Instant web server (batteries not included).

I’ve no doubt one or two of you have already spotted these… also on AliExpress.. They are ideal if you want to have a play with an ESP8266 ESP-12 module and can’t be bothered with the soldering that is often required.

I probably couldn’t even pick up the battery holder in my local Maplin store for that price.

They even include a multicolour LED and an LDR (both worth <1 cent, but fun to play with)…. and an on board ldo voltage regulator so you can power it from… 3 x AA batteries… (or any other suitable source).

I bought one of these about one moths ago but it is still waiting on the desk for my attention!

I guess its cheap for what you get, and saves soldering. But I think it would be better if they paired a esp8266 with a serial to usb dongle as well, so you could power it off a regular usb psu, or plug it into a PC, and be able to upload to it.

I have one of them to but I find the nodeMcu easier for development

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/NodeMcu- … eb201560_9

for $4.5 it has the Voltage Regulator and ttl serial interface included.

simonf wrote:I have one of them to but I find the nodeMcu easier for development

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/NodeMcu- … eb201560_9

for $4.5 it has the Voltage Regulator and ttl serial interface included.

Eeek! Avert your gaze… its worse than the ugly board. They could at least have taped the ESP8266 module down *straight* before they attempted to solder it with a half inch nail. … I guess for $4.00 they don’t figure its worth removing the flux either.

The board design however looks pretty useful, and you can get a better built version from other suppliers it seems, albeit at a slightly higher price.

certainly a better photo of a better one, but no batteries holder included. 4.06ukp
srp

Actually the board that arrived was ok Pictured bellow. I would have attached the picture earlier but was fighting the bluetooth adapter on my laptop after the windows 10 Upgrade.

[img]

IMG_20151108_195653.jpg (217.26 KiB) Viewed 773 times

simonf wrote:Actually the board that arrived was ok Pictured bellow. I would have attached the picture earlier but was fighting the bluetooth adapter on my laptop after the windows 10 Upgrade.

…

I also have the “Instant Web server” I just find it easier to use the nodeMCU board rather than breaking out the usb to serial TTL board.

It was the one from this link http://www.aliexpress.com/item/NodeMcu- … 03041.html. They were £4.37 back in July (about 2 weeks to UK )they are £2.97 now their blue pills were £2.32 then now £1.97.

PS I found its not advisable to tell the wife you are expecting a jiffy bag of blue pills in the post, without explaining what a blue pill actually is.

simonf wrote:It was the one from this link http://www.aliexpress.com/item/NodeMcu- … 03041.html. They were £4.37 back in July (about 2 weeks to UK )they are £2.97 now their blue pills were £2.32 then now £1.97.

One potential problem with AliExpress is that Paypal is not supported.

There may be fewer safeguards when things go sour and you try to get it resolved or your money back. As a friend of mine found out with an order for 120x a DS18B20 temperature sensor: he received a batch of unmarked NPN transistors instead, as we found out with a transistor tester… and now, the resolution has been dragging on for ages.

Caveat emptor, as they say…

payment via paypal is supported, take the ‘use a credit card’ route.
or do you mean ‘purchase protection’ is not supported.
srp

Aha, I missed that – thanks!!!

zmemw16 wrote:payment via paypal is supported, take the ‘use a credit card’ route.

jcw wrote:One potential problem with AliExpress is that Paypal is not supported.

There may be fewer safeguards when things go sour and you try to get it resolved or your money back. As a friend of mine found out with an order for 120x a DS18B20 temperature sensor: he received a batch of unmarked NPN transistors instead, as we found out with a transistor tester… and now, the resolution has been dragging on for ages.

Caveat emptor, as they say…

I think they used to.

http://alixblog.com/en/aliexpress-paypal/

As an aside I tend to use a prepaid credit card like http://www.kalixa.com/kalixa-pay/gb for payments on sites I am not accustomed to. Its a prepaid card you can only lose the money you have put on the card. Also some have better exchange rates on foreign exchange transactions. You only get the usual mastercard or visa protections.

apols, i got it wrong. i’m thinking of ebay which does do paypal.

srp

With your credit card, you can get the money back by speaking to the card company.

Here in Australia, I would have to fill out some legal forms, called a Statutory Declaration, and get it signed by a Justice of the peace, but they have a JP in our library once every few weeks and they also have the forms.

On the whole, I generally just dont buy high value items from either vendor, so if things go wrong, I view this as a cost of getting very cheap supplies from both eBay and AliExpress

mrburnette wrote:The “trick” is to never allow a sale to go past the posted resolution time-date.

Just to follow up – the DS18B20 “rip-off” I mentioned earlier in this thread has just been resolved by AliExpress. They are offering either an 80% refund (keep the goods) or a 100% refund (ship them back at your own cost). Fair enough. My finger pointing was unfounded. The world is a nice place again 🙂

ummm

I ordered some DS18B20’s in the last week, so I hope I don’t have the same problem