ESP8266 not connecting in Home Assistant

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peejayw

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#323055 20-Oct-2025 15:19

I am trying to connect an ESP8266 to Home Assistant using ESPHome Builder. After connecting the 8266 to the computer and using ESPHome Web to connect, I get to "Prepare for first time use" then after about a minute I get "Config Installed."

It then says to connect to Wifi and after entering my wifi ssid and password it says "Provisioning" but after a while it just times out.

I tried using my phone hotspot and could see the device connecting to the hotspot but it still timed out. I can see the device on the wifi network as "esphome-web- ######"

Any advice on what to try next?

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

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#3426745 20-Oct-2025 15:25

Start again but with a USB cable?

Could also be flakey 8266 hardware. I've got one here that just upped and died one day and no amount of mucking around has brought it back.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

peejayw

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#3426748 20-Oct-2025 15:27

I am using a cable and getting the same result with two different 8266's.

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

elpenguino

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#3426749 20-Oct-2025 15:30

FWIW, I put the SSID and password in the YAML / config so I dont get the provisioning stage.

You didn't specifically say, but are you giving the responses which you see in the serial log/debugger of the programmer?

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

peejayw

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#3426753 20-Oct-2025 15:40

How/where would I enter the ssid/password data in yaml?

I am just entering what ESPHome web asks for.

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

richms

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#3426761 20-Oct-2025 15:58

Are you on the same ethernet network as the home assistant install? It uses mdns to find the devices so if you have an isolated vlan and only limited forwards between them it will not work.

I have just given them static IPs when I see the mac address turn up and specify the host in esp home rather than deal with the flakeyness that is mdns.

I really wish they connection would be from the ESP to the home assistant but they made it the other way so that's what you have to deal with.

Richard rich.ms

richms

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#3426764 20-Oct-2025 16:03

peejayw:

How/where would I enter the ssid/password data in yaml?

I am just entering what ESPHome web asks for.

In the yaml you would normally have this

wifi:

ssid: !secret wifi_ssid

password: !secret wifi_password

somewhere in the template

and you can specify them there, or else edit the secrets.yaml by clicking secrets at the top right and put it in there. You can specify all sorts of things in the secrets file like more SSID names

I have added

wifi_ssid_1: "richms-iot1"

wifi_password_1:"passwordhere"

wifi_ssid_2: "richms-iot2"

wifi_password_1: "passwordhere"

and a couple more in there and put

wifi:

ssid: !secret wifi_ssid_1

password: !secret wifi_password_1

or 2 or whatever in the device yaml based on where the device will be located so I have fewer APs on each SSID and vlan which helps control the broadcast trash that all that mDNS traffic causes.

This also means you can edit the ssid and password and then rebuild and upload the devices when its time to change the PSK. Not something that seems to have been automated yet.

Richard rich.ms

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peejayw

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#3426765 20-Oct-2025 16:03

Its all on the one network.

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

elpenguino

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#3426767 20-Oct-2025 16:19

richms:

peejayw:

How/where would I enter the ssid/password data in yaml?

I am just entering what ESPHome web asks for.

In the yaml you would normally have this:

wifi:

ssid: !secret wifi_ssid

password: !secret wifi_password

You can put the WiFi information into the YAML for each device or generate a separate YAML file for all 'secrets'.

Create a file with this name and location using the file editor addon: /homeassistant/esphome/secrets.yaml

In the file add two lines like so:

wifi_ssid: "SSIDNAME"
wifi_password: "SecretPassword"

Then as Rich said, put a reference to the Wifi details in the YAML for each device.

Still doesn't explain why you get 'provisioning'. At least storing it in this way means no errors typing in the details etc.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

eluSiveNZ

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#3426769 20-Oct-2025 16:36

If you re-connect via cable and hit "Logs" do you see any output ?

I've had some ESPs need to be put into bootloader mode in order to work properly, try holding the boot/flash button down while powering up.

eluSiveNZ

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#3426770 20-Oct-2025 16:37

elpenguino:

Then as Rich said, put a reference to the Wifi details in the YAML for each device.

Still doesn't explain why you get 'provisioning'. At least storing it in this way means no errors typing in the details etc.

OP is using web flasher - https://web.esphome.io/

richms

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#3426773 20-Oct-2025 16:55

eluSiveNZ:

elpenguino:

Then as Rich said, put a reference to the Wifi details in the YAML for each device.

Still doesn't explain why you get 'provisioning'. At least storing it in this way means no errors typing in the details etc.

OP is using web flasher - https://web.esphome.io/

That has never worked for me, I have only had success flashing from the home assistant web interface, and since its web serial I have to use the https nabu casa URL, not the internal IP address or local http accessed host name. It claims that you can flash plugged into the pi running HA, but I lack the spare USB ports to have ever tried that.

Richard rich.ms

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peejayw

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#3426803 20-Oct-2025 19:02

Thanks all. I gave up on what I was trying and instead plugged the 8266 into my HA Yellow and was able to flash from there. It now shows up in ESPHome and says its online but when I click "Visit" I get "watersensor.local refused to connect"

I think I'm getting close, any more suggestions?

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

elpenguino

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#3426810 20-Oct-2025 20:26

When I clicked on 'visit' (for the first time) a browser tab opened. Have you set up some kind of HTTP server on the ESP?

I don't want my sensors to be servers so I'm happy if they just send data to HA.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

peejayw

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#3426813 20-Oct-2025 20:36

Haven't set up any kind of server that I am aware of .

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

richms

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#3426815 20-Oct-2025 20:37

Yeah, visit only works if you have built it with some form of webserver on it. ESP8266 would fall over with most of that sort of thing.

I have only used ESP home for bluetooth sensors, and a few as basic LED lights where I dont need the functionality of WLED on them. Also, the ESP32 C3 is really cheap if you go to the aliexress bundle deals, and is not an end of line chip like the 8266. I got 20 of them (max order size) for around $2 each as it discounted for buying more than a number of them. Add them in and out of your cart from a few sellers and then go away and leave it for a bit and you will get better prices in the choice area on those items.

Richard rich.ms

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