Published January 10, 2021 © GPL3+

Program ESP8266 with NodeMCU

Programming ESP12F Module with NodeMCU without using "FTDI with Flash and reset button method"

BeginnerFull instructions provided1 hour2,367

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Espressif ESP8266 ESP-12E

NodeMCU ESP8266 Breakout Board

JLCPCB Customized PCB

Story

Hey everyone what's up!

so you got yourself an esp12f module and now you want to program it?

here's how you can do that in an easy way that doesn't involve that complex FTDI module with the button's method.

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so the easy way is to use a Nodemcu here. actually, the trick is to use the CP2102 chip instead of the esp12f on Nodemcu.

VIDEO

we start first by shorting the Enable pin and GND, this will turn off the esp12f of the Nodemcu and now we can hook an external esp12f setup with the Nodemcu according to this schematic.

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Flashing with Nodemcu instead of using FTDI Module is easier but this doesn't mean that it's a proper replacement, for more advanced prototyping with ESP12F in which you need to make a whole setup of ESP12F with a programming IC, you can use the auto-reset method which uses two Transistor to put the esp12f into flash mode.

here's its schematic and this method is basically used in all similar boards even in the Nodemcu.

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Material required

CUSTOM PCB (which was provided by JLCPCB)
TARGET ESP12F Board wth LED soldered
Nodemcu
Header pins

CUSTOM PCB AND ITSASSEMBLY

I prepared a Programmer PCB for this job, I first design this PCB according to the given schematic and then gave this PCB to jlcpcb for samples and recovered them after a few weeks; you can check them out if you need great PCB service at a low cost!

This PCB is basically an expansion board for Nodemcu, I have added 31 header pins and additional OLED breakout points so I can use this Setup for something else if it's not being used as a programmer.

The Assembly process of this custom PCB includes adding the header pins to the board with soldering iron and connecting the Nodemcu on those header pins.

Here's the Assembly is broken down into these four gifs-

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ESP12F MINIMAL SETUP

As for the ESP12F Setup, ill be using a board I design for my previous RGB Glasses Project. This PCB breakouts the ESP12F points and also pull down a few necessary pins with a 10K Resistor which is the minimal requirement of driving the ESP12F Board.

For Programming this, I've connected the Programming pins which are the 3V, GND, RST, GPIO0, TX, and RX Pins to a CON6 point for adding header pins on it.

Basically, I designed this PCB in such a way that I can connect NODEMCU PROGRAMMER PCB with this setup by male and female header pins.

It's a clever method to use as because of this external programmer, we don't need to add FTDI Chips on ESP12F setup and we can make smaller PCBs and for programming them we just breakout 6 important pins and connect our external programmer with it.

WIRING CONNECTIONS

For Programming the ESP12F board, we need to connect the NodeMCU with our ESP12F Setup in this way-

3v to 3v,
GND to GND
RST to RST
GPIO0 to GPIO0 //D3 is GPIO0 on Nodemcu
TX to TX
RX to RX

Also, do not forget to add a Jumper wire between ENA and GND Pin on Nodemcu. this will turn off the ESP12F of the Nodemcu and our external ESP12F will get connected with the Nodemcu's CP2102 chip.

CODE

As for the test sketch, I have added an SMD green led between GPIO12 and GND.

I used a simple webserver to connect the esp12f with my phone and just toggle the SMD LED but before that, you need to change the SSID and Password in the Sketch according to your credentials.

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>

const char *ssid = "YOUR SSID"; //put your SSID
const char *password = "YOURPASSWORD";//put your password
int ledPin = 12; // GPI12
WiFiServer server(80);

FLASHING STEPS

Connect the Nodemcu programmer with the ESP12F Board
open Arduino ide, plug the USB on Nodemcu
then go to the Tools menu and select the Nodemcu board that you are using
select the right port and hit upload

after uploading goto the serial monitor and hit the reset button on Nodemcu. as you can see, our setup has been connected with the smartphone...

now copy this IP address and open this in your web browser,

you will see a simple webserver. now just hit the turn off and on the button to toggle the led and that is pretty much it.

RESULT/CONCLUSION

And we have successfully programmed an esp12f with a Nodmcu, the webserver sketch can be run with any esp8266 board so you can use that for controlling anything like a relay for example.

BONUS THING

Wait, here's a bonus thing!

this NODMCU Programmer has an OLED output so here's an OLED animation sketch for no special reason ;)

Code

WEB SERVER LED TOGGLE

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>

const char *ssid = "YOUR SSID"; //put your SSID
const char *password = "YOURPASSWORD";//put your password
int ledPin = 12; // GPI12
WiFiServer server(80);

void setup() {
Serial.begin(115200);
delay(10);

pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);

// Connect to WiFi network
Serial.println();
Serial.println();
Serial.print("Connecting to ");
Serial.println(ssid);

WiFi.begin(ssid, password);

while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
delay(500);
Serial.print(".");
}
Serial.println("");
Serial.println("WiFi connected");

// Start the server
server.begin();
Serial.println("Server started");

// Print the IP address
Serial.print("Use this URL to connect: ");
Serial.print("http://");
Serial.print(WiFi.localIP());
Serial.println("/");

}

void loop() {
// Check if a client has connected
WiFiClient client = server.available();
if (!client) {
return;
}

// Wait until the client sends some data
Serial.println("new client");
while(!client.available()){
delay(1);
}

// Read the first line of the request
String request = client.readStringUntil('\r');
Serial.println(request);
client.flush();

// Match the request

int value = LOW;
if (request.indexOf("/LED=ON") != -1) {
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
value = HIGH;
}
if (request.indexOf("/LED=OFF") != -1) {
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
value = LOW;
}

// Set ledPin according to the request
//digitalWrite(ledPin, value);

// Return the response
client.println("HTTP/1.1 200 OK");
client.println("Content-Type: text/html");
client.println(""); // do not forget this one
client.println("<!DOCTYPE HTML>");
client.println("<html><body>");

client.print("Led pin is now: ");

if(value == HIGH) {
client.print("On");
} else {
client.print("Off");
}
client.println("<br><br>");
client.println("Click <a href=\"/LED=ON\">here</a> turn the LED on pin 2 ON<br>");
client.println("Click <a href=\"/LED=OFF\">here</a> turn the LED on pin 2 OFF<br>");
client.println("</body></html>");

delay(1);
Serial.println("Client disonnected");
Serial.println("");

}

Credits

Arnov Sharma

308 projects • 306 followers

Just your average MAKER

Program ESP8266 with NodeMCU

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Story

VIDEO

Material required

ESP12F MINIMAL SETUP

CODE

FLASHING STEPS

RESULT/CONCLUSION

Schematics

sch

Code

WEB SERVER LED TOGGLE

Credits

Arnov Sharma

Comments

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Program ESP8266 with NodeMCU

Program ESP8266 with NodeMCU

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Story

VIDEO

Material required

ESP12F MINIMAL SETUP

CODE

FLASHING STEPS

RESULT/CONCLUSION

Schematics

sch

Code

WEB SERVER LED TOGGLE

Credits

Arnov Sharma

Comments

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