Propeller BoE supports ESP8266 WiFi ?

laurent974

The documentation of the propeller Board of education says :

(8) XBee Digital RF Module Socket
This socket accommodates most XBee wireless modules and is useful for applications where the Propeller Board of Education is part of an XBee wireless network.
(...)
NOTE: This socket does not support XBee Wi-Fi.

but i have read on the forum that some guys have managed to use the xbee wifi with this board.
So i'm lost.

Does this board support the ESP8266 wifi (DIP version)? should i have to put the wifi on breadboard or could i use the dedicated socket?

Duane Degn

I think this depends on how you what to use the WiFi module.

You won't be able to use it to program the Propeller wirelessly but I'm pretty sure you can use it to communicate with a WiFi network.

It looks like the power, tx and rx lines match those of a normal XBee module so I think the ESP8266 could be used in the PropBOE's XBee socket.

Duane Degn

I'm not so sure about the correctness of my previous post.

I haven't gone through the pins listed in the ESP8266 module's documentation to make sure the pins are compatible with the XBee socket on the PropBOE. Hopeful my bumping this post will get someone with more knowledge on the subject to reply.

From what I've read in the ESP8266 module's documentation, the only XBee socket which is specifally mentioned is the one on the WX version of the Propeller Activity board.

As you suggest, you could always use it with the SIP connector and a breadboard. Even if you use it on a breadboard, you won't be able to program the propeller wirelessly (at least not easily, it's possible to use a special boot loader program to allow wireless programming).

laurent974

thank for your answer. I ordered a BOE and a ESP8266 before reading the BOE documentation.

i knew that i wouldn't be able to program the propeller since pin 30 and 31 are not connected. But i did expect to set a wifi network untill i read the parallax BOE documentation which mentions :
NOTE: This socket does not support XBee Wi-Fi.

i suppose that 's not true anymore .

i counted the pins of the ESP8266 WX and it seems that the most significant Pins match the BOE Socket ones. But i'm not really confident. anyway i already have a WX board with a xbee wifi connected to. i will exchange both wifi

Andy Lindsay (Parallax)

Hi,

XBee Wi-Fi and Parallax WX Wi-Fi module are not the same. The Parallax WX Wi-Fi module does work in the Propeller BOE. It is true that you have to make sure the jumpers to DO and DI are flattened before plugging in the board, which isn't all that pretty, but aside from that, it works just like any other non-WX board. For now, that means that programming the Propeller BOE over Wi-Fi is not an option, but all the rest of the example applications should work fine.

If you connect P9 to DO and P8 to DI, use:

wifi_start(9, 8, 115200, USB_PGM_TERM);

in place of the one provided in the example programs, which is:

wifi_start(31, 30, 115200, WX_ALL_COM);

More info:

http://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/propeller-c/parallax-wx-wi-fi-module-prop-c/connect-wx-wi-fi-module-your

See Wiring - Propeller Activity Board Rev A or B (non-WX).

Make sure to plug in the Wi-Fi module so that the labeling on it is oriented the same and readable the same way as the print on the Propeller BOE. In other words, if the labeling is upside-down on the Wi-Fi WX, but right-side-up on the Propeller BOE WX, it means the Wi-Fi WX is upside-down.

Andy