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BPI-Leaf-S3
A development board by Banana Pi featuring the ESP32-S3, designed for IoT and embedded applications.
65.25 × 26 mm
ESP32-S3
MCU
240MHz
clock
8MB
flash
512KB
SRAM
23· 20 ADC
GPIO
BLE 5.0+ WiFi
radio
Pinout
23 pins · 2.54 mm pitch
| Pin | GPIO | Labels | Status | Capabilities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | A0T1PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 2 | 2 | A1T2PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 3 | 3 | A2T3PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 4 | 4 | A3T4PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 5 | 5 | A4T5PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 6 | 6 | A5T6PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 7 | 7 | A6T7PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 8 | 8 | A7T8PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 9 | 9 | A8T9PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 10 | 10 | SSA9T10PWM | strapping | adc · touch · spi | |
| 11 | 11 | MOSIA10T11PWM | strapping | adc · touch · spi | |
| 12 | 12 | SCKA11T12PWM | strapping | adc · touch · spi | |
| 13 | 13 | MISOA12T13PWM | strapping | adc · touch · spi | |
| 14 | 14 | A13T14PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 15 | 15 | SDAA14PWM | safe | adc · i2c | |
| 16 | 16 | SCLA15PWM | safe | adc · i2c | |
| 17 | 17 | A16PWM | safe | adc | |
| 18 | 18 | A17PWM | safe | adc | |
| 19 | 19 | A18PWM | uart | adc | |
| 20 | 20 | A19PWM | uart | adc | |
| 21 | 43 | TXPWM | strapping | uart | |
| 22 | 44 | RXPWM | strapping | uart | |
| 23 | 48 | LED_BUILTIN | strapping | - |
Start with these
11 pins with no boot or system involvementA0T1A1T2A3T4A4T5A5T6A6T7A7T8SDAA14SCLA15A16PWMA17PWM
Freely assignable - no strapping, flash, USB or JTAG duties. Ideal first picks for buttons, sensors and LEDs.
Fine - with a little care
sampled at boot or shared with debug/serial| Pin | Label | What to know | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2 | GPIO3 | Sampled at reset to select JTAG interface (USB Serial/JTAG controller vs. external pins). Improper use can disable external JTAG or alter debug interface. | Strapping |
| TX | U0TXD (GPIO43) | Used for bootloader output and UART console logs. If repurposed, you will lose the default serial output (and programming via UART0). | Other |
| RX | U0RXD (GPIO44) | Used for bootloader input (download mode via serial). If repurposed, you cannot use the default UART0 download mode for programming the chip. | Other |
Only if you know the tricks
wired to flash or USB - expect a fight| Pin | Label | What to know | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| A8 | FSPIHD | Connected to external flash (data/hold signal) on most modules. Not recommended for use as GPIO, since it must remain dedicated to flash communication. | Flash |
| SS | FSPICS0 | Used to select the external flash chip. It is required for flash access and cannot be repurposed without losing flash connectivity | Flash |
| MOSI | FSPID | Used as a data line for flash (and in-package PSRAM). It should not be used as GPIO when the flash/PSRAM is in use. | Flash |
| SCK | FSPICLK | Drives the flash (and PSRAM) clock. This critical signal must be reserved for memory and not used as general GPIO. | Flash |
| MISO | FSPIQ | Used as a data line for flash/PSRAM transfers. Not available for other uses when flash/PSRAM is connected. | Flash |
| A13 | FSPIWP | Connected to external flash (data/write-protect signal). Not recommended as GPIO because it’s reserved for flash operations. | Flash |
| A18 | USB_D- | By default connected to the on-chip USB Serial/JTAG controller. Using it as general GPIO without reconfiguring IO MUX will interfere with USB functionality. | USB |
| A19 | USB_D+ | By default connected to the on-chip USB Serial/JTAG controller. Using it as general GPIO without reconfiguring IO MUX will interfere with USB functionality. | USB |
| LED_BUILTIN | SPICLK_N | Used only on variants with Octal SPI interface, as the negative leg of the differential clock&. On such chips it operates at 1.8 V; it should be avoided for GPIO to prevent conflicts with the octal flash/PSRAM clock. | Flash |
These are recommendations, not hard rules - with the right pull-ups, timing and boot-state awareness most pins can be made to work. When in doubt, start green.
Pinout notes All 23 pins on the BPI-Leaf-S3 are usable GPIO, spaced at the standard 2.54 mm pitch. Peripheral wiring is straightforward: I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO15 and…
All 23 pins on the BPI-Leaf-S3 are usable GPIO, spaced at the standard 2.54 mm pitch.
Peripheral wiring is straightforward: I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO15 and SCL on GPIO16; the SPI bus (MOSI, MISO, SCK, SS) is broken out in full; TX/RX on GPIO43 and GPIO44 cover serial logging and flashing.
Beyond plain digital I/O you get 20 ADC-capable pins for sensors and battery monitoring and 14 capacitive-touch inputs.
3 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32-S3 (A2, TX and RX) - check the guidance above before wiring anything to them. A0, A1, A3, A4 and 7 more are free of any such role - the safest first picks.
Getting started
flash your first firmware in ~2 minutes1
Connect over USB
Native USB - shows up as a port right away, no driver needed. Not detected? Hold BOOT while plugging in.
2
Match & flash
Set the Tools options shown, then click Upload.
3
Verify it runs
The onboard LED on GPIO1 blinks - swap the pin if your board's LED differs.
Set these in Tools · leave everything else at default
Arduino IDE 2.x — Tools Copy
Board: "ESP32S3 Dev Module"▸
USB CDC On Boot: "Enabled"▸
Flash Size: "8MB (64Mb)"▸
Flash Mode: "DIO"▸
PSRAM: "QSPI PSRAM"▸
Partition Scheme: "8M with spiffs (3MB APP / 1.5MB SPIFFS)" (default)▸
Upload Speed: "921600"▸
▸ every other Tools option — leave at default
Board: ESP32S3 Dev Module USB CDC On Boot: Enabled Flash Size: 8MB (64Mb) Flash Mode: DIO PSRAM: QSPI PSRAM Partition Scheme: 8M with spiffs (3MB APP / 1.5MB SPIFFS) Upload Speed: 921600
Find it: Tools ▸ Board ▸ ESP32 Arduino ▸ ESP32S3 Dev Module
// blink the onboard LED
void setup() {
pinMode(1, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(1, HIGH); delay(500);
digitalWrite(1, LOW); delay(500);
}board to selectesp32-s3-devkitc-1⧉ copy
[env:bpi_leaf_s3]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32-s3-devkitc-1
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600
board_build.arduino.memory_type = qio_qspi
build_flags = -DBOARD_HAS_PSRAMFind it: PlatformIO Home ▸ Boards, search
esp32-s3-devkitc-1 — or type it after board =.board to selectesp32-s3-devkitc-1⧉ copy
esp32:
board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1
variant: bpi_leaf_s3
framework:
type: esp-idf
psram:
mode: quad
speed: 80MHz
# blink - GPIO1
output:
- platform: gpio
pin: 1
id: led_out
light:
- platform: binary
name: "LED"
output: led_outFind it: search ESPHome's board list for
esp32-s3-devkitc-1 (same ids as PlatformIO).esptool doesn't pick board settings — a prebuilt .bin already has them baked in. This is just the raw flash command.
esptool.py --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
--baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware.bin--port = your /dev/tty* (macOS/Linux) or COMx (Windows).Build details: sketch space 1310720 B · data 327680 B · DIO
Specifications
ESP32-S3 · 65.25 × 26 mmCompute
MCU
ESP32-S3
Clock
240 MHz
SRAM · Flash
512 KB · 8MB · 2MB (QSPI) PSRAM
Radio
Wi-Fi
802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
5.0 LE
Antenna
PCB
I/O
GPIO · ADC
23 · 20
UART · I²C · SPI
3 · 2 · 4
PWM
8 channels
Power
USB
USB-C
Serial
Native (CDC)
Boot address
0x0
Flashing
Upload · OTA
esptool_py · esp_ota
Flash · Boot mode
DIO · QIO
Sketch · Data
1.25 MB · 320 KB
65.25 × 26 mm · pin pitch 2.54 mm
The BPI-Leaf-S3 uses esptool_py for firmware uploads, esp_ota for over-the-air (OTA) updates. Flash mode is DIO with QIO boot mode. The maximum sketch size is 1.25 MB with 320 KB available for data.
About this board
Inside sits the ESP32-S3 - a dual-core Xtensa with vector extensions suited to AI workloads.
At $7.50 it's cheaper than most ESP32-S3 boards, which usually run around $30.
Around the module: 2MB (QSPI) PSRAM, a Qwiic/STEMMA QT connector, an addressable RGB LED (GPIO48), 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 pricesBPI-Leaf-S3
$7.50per unit, typical
Resources
Board datasheet wiki.banana-pi.org↗ ESP32-S3 datasheet espressif.com↗ BPI-Leaf-S3 - Banana Pi Wiki wiki.banana-pi.org↗BananaPi BPI-Leaf-S3 documentation docs.banana-pi.org↗Sinovoip launches BPI-Leaf-S3 (Hackster.io) hackster.io↗BPI-Leaf-S3 ESP32-S3 board launched for $7.5 (CNX Software) cnx-software.com↗
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