenna part now protruding the PCB (no traces below antenna)
* Wider traces
* Schottky diode for reverse polarity protection
* 2x 10µF ceramic caps for input/ output of AMS1117
* Single post for 3.3V Output near voltage regulator

2/04/2015

ESP8266 - inexpensive IoT

Presentation ESP8266 - Basics and programming examples



On February 2 I had a short presentation at the Makerspace Attraktor in Hamburg on how to use and program the new chinese IoT-IC ESP8266.

The space was quite crowed with more than 40 listeners interested in the new and very inexpensive module with a great range of programming possibilites.

You can find the presentation (pdf in german) here


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