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M5Stack-Timer-CAM
ESP32 board with built-in camera and LiPo support - perfect for low-power time-lapse and surveillance apps.
45 × 20 mm
ESP32
MCU
240MHz
clock
4MB
flash
520KB
SRAM
22· Two 12-bit, 18 Channels ADC
GPIO
BLE 4.2+ WiFi
radio
Pinout
22 pins
| Pin | GPIO | Labels | Status | Capabilities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | G0 | strapping | - | |
| 2 | 1 | TXPWM | uart | uart | |
| 3 | 2 | LED_BUILTING2PWM | strapping | - | |
| 4 | 3 | RXPWM | uart | uart | |
| 5 | 4 | SDAG4PWM | strapping | i2c | |
| 6 | 5 | SSG5PWM | strapping | spi | |
| 7 | 13 | SCLG13PWM | strapping | i2c | |
| 8 | 15 | G15PWM | strapping | - | |
| 9 | 18 | SCKG18PWM | safe | spi | |
| 10 | 19 | MISOG19PWM | safe | spi | |
| 11 | 21 | G21PWM | safe | - | |
| 12 | 22 | G22PWM | safe | - | |
| 13 | 23 | MOSIG23PWM | safe | spi | |
| 14 | 25 | G25DAC1PWM | safe | dac | |
| 15 | 26 | G26DAC2PWM | safe | dac | |
| 16 | 27 | G27PWM | safe | - | |
| 17 | 32 | G32PWM | safe | - | |
| 18 | 33 | G33PWM | safe | - | |
| 19 | 34 | G34 | strapping | - | |
| 20 | 35 | G35ADC1 | strapping | - | |
| 21 | 36 | G36ADC2 | strapping | - | |
| 22 | 39 | G39 | strapping | - |
Start with these
10 pins with no boot or system involvementSCKG18MISOG19G21PWMG22PWMMOSIG23G25DAC1G26DAC2G27PWMG32PWMG33PWM
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| G0 | GPIO0 | Must be HIGH during boot for normal startup; if held LOW on reset, forces flash programming mode. | Strapping |
| LED_BUILTIN | GPIO2 | If driven HIGH on reset (while IO0 is LOW), selects an unsupported SDIO boot mode, causing boot failure. | Strapping |
| SDA | GPIO4 | Sampled at reset for boot config; should not be driven at boot (affects boot mode timing). | Strapping |
| SS | GPIO5 | Must be HIGH during boot; if pulled LOW at reset, alters SDIO slave timing and may prevent normal boot. | Strapping |
| SCL | MTCK (GPIO13) | Used for JTAG debugging (TCK); avoid using as GPIO if JTAG is needed. | Other |
| G15 | MTDO (GPIO15) | Keep HIGH during boot (internal PU); if LOW on reset, bootloader log is silenced and boot mode may change. | Strapping |
| G34 | GPIO34 | Cannot be used as output (no drive capability); only suitable for analog/digital input. | Other |
| G35 | GPIO35 | Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input. | Other |
| G36 | GPIO36 (SENSOR_VP) | Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input (e.g., analog read). | Other |
| G39 | 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 |
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 M5Stack-Timer-CAM pinout brings out 22 GPIO pins - every one of them usable in your project. For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO4 and SCL on…
The M5Stack-Timer-CAM pinout brings out 22 GPIO pins - every one of them usable in your project.
For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO4 and SCL on GPIO13; 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 2 true DAC outputs.
If you want zero surprises, SCK, MISO, G21, G22 and 6 more are free of any such role - the safest first picks. 10 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32 (G0, LED_BUILTIN, SDA and 7 more).
Getting started
flash your first firmware in ~2 minutes1
Connect over USB
Serial chip: FTDI. Not detected? Hold BOOT while plugging in.
2
Flash with your tool
Arduino IDE, PlatformIO, ESPHome or esptool - copy the settings on the right.
3
Verify it runs
The blink example uses GPIO18 - swap for your board's LED pin if different.
Board: M5stack-timer-cam
Flash Size: 4MB · DIO
Upload Speed: 921600
// blink
pinMode(18, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(18, LOW); // on (often inverted)[env:m5stack-timer-cam]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600esp32:
board: esp32dev
variant: m5stack_timer_cam
framework:
type: esp-idf
# blink - GPIO18
output:
- platform: gpio
pin: 18
id: led_out
light:
- platform: binary
name: "LED"
output: led_outesptool.py --chip esp32 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
write_flash 0x0 firmware.binBuild details: sketch space 1310720 B · data 327680 B · DIO
Specifications
ESP32 · 45 × 20 mmCompute
MCU
ESP32
Clock
240 MHz
SRAM · Flash
520 KB · 4MB · 8MB PSRAM
Radio
Wi-Fi
802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
4.2 LE
Antenna
PCB
I/O
GPIO · ADC
22 · Two 12-bit, 18 Channels
UART · I²C · SPI
3 · 2 · 4
PWM
16 channels
Power
USB
USB-C
Serial
FTDI
Boot address
0x1000
Flashing
Upload · OTA
esptool_py · esp_ota
Flash · Boot mode
DIO · DIO
Sketch · Data
1.25 MB · 320 KB
45 × 20 mm
The M5Stack-Timer-CAM 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 $15.95 - less than the ~$20 most ESP32 boards go for.
Onboard you'll find 8MB PSRAM, an OV3660 camera (2048x1536), a Grove connector, a BM8563 RTC, battery charging via SH1.0-2P, status LEDs (Status) and Power/Reset buttons.
Where to buy
prices are typical street pricesM5Stack-Timer-CAM
$15.95per unit, typical
Resources
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