We made an open source ESP8266 dev board for makers

I built something like this but more special-purpose. It just switches a USB-A power source on&#x2F;off. I wanted it to control my 5-volt fish-tank lights. I didn&#x27;t want to use a 120VAC smart switch for each light because I prefer to use a single USB hub to power them all, and a bonus feature was being able to PWM the lights so the fish aren&#x27;t freaked out when the lights suddenly turn on 100% in the morning.<p>I ordered PCBs from JLCPCB and components from LCSC. I think each one cost around $5 in parts, and I hand-assemble them as I need more around the house.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;sowbug&#x2F;smart-usb-switch" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;sowbug&#x2F;smart-usb-switch</a><p>Picture: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;raw.githubusercontent.com&#x2F;sowbug&#x2F;smart-usb-switch&#x2F;master&#x2F;completed.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;raw.githubusercontent.com&#x2F;sowbug&#x2F;smart-usb-switch&#x2F;ma...</a>

Cool - it looks like a well-designed board, although the timing is a bit unfortunate with the ESP32-S2 emerging as an ESP8266 replacement with USB.<p>A few questions:<p>* Should the relay have some sort of isolation, like an optocoupler?<p>* Is it FCC-certified?<p>* Like other people asked, any information on how the antenna was designed?<p>I like the old-school dome LEDs. And it&#x27;s cool to see another project with a CH340 USB&#x2F;USART bridge, even if they wouldn&#x27;t need it with an ESP32-S2.

Who has used RS232 voltage for serial in the last 10 years? I&#x27;d rather a few MOSFETs to cut the power to everything for lower power. I guess there is a specific market for this and it is not me. I have at least 20 of Esp8266 and esp32 boards around the house. A bit of fun to design and produce though. I would not bother with the ESP8266 anymore considering the marginal cost of the esp32 and it is a much better device, learnt from their mistakes. The new one with on chip USB looks great too.

Nice. There&#x27;s also a project called FEMU, which is an ESP32 Wi-Fi&#x2F;Bluetooth board that fits in a USB port: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hackaday.io&#x2F;project&#x2F;167005-femu-an-esp32-wi-fibluetooth-board-in-tomu-form" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hackaday.io&#x2F;project&#x2F;167005-femu-an-esp32-wi-fiblueto...</a>

I recently created a board for the nrf8001 Bluetooth low energy chip. I see your antenna section isn&#x27;t fully open since that LED is in the way, have you considered rearranging things so that PCB antenna has an unobstructed path on the left and right sides?

Pretty rad! I could see lots of applications. Available on amazon you say? 19.99 you say?<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;B08GY2GTW5?ref=myi_title_dp" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;dp&#x2F;B08GY2GTW5?ref=myi_title_dp</a><p>I&#x27;m curious about availability. Are they ready to ship? Awaiting preorders?<p>EDIT: Oh I see 18 in stock. Probably remains of a small run to gauge interest. I hope it takes off. I&#x27;m going to make it 17. :-)

Interesting. Seems fairly comparable to the Sonoff Basic (also ESP8266, retails around $5), but more DIY friendly.<p>Are you planning to sell a case to go with it?

Charles Lohr has done some neat projects with this board. Recently he made this post and I&#x27;ve never thought about this level of hand-holding interaction with the silicon itself.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;cnlohr&#x2F;status&#x2F;1307890077041909760" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;cnlohr&#x2F;status&#x2F;1307890077041909760</a>

Is the antenna open source? Is it characterized (bandwidth, efficiency, radiation pattern)?<p>Almost like one from here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ti.com&#x2F;lit&#x2F;an&#x2F;swra351a&#x2F;swra351a.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ti.com&#x2F;lit&#x2F;an&#x2F;swra351a&#x2F;swra351a.pdf</a>

Looks interesting. How would I program it, do I need a FTDI board?<p>Also I wish it was available in Canada.

Just curious not really familiar with electronics but what can i build using this

Fun looking little board. Great to see people sharing these things!<p>It makes me wonder if there’s interest in more of these type ofESP* dev kit boards. One I haven’t seen is one with just Ethernet PHY but no Ethernet jack&#x2F;magnetics. It’s been useful in my designs to have a ETH+&#x2F;- that can be brought out to various Ethernet &#x2F; PoE setups. Something like the wESP32 is handy for kits but not for integration.

Maybe I&#x27;m missing it but I wish there was an ESP8266 board with a proper JTAG connector.<p>I have hacked something on a protoboard for nodemcus before, but it ended up being pretty messy.

I too want to have this FCC certified.<p>$19.99 seems a bit expensive to me though.

the wifi stack onthe esp8266 is a mess. it also does not support the latest espressif sdk. so you should buy an esp32 module and dont bother with this. ( the price is 3 bucks instead of 20)

The biggest&#x2F;best reason I know for using ESP8266 is the integrated WiFi module, but it seems that this doesn’t expose that or at least capitalize on it, which gives little incentive to use this over something like the Teensy.<p>Is there any intention to add WiFi support to the dev kit?

Interesting project. By why no USB? Why does it have a Relay?

Cool board! The only thing I think would be a nice-to-have is an integrated wifi module.

I have an interest in electronics and would call myself a &quot;maker&quot; (well, I have a growing box filled with various arduinos and microcontrollers)... but after scouring the repo and the website, I can&#x27;t figure out what this is, or what I could do with it!<p>What is an &quot;ESP8266 board&quot;? Is that something that is so common it doesn&#x27;t need explaining? Of course I will google it [and probably buy one], but just pointing out that it&#x27;s not very clear from the website!<p>[EDIT: ok, after 10 minutes of googlin&#x27;, it seems no one will explain what it is - it&#x27;s just &quot;an esp8266 system on a chip&quot;. It must be the first rule of ESP8266 club...]