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ProtoCentral HealthyPi 4
ESP32 health monitor board with ECG, PPG, and respiration sensors - great for wearable biomedical projects.
65 × 56 mm
ESP32
MCU
240MHz
clock
4MB
flash
520KB
SRAM
25· 16 ADC
GPIO
BLE 4.2+ WiFi
radio
Pinout
25 pins · 2.54 mm pitch| Pin | GPIO | Labels | Status | Capabilities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | A11T1 | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 2 | 1 | TXPWM | uart | uart | |
| 3 | 2 | SSA12T2PWM | strapping | adc · touch · spi | |
| 4 | 3 | RXPWM | uart | uart | |
| 5 | 4 | A10T0AFE4490_PWDN_PINPWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 6 | 12 | A15T5PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 7 | 13 | A14T4ADS1292_CS_PINPWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 8 | 14 | A16T6ADS1292_START_PINPWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 9 | 15 | LED_BUILTINA13T3PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 10 | 16 | SLIDE_SWITCHPWM | strapping | - | |
| 11 | 17 | KEY_BUILTINPUSH_BUTTONPWM | strapping | - | |
| 12 | 18 | SCKPWM | safe | spi | |
| 13 | 19 | MISOPWM | safe | spi | |
| 14 | 21 | SDAAFE4490_CS_PINPWM | safe | i2c | |
| 15 | 22 | SCLPWM | safe | i2c | |
| 16 | 23 | MOSIPWM | safe | spi | |
| 17 | 25 | A18DAC1PWM | safe | adc · dac | |
| 18 | 26 | A19DAC2ADS1292_DRDY_PINPWM | safe | adc · dac | |
| 19 | 27 | A17T7ADS1292_PWDN_PINPWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 20 | 32 | A4T9PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 21 | 33 | A5T8PWM | safe | adc · touch | |
| 22 | 34 | A6 | strapping | adc | |
| 23 | 35 | A7 | strapping | adc | |
| 24 | 36 | A0 | strapping | adc | |
| 25 | 39 | A3AFE4490_DRDY_PIN | strapping | adc |
Start with these
10 pins with no boot or system involvementSCKPWMMISOPWMSDAAFE4490_CS_PINSCLPWMMOSIPWMA18DAC1A19DAC2A17T7A4T9A5T8
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| A11 | GPIO0 | Must be HIGH during boot for normal startup; if held LOW on reset, forces flash programming mode. | Strapping |
| SS | GPIO2 | If driven HIGH on reset (while IO0 is LOW), selects an unsupported SDIO boot mode, causing boot failure. | Strapping |
| A10 | GPIO4 | Sampled at reset for boot config; should not be driven at boot (affects boot mode timing). | Strapping |
| A15 | MTDI (GPIO12) | Keep LOW during boot (internal PD); pulling HIGH at reset selects 1.8V flash mode, causing flash brownout if 3.3V flash is used. | Strapping |
| A14 | MTCK (GPIO13) | Used for JTAG debugging (TCK); avoid using as GPIO if JTAG is needed. | Other |
| A16 | MTMS (GPIO14) | Used for JTAG debugging (TMS); driving it as GPIO may interfere with JTAG or produce spurious signals at boot. | Other |
| LED_BUILTIN | MTDO (GPIO15) | Keep HIGH during boot (internal PU); if LOW on reset, bootloader log is silenced and boot mode may change. | Strapping |
| A6 | GPIO34 | Cannot be used as output (no drive capability); only suitable for analog/digital input. | Other |
| A7 | GPIO35 | Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input. | Other |
| A0 | GPIO36 (SENSOR_VP) | Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input (e.g., analog read). | Other |
| A3 | GPIO39 (SENSOR_VN) | Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input. | Other |
Only if you know the tricks
wired to flash or USB - expect a fight| Pin | Label | What to know | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| TX | U0TXD (GPIO1) | Connected to on-board USB-UART for uploading and logs; drives serial output at boot, so using as GPIO can disrupt programming or console. | USB |
| RX | U0RXD (GPIO3) | Used for receiving data from USB-UART (programming); also pulled HIGH at boot for console communication, so using as GPIO can disrupt uploads. | USB |
| SLIDE_SWITCH | GPIO16 | Connected to internal PSRAM on PSRAM-enabled modules; not usable as GPIO on those modules. | Flash |
| KEY_BUILTIN | GPIO17 | Connected to internal PSRAM on PSRAM-enabled modules; not usable as GPIO on those modules. | 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 The ProtoCentral HealthyPi 4 pinout brings out 25 GPIO pins at a 2.54 mm pitch - every one of them usable in your project. For peripherals, I²C is mapped to…
The ProtoCentral HealthyPi 4 pinout brings out 25 GPIO pins at a 2.54 mm pitch - every one of them usable in your project.
For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO21 and SCL on GPIO22; the SPI bus (MOSI, MISO, SCK, SS) is broken out in full; TX/RX on GPIO1 and GPIO3 cover serial logging and flashing.
On the analog side there are 16 ADC-capable pins for sensors and battery monitoring, 10 capacitive-touch inputs and 2 true DAC outputs.
If you want zero surprises, SCK, MISO, SDA, SCL and 6 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 (A11, SS, A10 and 8 more).
Getting started
flash your first firmware in ~2 minutes1
Connect over USB
Install your USB-serial driver (CH340 / CP210x) if no port appears. 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 GPIO18 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: "ESP32 Dev Module"▸
Flash Size: "4MB (32Mb)"▸
Flash Mode: "DIO"▸
Partition Scheme: "Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP / 1.5MB SPIFFS)" (default)▸
Upload Speed: "921600"▸
▸ every other Tools option — leave at default
Board: ESP32 Dev Module Flash Size: 4MB (32Mb) Flash Mode: DIO Partition Scheme: Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP / 1.5MB SPIFFS) Upload Speed: 921600
Find it: Tools ▸ Board ▸ ESP32 Arduino ▸ ESP32 Dev Module
// blink the onboard LED
void setup() {
pinMode(18, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(18, HIGH); delay(500);
digitalWrite(18, LOW); delay(500);
}board to selectesp32dev⧉ copy
[env:healthypi4]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600Find it: PlatformIO Home ▸ Boards, search
esp32dev — or type it after board =.board to selectesp32dev⧉ copy
esp32:
board: esp32dev
variant: healthypi4
framework:
type: esp-idf
# blink - GPIO18
output:
- platform: gpio
pin: 18
id: led_out
light:
- platform: binary
name: "LED"
output: led_outFind it: search ESPHome's board list for
esp32dev (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 esp32 --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 · 65 × 56 mmCompute
MCU
ESP32
Clock
240 MHz
SRAM · Flash
520 KB · 4MB
Radio
Wi-Fi
802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
4.2 LE
Antenna
PCB
I/O
GPIO · ADC
25 · 16
UART · I²C · SPI
3 · 2 · 4
PWM
16 channels
Power
USB
Micro-USB
Serial
-
Boot address
0x1000
Flashing
Upload · OTA
esptool_py · esp_ota
Flash · Boot mode
DIO · DIO
Sketch · Data
1.25 MB · 320 KB
65 × 56 mm · pin pitch 2.54 mm
The ProtoCentral HealthyPi 4 uses esptool_py for firmware uploads, esp_ota for over-the-air (OTA) updates. Flash mode is DIO with DIO boot mode. The maximum sketch size is 1.25 MB with 320 KB available for data.
About this board
At its core is the ESP32 - a dual-core Xtensa with both Bluetooth Classic and BLE.
Expect to pay about $199.00 - above the ~$20 typical for ESP32 boards.
Onboard you'll find a Qwiic connector and battery charging via JST-PH 2.0.
- ECG & respiration: TI ADS1292R 24-bit analog front-end (107 dB SNR)
- Pulse oximetry (PPG/SpO2): TI AFE4400 front-end with integrated LED driver and 22-bit ADC
- Skin temperature: Maxim MAX30208 digital body-temperature sensor
- Raspberry Pi HAT form factor with 40-pin GPIO header
- 1000 mAh LiPo battery with onboard charging and power management
- Slide switch toggles between HAT (continuous) and standalone wearable mode
- DB9 connector for ECG electrode cable and 3.5 mm jack for the SpO2 finger sensor
- 2x SparkFun Qwiic I2C connectors for sensor expansion
- Fully open-source hardware and firmware (Arduino IDE and ESP-IDF)
Where to buy
prices are typical street pricesProtoCentral HealthyPi 4
$199.00per unit, typical
Resources
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