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ESP8266 is a low-cost Wi-Fi microchip with full TCP/IP stack and microcontroller capability produced by Shanghai-based Chinese manufacturer, Espressif Systems.

ESP8266 is a low-cost Wi-Fi microchip with full TCP/IP stack and microcontroller capability produced by Shanghai-based Chinese manufacturer, Espressif Systems. ESP32 is a series of low cost, low power system on a chip microcontrollers with integrated Wi-Fi and dual-mode Bluetooth. some kind of IoT chips? can't tell what the real world impact of this is. edit: whoa, thanks for context folks! i'm surprised this wasn't obvious from wiki pages.

darkwater 7y ago
AFAIK they are largely used in home-automation systems, especially home-made ones due to their low price, good enough specs and availability on resellers like AliExpress
ModsCtrlideas 7y ago
They are used everywhere in IOT.
slenk 7y ago
I have some sort of Espessif wifi controller in a smart bulb.
acidburnNSA 7y ago
These are really nice $5 chips with Wifi programmable with the Arduino toolset. Tons of IoT people use these to integrate various instrumentation and control into their houses or science projects. For instance, you can hook one up to a temperature sensor and a relay and control your heater. There are probably millions of these installed, hooked up to important hardware. So this makes wardriving fun again, I guess, if not destructive.
- gerdesj 7y ago
  Just to give you some idea of how easy these are to use: In 20 mins with a small breadboard, a few Dupont wires, a Nodemcu ESP8266, a DHT22 with a pull up resister I've got a desk temperature sensor. Add: https://esphome.io/ https://esphome.io/ ... and it talks MQTT and connects straight into Home Assistant.
  - exhilaration 7y ago
    No soldering needed?
    - gerdesj 7y ago
      Yes, no soldering. Here's an example of the sort of thing that is sat on my desk: https://lastminuteengineers.com/esp8266-dht11-dht22-web-server-tutorial/ https://lastminuteengineers.com/esp8266-dht11-dht22-web-serv... If a NodeMCU board is too big for you then an ESP 01S is smaller and even cheaper. Less I/O options though but very useful. Needs a writer and wires to program. You can get one with a relay that is capable of switching 16A. https://frenck.dev/diy-smart-doorbell-for-just-2-dollar/ https://frenck.dev/diy-smart-doorbell-for-just-2-dollar/ - here's an example of a project. $2 is a bit ambitious I spend £7 for two of them on Amazon. That's two ESP-01S and two relays! I don't do Arduino. esphome is a lot easier for me. You use pip to get the thing installed under your user account. Write a .yaml file which is largely copy and paste from examples and then install it through a USB cable the first time and then over the air after that.
      - exhilaration 7y ago
        Thank you, I've got software expertise but no hardware at all, I've been looking for something like this.
        gerdesj 7y ago
        The ESP 01S is particularly good once you get to grips with writing to them because you can power them from any old phone charger that spits out 5V. You simply cut off the plug, look for the wire with the white stripe on it to determine polarity, strip the ends and screw into the relay block. Be prepared to wave goodbye to your spare time and seriously consider a separate VLAN/SSID for these things.
      - Tempest1981 7y ago
        Heh, I came across your site last week, so thank you! (Oh, maybe it's not your site) I got the DHT22 to work at 3.3V. But an old 1-Wire DS18B20 I have is very finicky. The pullup needs to be 500-800 ohms. Any experience with 1-wire at 3.3V? (Parasitic power mode). Worked great on a 5V nano.
- Havoc 7y ago
  How do you power them conveniently though? I can wrap my head around doing the soldering. But power means either power adapter or battery? If I’m doing power I might as well use a raspberry.
  - stevekemp 7y ago
    I tend to power my devices via a simple USB phone-charger. Like the parent I have a few temperature/humidity sensors dotted around the house. Using a PI would be overkill and I'd have to keep the system packages up to date, worry about failing storage-device, etc.
    - Tempest1981 7y ago
      Yep. Most have a micro-USB connector which supplies power, and handles uploading/logging. So when you're done debugging, you just need a phone charger with a long enough cable.
    - Havoc 7y ago
      >simple USB phone-charger. Damn. Was hoping that isn't the answer. Phone chargers everywhere are ugly & in the way >I'd have to keep the system packages up to date, worry about failing storage-device, etc. Fair point
eranation 7y ago
Anything. From things like nanny cams in a teddy bear that can be remotely hacked. (although more likely that they just had an easy to guess password if they had one at all or other more common vulnerabilities) to smart traffic lights. p.s. regarding the nanny cams: I wish I was making this up: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/02/21/50000-mi-cam-baby-cams-vulnerable-to-simple-spy-attacks/#565651f31c7e https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/02/21/50000...
nicoburns 7y ago
The single most popular IoT chips / network connected microcontrollers (at least among hobbyists).
gioscarab 7y ago
It is a WiFi enabled microcontroller locally designed and produced in china with a "100 million units sold" target. It is widely used by the makers community and by many new "smart" products. I would say that this has a really large scale impact and a lot of people will need to update the firmware.
cptskippy 7y ago
Rain Bird uses them in their WiFi enabled Sprinkler Control Systems.
- tachyonbeam 7y ago
  Looks like the pool on the roof might have a leak.
baybal2 7y ago
> some kind of IoT chips? can't tell what the real world impact of this is. This is what virtually every WiFi toaster around uses now. If you see a wifi device below $20, it is almost certain that it will be Esp32 inside

darkwater 7y ago

AFAIK they are largely used in home-automation systems, especially home-made ones due to their low price, good enough specs and availability on resellers like AliExpress

ModsCtrlideas 7y ago

They are used everywhere in IOT.

slenk 7y ago

I have some sort of Espessif wifi controller in a smart bulb.

acidburnNSA 7y ago

These are really nice $5 chips with Wifi programmable with the Arduino toolset. Tons of IoT people use these to integrate various instrumentation and control into their houses or science projects. For instance, you can hook one up to a temperature sensor and a relay and control your heater. There are probably millions of these installed, hooked up to important hardware. So this makes wardriving fun again, I guess, if not destructive.

gerdesj 7y ago
Just to give you some idea of how easy these are to use: In 20 mins with a small breadboard, a few Dupont wires, a Nodemcu ESP8266, a DHT22 with a pull up resister I've got a desk temperature sensor. Add: https://esphome.io/ https://esphome.io/ ... and it talks MQTT and connects straight into Home Assistant.
- exhilaration 7y ago
  No soldering needed?
  - gerdesj 7y ago
    Yes, no soldering. Here's an example of the sort of thing that is sat on my desk: https://lastminuteengineers.com/esp8266-dht11-dht22-web-server-tutorial/ https://lastminuteengineers.com/esp8266-dht11-dht22-web-serv... If a NodeMCU board is too big for you then an ESP 01S is smaller and even cheaper. Less I/O options though but very useful. Needs a writer and wires to program. You can get one with a relay that is capable of switching 16A. https://frenck.dev/diy-smart-doorbell-for-just-2-dollar/ https://frenck.dev/diy-smart-doorbell-for-just-2-dollar/ - here's an example of a project. $2 is a bit ambitious I spend £7 for two of them on Amazon. That's two ESP-01S and two relays! I don't do Arduino. esphome is a lot easier for me. You use pip to get the thing installed under your user account. Write a .yaml file which is largely copy and paste from examples and then install it through a USB cable the first time and then over the air after that.
    - exhilaration 7y ago
      Thank you, I've got software expertise but no hardware at all, I've been looking for something like this.
      - gerdesj 7y ago
        The ESP 01S is particularly good once you get to grips with writing to them because you can power them from any old phone charger that spits out 5V. You simply cut off the plug, look for the wire with the white stripe on it to determine polarity, strip the ends and screw into the relay block. Be prepared to wave goodbye to your spare time and seriously consider a separate VLAN/SSID for these things.
    - Tempest1981 7y ago
      Heh, I came across your site last week, so thank you! (Oh, maybe it's not your site) I got the DHT22 to work at 3.3V. But an old 1-Wire DS18B20 I have is very finicky. The pullup needs to be 500-800 ohms. Any experience with 1-wire at 3.3V? (Parasitic power mode). Worked great on a 5V nano.
Havoc 7y ago
How do you power them conveniently though? I can wrap my head around doing the soldering. But power means either power adapter or battery? If I’m doing power I might as well use a raspberry.
- stevekemp 7y ago
  I tend to power my devices via a simple USB phone-charger. Like the parent I have a few temperature/humidity sensors dotted around the house. Using a PI would be overkill and I'd have to keep the system packages up to date, worry about failing storage-device, etc.
  - Tempest1981 7y ago
    Yep. Most have a micro-USB connector which supplies power, and handles uploading/logging. So when you're done debugging, you just need a phone charger with a long enough cable.
  - Havoc 7y ago
    >simple USB phone-charger. Damn. Was hoping that isn't the answer. Phone chargers everywhere are ugly & in the way >I'd have to keep the system packages up to date, worry about failing storage-device, etc. Fair point

eranation 7y ago

Anything. From things like nanny cams in a teddy bear that can be remotely hacked. (although more likely that they just had an easy to guess password if they had one at all or other more common vulnerabilities) to smart traffic lights. p.s. regarding the nanny cams: I wish I was making this up: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/02/21/50000-mi-cam-baby-cams-vulnerable-to-simple-spy-attacks/#565651f31c7e https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/02/21/50000...

nicoburns 7y ago

The single most popular IoT chips / network connected microcontrollers (at least among hobbyists).

gioscarab 7y ago

It is a WiFi enabled microcontroller locally designed and produced in china with a "100 million units sold" target. It is widely used by the makers community and by many new "smart" products. I would say that this has a really large scale impact and a lot of people will need to update the firmware.

cptskippy 7y ago

Rain Bird uses them in their WiFi enabled Sprinkler Control Systems.

tachyonbeam 7y ago
Looks like the pool on the roof might have a leak.

baybal2 7y ago

> some kind of IoT chips? can't tell what the real world impact of this is. This is what virtually every WiFi toaster around uses now. If you see a wifi device below $20, it is almost certain that it will be Esp32 inside