title: Using Arduino as FTDI programmer to program ESP8266 (ESP-12)
body: <p>I've been following <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Getting-Started-with-the-ESP8266-ESP-12/?ALLSTEPS" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this instructable</a> to configure my Arduino Uno as a FTDI programmer because I want to use it to program my brand new ESP8266. I use a 5V &lt;-&gt; 3.3V bidirectional logic level converter between my Arduino and the ESP-12. The VCC is coming from an external power supply. The connections I currently have are the following:</p>
  <p>ESP-12 | Level shifted logic from Arduino &amp; 3.3V power supply</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Vcc   &lt;-&gt;  3.3V</li>
  <li>GND   &lt;-&gt;  GND</li>
  <li>CH_PD &lt;-&gt; 3.3V</li>
  <li>GPIO2 &lt;-&gt; 3.3V</li>
  <li>GPIO15 &lt;-&gt; GND</li>
  <li>GPIO0 &lt;-&gt; 3.3V</li>
  <li>RX &lt;-&gt; TX (3.3V level shifted)</li>
  <li>TX &lt;-&gt; TX (3.3V level shifted)</li>
  </ul>
  <p>Every time I try to upload some code (f.x. the Blink example) onto the ESP-12 using the newest Arduino IDE (1.6.5) I get the following error:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>warning: espcomm_sync failed</p>
  <p>error: espcomm_open failed</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>When I pull the reset pin on the ESP-12 low I get incoming serial data which is almost unreadable at 115200 baud rate: <img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/JhfAh.png" alt="Some gibberish coming from the ESP over serial" /></p>
  <p>Has anybody successfully managed to program the ESP-12 using an Arduino Uno or happens to know if that is possible at all?</p>