# ESP8266 Thing (WRL-13231) serial console (RESOLVED)

**URL:** <https://community.sparkfun.com/t/esp8266-thing-wrl-13231-serial-console-resolved/31269>\
**Category:** Arduino\
**Created:** [July 22, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/esp8266-thing-wrl-13231-serial-console-resolved/31269 "2015-07-22T15:24:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![IndianaTux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@IndianaTux](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/IndianaTux)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/esp8266-thing-wrl-13231-serial-console-resolved/31269/1 "2015-07-22T15:24:52Z")

</div>

So I got the ESP8266 Thing (WRL-13231) along with the FTDI Basic and I’m able to upload my Arduino code and it works.

However I can not get the serial debug console to work. I tried this very simple sketch:

```auto
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  delay(1000);
  Serial.println("This is a simple test");
}

void loop() {
}

```

And all I get on the console is this:

```auto
tail 12
chksum 0x73
ho 0 tail 12 room 4
load 0x3ffe8000, len 1332, room 12 
tail 8
chksum 0x96
load 0x3ffe8540, len 1624, room 0 
tail 8
chksum 0xca
csum 0xca
RT! bA! Ac bh |r <

```

Any ideas ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Valen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9dc877/32.png) [@Valen](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/Valen)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/esp8266-thing-wrl-13231-serial-console-resolved/31269/2 "2015-07-22T21:46:38Z")

</div>

If this thread

[https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/issues/189](https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/issues/189)

is analog to your issue then I think the delay is tripping the Watchdog timer and it resets while still in setup.

This definitely seems to apply:

[https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/issues/34](https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/issues/34)

It’s supposed to be fixed in the latest stable release.

[https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino](https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino)

[EDIT] I don’t know how/if the SparkFun ESP-8266 Thing board package is dependant on that stable release. Or wether SParkfun needs to make their Thing changes to it again.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![IndianaTux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@IndianaTux](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/IndianaTux)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/esp8266-thing-wrl-13231-serial-console-resolved/31269/3 "2015-07-23T01:33:39Z")

</div>

Just tried:

```auto
void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println("This is a simple test");
}

void loop() {
}

```

And I get the same output. Tried the same strange output. On a standard Uno or Mega and or works as expected.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Valen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9dc877/32.png) [@Valen](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/Valen)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 7:24am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/esp8266-thing-wrl-13231-serial-console-resolved/31269/4 "2015-07-23T07:24:03Z")

</div>

It’s a ESP8266 specific thing (no pun intended), other Arduino boards are unaffected.

This last code you tried does not seem to take a long time, but I’ve seen other issues raised on the [GitHub - esp8266/Arduino: ESP8266 core for Arduino](http://github.com/esp8266/Arduino) site regarding Serial port use (due to incomming data and use of serial.Available and serial.Read.) Maybe it is broader than that. I suggest you ask SparkFun Techsupport wether they need to fix something in their boards manager package for this. Or how to get it updated otherwise. Reference this thread to them.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![IndianaTux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@IndianaTux](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/IndianaTux)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 12:21pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/esp8266-thing-wrl-13231-serial-console-resolved/31269/5 "2015-07-28T12:21:24Z")

</div>

Ok, so serial console works, you just have to disconnect the DTR signal.

Couple of ways to do this. You can cut a trace and install a jumper as indicated in [https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/es … uino-addon](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/esp8266-thing-hookup-guide/all#using-the-arduino-addon) (Serial monitor section).

Or the way I did it for prototyping is to put the Thing on a breadboard and use jumper wired to go to the FTDI serial module. When I upload I connect the DTR to the Thing. Then I disconnect it to get serial console. Works great.

Thanks Sparkfun support for a quick answer.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Valen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9dc877/32.png) [@Valen](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/Valen)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 9:34am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/esp8266-thing-wrl-13231-serial-console-resolved/31269/6 "2015-07-29T09:34:51Z")

</div>

As is usual, I’m not following the [[KISS principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle). (sigh)]([KISS principle - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle))