I want to control my Christmas tree remotely, this can be via bluethoot, infrared remote control or via Wi-Fi (e.g. website or mobile app). I want to be able to control the tree from other houses and other Wi-Fi networks. So already a couple of options are dropped.

This tutorial shows simular functions and possibilities that I also want to use. You can send Ajax calls to the Arduino via your own website. Here two servo motors are used as output but the concept remains the same. Later I can use my led strips as output. In addition, this tutorial used the Wi-Fi module I purchased. The only drawback is that it uses jQuery.

I decided to follow this demo step by step to better master the basic principles. When I wanted to connect to my Wi-Fi network, I got to see a lot of weird characters in my Serial Monitor. This problem would be due to the baud rate of my ESP 8266 and that of my Arduino, they had to match. I adjusted the baud rate in the code, this time it indicated a Wi-Fi connection, but a few seconds later it automatically disconnected again. In addition, there were still strange characters to detect in the Serial Monitor. Some letters were also changed randomly.

After some research, it turned out I was not the only one with this problem. Apparently you have to configure the Wi-Fi module itself before it can work with an Arduino. You can do this with a USB TTL Serial Adapter (FT232RL FTDI). But this too turned out to be a misbuy. After I programmed my module with this adapter, I did not get any info in my Serial Monitor anymore. After a long retry I decided to leave this cheap Wi-Fi module behind and invest in an Arduino Uno Rev2 with built-in Wi-Fi, if this doesn't work, I still have an Ethernet shield.

In part 2 I will try out the Arduino Uno with built in Wi-Fi.