Mini ESP-01 Dev Board

The ESP8266 is an amazing chip! it comes in a variety of forms : ESP-12, ESP-07, NodeMCU, Wemos D1, and, the ESP-01. We all love to play with our ESP's.


Programming the ESP-01 is no easy task. it always ends up creating a big mess of wires. There are problems like powering the ESP with proper voltage, having enough current from the source.

This board will ease the task of programming the ESP-01.


Materials and Tools

Picture of Materials and Tools



• ESP-01 : To play with

Aliexpress :


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-10PC...




• USB To SERIAL adapter : There are many adapters with various chips like the CH340G, CP2102 etc. The CH340G ones are the cheapest though they have been known to have compatibility issues for many people. There are lot of resources on the internet to fix problems with CH340G. I am using one with the CH340G.

Aliexpress : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/CH340-module-USB-..


• Perfboard

• Female Headers (Berg Strips)







• Soldering Iron and Solder

• Hobby Knife/Paper Cutter/Rotary Tool/Knifey stuff for cutting perfboard.





Step 2: Connect Everything

Picture of Connect Everything

Solder the headers and connect everything with solder bridges or enameled copper wire (for cleanliness copper wire will be good) according to the picture.


Keep the spacing according to the picture else the boards will not fit perfectly!

And thats it!

Using It

Picture of Using It

The orientation of the USB to SERIAL should always remain fixed. If you followed my circuit, the flat side of the dongle should face the ESP.


The 3 extra headers exposes GND, GPIO0 and GPI02.


To flash the ESP-01 with your own code (via the Arduino IDE) you have to put the ESP in Flash mode by pulling GPIO0 to GND. Using a jumper cable, connect the 1st (GND) and 3rd (GPIO0) pins. and connect the dongle to a pc and it will show up as a COM port. Use the Arduino IDE with ESP8266 Loaded to flash it without any problems.


While normal operation you can just plug it to a wall adapter and power it and use the headers to connect sensors or leds.

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Dec 21,2019
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