Interfacing ESP8266 WiFi module to Arduino

ESP8266 WiFi module is very cheap and versatile module for many projects. Module can work as standalone development board or be as interface able WiFI card for other boards as Arduino. As standalone project board it is limited to few I/Os and peripherals, but still can be used for many sensor and control applications. For more flexibility it is better to use more feature rich boards. Electronut decided to give a try for interfacing module to serial interface by using USB to serial adapter and Python script. He had to use 3.3V regulator to drop USB voltage down from 5V then he sent few AT commands that allowed to connect to wireless network fairly easy. In second step he then attached ESP8266 module to Arduino serial interface. For demo application he took temperature readings from LM35 temperature sensor and by using internet connection, plotted data to thingspeak.com. ESP8266 WiFi module practically cost nothing but gives much more flexibility and accessibility, so why not using one anyway. Continue reading