LilyGo T5 4.7 Inch E-Paper (ESP32)
The original ESP32-WROVER LilyGo T5 with a 4.7" E-Paper screen - low-power signage and always-on panels.
Pinout
7 pins · 2.54 mm pitch| Pin | GPIO | Labels | Status | Capabilities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | 3V33.3V | power | - | 3.3V rail broken out on the GPIO expansion and touch FPC connectors |
| 2 | - | GND | ground | - | Ground on the expansion, touch and battery connectors |
| 3 | - | VBATBAT | power | - | 3.7V Li-Po input on the JST-PH 2.0mm battery connector (also the 18650 clips); charged over USB-C |
| 4 | 12 | IO12MISOT5 | strapping | adc · touch · spi | GPIO expansion header MISO, shared with the microSD (SD_MISO). Strapping pin; ADC2/Touch5 |
| 5 | 13 | IO13MOSITOUCH_INTT4 | strapping | adc · touch · spi | GPIO expansion header MOSI, shared with the microSD (SD_MOSI) and the capacitive-touch INT line. ADC2/Touch4 |
| 6 | 14 | IO14SCLKTOUCH_SCLT6 | strapping | adc · touch · spi · i2c | GPIO expansion header clock, shared with the microSD (SD_SCLK) and the capacitive-touch I2C SCL. ADC2/Touch6 |
| 7 | 15 | IO15CSTOUCH_SDAT3 | strapping | adc · touch · spi · i2c | GPIO expansion header chip-select, shared with the microSD (SD_CS) and the capacitive-touch I2C SDA. Strapping pin; ADC2/Touch3 |
Fine - with a little care
sampled at boot or shared with debug/serial| Pin | Label | What to know | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| IO12 | 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 |
| IO13 | MTCK (GPIO13) | Used for JTAG debugging (TCK); avoid using as GPIO if JTAG is needed. | Other |
| IO14 | MTMS (GPIO14) | Used for JTAG debugging (TMS); driving it as GPIO may interfere with JTAG or produce spurious signals at boot. | Other |
| IO15 | MTDO (GPIO15) | Keep HIGH during boot (internal PU); if LOW on reset, bootloader log is silenced and boot mode may change. | Strapping |
Pinout notes The LilyGo T5 4.7 Inch E-Paper (ESP32) breaks out 7 pins in total: 4 GPIO for your project, with 3V3 , GND and VBAT handling power. Beyond plain digital I/O…
The LilyGo T5 4.7 Inch E-Paper (ESP32) breaks out 7 pins in total: 4 GPIO for your project, with 3V3, GND and VBAT handling power.
Beyond plain digital I/O you get 4 ADC-capable pins for sensors and battery monitoring and 4 capacitive-touch inputs.
4 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32 (IO12, IO13, IO14 and 1 more) - check the guidance above before wiring anything to them.
Getting started
flash your first firmware in ~2 minutesBoard: Esp32 Dev
Flash Size: 16MB · DIO
Upload Speed: 921600
// blink
pinMode(8, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(8, LOW); // on (often inverted)[env:lilygo_t5_4_7_epaper]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600esp32:
board: esp32dev
variant: esp32
framework:
type: esp-idf
# blink - GPIO8
output:
- platform: gpio
pin: 8
id: led_out
light:
- platform: binary
name: "LED"
output: led_outesptool.py --chip esp32 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
write_flash 0x0 firmware.binSpecifications
ESP32 · 114 × 63 mmAbout this board
Inside sits the ESP32 - a dual-core Xtensa with both Bluetooth Classic and BLE.
At $39.99 it's on the expensive side for an ESP32 board - most land around $20.
Only 4 GPIO are left for your own hardware - the display and onboard peripherals claim the rest.
Around the module: 8MB (QSPI) PSRAM, an ePaper 4.7" 540x960 display, battery charging via 18650 holder + JST-PH 2.0 and Reset/User1/User2/User3 buttons.
The LilyGo T5 4.7 Inch E-Paper (original ESP32-WROVER model) is a low-power development board built around a 4.7-inch, 960×540 ED047TC1 e-paper panel with 16 grayscale levels - ideal for e-book readers, IoT dashboards and battery-powered signage.
It pairs the classic dual-core ESP32-WROVER (WiFi 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth 4.2) with 16MB Flash and 8MB PSRAM for framebuffer-heavy rendering, and supports deep-sleep for long battery life.
Powered over USB-C with onboard charging for an 18650 cell (metal holder) or a JST-PH 2.0 Li-Po. A bare FPC connector is provided for an optional touch overlay - there is no onboard touch controller. For the newer capacitive-touch model, see the T5 4.7 V2.3 (ESP32-S3).
- 4.7" ED047TC1 e-paper panel with 16 grayscale levels
- Original ESP32-WROVER model - no onboard touch controller (bare FPC connector for an optional overlay)
- Dual battery options - 18650 metal holder and JST-PH 2.0 Li-Po - charged over USB-C
- The newer T5 4.7 V2.3 uses an ESP32-S3 with GT911 capacitive touch + a microSD slot (a different board, different pinout)
Where to buy
prices are typical street prices
Resources
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