A beginning circuit for the ESP8266. An essential wiring diagram, since the internet is full of mis-information!

The ESP8266 has revolutionized the Internet of Things. For a mere dollar or two the electronics enthusiast can add fairly long range wireless capability to their project. 

 

This circuit demonstrates how to wire up the ESP8266. It uses an Arduino Uno for the 5V power supply (which is stepped down to ~3.1V), but you can power the device however you need. Keep power ranges between 3.1V - 3.6V, if you want to keep the ESP8266 happy. 

 

Once you have everything wired up, you can open the Arduino IDE and open the serial monitor, set the baud rate to 9600, enable both Newline and Carriage return and power on the ESP8266! Full list of available commands for the stock firmware is here: https://nurdspace.nl/ESP8266#AT_Commands

 

E-Mail me with any questions!

 

P.S. I use 5V with a voltage regulator instead of the 3.3v on the Uno because I get just a little bit more juice (+-.1V) compared to the 3.3V by itself. This doesn't matter much when you're just powering the ESP8266, but when you want to program it, the extra juice helps stabilze it!