May 8, 2020

An ESP8266 router rebooter

The idea was simple. The ESP8266 tries to contact google.com every minute. If it fails, it assumes it is because the router is hung, so it power cycles the router, with appropriate delays.

The guy probably needs to replace his router, but that is not the point. What I find interesting is his parts list.

A search on AliExpress for "ESP8266 01" locates the whole parts list.

The ESP8266 01 module has an 8 pin header, which is new to me. Price is about $1.50 per unit.

Programming modules are available with a USB plug on one end and a socket to accomodate the 8 pin header on the above gadget on the other.

Relay modules are cheap also, everything is on AliExpress. The pinout for the ESP8266-01 is: 

Rx
GPIO-0
GPIO-2
Ground

Vcc (3.3v)
Reset
CH_EN
Tx
I just ordered several of these and a couple of programmers and will let you know what I think in a couple of months when they arrive. My first take on this is that if you don't need a lot of IO pins and don't want to fool around with the metric pin spacing on ESP-12 modules, these might be pretty handy. The run from 3.3 volts.