> **Source:** Core Electronics is an Australian maker-electronics retailer and manufacturer based in Newcastle, NSW, run by a team of makers and educators. We design and manufacture our own product lines (PiicoDev, CE originals) and are official retailers for iconic maker and industrial brands including Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Adafruit, SparkFun and DFRobot. Orders ship Australia-wide from our Newcastle warehouse. Prices are in AUD and include GST. Pricing, stock and dispatch on this page are generated from the store's live catalog. Full machine-readable index: https://core-electronics.com.au/llms.txt

# SparkFun ESP8266 Thing

**Type:** Product page · **SKU:** WRL-13231 · **Brand:** [Espressif ESP32 & ESP8266](https://core-electronics.com.au/brands/espressif-esp32-australia)
**Page:** https://core-electronics.com.au/sparkfun-esp8266-thing.html ([markdown](https://core-electronics.com.au/sparkfun-esp8266-thing.html.md))

The SparkFun ESP8266 Thing is essentially a breakout and development board for the ESP8266 WiFi SoC. Why the name? We lovingly call it the Thing due to it being the perfect foundation for your Internet of Things. Over the past year, the ESP8266 has been a growing star among IoT or WiFi-related projects. It’s an extremely cost-effective WiFi module, that – with a little extra effort – can be programmed just like any microcontroller. The only unfortunate part is: the ESP8266 has mostly only been available in a tiny, modular form, which, with limited I/O and a “unique” pin-out, can be difficult to build a project around. SparkFun’s new development board for the ESP8266 breaks out all of the module’s pins, and comes equipped with a LiPo charger, power supply, and all of the other supporting circuitry it requires.

## Pricing

- **Price:** $33.95 (inc GST) — $30.86 AUD, exc GST
- **Quantity discounts:** 5+ $29.94 (exc GST) · 25+ $29.32 (exc GST) · 100+ $28.08 (exc GST)

## Availability & dispatch

- Available with a lead time — expect dispatch between Aug 17 and Aug 24.

## How to buy

- **Build a cart:** compose `https://core-electronics.com.au/cart/link?items=WRL-13231:1` (comma-separated SKU:qty pairs) and share the link. Opening it shows a confirmation page with live pricing and stock before anything is added to the cart.
- **Verify the cart first:** fetch `https://core-electronics.com.au/cart/link/WRL-13231:1.md` for live line prices (inc & exc GST, quantity discounts applied), stock and dispatch estimates, and totals. Append `/to/{AU-postcode}` (or `/to/{country-code}:{postcode}`) before `.md` for delivery options and prices to that destination. Unknown, retired, or out-of-stock SKUs are flagged. (Query form `cart/link.md?items=...` also works but some robots parsers refuse query strings here.)
- **Checkout** is completed on-site and includes a captcha at the payment step. Share the cart link; checkout takes it from there.
- **Search the catalogue:** `https://core-electronics.com.au/search/{query}.md` (URL-encode the query; pages 2-3 at `search/{query}/{page}.md`; `search.md?q=` also works)
- **Payment methods, purchase orders, policies and contact details:** https://core-electronics.com.au/llms.txt
## Description

The SparkFun ESP8266 Thing is essentially a breakout and development board for the ESP8266 WiFi SoC. Why the name? Sparkfun lovingly call it the Thing due to it being the perfect foundation for your Internet of Things. Over the past year, the ESP8266 has been a growing star among IoT or WiFi-related projects. It’s an extremely cost-effective WiFi module, that – with a little extra effort – can be programmed just like any microcontroller. The only unfortunate part is: the ESP8266 has mostly only been available in a tiny, modular form, which, with limited I/O and a “*unique*” pin-out, can be difficult to build a project around. SparkFun’s new development board for the ESP8266 breaks out all of the module’s pins, and comes equipped with a LiPo charger, power supply, and all of the other supporting circuitry it requires.

The SparkFun ESP8266 Thing is a relatively simple board. The pins are broken out to two parallel, breadboard-compatible rows. USB and LiPo connectors at the top of the board provide power – controlled by the nearby ON/OFF switch. And LEDs towards the inside of the board indicate power, charge, and status of the IC. The ESP8266’s maximum voltage is 3.6V, so the Thing has an onboard 3.3V regulator to deliver a safe, consistent voltage to the IC. That means the ESP8266’s I/O pins also run at 3.3V, you’ll need to level shift any 5V signals running into the IC.

**Note:** A 3.3V FTDI Basic is required to program the SparkFun ESP8266 Thing, but other serial converters with 3.3V I/O levels should work just fine as well. The converter does need a DTR line in addition to the RX and TX pins.

Features:

- All module pins broken out
- On-board LiPo charger/power supply
- 802.11 b/g/n
- Wi-Fi Direct (P2P), soft-AP
- Integrated TCP/IP protocol stack
- Integrated TR switch, balun, LNA, power amplifier and matching network
- Integrated PLLs, regulators, DCXO and power management units
- Integrated low power 32-bit CPU could be used as application processor
- 19.5dBm output power in 802.11b mode
 
Documents:

- [Schematic](https://core-electronics.com.au/attachments/localcontent/SparkFun_ESP8266_Thing_13436c99e2a.pdf)
- [Eagle Files](https://core-electronics.com.au/attachments/localcontent/SparkFun_ESP8266_Thing_v10_193933a551b.zip)
- [Hookup Guide](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/esp8266-thing-hookup-guide)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/sparkfun/ESP8266_Thing) (Design Files)

## Guides for this product

- [How to use an ESP8266 in the Arduino IDE](https://core-electronics.com.au/guides/wireless/using-esp8266-with-arduino-ide/)

## Images

- [Product image 1](https://core-electronics.com.au/media/catalog/product/w/r/wrl-13231-04.jpg)