Greenhouse irrigation

I tend to plug the Wemos directly into the USB port on my laptop and use the "flasher" program that comes in the same bundle as ESP Easy.
i.e. When you unzip the firmware you should see an app called ESP8266.
If you run this it asks for the Port number your Wemos is plugged in to and the filename for the firmware.

You don't need to put the Wemos into programming mode as the Wemos has a interface-controller-chip on-board that does it all for you.
Once you have flashed the device it should create a WiFi hotspot that you can connect to and then login to the Control panel at URL 192.168.4.1
Here you can setup details of your primary and secondary WiFi networks, node name etc. then reboot the unit.

You should now be able to login to the Wemos on your normal network and finish-off the settings.

which won't run on a mac :sob: and then you have to use esptool.

For anyone using SSRs this cautionary tale is worth reading.

I received a set of five Wemos D1 Minis last week, and have just got round to flashing them.

I think I may have ordered the incorrect version (think they are pre-flashed with Lua) as I've had a lot of trouble trying to flash them with my normal flasher.

I finally found this program that flashes the device and sets-up all the networking stuff all in one go.

https://github.com/Grovkillen/ESP_Easy_Flasher

I've managed to flash all five devices with this program - yipppppeeee.

PS: Sorry Paul, this program is for Windows only.

No, that's good news! I use Windows 10 too.
My delivery arrived this morning too, so I'm going to try the same tonight.

I see that ESPEasy_R120.zip contains 3 bin files, which did you use for the Wemos D1's?

EDIT - Aah, you meant the other Paul! (zenofmud

I use the ESPEasy Mega release - it gets updated every few days.
There was a new release today (1st Aug)

PS: I ordered some more Wemos D1 Minis from Banggood in China last night as they are on offer at £2.71 each !!!

Cheers from David

I've just had 5 delivered @ £1.91p each, free postage.
Search for 'GREATZT' store in AliExpress.

Also, they only took 2 weeks from order to delivery.

Hi Paul-Reed,
That's a brilliant price - I thought mine was good, but yours is even
better.
Just checked they are listed at £1.89.

Cheers from David

Hi to Paul-Reed,
I use my Wemos devices on breadboards.
I use the headers with the very long pins.
Push them through the top of the board and solder underneath, they then
fit really nicely on a breadboard.

As I said in a previous post, I had trouble flashing these units as they
were pre-flashed with Lua.

This Windows program helped me flash them.

Great Price, thanks for sharing Paul!

Note: some of these really cheap ones are clones of the real wemos d1. While I’ve not had a serious problem with mine, one or two have failed to drive things like a neopixel so I suspect the clock timings may not be very accurate. (Not seen problems with WiFi or programming or sensors like ds18b20 etc)

The vast majority floating about in Ebay, AliExpress, etc seem to be clones, but I haven't had any problems with them, and they do seem well constructed.
The most obvious test of copies, is that they are square cut PCB's, whilst the original Wemos PCB has rounded corners at the top...

I've bought over 30 of these devices during the last year from Banggood.
They are used with ds18b20, LCD via I2C, push-buttons, driving LEDs and relays, and reading analog values.
Apart from one where the miniature push-button was stuck - they have all worked fine.
I've just checked the shape of the PCBs.
I seem to have a mixture of curved ends and diagonal cuts.
The PCB construction and soldering looks the same across all the devices I have.

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I was worried about mine because I was having so much trouble getting it to connect to my MQTT broker. It has the diagonal cut corner and purchased from Aliexpress for $2.49 free shipping. I did get it working, though, the connection between my DHT22 shield and the board is a little iffy. I've had to reseat it twice in two days.

BTW: Paul- do you have a shield for your moisture sensors or solder directly to the board?

I've attached the Wemos to a strip of veroboard via the headers, and soldered the moisture connections onto the veroboard.

Paul

How do you protect it all from the weather? We don't get much rain during the Spring-Fall but it would seem prudent...

I use a moulded PVC joint box, similar to this - IP65 Moulded PVC Box 110 x 110 x 67mm | Toolstation which gives IP65 protection.
I feed the cables into the box by using compression glands.

Paul

I've just made a few changes to the ESP sketch, and changed the MQTT library from the original pubsubclient library, to a fork of the the same library by Ian Tester (Imroy).

Imroy/pubsubclient library has been further developed to add a set of MQTT classes which allow a number of additional features to be available.

In particular, the full range of QoS, allowing me to now use QoS1 or even QoS2, to send and receive messages. I've settled with QoS1 which is probably adequate for this project, and looking at the mosquitto logs, appears to work well.

Integrating Imroy/pubsubclient into an existing project requires a few code changes, but nothing major.

Paul

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Hi Paul,
Way back in June of 2018 we "chatted" about Wemos D1 Mini devices.
I've now had three of the devices fail because the USB power connector (socket) has snapped off the board.

Last month I spotted this Breadboard Power Adapter on AliExpress for 30p.
They are also listed on Amazon UK - but at twice the price.

A set of them arrived today.
They fit really well onto a breadboard and have enabled me to get each of my defunked D1 Minis back to life again.

So if any of your Wemos clones pack-up with a faulty USB connector I suggest you purchase some of these.

Cheers from David.

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Thanks Dave, they look really useful.
I haven't had any of the connectors break myself - although I generally solder the Wemos onto veroboard and make the power connection a permanent feature, so I'm not constantly plugging/unplugging the power cord.

The cost of these chinese tech imports is ridiculous!!

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