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WiFi problems on nodemcu clones with "ECO Plugs B REV 1.1" chip #952
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It seems that WiFi problems described in my original post are related to following boards only: Please note the marking of the "ESP" chip - its not usuall ESP but chip marked as "ECO Plugs B REV 1.1" - I suspect it to be some kind of ESP8266 clone - maybe not fully compatible with original = cause of thesse issues? As I played with esphome more and more I found that nodes are facing constant WiFi connection problems. Interesting facts I observed:
result log output of this .yaml:
Is it really caused by incompatible ESP clone? Cant imagine what else can cause such issues - I dont suspect voltage regulator / flash or usb2uart chip to be cause of these WiFi problems. Any ideas? |
Try the dev branch. There's also an undocumented RF power setting that you might try changing, it's meant to work around poorly laid out boards (like this one) where the antenna design is so poor that the wifi transmission actually interferes with signals to other chips on the board. See: #455 (comment) |
@brandond you are right! I made very simple RF shield out of aluminium foil (xmas chocolates rulez), insulated it using paper adhesive tape and put it over ESP chip - even without grouding the aluminium foil the obyvak_lustr_testing.yaml (that one which was not able to find any AP) magically started to see APs as usuall and connected without problem. Tried to restart about 5 times and every time connected. When I removed it and restarted the ESP "no neworks found" again... Tried to restart 5x - 5x no networks. Put the shield back to esp, restarted and connected again - so YES, this is hardware problem of the module and it has sth to do with RF interference. Maybe it could be worth to make some note about these problems into esphome docs to warn (especially new) users - I wasted like 2 or 3 days trying to figure out "whats the problem with my yaml that I cant connect to WiFi?" Here are some photos of my experiment: Should I close this issue or is there a way to add warning into esphome docs? |
Wow that's incredible. This must be one of the worst boards I've seen. I honestly don't trust anything without an rf shield on it. It doesn't guarantee I'll work well, but at least it should get on the network without having a candy wrapper taped to it! I've been meaning to update the docs to cover the tx power setting, I might mention your experiment in there somewhere as well. |
You are right, since this experiment will never buy these modules again! Its interesting that I never noticed problems when programming using arduino... Thinking about it deeply I remember one project where esp acted as a simple thermostat with web server and posibility to see status / set the temperature via web browser - there were sometimes problems with availability of the device, but the thermostat (temperature regulation) worked always OK - and I never find out why until I replaced ESP. |
Maybe I will try to disconnect the integrated antenna (by cutting the PCB trace) and solder the cable from old notebook wifi antenna onto that place (+ ground), will see if it will work or not... Just for curiosity (and because I like soldering / hw modding). Also I want to notice that marking WeMos is most probably fake because I cant find such modules on Wemos website (so dont blame Wemos for poor quality). |
I tried to set "output_power" to 10, 15, 17dB but none worked without rf shield, these these boards are s****y |
I'm not sure that the cheap board is the problem here. |
I was also able to run my other arduino projects / examples on these shitty boards almost without problems, I suggest you to try some better board first instead of wasting time trying to dig the issue. Its not just about fixed IP, I found that almost any change in esphome yaml can cause wifi issues on these boards, also changes that have nothing to do with wifi at all. |
I fear you're right. In the same order i had an esp32 board I compiled the same simple code for it and it connected out of the box. Now i can start working with it and see what it can do :) |
yep, the 8266 board on the first aliexpress link seems the same I bought and found problematic... I suggest you to buy some with the metal RF shield, like: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/32665100123.html I ordered these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32643142716.html |
Hey folks, I have a few different ESP8266 clones and they are pretty random when it comes to connecting ... all of the above is so true, it's ridiculous, I have even put some tin foil (from a cigarette packet) around my ESP8266 and boom, it connects. So all is not lost eh? :) |
I can confirm that D1 mini from Wavgat store connects normally (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32643142716.html)
Do you have picture or link of/to these modules, please? To AVOID buying them ...
Personally I stopped using these modules (which are not reliable with esphome) at all (because I dont want to waste time debugging my code on buggy HW), the problem is that there is interference between WiFi and the FLASH chip near ESP (where your code is stored). This is the cause of unreliable operation of the module, it can happend anytime that the module freeze / crash / will do something different that the code tells it to do, fact that some code works (sometimes) is nothing but luck... Its the same situation as in case that WiFi of your notebook have an interference with its HDD / SSD causing data read / written to the disk are damaged, such computer will work until it uses the WiFi and HDD at once. I suggest you to buy something that works rather than wasting your time on buggy HW. |
esphome: |
ESP8285 should be almost the same as 8266 but have integrated 1M FLASH on the chip (I just googled this, I never had 8285 in my hands). Therefore I expect that there is almost no possibility that there will be interference with the FLASH (as it is built-in / on the chip) - but its just my expectation which may be wrong ofc.
What do you exactly mean by "same problem"?
Please try to desctibe it in details to be able to help you. |
This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions. |
This works like a charm!!! I have three boards HW628, one of them works fine with ESPHOME, another two see the networks but "Probe Request Unsuccessful" on connection. And with this config both works fine:
|
@Dinevir mate, u made my day, thank you so much |
After my test, setting the wifi power to 10dB can solve the problem of interference |
Operating environment/Installation (Hass.io/Docker/pip/etc.):
ESPHome v1.14.3 docker image esphome/esphome @ ubuntu 18.04 x64, 8GB ram, Intel core2 cpu
ESP (ESP32/ESP8266, Board/Sonoff):
ESP8266, nodemcuv2 board, AM2302 connected to gpio12 with pullup resistor to +3.3V
Affected component:
https://esphome.io/components/wifi.html
https://esphome.io/components/sensor/dht.html
Description of problem:
When there is static IP and AM2302 sensor in yaml config, it compiles, uploads (over USB), but ESP never get connected to WiFi, trying again and again (see log bellow - reason='Probe Request Unsuccessful'). If I comment out static IP parametters OR the DHT sensor block it connects to WiFi without problems, instantly.
Not sure if it is DHT sensor or WiFi component problem.
Problem-relevant YAML-configuration entries:
Logs (if applicable):
Additional information and things you've tried:
Checked that there is no other device with conflicting IP on my network, also tried to change the IP to different one
also tested with other components such as switch or IR receiver and had no problems to connect to WiFi using the same board and static IP
tried fast_connect: True (you cen see it commented out in my yaml), same situation, refuse to connect
also as you may notice from the logs I have 3 APs with the same SSID in my house (all connected to the same network, with same passwords), not sure if it can be related to this but never had a problem with ESPs / any other wifi devices
all passwords in the yaml above were changed :-)
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