Got ESP-12E modules

Posted at 2015-06-05.

I got more neat little boards with ESP8266. This is one of many types and usually goes by the name of ESP-12E.

Only on-board antenna, and this is a small module with a metal case bearing Wi-Fi and FCC badges.

I also have some carrier/motherboards that mostly only contain breakout pins and the necessary resistors for automatic boot.

Wiring up

I soldered one of the modules on a motherboard with a gas "iron" and wired the board up just like the ESP201 and it worked straight away.

I added flux, but no solder and it could use some extra solder there, but all pads seemed to flow fine.

I again went with the CP2104 and 115200, 8N1 works. Power comes through an LM1117 regulator.

Terminal session

�rl�B�
Ai-Thinker Technology Co. Ltd.

ready
AT

OK
AT+RST

OK

 ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:4, boot mode:(3,6)

wdt reset
load 0x40100000, len 816, room 16 
tail 0
chksum 0x8d
load 0x3ffe8000, len 788, room 8 
tail 12
chksum 0xcf
ho 0 tail 12 room 4
load 0x3ffe8314, len 288, room 12 
tail 4
chksum 0xcf
csum 0xcf

2nd boot version : 1.2
  SPI Speed      : 40MHz
  SPI Mode       : QIO
  SPI Flash Size : 4Mbit
jump to run user1

rl�B�
Ai-Thinker Technology Co. Ltd.

ready
AT+GMR

ERROR
AT+CWMODE?
+CWMODE:2

OK
AT+CWJAP?
No AP

OK
AT+CWLAP

ERROR
AT+GMR
AT version:0.21.0.0
SDK version:0.9.5

OK

AT+CWMODE=3

OK
AT+RST

OK

 ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:4, boot mode:(3,6)

wdt reset
load 0x40100000, len 816, room 16 
tail 0
chksum 0x8d
load 0x3ffe8000, len 788, room 8 
tail 12
chksum 0xcf
ho 0 tail 12 room 4
load 0x3ffe8314, len 288, room 12 
tail 4
chksum 0xcf
csum 0xcf

2nd boot version : 1.2
  SPI Speed      : 40MHz
  SPI Mode       : QIO
  SPI Flash Size : 4Mbit
jump to run user1

rl�B�
Ai-Thinker Technology Co. Ltd.

ready
AT+CWLAP
+CWLAP:(3,"XXXX",-60,"xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:bc",6)
+CWLAP:(3,"mylan",-78,"xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:08",11)

OK
AT+CWJAP="myownlan","somepassword"

OK
AT+CWJAP?
+CWJAP:"myownlan"

OK
AT+CIFSR
+CIFSR:APIP,"10.555.666.7"
+CIFSR:APMAC,"xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:55"
+CIFSR:STAIP,"10.555.666.778"
+CIFSR:STAMAC,"xy:xy:xy:xy:xy:55"

OK

Some details changed, obviously. But it seems to connect and shows up in router interface with a -67 dBm signal. Neat.

Noise seems to be up to -77 dBm today, though.

Plans

Next step is probably trying to get the NodeMCU firmware on it.

Links