ESP-NOW

[NeverDie]

ESP-NOW means that ESP8266 and (?) ESP32 nodes can directly communicate, without having to go through lengthy delays at the gateway after waking from sleep. This means much lower current consumption than before for battery powered ESP nodes.

Anyone here try this out?

https://www.espressif.com/en/products/software/esp-now/overview

#172 Hidden: ESP32 and ESP8266 point-to-point (ESP-Now): Fast and efficient. Comparison with LoRa – 16:07
— Andreas Spiess

Aggressively Low Power with the ESP8266 – 10:18
— CNLohr

[NeverDie]

Answering my own question: yes, esp-now does ALSO work with ESP32.
http://www.instructables.com/id/ESP32-With-ESP-Now-Protocol/
That's significant because it means the much lower sleep current of the ESP32 (as compared to the ESP8266) can be leveraged.

[gohan]

Are you suggesting a new transport layer for MySensors gateway and nodes?

[NeverDie]

I'm not sure what you're asking.

Put simply: if it turns out that a $1.70 ESP8266 can "do it all" without using much power, then it would be good to know.

[gohan]

I was asking if you were suggesting to investigate if it was possible to use the ESP-NOW as a new transport like the NRF24 or RFM69

[NeverDie]

@gohan Yes, I believe that's what I said.

[NeverDie]

In addition, the ESP8285 allegedly has a deep sleep of 10ua with full memory retention:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP8285-ESP-M3-serial-port-transparent-wireless-WiFi-control-module-Compatible-with-ESP8266/32825926676.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.16.76915236yw7rvD&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10152_10151_10065_10068_10344_10342_10343_10340_10341_10696_10084_10083_10618_10307_5711215_10313_10059_10534_100031_10103_10624_10623_10622_10621_10620,searchweb201603_6,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=3515e37f-3b93-43c6-ac3a-ca2655bb5718-2&algo_pvid=3515e37f-3b93-43c6-ac3a-ca2655bb5718&transAbTest=ae803_4&priceBeautifyAB=0
That's much better than the ESP8266.

[NeverDie]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP-01M-WiFi-module-ESP8285-serial-port-to-WiFi-Customization-Double-sided-insert/32841910953.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.44.3fb85236XvOLrC&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_5_10152_10065_10151_5711320_10344_10068_10130_10324_10342_10547_10325_10343_10546_10340_10341_10548_10698_10545_10697_10696_10084_5722520_10083_10618_10307_5711220_10059_5722620_5722920_308_5722720_5722820_100031_10103_441_10624_10623_10622_10621_10620-5711320normal#cfs,searchweb201603_15,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=4448b8e3-84b1-4446-bb9b-ee27f5f9b9ef-6&algo_pvid=4448b8e3-84b1-4446-bb9b-ee27f5f9b9ef&transAbTest=ae803_1&priceBeautifyAB=0

[Justin Martin]

This is very intriguing! Looking forward to following this.

[heinzv]

@neverdie I like the discussion as I like the ESP features, especially because of much mor RAM and Flash (also ESPnow etc.). However, I think the biggest problem so solve is not only to introduce a new protcol like ESPnow (which I and my friends have tried successfully) but the drastic code changes in MySesnors core as the ESP chips (8266, 8285, ESP32) do a reboot/wartstart after a deep sleep wakeup and that is completely different than AVR/ATMEGA chips like the 328p which continues right after the sleep command. I have a newer discussion with the MySensors main developers on that. So even if ESP8266 or ESP32 is yet supported, the sleep command is not supported (check the recent code, it will return false and does not sleep). Thus the ESP's can only be used as Gateways or always power on MySensors devices.