Prepare ESP8266
After that, let's adjust our board in Arduino IDE.
| Setting | Select | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Board | NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E Module) | Use your board. Not sure if it works on other, too |
| Upload Speed | 512000 | 921600 unstable while upload. 115200 takes minutes |
| CPU Frequency | 160 MHz | 80Mhz seems fast enough, too |
| Flash Size | 4M (1M SPIFFS) | 4MB = 3MB for Flash + 1MB for Website |
| Debug port | Disabled | ATM, I don't know how to use it on other RX/TX Port |
| Debug Level | None | No Debug port equals No Debug Level |
| lwIP Variant | v2 Higher Bandwidth | Srsl, I don't know what it does 💯% |
| Erase Flash | Only Sketch | For the first flash select All Flash Content |
| Port | IP of your ESP8266-XX | For the first use, select COM X of the ESP8266-XX |
Plug your board via the built-in USB port to your Computer and wait until the driver is installed. If you get an error something like no driver avaible, you need to download one from the Internet. Note! There are two kind of driver for ESP8266 NodeMCU!
| Chipsize near USB Port | Company | Clone | Driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| A big rectangular one | LoLin etc. | Yes | CH34X |
| A little squar one | Silicon Labs | No | CP210X |
Left LoLin, right Silicon Labs. Photo Source
After plug-in, choose the port in Arduino IDE. If you're not sure which port you ESP8266 is taking for, just search/open on Windows "Device-Manager" und look for "...(COM & LPT)". They should something like "CP210X" or "CH34X" listed with port number.
In Arduino IDE go to Data → Examples → 01.Basics → Blink
Now upload this sourcecode to your ESP8266, wait a little bit and than a Blue LED should be flashing now. If yes, well... your Device is working.
Now, go to Data → Examples → ArduinoOTA → BasicOTA
| Sourcecode line | Change Variable... | ...to something |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | const char* ssid = ...; |
SSID of your WiFi-/MiFi-Router |
| 7 | const char* password = ...; |
Password of your WiFi-/MiFi-Router |
| 24 | //ArduinoOTA.setHostname("myesp8266"); |
ArduinoOTA.setHostname("LaColorduino"); |
Press Upload and wait (it will take more time than with AVR). After that, remove your device from you computer and plug it to your USB-Powersuply. In Arduino IDE Tool → Port they should be something like LaColorduino-XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (Name-IPAdress)
If yes, you achived the most buggy thing in Arduino/ESP world.
If no, maybe you need to restart your Arduino IDE, maybe check your Firewall, maybe you need to install Bonjour Browser or similar. At this point I can't help you at the moment. I have this problem often (on Windows ofc.) but sometimes it shows directly after starting, sometimes not. I guess you need to Google it this problem until I find a way, which works always for everybody. Maybe somebody of you can make a note for me :)