Easier ESP8266 Development

Or How to Learn from My 4 Years of Frustration

(This is a post in my series about my Garage Door Opener.  Yes I wrote a series. About a Garage Door Opener.  Check it out:

• Hardware
• Software
• Installation
• Easier ESP8266 Development

Thanks!)

Okay, so that took a little longer than expected.....

Back in 2013 I built a light for my Garage Door and my daughter said it would be cool if I could control it from my phone.

My original plan was to simply use a Bluetooth to serial converter, type 'open' in an iPhone app and job's done.

However, my iPhone 4 didn't support Blue Tooth Low Energy, and I was hearing good stuff about this $5 WiFi chip, the ESP8266.

So, I thought I'd give it a go.  But, no, this post isn't about the widget I built, but rather a collection of tip's for anyone else who wants to try developing  with an ESP8266 from scratch.  There was a lot to learn, and if you're looking to get started with the ESP866, please read on and learn from my mistakes!

TV TROUBLE

Unhappy Wife

The other night, the TV stopped working.  Home and Away was getting missed and the wife wasn't happy.

About 10 years ago I installed an active antenna, and used some crimp connectors to terminate the Quad Shield RG6.  This cable carries both the RF signal and 5V DC to power the amp. 

A quick measure with the multimeter showed that the volts were around 2V at the feed to the amp so it looked like there was an issue with the cable.  

The outer insulation looked ok, but there was grey powder at the crimp connection itself.  

So I stripped back the outer jacket to find:

- that I was right.  The cable was stuffed.  

I Didn't Say Which Christmas....

Well, Halloween, anyway....

Growing up there was a saying in our house.  Dad, when pushed for a deadline, would quip "By Christmas." If Christmas beat Dad to delivering the cubby house / painted kitchen / whatever he'd promised, he'd simply state "I didn't say which Christmas...."

At the time, that saying annoyed me.  These days, I hide behind it!

Hacking my Hakko

Hakko 936 LED Mod

So I've come home once again, to find, yet again, that after tinkering with some new toys I've left my soldering iron on ALL DAY yet again...

And this time I'm taking care of business!  (I'll talk about the toys later).

ESP8266-01 Programming Jig

 Getting Jiggy With it

So, about three years ago(!) I rigged up a controller for my roller doors, and my daughter mentioned that it would be cool if I could open them using my phone. 

My initial thoughts were to use a Bluetooth to serial adaptor and just use a keyboard app to send an open command.

And after getting delivery from eBay of a great HC06 module, I realised I was screwed by Apple.  

No my iPhone 4 wouldn't connect to the HC06 and I wasn't going to upgrade my phone to take advantage of Bluetooth Low Energy either.

So I went searching for a solution that would work, not just on my phone, but on any mobile device.  This is part of the story as to how I got there....

This will not do at all...

Sharing the Love

Share Alike

Today I was asked if I could share my soldering iron hack PCB.

So I did!

A Simple Plan

Exploring New Stuff

A Simple Current Shunt Amplifier

A while ago, I took advantage of a free PCB offer to knock up a quick project, which is still 90% finished.  Or more correctly, not finished.