Program standalone ESP8266/ESP-12 WiFi module with Arduino IDE

This post show how to program and run standalone ESP8266/ESP-12 WiFi module. To program ESP8266 board with Arduino, we have to "Install ESP8266 Board to Arduino IDE".

Connect USB-to-Serial adapter to ESP8266/ESP-12 board, FT232RL module is used in this example.

Minimal Hardware Setup for Bootloading only

ESPxx Hardware

PIN	Resistor	Serial Adapter
VCC		VCC (3.3V)
GND		GND
TX or GPIO2		RX
RX		TX
GPIO0		GND
Reset		RTS*
GPIO15	PullDown
CH_PD	PullUp

• Note
  • if no RTS is used a manual power toggle is needed

Minimal Hardware Setup for Running only

ESPxx Hardware

PIN	Resistor	Power supply
VCC		VCC (3.3V)
GND		GND
GPIO0	PullUp
GPIO15	PullDown
CH_PD	PullUp

reference: https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/blob/master/doc/boards.md

Load Examples > esp8266 > Blink

To program ESP8266 board, press the button to connect GPIO0 to GND. Because there are no RTS in my FT232RL module, so I have to power OFF and ON to reset ESP8266 before programming.

Once programmed, power off the board, press the button to release GPIO0, then power on again to run in standalone.

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Updated@2015-11-15:
My setup have no RTS, so I add a button to reset the ESP-12 manually.

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List of Standalone ESP8266 board posts:
- Install ESP8266 Board to Arduino IDE
- Program standalone ESP8266/ESP-12 WiFi module with Arduino IDE (this post)
- Simple Web Server example of standalone ESP8266/ESP-12 WiFi Module
- Standalone ESP8266/ESP-12: web control on-board LED