Live data from Hacker News

We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

github.com

21–30 of 145 posts

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#21
The biggest/best reason I know for using ESP8266 is the integrated WiFi module, but it seems that this doesn’t expose that or at least capitalize on it, which gives little incentive to use this over something like the Teensy.

Is there any intention to add WiFi support to the dev kit?

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#22
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * Is it FCC-certified? It would certainly appear to lack the FCC ID label/marking it is required to have if it is FCC certified. So probably not. Thus, it also appears doubtful whether it can legally be marketed or sold in the U.S.

A search for "Malouf" on the FCC registration website provided no matches. Most likely this product is not registered. In addition, this product lacks a CE mark and has no UL/FM/CSA listing. I'm curious what creepage/clearance requirements were factor into the design. This product is potentially dangerous if the relay is switching line voltage.

[deleted]

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#23

The biggest/best reason I know for using ESP8266 is the integrated WiFi module, but it seems that this doesn’t expose that or at least capitalize on it, which gives little incentive to use this over something like the Teensy. Is there any intention to add WiFi support to the dev kit?

It appears that there is an antenna on the PCB so I believe WiFi is supported here. Outside of that, the ESP8266 is a pretty nifty CPU itself. Depending on what you want to do, a Teensy might be what you want. The ESP chips do not have an FPU for example.

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#24

The biggest/best reason I know for using ESP8266 is the integrated WiFi module, but it seems that this doesn’t expose that or at least capitalize on it, which gives little incentive to use this over something like the Teensy. Is there any intention to add WiFi support to the dev kit?

From board picture it looks like a wifi antenna is on the board, maybe WifiClient.h would work?

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#25
Who has used RS232 voltage for serial in the last 10 years? I'd rather a few MOSFETs to cut the power to everything for lower power. I guess there is a specific market for this and it is not me. I have at least 20 of Esp8266 and esp32 boards around the house. A bit of fun to design and produce though. I would not bother with the ESP8266 anymore considering the marginal cost of the esp32 and it is a much better device, learnt from their mistakes. The new one with on chip USB looks great too.

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#26

The biggest/best reason I know for using ESP8266 is the integrated WiFi module, but it seems that this doesn’t expose that or at least capitalize on it, which gives little incentive to use this over something like the Teensy. Is there any intention to add WiFi support to the dev kit?

Yes ESP8266 has WiFi Built-in but thanks for the pointer, I will update the description to reflect that fact.

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#27
post #25

Who has used RS232 voltage for serial in the last 10 years? I'd rather a few MOSFETs to cut the power to everything for lower power. I guess there is a specific market for this and it is not me. I have at least 20 of Esp8266 and esp32 boards around the house. A bit of fun to design and produce though. I would not bother with the ESP8266 anymore considering the marginal cost of the esp32 and it is a much better device…

Haha, we built this internally to use with Axiom scanners in our fulfillment centers which use RS232 interface, those scanners are 20 years old.

I convinced my boss to let me sell these as open source since we found many cool IOT uses for them around the office as well, that's why you are getting the RS232 on there but most people probably will not need that feature, but hey... it is there if you need it :)

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#28
post #25

Who has used RS232 voltage for serial in the last 10 years? I'd rather a few MOSFETs to cut the power to everything for lower power. I guess there is a specific market for this and it is not me. I have at least 20 of Esp8266 and esp32 boards around the house. A bit of fun to design and produce though. I would not bother with the ESP8266 anymore considering the marginal cost of the esp32 and it is a much better device…

I have. Roboteq motor controllers use RS232 voltage levels :-/

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#29

Cool - it looks like a well-designed board, although the timing is a bit unfortunate with the ESP32-S2 emerging as an ESP8266 replacement with USB. A few questions: * Should the relay have some sort of isolation, like an optocoupler? * Is it FCC-certified? * Like other people asked, any information on how the antenna was designed? I like the old-school dome LEDs. And it's cool to see another project with a CH340 USB/…

A decent heuristic for whether or not a wireless module has been FCC certified is whether or not the RF components are under a metal shield:

If it doesn't have a shield, it's almost certainly not FCC certified.

If it does, it's more likely to be certified.

Re: We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

#30
post #25

Who has used RS232 voltage for serial in the last 10 years? I'd rather a few MOSFETs to cut the power to everything for lower power. I guess there is a specific market for this and it is not me. I have at least 20 of Esp8266 and esp32 boards around the house. A bit of fun to design and produce though. I would not bother with the ESP8266 anymore considering the marginal cost of the esp32 and it is a much better device…

If the cable is longer than a few centimeters, the voltage makes sense.

rs232 can run quite long distances.

Post reply on HN