Bee Motion S3
ESP32-S3 board with an onboard PIR motion sensor - perfect for automation and presence-based triggers.
Bee Motion S3 Pinout
25 pins| Pin | GPIO | Labels | Status | Capabilities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | BOOT_BTN | strapping | - | |
| 2 | 1 | VBAT_VOLTAGEPWM | safe | - | |
| 3 | 2 | VBUS_SENSEPWM | safe | - | |
| 4 | 3 | LIGHTPWM | strapping | - | |
| 5 | 4 | PIRPWM | safe | - | |
| 6 | 5 | SSA5D5T5PWM | safe | adc · touch · spi | |
| 7 | 6 | A6D6T6PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 8 | 7 | A7D7T7PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 9 | 8 | A8D8T8PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 10 | 9 | A9D9T9PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 11 | 10 | A10D10T10PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 12 | 11 | A11D11T11PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 13 | 12 | A12D12T12PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 14 | 13 | A13T13PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 15 | 14 | A14D14T14PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 16 | 15 | MOSIA15D15PWM | safe | adc · spi | |
| 17 | 16 | MISOD16PWM | safe | spi | |
| 18 | 17 | SCKD17PWM | safe | spi | |
| 19 | 34 | LDO2RGB_PWRPWM | safe | - | |
| 20 | 35 | SDOD35PWM | safe | - | |
| 21 | 36 | SCLD36PWM | safe | i2c | |
| 22 | 37 | SDASDID37PWM | safe | i2c | |
| 23 | 40 | RGB_DATAPWM | strapping | - | |
| 24 | 43 | TXD43PWM | uart | uart | |
| 25 | 44 | RXD44PWM | uart | uart |
Start with these
14 pins with no boot or system involvementFreely assignable - no strapping, flash, USB or JTAG duties. Ideal first picks for buttons, sensors and LEDs.
Fine - with a little care
11 pins · 6 things to knowBOOT_BTNGPIO0 Bootstrapping pin (Chip boot mode selection) Strapping
Must be pulled high (default) or low (to enter UART download mode) at reset. Using it for other functions can interfere with boot mode configuration.
LIGHTGPIO3 Bootstrapping pin (controls JTAG signal source) Strapping
Sampled at reset to select JTAG interface (USB Serial/JTAG controller vs. external pins). Improper use can disable external JTAG or alter debug interface.
A9GPIO9A10GPIO10A11GPIO11A12GPIO12A13GPIO13A14GPIO14 General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pins Other
IO MUX pin of the general-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) bus, not of the in-package flash - that sits on GPIO26-32. The datasheet lists it as a priority-2 pin ("can be freely used without restrictions"), so it is only taken if your board wires flash, an SD card or a display to FSPI.
- A9General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - hold/data line (FSPIHD)
- A10General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - chip select (FSPICS0)
- A11General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - data in (FSPID)
- A12General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - clock (FSPICLK)
- A13General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - data out (FSPIQ)
- A14General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - write-protect/data line (FSPIWP)
RGB_DATAGPIO40 JTAG test data out pin (MTDO) JTAG
Default JTAG TDO output for debugging. Using it as GPIO will interfere with JTAG debugging functionality.
TXGPIO43 UART0 transmit pin (U0TXD), default serial console TX UART
Used for bootloader output and UART console logs. If repurposed, you will lose the default serial output (and programming via UART0).
RXGPIO44 UART0 receive pin (U0RXD), default serial console RX UART
Used for bootloader input (download mode via serial). If repurposed, you cannot use the default UART0 download mode for programming the chip.
The Bee Motion S3 pinout brings out 25 GPIO pins - every one of them usable in your project.
For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO37 and SCL on GPIO36; the SPI bus (MOSI, MISO, SCK, SS) is broken out in full; TX/RX on GPIO43 and GPIO44 cover serial logging and flashing.
On the analog side there are 11 ADC-capable pins for sensors and battery monitoring and 10 capacitive-touch inputs.
If you want zero surprises, VBAT_VOLTAGE, VBUS_SENSE, PIR, SS and 10 more are free of any such role - the safest first picks. 11 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32-S3 (BOOT_BTN, LIGHT, A9 and 8 more).
Getting started
flash your first firmware in ~2 minutesBoard: ESP32S3 Dev Module USB CDC On Boot: Enabled Flash Size: 8MB (64Mb) Flash Mode: DIO Partition Scheme: 8M with spiffs (3MB APP/1.5MB SPIFFS) Upload Speed: 921600
// toggle GPIO1 - wire an LED and resistor to it
void setup() {
pinMode(1, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(1, HIGH); delay(500);
digitalWrite(1, LOW); delay(500);
}[env:Bee_Motion_S3]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32-s3-devkitc-1
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600esp32-s3-devkitc-1 - or type it after board =.esp32:
board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1
variant: esp32s3
framework:
type: esp-idf
# blink - GPIO1
output:
- platform: gpio
pin: 1
id: led_out
light:
- platform: binary
name: "LED"
output: led_outesp32-s3-devkitc-1 (same ids as PlatformIO).esptool.py --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
--baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware.bin--port = your /dev/tty* (macOS/Linux) or COMx (Windows).Specifications
ESP32-S3 · vs other ESP32 chips →About this board
At its core is the ESP32-S3 - a dual-core Xtensa with vector extensions suited to AI workloads.
Expect to pay about $29.99 - in line with other ESP32-S3 boards.
Onboard you'll find a STEMMA QT connector, an addressable RGB LED (GPIO40), a motion sensor (S16-L221D), an ambient-light sensor, battery charging (MCP73831) and Reset/Boot buttons.
It flashes over native USB - no serial-converter driver needed, which isn't a given among ESP32-S3 boards.
Where to buy
prices are typical street pricesResources
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