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ESP-12E - WiFi Module

ESP-12E is a miniature Wi-Fi module present in the market and is used for establishing a wireless network connection for microcontroller or processor. The core of ESP-12E is ESP8266EX, which is a high integration wireless SoC (System on Chip). It features ability to embed Wi-Fi capabilities to systems or to function as a standalone application. It is a low cost solution for developing IoT applications.

 

ESP12E Pinout Configuration

The ESP-12E module has twenty two pins and we will describe function of each pin below.

Pin

Name

Description

1

RST

Reset Pin of the module

2

ADC

Analog Input Pin for 10-bit ADC (0V to1V)

3

EN

Module Enable Pin (Active HIGH)

4

GPIO16

General Purpose Input Output Pin 16

5

GPIO14

General Purpose Input Output Pin 14

6

GPIO12

General Purpose Input Output Pin 12

7

GPIO13

General Purpose Input Output Pin 13

8

VDD

+3.3V Power Input

9

CS0

Chip selection Pin of SPI interface

10

MISO

MISO Pin of SPI interface

11

GPIO9

General Purpose Input Output Pin 9

12

GPIO10

General Purpose Input Output Pin 10

13

MOSI

MOSI Pin of SPI interface

14

SCLK

Clock Pin of SPI interface

15

GND

Ground Pin

16

GPIO15

General Purpose Input Output Pin 15

17

GPIO2

General Purpose Input Output Pin 2

18

GPIO0

General Purpose Input Output Pin 0

19

GPIO4

General Purpose Input Output Pin 4

20

GPIO5

General Purpose Input Output Pin 5

21

RXD0

UART0 RXD Pin

22

TXD0

UART0 TXD Pin

 

Features and Electrical Characteristics

  • Wireless Standard: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n protocol
  • Power Transmission:

802.11b

+16 ± 2 dBm

802.11g

+14 ± 2 dBm

802.11n

+13 ± 2 dBm

  • Frequency Range: 2.412 - 2.484 GHz
  • Serial Transmission: 110 - 921600 bps, TCP Client 5
  • SDIO 2.0, SPI and UART Interface available
  • PWM available
  • One ADC channel available
  • Programmable GPIO available
  • Wireless Network Type: STA / AP / STA + AP
  • Security Type: WEP / WPA-PSK / WPA2-PSK
  • Encryption Type: WEP64 / WEP128 / TKIP / AES
  • Network Protocol: IPv4, TCP / UDP / FTP / HTTP
  • Operating Voltage: 3.3V
  • Maximum current allowed to draw per pin: 15mA
  • Power down leakage current of < 10uA
  • Integrated low power 32-bit MCU
  • Onboard PCB Antenna
  • Wake up and transmit packets in < 2ms
  • Standby power consumption of < 1.0mW
  • Operating Temperature: -40ºC to +125 ºC

 

Note: Complete technical details can be found in the ESP12E Datasheet linked at the bottom of this page.

 

Overview of ESP-12E

ESP-12E is a member of ‘ESP-XX’ series. Although all of them are based on ESP8266 SoC, they differ in on output pins, flash memory and antenna type. These modules numbered from ESP-01 to ESP-15 and are best in performance and cost. Many engineers use these modules to setup a wireless communication between two applications. For data sharing and IoT, you will find these modules Ideal.

 

How to use the ESP-12E

This module does not have complex circuitry or programming so using this module is very easy. We will construct a simple application circuit for understanding the module working.

Steps for setting up a simple application circuit:

  • Connect positive +3.3V power to the module.
  • Interface module to a microcontroller or ARDUINO using UART (Connect RXD of ESP to RXD of µC & TXD of ESP to TXD of µC).
  • Download the libraries for the module from the internet. For ARDUINO, the IDE will have pre-installed libraries. If you do not have them just update the libraries from ARDUINO website.
  • Write the program for setting up the baud rate and data exchange.
  • Send data to the module for transmitting through Wi-Fi or Receive data from the module that was transmitted via Wi-Fi.
  • There is another way for setting up the module which is to bypass microcontroller and directly connect the module to PC using FTDI. After interface you can use serial monitor to communicate with the module.

ESP-12E Simple Circuit Diagram

 

Applications

  • Weather station
  • IoT applications
  • Home appliances
  • Toys and Gaming applications
  • Wireless control systems
  • Home automation
  • Security ID tags

 

2-D Model and Dimensions

ESP-12E Dimensions

Component Datasheet

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