ESP8266 update.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Just to keep you informed about my progress, I've been away to see my daughter in the Netherlands, come back to gastroenteritis, and am only just up and about again (if not up very much, or about very far ).

Anyway, while I was away the two battery test ESP's both ran out - rather strangely on the same day? (29th May).

Number 1:

Wemos Mini, Wemos battery board, DHT22, 18650 battery 4000mAh - lasted five weeks.

The battery board isn't a great choice, as it converts the 18650 output up to 5V, before feeding the WEMOS to drop it down to 3.3V.

Number 2:

Wemos Mini, Banggood LiPo charger/protection board, DHT22, 14500 1200mAh battery - lasted four weeks.

In this version the plain battery voltage from the LiPo board feeds direct to the Wemos - as it has a good LDO voltage regulator onboard.

Both run the same software, with the ESP in deep sleep, waking up every ten minutes or so.

I'm fairly pleased with the crude tests, and four weeks battery life doesn't seem bad for devices regularly uploading data via WiFi.

I suppose now I should try an 18650 in place of the 14500, which should give over 12 weeks life? - but the timespan starts to get a bit long

Oh, my other sensors, using HC12 wireless modules, are still working fine, and I was able to keep an eye on readings while in the Netherlands - which showed how much colder the UK is than there (and it's really cold here today, so I've put the heating on).

 

[dr pepper]

Makes me glad I didnt go away, too may things can go wrong.

I still am not 100% with my Esp that keeps refusing to connect, I found something this Am, Wmm has an auto power save function, not totally sure what this does, I think its something to do with streaming and holds a wan connection open during quite periods, I turned this off and we'll see, another option is to have time updates within the Esp to keep the connection alive.

I have a system in my greenhouse with the same type Esp and it works fine, without issues.