Wemos or NodeMCU

[leel1967l]

Hi all,
After few weeks of testing I am about to build my real automation network with ESP8266.
I have tested so far the WEMOS mini V2, V3 and LITE (8255) with the WEMOS POWER SHIELD (Vin = 7-24V).

Having to build a network of 15 units, what would be te best choice?
Wemos Mini or NodeMCU?

Price is more or less the same.
Size: Wemos is smaller, but if used with the PowerShield is larger.
In terms of usability, wemos has a triple board that facilitates the connetions.
Reliability: here I don't know... as my experience is too short. My Wemos have been working so far for 40 days without any issue (no reboot at all).

Any other thoughts?

[grovkillen]

I use both but have started to use Wemos D1 mini more and more since it has the base board with two of three shield spots. Really easy to remove a faulty Wemos or update if needed. Only buy original Wemos though since I have bad experience with fake ones.

[enesbcs]

I also used both of them. The only difference - above their size - is their power supply. On the D1 mini when i connect some 5V devices, such as SR04 or RCWL0516 they are not so stable.. on the other side, if i connect the same devices to the Nodemcu VV / 5V pin they works as intended.
Of course i do not have any original D1, just clones. But all of my Nodemcu's are in the same price range as the D1 clones.

[kimot]

Both board uses different voltage regulators.
When battery powered at deepsleep, nodeMCU regulator consumes more energy.

[whatsupskip]

Size: Wemos is smaller, but if used with the PowerShield is larger.

I don't understand this. How are you powering the NodeMCU? As far as I know they only offered 5VDC input.

As you have indicated there are several versions of the Wemos mini D1, however there are even more than you have described.
There is some discussion of the differences here.

I have only been using the clone versions of the Wemos mini D1, which I think are based on the V1.0. I have also used two different NodeMCU boards.

Many sensors have issues with power supplies, and not just the 5V devices. The quality of the 5V USB power supply does make a difference. In the case of 5V devices, they are essentially supplied directly from the USB supply. In the case of 3.3V devices, while there is a regulator and some filtering on the Wemos/NodeMCU boards, if the USB power supply is very noisy, then some of this noise will carry through to the 3.3V power lines. This noise will cause problems with some 3.3V sensors, leading to errors. I have found this to be particularly the case with BME280/BMP280 boards from AliExpress. The end result is noisy results, with occasional significant spikes. I have found better quality 5VDC supplies do help, but also putting additional filtering capacitors on the 5VDC line does help. I need to do further testing to better determine what value capacitors to use, larger isn't always better and typically a mix of large and tiny ones should be used. I also suspect additional capacitors are needed on the 3.3V lines, either on the board or at the sensor.

In terms of reliability of the Wemos mini D1 clone boards, out of about 16 boards:
I have had one that appeared to be dead on arrival, however I may have killed it when soldering the pins onto it.
One appears to have been damaged, still partly works, either by static or a faulty sensor.

Of the others, the up time is excellent. If any of them have crashed or stopped working, it has more than likely been due to a failing power supply. However, up until recently none have been installed in challenging conditions of temperature and/or humidity.

[TD-er]

Not all clones of those boards are bad.
I have one outside, which had to endure -10C but kept working just fine with an uptime of over 55 days (then a power surge, which reset allmost all my sensors)
It is connected to a SDS011 dust sensor which has a power-hungry laser on board.