Add Internet to your next project with an adorable, bite-sized WiFi microcontroller, at a price you like! The ESP8266 processor from Espressif is an 80 MHz microcontroller with a full WiFi front-end (both as client and access point) and TCP/IP stack with DNS support as well. While this chip has been very popular, it's also been very difficult to use. Most of the low cost modules are not breadboard friendly, don't have an onboard 500mA 3.3V regulator or level shifting, and aren't CE or FCC emitter certified....UNTIL NOW!

The HUZZAH ESP8266 breakout is what we designed to make working with this chip super easy and a lot of fun. We took a certified module with an onboard antenna, and plenty of pins, and soldered it onto our designed breakout PCBs. We added in:

  • Reset button
  • User button that can also put the chip into bootloading mode,
  • Red LED you can blink
  • Level shifting on the UART and reset pin
  • 3.3V out, 500mA regulator (you'll want to assume the ESP8266 can draw up to 250mA so budget accordingly)
  • Two diode-protected power inputs (one for a USB cable, another for a battery)

The module itself is FCC certified and contains the ESP8266 chip with 64 KiB of instruction RAM, 96 KiB of data RAM, and 4 MB of QIO FLASH (32 Megabits)

Two parallel, breadboard-friendly breakouts on either side give you access to:

  • 1 x Analog input (1.0V max)
  • 9 x GPIO (3.3V logic), which can also be used for I2C or SPI
  • 2 x UART pins
  • 2 x 3-6V power inputs, reset, enable, LDO-disable, 3.3V output

One breakout at the end has an "FTDI" pinout so you can plug in an FTDI or console cable to upload software and read/write debugging information via the UART. When you're done with your coding, remove the cable, and this little module can be embeded into your project box.

Each order comes with one assembled and tested HUZZAH ESP8266 breakout board, and a stick of 0.1" header that you can solder on and plug the breakout into a breadboard. A soldering iron and solder is required for that, and aren't included. You'll also need a USB-serial cable such as a USB console cable (Windows only)FTDI Friend (any OS), or FTDI cable (any OS) to upload software to the HUZZAH ESP8266!

Don't forget to visit esp8266.com for the latest and greatest in ESP8266 news, software and gossip!

This guide was first published on Apr 24, 2015. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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