(2 Pack) ESP8266 microcontroller NodeMCU Lua V3 WiFi with CH340G

It was impossible to get Windows and Linux to recognize CH340 and map the device to a serial port. However, luckily, I had an FTDI thing, some wires, and a breadboard I did not mind cutting in half so I could mount the device.Attempts to flash new versions of the firmware from Espressif did not work as I was operating under the assumption that the flash size was 4 Mb ... Eventually, I built a custom NodeMCU firmware and flashed it using Espressif's flasher.This gives me> print(node.flashsize()/1024/1024)1> print(node.heap()/1024)40.046875> print(file.fsinfo()/1024)357.3808593751 Mb flash, 40 Kb free memory, and 357 Kb available on the file system.So far playing with lua on this device is just sheer fun despite the fact that I must work with a rig significantly more complicated than just attaching it to a proper USB cable.Given the low price for which I am getting the enjoyment, I am not going to return them, but I am dinging two stars for the fact that I can't get serial over USB to work at all.

Love these! Got them for a project to connect an aquarium light fixture to WiFi and control each bulb separately with Alexa. There are some quirks in setting stuff up for certain functions if you don’t read carefully and do your research but it is overall plug and go! Make sure to find a couple resources explaining the pin functions as it can be very confusing. I have found it to be pretty reliable, although it doesn't fit on a breadboard such that you can use both sides. It takes up a whole side.

I love these little boards. These work fine with no problems programming them. The ones I got here were V2 which are a little smaller, but serve my purposes very well. I am using these to power different sensors and switches in home automation using Home Assistant with Alexa integration and MQTT. They are remarkably inexpensive and work great.The photo shows the physical differences between the V2 and V3. Both work for my specific purpose, so it's a matter of which 3D printed case I use for me.

Lost one star due to lack of documentation, allow me to share here what I learned. The "reset" button resets the board (predictably) while the "flash" button is wired to GND0 and is the button for loading firmware data when used in a particular way. Press "Flash" and HOLD IT while you press reset and wait a few seconds for the reset light and then a couple seconds to boot, THEN release "flash" to get into the mode where you can upload firmware images. Once you figure that out you can load micropython or whatever you need. The button order and holding is important though. On other boards the "Flash" button equivalent might have other names you're used to and different placement.

It fits, but there is no room for making connections after you insert it into a proto board. See pics. Also, this means the printed circuit "proto boards" become difficult to use as well. It makes me wonder what they were thinking when they designed it, increasing the width by 0.2" compared to the V2 NodeMCU Dev board.

We bought ten of these for a group build project that utilized a custom PCB. This sketch had nearly 800 lines of code and used less that half of the available program space. These are very capable boards. (Yes they are a bit wide (.9") for standard breadboards.)

Neither of the two I received will show up as a serial port under OS X 10.13.6. Tried installing CH340G many times, following instructions with the drivers, following instructions on every forum post with someone reporting the same issue. Now both boards immediately cause a kernel panic when connected. Useless.

The price is very good for these but I did not pay attention to the dimensions. They are wider and longer than the HiLetgo version. The issue here is they don't fit well on a solderless breadboard which makes prototyping a little more difficult.