Wifi with Nano

[BeePee]

Hi All

I'm new to the Arduino world but this plugin looks very interesting for my requirements.

Reading in another thread, wifi shields are not supported at this time, however the NodeMCU is in concept development stage.

I am keen to get a wifi solution working with this plugin, the location I need to control is a disaster for running cables.

I am looking for something with more than 1 Analog input so the Nano would be a good fit. Has anyone tried to interface a Nano with a ESP8266 -01 using SoftwareSerial? Considering the nano will hold the standard sketch with Ethernet info entered, and a second tab could look after the SoftwareSerial sketch.

Any other ideas? Mega V3 with USB dongle? etc.

[petez69]

Have a good read in the ESP8266 thread......

[BeePee]

Hi Petez69

Thanks, I have read the thread many times, but my understanding is its for direct connection of a ESP8266 module with its own internal sketch provided by the author in the first post. For my current project the ESP8266 series does not have the required Analog inputs. Hence I was looking at the Nano.

I see in the posts you mention doing something similar with a Uno + Wifi module for Kwh metering.

Was this successful? Please tell me more even if unsuccessful.

Cheers.

[petez69]

HI BeePee

I did a lot of testing with the ESP8266 and while it worked (thanks to a fix in the UDP library), I didnt find it overly reliable in staying connected to HS. Why I dont know but I plan to look into it soon.

I found what WAS reliable was the webserver code that allowed you to toggle an in put via a http string. This works WITHOUT any issues for days on end.

I'm wondering if you can poll the device for a value via a a http request as I think you may find stability issues with the plugin and staying connected....

I was able to get a Nano and W5100 board working together but have not interconnected a ESP8266 and a nano to wifi enable it (using serial). I wonder if you could use the SPI bus instead ?

Need to put more thought into this, there has to be a sollution :-)

Pete

[BeePee]

Hi Pete


Thanks for the feedback, I hear what your saying about reliability, and its a very important issue for this project as well.

I have been struggling to beat the wtd issue all day now, done all the fixes to the udp library etc. But the 12E just keeps on rebooting. It does look encouraging though, able to toggle some outputs between reboots.

Time permitting I'm going to have a go with the nano later and report back. I'm not expecting much

[petez69]

I've just not found the ESP8266 reliable with the plugin to stay connected....Good luck with it mate.. :-)

I've ended up running cables to all the points I need as any failures will be perceived unfavourably by the "Minister for War and Domestic affairs" :-) ;-) ;-)