HiLetgo 3pcs ESP32 Mini ESP-32 Development Board WLAN WiFi Bluetooth IoT Development Board

Got this little gem to work using the Arduino IDE within about 5 minutes of research. I grabbed the ESP32 Mini ESP-WROOM-32 Development Board. Don't be confused like I was reading the other reviews. I installed the esp32 v2.0.11 board package in the Arduino IDE and used the LOLIN D32 board that came with the board manager. Serial Monitor is working great along with a simple blink program. Here's a simple program you can run just to verify the LED blinks and outputs data to the serial connection. Overall, a solid 5 stars!#####################################include <Arduino.h>const int ledPin = 2; // The onboard LED is usually on GPIO 2int counter = 0; // Counter to keep track of LED blinksvoid setup() {pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); // Initialize the LED pin as an outputSerial.begin(115200); // Initialize serial communication at 115200 baud}void loop() {counter++; // Increment the counterSerial.println(counter); // Print the counter value to the Serial monitordigitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // Turn the LED ondelay(1000); // Wait for 1 seconddigitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // Turn the LED offdelay(1000); // Wait for 1 second}

These little modules run the Espressif ESP8285 chipset rather than the 8266, but this actually adds a bit more functionality but for most programming, you'd never know you were using the newer version. What makes these modules so great for prototype and developing on the 8266 platform is that it has a built-in usb connection and programming reset pin so you don't have to buy a separate cradle to burn ESP-01 modules. The boards are so cheap they work great as throw-away AP's if you need a 'mini router' to host other IoT projects, and the through-hole connections make using the GPIO pins a breeze. If you are programming using the Arduino IDE, you'll find that the standard 8266 examples (webserver, dns responder etc) will all work, and there are actually several wemos specific examples available as well. Great little board!

The module has a 8285 chip on it, but if you try to use the 8285 board profile in Arduino IDE, you'll probably have problems like I did. You'll be able to easily flash a program onto it, but if you try another program it will lock up or refuse to flash. If you're using Arduino IDE, these are the settings I've had best success with: (see image). Don't forget to add the /stable/package_esp8266com_index.json into the board manager to install, Google for the full link, and install the driver per the directions from (oddly enough) the Wemos site for the 'Wemos D1 Lite' board. It's a generic 340/341 driver, so it works fine.That being said, so far after I figured that bit out, they work great. Powered by 5v usb, you can pick up a bunch of USB chargers for cheap on Ebay, and hook up other modules. Be careful when soldering, if you're not fast enough you'll burn out the connections and have to replace the board. I'm terrible with soldering, anyone with a good iron and steady hands shouldn't have any problems.Update: Tried the standard Wemos D1 Mini Lite board profile in Arduino IDE on a (different) Windows machine, worked great. Perhaps my boards installation needs a redo on that machine. Still, works with generic esp8266 profile too.

I had a lot of problems getting the Bluetooth interface to work with windows. It seems to work work in other environments. After a bit of research, I found that some of the older libraries work OK but were broken at some point. I also found that code developed on the Arduino IDE works but the PlatformIO library does not. I do not have the development tools to find the issue in the code so took a different approach. The actual hardware seems OK.

I flashed Tasmota on Linux using:esptool.py --port /dev/ttyUSB0 erase_flashesptool.py --port /dev/ttyUSB0 write_flash -fs 1MB -fm dout 0x0 sonoff.binConnected to the "sonoff-xxxx" access point it created with my phone, and configured the WiFi. Saved, and then connected to the device on the LAN, configured as module generic 18. Works great! Easiest esp8286/5 device to work with - no programmer or voltage regulator needed. Board quality is great and pins are provided if needed. On-board reset switch is handy.Edit: Because of recent discussions, I just wanted to note that these shipped with the 500ma regulator (S2Px or S2Qx with the distinctive half crescent logo of MicrOne), not the undersized 150ma knockoff regulator (4Ax or 4Bx where x is some random number/letter, and the middle letter does not have an underline). They have more than enough power to supply a typical add-on.

I tried to flash 2 of these and always had the same problem. ESPHome just wouldn't make a go at it. Tried different computers, USB cables, everything. The second one I flashed out of the bag and it wouldn't take it. I don't have time for this. Its not even cheap for a lousy board.

This review is for ESP8285 wireless development board from HiLetGo. First of all, the purchase comes with two packs of ESP8285. In term of hardware, the ESP8266 is a well known wireless microchip, this ESP8285 is essentially an ESP8266 + 1MB of flash space. With the built in flash, it makes this Wemos D1 lite less bulky compared to Wemos D1 mini. In term of software, the easiest way to program this chip is to use Arduino IDE. You just need to select Wemos D1 Lite in the board setting. Keep in mind that ESP8266 and ESP8285 are the same chip, so any existing esp8286 sketch should theoretically work with this chip (given the flash size is large enough as esp8286 has external flash which might be greater than 1MB.).I installed one of the example sketches called "CheckFlashConfig". Indeed, it confirms that it has a flash size of 1048576 bytes. So far I don't have any issues using this board and I am very satisfy because it is very easy to use.