![]() ![]() The first LED comes with the ESP-12E Module and is connected to GPIO 2 of ESP8266 SoC. Layout of NodeMCU BoardĪs you can see in the image, the NodeMCU board consists of 30 Pins (15 on each side), an ESP-12E Module with PCB Antenna, CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller from Silicon Labs, two push buttons (one is RESET and the other is Flash), a micro–USB Connector for Power and Uploading, a 3.3V Regulator, some passive and active components and two LEDS. The ESP-12E Module consists of edge castellations, making it easy to solder on to a PCB. The following image shows the layout of NodeMCU Board, a breakout board based on ESP-12E Module. The official github page of NodeMCU is here. Once the programming is done, it configures the ESP8266 back to Normal Running mode. So, when ever you try to upload any sketch from Arduino IDE, the CP2102 IC will automatically select the Programming mode and also Resets the board. An interesting thing about this CP2102 IC is that the GPIO 0 and RST pins of the ESP8266 SoC are controlled by the DTR (Data Terminal Ready) and RTS (Request to Send) pins of the CP2102 IC. Second, there is an on-board 3.3V regulator (remember, the ESP8266EX SoC works on 3.3V and not on 5V).Īnother beautiful thing about NodeMCU is its inclusion of on-board USB to UART Controller, which is CP2102 IC in my case. First, since it is based on ESP-12E Module, there are a lot of GPIO Pins. It needs an USB to UART Module, some push buttons to switch between Programming mode (GPIO 0 must be connected to GND) and Normal Operation Mode (GPIO 0 can be left floating or can be pulled high to 3.3V). If you remember the “ Getting Started with ESP8266” tutorial, we had to go through a lot of trouble in order to program the ESP-01 Module. Using this module as the main board, the NodeMCU team developed the NodeMCU Devkit, which is often simply called as the NodeMCU Board. Out of all these modules, the ESP-12E is quite popular. For example, the ESP-01 Module has only 2 GPIO Pins whereas the ESP-12E Module has 17 GPIO Pins, ADC Pin, SPI Pins etc. The main difference is the availability of GPIO Pins. ![]() NOTE: All modules are based on the same ESP8266 Wi-Fi Chip. Some of the modules from Ai–Thinker are ESP-01, ESP-02, ESP-03, and so on up to ESP-14. In fact, the modules produced by Ai–Thinker are one of the widely used in other ESP8266 boards. The ESP-01 is the vanilla version of the ESP8266 Wi-Fi SoC made by Ai–Thinker, a third part module manufacturer for ESP8266. NodeMCU (ESP-12E)Īs mentioned earlier, the NodeMCU Devkit is actually a Breakout Board for the ESP-12E Module. If you want to work with Lua Scripts and NodeMCU, then you have to flash the NodeMCU Firmware. Once you upload an Arduino sketch, the NodeMCU firmware gets erased. It can be either AT Commands Firmware, NodeMCU Firmware or Arduino based code. ![]() IMPORTANT NOTE: Only one firmware can exist on the ESP8266. So, many of us are actually using the board called NodeMCU and programming it with Arduino IDE and not the Lua Scripts. The team which developed NodeMCU Firmware also developed a breakout board for ESP-12E module called the NodeMCU Devkit. There is no compilation, no binary file etc. NodeMCU Firmware will interpret the bytecode and executes the commands. So, if your ESP8266 is loaded with NodeMCU Firmware, you can simply write your application in Lua and send it to the ESP8266. You can consider the NodeMCU firmware as an interpreter for Lua Scripts. This binary file is then uploaded into the flash memory of the microcontroller and it gets executed. Traditionally, we write code for our Microcontrollers like Arduino, STM32, 8051 etc., either in C or C++ and compile it with a set of tools and generate a binary file. Technically speaking NodeMCU is a firmware for ESP8266 developed using C Programming Language, Espressif NON-OS SDK and Lua scripting language. Even though I am late to the party with NodeMCU and its projects, I wanted to create another set of projects starting with this Getting Started with NodeMCU tutorial as more people are buying this board. The reason for bringing back ESP8266 is NodeMCU. In fact, I already created a series of projects using the vanilla version of the ESP8266 i.e., the ESP-01 Module.įor more information on Getting Started with ESP8266, its Pinout, firmware and other projects, check out this “ 15 Best ESP8266 Projects for Beginners”. This is not the first time I am talking about ESP8266 Wi-Fi Module. ![]() The ESP8266 SoC is a cheap Wi-Fi Microcontroller with full TCP/IP Stack developed by Espressif Systems. The impact of ESP8266 on hobbyist and DIY community, particularly in the development of IoT (Internet of Things) related application is absolutely overwhelming. How to Program NodeMCU using Arduino IDE?.Layout of NodeMCU ESP-12E Breakout Board. ![]()
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