The new ESP8266 WIFI models

[Francois]

Hi did anyone look at this new ESP8266 WIFI modules? In this video these guys get up to 4KM line of sight with this modules. The cost of the device is not that high only about $3.14 per device on Aliexpress.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-2pcs-lot-ESP8266-remote-serial-Port-WIFI-wireless-module-through-walls-Wang/2035780034.html
Can we integrated this module into Mysensors ecosystem?

ESP8266 Wifi Range/Distance Tests (Wi07C) – 06:59
— CNLohr

More info in the ESP8266

https://nurdspace.nl/ESP8266

[daulagari]

Can we integrated this module into Mysensors ecosystem?

WiFi is more power hungry while providing more bandwidth so I think WiFi is overkill for sensors. If you have WiFi why then not make a small www server and use that to control the node?

Do you think this WiFi module will have a better range than NRF24L01+ or any comparable WiFi chip?

[Francois]

@daulagari my biggest problem with the NRF24lo1+ is range. I only get 10 meter in my house. I get much better range with the RFM69. With the RFM69 I can get to the end of my property without any issue. But I I not seeing any more dev going on with the porting to get the RFM69 working as an alternate to the NRF24l01.

[daulagari]

my biggest problem with the NRF24lo1+ is range. I only get 10 meter in my house.

That is likely because your NRF24L01+ is not working properly because the specs of the device are reasonably good.

From Debugging Sensors and the Gateway:

Try adding a decoupling capacitor over the 3.3V and GND pins to minimize the ripple (around 4.7uF - 22uF). Check polarity of capacitor. Or switch to a ceramic variant.

[Francois]

@daulagari what ranges do you get on the NRF2401 without having and repeater in you network? I do have a 4.7uf cap on all my radio's. At this stage am also have debugging on on all my sensor while in dev phase of testing all the sensor.

[daulagari]

I have not been testing range everything in my house is within 15 meters.

See the Battery Sensor v 1.0 PCB thread for more idea's on how to improve the range you get.

@clippermiami initially also got also about 10 meters but eventually could

see the sensor module all the way out in the yard at the far end of the house, through outside walls and a half dozen interior walls.

[soward]

While wifi might be overkill for sensor communication, a wifi gateway would be useful. Reading various bits around the net, it kooks like it might be possible to actually re-flash the unit itself and tap into some of the GPIO pins directly, so there's a possibility that the device itself could be the only component in a sensor, that would make it potentially a more attractive option for certain situations.

I just received a few yesterday, but I'm not sure when I'll have enough time to try to get anything working with them.

[hek]

They're really cheap for sure. For a wireless gateway they would be perfect.
I'll buy a couple for future tests.

[RJ_Make]

That's insane..

[Rek]

I have a few of these waiting to be exploited Wireless gateway was my same thought. They use alot of power, up to 3x that of the RF24 module so I do not think they would be ideal for battery powered sensors.

[Yveaux]

Please be aware that official documentation of these modules is very limited and there (currently) is no Arduino support for it.
There is however an active community (http://www.esp8266.com/) trying to figure out how these chips work.

[Zeph]

Odd little unit. Much higher OTA speed than the nRF24, but throttled through a slower serial interface. Uses a much wider spectrum, but hopefully for a short time. Seems like overkill for our short packets. I wonder what the datagram collision rate would be for UDP? There are a lot of WiFi networks in range where I live.

Still, it's an amazingly cheap chip, considering how much more sophisticated it is than the nRF24L01+ (or even a nRF51822).

[RJ_Make]

Anyone had a chance to mess around with this module?

[BulldogLowell]

@ServiceXp

Just received a few, and will start messing with them while on holidays... I've seen progress on a few threads out there.

[EasyIoT]

@ServiceXp, I've created ESP8266 library similar to MySensor library. I'm using V0.9.2.2 firmware. Because in firmware are some typos library will probably work only with this firmware. I've implemented couple of sensors with this module. Distance range of ESP8266 module is much better than NRF24l01, but also power consumtion is much bigger.
Sources are on GitHub.

[RJ_Make]

@dopustko How much more is the power consumption?

[EasyIoT]

@ServiceXp in spec is 215mA, which is more than 10x as NRF24L01 current consumption. I didn't measure current, but my configuration did't work with FDT power supply. I'm using additional AMS1117 regulator to power ESP8266 and Arduino.
But ESP8266 can be put in sleep mode, and current consumption is much lower. I plan to add sleep support in ESP8266 EasyIoT library.

[lunarok]

Hi,

Someone has get any success making a gateway with an ESP8266 ?

[gregl]

I got a few ESP-03 modules the other week and last night got the MQTT client running on one of them.
Was able to turn on/off a led and detect state change of another I/O pin.

Really impressive little modules!

[BulldogLowell]

@gregl

I have messed about with them too, but it seems for me they are not-ready-for-primetime, but with some hard-knocking effort you can get it to do some basic things. Smart guys will develop a great library and it will all come together, I am sure.

Spark Core is my new favorite. After sitting on the bench from last year's initial shipment, I finally got to play with it. It is amazing with its tremendous out of the box capabilities.

The Photon (which ships april) is only US$19, has 1 Mb of FLASH and 128 Kb of RAM, moving at 120Mhz... wow! Way overkill for a motion sensor, but it brings a lot of life to the world of Home Automation for a small price. ($10 for a surface mount version!!!)

I'm in the process of moving my Vera auxiliary controller project over to spark... I'll re-post the wireless version as soon as I can get it in a proper box.