Node MCU ESP8266 wifi programming from Arduino IDE

This is perhaps the cheapest configurable wifi board one will get (~$4 ~ZAR80) to program Arduino based code into.

To get started with this board, you will have to have done the following:

• Installed usb driver for Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge
• In Arduino IDE>File>Preferences> pasted this link as boards manager: http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json
• Installed the ESP Boards package via ArduinoIDE>Tools>Board>Boards Manager> Then search for ESP8266 package and install it.
• Successfully connect the board via USB (with appropriate USB cable not only a USB charging cable, as some usb micro cables are only for charging, i.e. they only have the GND and +5V wires and do not include the communication wires / connections in the cable).
• Note the connected COM Port of the board in >Device Manager.

Voltage control is 3.3V-based via an AMS1117 – 3.3

ADC0 (A0) is the only Analog (input) pin. Its maximum voltage is 1.0V.

For programming, use:

• Board: NodeMCU 0.9 (this version worked for me, but others suggest 1.0)
• Flash size: 4M (3M SPIFFS)
• Upload speed 115200
• Port: Com Port as identified in Device Manager
• Programmer: usbasp
• CPU freq: 80 MHz

To include wifi:

Begin the code with #include ESP8266WiFi.h, this library is apparently included in the main ArduinoIDE.

Define SSID and password:

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
char ssid[] = "Your-ssid";
char pass[] = "Your-password";
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
delay(500);
Serial.print("Connecting to ");
Serial.println(ssid);
delay(500);
WiFi.disconnect();
WiFi.begin(ssid,pass);
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED)
{
delay(500);
Serial.println(".");
}
Serial.print("SSID: ");
Serial.println(WiFi.SSID());
Serial.println ("Successfully connected! ");
Serial.print("IP Address allotted to NodeMCU ESP: ");
Serial.println (WiFi.localIP());
Serial.print("MAC Address of ESP: ");
Serial.println (WiFi.macAddress());
WiFi.printDiag(Serial);
}
// the loop function runs over and over again forever
void loop() {
}

After uploading, hit the reset button on the MCU, or reconnect the USB with the serial monitor open in Arduino IDE.