Hardware Basics of ESP8266 ESP-01 WiFi Module

Learn the basics of ESP8266, features of ESP8266 and also basic hardware information of ESP8266 ESP-01 WiFi Module

What is ESP8266?

Key features of this module are that it is low powered, compact and High durable. ESP8266 is low powered and integrated WiFi-based microcontroller. It can be also used as a web server. The manufacturer of ESP8266 is Espressif Systems. It is based in Shanghai, China. For details information, have a look at the ESP866 Datasheet.

There are 2 models of ESP8266. old and new. Blue is old and black is a new one.

Features or basics of ESP8266
  • Microcontroller: Tensilica Xtensa L106 32 bit
  • Clock frequency: 80 MHz
  • Instruction RAM: 64 KiB
  • Data RAM: 96 KiB
  • Flash Memory: 512 KiB (extends up to 16 MiB)
  • Wi-Fi Protocols: 802.11 b/g/n/e/i
  • Operating Voltage: 2.5V ~ 3.6V
  • Operating Current: 80 mA (average value)
  • Storing or operating temperature: -40°C ~ 125°C



Basic Hardware of ESP8266 ESP-01

Hardware Basics of ESP8266 ESP-01

Pin functionality of ESP8266 ESP-01

  1. RX Pin – RX pin is used for receiving the serial data. It is used for communication between two devices or boards. RX pin receives the serial data sent by the other board or device.
  2. VCC Pin – VCC pin is to power up the ESP8266. The ideal power supply is 3.3 Volt. It can also operate on the power between 2.5V ~ 3.6V
  3. GPIO_0 Pin – This pin is a General-purpose input/output pin. It is also used to change the mode of ESP8266 to programming mode.
  4. RST Pin – Reset Pin. This pin is an active low pin. To reset module, set RST Pin to 0V. For normal operation, set it to 3.3V.
  5. GPIO_2 Pin – This pin is also a General-purpose input/output pin.
  6. CH_PD Pin – Chip Enable pin. Supply 3.3 V to the pin to enable the chip.
  7. GND Pin – This is Ground Pin.
  8. TX Pin – TX pin is used for transmitting the serial data. TX pin sends the serial data to the other board or device. With the use of both RX and TX board can serially communicate.

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