There are programming codes or
instructions to control the esp8266 Wifi Module. I will show you here the basic commands you need to know for controlling your wifi module. You can download here the
set of instructions for the wifi module. The programming interface that we are
going to use for programming the esp8266 is the Arduino IDE. We choose to use
this software because it is the same software that we are going to use to
program the Arduino device. You can download the updated software here and can
also choose for the appropriate operating system you are using in this site (https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software). The
Arduino IDE should look like this.
In the (Tools > Board)
select the Arduino you are using (in my case I use Arduino Genuino/Uno) and
also set the Port, select where Serial Port your device is connected.
Now, let us try programming the Esp8266 Wifi
Module. In the Arduino IDE click on Tools > Serial Monitor like what was
shown in the first picture. The Serial Monitor should look like this.(NOTE:
make sure that your esp8266 GPIO0 is not connected to anything to enable
programming mode)
Set to “Both NL & CR” and “9600
baud” your serial monitor as shown in picture. Now let us try to type the
commands to check the firmware of our wifi module by typing (AT+GMR) then press
enter. Look at the highlighted text in the picture, it is the firmware version
of my esp8266 wifi module in my case, yours is depending on what firmware
version you have. By the way (AT+RST) means reset.
Let us now try to connect to a
wifi network by typing (AT+CWLAP) to check for the existing wifi networks. To
connect, type (AT+CWJAP=”Network Name”,”Password”) and wait for a second till
it says “OK” then it means that you are now connected to the wifi network. Let
us now check the specific IP Address the router has given to your Esp8266 Wifi
Module by typing (AT+CIFSR).
Now, you are ready for the next part of your
project, learning to program the Arduino that controls automatically your
esp8266 wifi module.