diff --git a/esphome/components/rc522/rc522.cpp b/esphome/components/rc522/rc522.cpp
index ff8d18e3ea..8182c1e8c9 100644
--- a/esphome/components/rc522/rc522.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/rc522/rc522.cpp
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ RC522::StatusCode RC522::pcd_communicate_with_picc_(
   // transmitting. Each iteration of the do-while-loop takes 17.86μs.
   // TODO check/modify for other architectures than Arduino Uno 16bit
   uint16_t i;
-  for (i = 4; i > 0; i--) {
+  for (i = 2000; i > 0; i--) {
     uint8_t n = pcd_read_register(
         COM_IRQ_REG);     // ComIrqReg[7..0] bits are: Set1 TxIRq RxIRq IdleIRq HiAlertIRq LoAlertIRq ErrIRq TimerIRq
     if (n & wait_i_rq) {  // One of the interrupts that signal success has been set.
diff --git a/esphome/const.py b/esphome/const.py
index 89d9db414d..c61054ddbd 100644
--- a/esphome/const.py
+++ b/esphome/const.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 MAJOR_VERSION = 1
 MINOR_VERSION = 16
-PATCH_VERSION = '0b7'
+PATCH_VERSION = '0b8'
 __short_version__ = f'{MAJOR_VERSION}.{MINOR_VERSION}'
 __version__ = f'{__short_version__}.{PATCH_VERSION}'
 
diff --git a/esphome/core/helpers.cpp b/esphome/core/helpers.cpp
index f0e0c65f66..3e7472d2fe 100644
--- a/esphome/core/helpers.cpp
+++ b/esphome/core/helpers.cpp
@@ -171,15 +171,17 @@ uint8_t crc8(uint8_t *data, uint8_t len) {
   }
   return crc;
 }
+
 void delay_microseconds_accurate(uint32_t usec) {
   if (usec == 0)
     return;
-
-  if (usec <= 16383UL) {
+  if (usec < 5000UL) {
     delayMicroseconds(usec);
-  } else {
-    delay(usec / 1000UL);
-    delayMicroseconds(usec % 1000UL);
+    return;
+  }
+  uint32_t start = micros();
+  while (micros() - start < usec) {
+    delay(0);
   }
 }