Introduction: Getting Started With the Daflabs ESP8266 ESP-12 Breakout Board

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This guide is a quick beginner's guide that shows how to use the ESP-12 Breakout board with the CP2102.

What you'll need :

1. Daflabs ESP-12 Breakout Board

2. CP2102 USB to UART Serial module

3. Jumper Wires

4. Breadboard (optional)

Step 1: About the Board

The ESP-12 Breakout board breaks out the ESP-12 pins which are in 2mm pitch to 2.54mm pitch (spacing), so that you can use it with a standard breadboard / berg header.

It also has a 3.3V regulator on board, so you can easily power it with a digital circuit that can supply 5V. (Just make sure that the circuit can supply enough current, because the module is known to consume a fair bit of current).

The 16 pins of the module are broken out, but additional voltage and ground pins, as well as separate UART header is provided for additional utility.

Step 2: Making the Connections

You need to connect a few GPIO pins on the ESP-12 to 3.3V or Ground, to set it in the right mode for communicating with it. Here are the connections you need to make :

VCC ----> 3.3V Power supply
GND ----> Ground of power supply

GND of ESP-12 -----> GND of CP2102

CH_PD ----> HIGH (3.3V)

GPIO15 ----> LOW (GND)

Rx of ESP-12 ----> Tx of CP2102

Tx of ESP-12 ----> Rx of CP2102

If you are using AT commands directly, you just need to leave the other pins unconnected.
If you are looking to flash firmware, you will also need to connect GPIO2 and GPIO0 correctly, but that is outside the scope of this tutorial.

* If you have a 5V supply, connect the 5V line to VIN. DO NOT connect it to any other voltage line, as you risk damaging the ESP-12.

Step 3: Finish Up

You can follow the rest of the steps from 4 to 8 in the tutorial here :

https://www.instructables.com/id/Getting-Started-wi...

The steps above will guide you upto a point where you can post to a web server directly from your module. The web server has already been set up and the api keys are public so that you don't have to go through the trouble of setting them up by yourself as well and you can quickly run your 'Hello world' ;)

Hope you have a great time building with the Daflabs ESP-12 Breakout Board !