Heltec WiFi LoRa 32(V3) / Wireless shell(V3) / Wireless stick lite (V3)
by Heltec
Similar to the WiFi Kit 32 but with additional features for LoRaWAN applications, providing long-range wireless communication.

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Pinout
28 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 | SSA7T8PWM | safe | adc · touch · spi | |
| 9 | 9 | SCKA8T9PWM | strapping | adc · touch · spi | |
| 10 | 10 | MOSIA9T10PWM | strapping | adc · touch · spi | |
| 11 | 11 | MISOA10T11PWM | strapping | adc · touch · spi | |
| 12 | 12 | A11T12PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 13 | 13 | A12T13PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 14 | 14 | A13T14PWM | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 15 | 15 | A14PWM | safe | adc | |
| 16 | 16 | A15PWM | safe | adc | |
| 17 | 17 | A16SDA_OLEDPWM | safe | adc | |
| 18 | 18 | A17SCL_OLEDPWM | safe | adc | |
| 19 | 19 | A18PWM | uart | adc | |
| 20 | 20 | A19PWM | uart | adc | |
| 21 | 21 | RST_OLEDPWM | safe | - | |
| 22 | 35 | LEDPWM | strapping | - | |
| 23 | 36 | VextPWM | strapping | - | |
| 24 | 41 | SDAPWM | strapping | i2c | |
| 25 | 42 | SCLPWM | strapping | i2c | |
| 26 | 43 | TXPWM | strapping | uart | |
| 27 | 44 | RXPWM | strapping | uart | |
| 28 | 48 | LED_BUILTIN | strapping | - |
Start with these
12 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
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 |
| SCK | FSPIHD | 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. | Other |
| MOSI | FSPICS0 | 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. | Other |
| MISO | FSPID | 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. | Other |
| A11 | FSPICLK | 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. | Other |
| A12 | FSPIQ | 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. | Other |
| A13 | FSPIWP | 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. | Other |
| SDA | MTDI (GPIO41) | Default JTAG TDI input for debugging. Should be reserved for JTAG or left unused if JTAG is to remain available. | Other |
| SCL | MTMS (GPIO42) | Default JTAG TMS signal for debugging. Using this pin for other purposes will disable the JTAG interface (unless JTAG is rerouted to USB). | Other |
| 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 |
| LED_BUILTIN | SPICLK_N | Only the 1.8 V octal parts (ESP32-S3R8V, ESP32-S3R16V) run the differential memory clock here, and on those the pin works at 1.8 V instead of 3.3 V. On the common 3.3 V modules it is a normal GPIO - several devkits drive their RGB LED from GPIO48. | Other |
Only if you know the tricks
wired to flash or USB - expect a fight| Pin | Label | What to know | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | SPIIO6 (GPIO35) | The datasheet keeps GPIO33-37 for "the higher 4 bits data line interface and DQS interface for the SPI0/1 interface in 8-line SPI mode", so octal-PSRAM modules (N16R8 and friends) consume it and do not break it out. On quad-PSRAM or PSRAM-less parts it is an ordinary GPIO - check which variant your module carries. | Flash |
| Vext | SPIIO7 (GPIO36) | The datasheet keeps GPIO33-37 for "the higher 4 bits data line interface and DQS interface for the SPI0/1 interface in 8-line SPI mode", so octal-PSRAM modules (N16R8 and friends) consume it and do not break it out. On quad-PSRAM or PSRAM-less parts it is an ordinary GPIO - check which variant your module carries. | Flash |
Pinout notes The Heltec WiFi LoRa 32(V3) / Wireless shell(V3) / Wireless stick lite (V3) pinout brings out 28 GPIO pins at a 2.54 mm pitch - every one of them usable in…
The Heltec WiFi LoRa 32(V3) / Wireless shell(V3) / Wireless stick lite (V3) pinout brings out 28 GPIO pins at a 2.54 mm pitch - every one of them usable in your project.
For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO41 and SCL on GPIO42; 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 20 ADC-capable pins for sensors and battery monitoring and 14 capacitive-touch inputs.
If you want zero surprises, A0, A1, A3, A4 and 8 more are free of any such role - the safest first picks. 12 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32-S3 (A2, SCK, MOSI and 9 more).
Getting started
flash your first firmware in ~2 minutesBoard: ESP32S3 Dev Module 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:heltec_wifi_lora_32_V3]
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 · 50.2 × 25.5 mm · 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 $17.90 - less than the ~$29 most ESP32-S3 boards go for.
28 GPIO are broken out - more than most ESP32-S3 boards, so the pin budget is rarely the constraint.
Onboard you'll find an OLED 0.96" 128x64 display, LoRa (SX1262), battery charging via 1.25mm 2-pin and Reset/PRG buttons.
- Onboard 2.4GHz metal spring antenna for Wi-Fi & Bluetooth
- IPEX (u.FL) connector for an external LoRa antenna
- Onboard Li-Po charge & discharge management
Where to buy
prices are typical street prices
Resources
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