ESP8266: 3,3V or 5V

Projects Networking, Protocols, and Devices
1

According to the secs the ESP8266 should be powered with 3,3V and the RX line should be 3,3V.

I have seen lots of postings from people saying they run this device since month now 24/7 with 5V. No problems.

What are your experiences with the ESP8266?

2

It is designed to work properly with 3.3v, so I only supply 3.3v.
Might work with 5v "no problems" from a human perspective, but whats going on internally is a different story. Definitively stressing the components until one day poof the magic smoke wafts through the air.

3

OK I am a beginner and I'm trying to lean. Mostly from the Internet.

But there are some strange sketches out there ...

  • Why would one connect 3V3 and 5V from both Arduinos together?
  • Why put a 220Ohm resistor between TX(ESP8266) and RX(Arduino). Should this be some kind of (failed) voltage devider? If so, shouldn't it between TX(Arduino) and RX(ESP8266)?

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4

Have you tried asking the person who generated the diagrams?

5

@zoomkat @Zealot You probably found it out already, but the chip is 3.3V only, but RX and TX are 5V tolerant, so you can safely use it with a 5V Arduino as long as you only supply 3.3V to the power pin on the ESP8266 module.