VALTRACK V4 VTS ESP32 C3

Vehicle tracking board with ESP32-C3 and GPS - designed for automotive monitoring and asset tracking.

Micro-USB Native USB
VALTRACK V4 VTS ESP32 C3 board
43 × 34 mm
ESP32-C3
RISC-V MCU
160MHz
clock
4MB
flash
400KB
SRAM
13· 4 ADC
GPIO
BLE 5.0+ WiFi
radio
On this page

Pinout

13 pins
View:
PinGPIOLabelsStatusCapabilitiesNotes
10TX1safe-
21RX1safe-
32A0D0GPIO_ANALOG_INstrappingadc
43A1D1GPIO_INT1safeadc
54A2D2GPIO_TPS_ENABLEGPIO_CHG_INstrappingadc
65SDAA3D3GPIO_IIC_DATAstrappingadc · i2c
76SCLD4GPIO_IIC_CLOCKstrappingi2c
87D5GPIO_PWRKEYstrapping-
98SCKD8GPIO_LED_SIGNALstrappingspi
109MISOD9GPIO_SOSstrappingspi
1110MOSID10GPIO_GSM_ENABLEsafespi
1220RXSSD7uartspi · uart
1321TXD6uartuart

Start with these

4 pins with no boot or system involvement
TX1RX1A1D1MOSID10

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
PinLabelWhat to knowRole
A0GPIO2Must be held high during boot (if low on reset, normal flash boot may fail)Strapping
A2MTMSUsed during boot; JTAG TMS for debugging; acts as Quad-SPI flash IO (hold data line) in internal-flash variantsJTAG
SDAMTDIUsed during boot; JTAG TDI for debugging; acts as Quad-SPI flash IO (write-protect data line) in internal-flash variantsJTAG
SCLMTCKUsed during boot; JTAG TCK for debugging; provides flash clock in internal-flash variantsJTAG
D5MTDOUsed during boot; JTAG TDO for debugging; acts as Quad-SPI flash IO (data line) in internal-flash variantsJTAG
SCKGPIO8Must be held high during reset (if low, UART flashing/boot may not work)Strapping
MISOGPIO9Controls boot mode on reset (HIGH for normal flash boot, LOW enters serial download mode)Strapping
RXU0RXDUsed as UART0 receive (console/bootloader); repurposing may disable serial programming and debug logsUART
TXU0TXDUsed as UART0 transmit (console/bootloader); repurposing may disable serial console output and printingUART
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 VALTRACK V4 VTS ESP32 C3 pinout brings out 13 GPIO pins - every one of them usable in your project. For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO5 and SCL…

The VALTRACK V4 VTS ESP32 C3 pinout brings out 13 GPIO pins - every one of them usable in your project.

For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO5 and SCL on GPIO6; the SPI bus (MOSI, MISO, SCK, SS) is broken out in full; TX/RX on GPIO21 and GPIO20 cover serial logging and flashing.

On the analog side there are 4 ADC-capable pins for sensors and battery monitoring.

If you want zero surprises, TX1, RX1, A1 and MOSI are free of any such role - the safest first picks. 9 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32-C3 (A0, A2, SDA and 6 more).

Getting started

flash your first firmware in ~2 minutes
Tool:
1
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 GPIO0 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: "ESP32C3 Dev Module"
USB CDC On Boot: "Enabled"
Flash Size: "4MB (32Mb)"
Flash Mode: "QIO"
Partition Scheme: "Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP / 1.5MB SPIFFS)" (default)
Upload Speed: "921600"
▸ every other Tools option — leave at default
Board: ESP32C3 Dev Module
USB CDC On Boot: Enabled
Flash Size: 4MB (32Mb)
Flash Mode: QIO
Partition Scheme: Default 4MB with spiffs (1.2MB APP / 1.5MB SPIFFS)
Upload Speed: 921600
Find it: Tools ▸ Board ▸ ESP32 Arduino ▸ ESP32C3 Dev Module
blink.ino Copy
// blink the onboard LED
void setup() {
  pinMode(0, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(0, HIGH); delay(500);
  digitalWrite(0, LOW);  delay(500);
}
board to selectesp32-c3-devkitm-1⧉ copy
platformio.ini Copy
[env:VALTRACK_V4_VTS_ESP32_C3]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32-c3-devkitm-1
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600
Find it: PlatformIO Home ▸ Boards, search esp32-c3-devkitm-1 — or type it after board =.
board to selectesp32-c3-devkitm-1⧉ copy
device.yaml Copy
esp32:
  board: esp32-c3-devkitm-1
  variant: VALTRACK_V4_VTS_ESP32_C3
  framework:
    type: esp-idf

# blink - GPIO0
output:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: 0
    id: led_out
light:
  - platform: binary
    name: "LED"
    output: led_out
Find it: search ESPHome's board list for esp32-c3-devkitm-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.
terminal Copy
esptool.py --chip esp32c3 --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 · QIO

Specifications

ESP32-C3 · 43 × 34 mm
Compute
MCU
ESP32-C3 · RISC-V
Clock
160 MHz
SRAM · Flash
400 KB · 4MB
Radio
Wi-Fi
802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
5.0 LE
Antenna
u.FL
I/O
GPIO · ADC
13 · 4
UART · I²C · SPI
2 · 1 · 3
PWM
6 channels
Power
USB
Micro-USB
Serial
Native (CDC)
Boot address
0x0
Flashing
Upload · OTA
esptool_py · esp_ota
Flash · Boot mode
QIO · QIO
Sketch · Data
1.25 MB · 320 KB
34 mm43 mm
43 × 34 mm
The VALTRACK V4 VTS ESP32 C3 uses esptool_py for firmware uploads, esp_ota for over-the-air (OTA) updates. Flash mode is QIO with QIO 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-C3 - a single-core RISC-V and the budget low-power pick.

Expect to pay about $66.88 - above the ~$10 typical for ESP32-C3 boards.

Onboard you'll find GPS, a motion sensor (LIS3DH), cellular connectivity (A7672) and battery charging (MP2617).

It flashes over native USB - no serial-converter driver needed, which isn't a given among ESP32-C3 boards.

  • IP67 waterproof enclosure
  • Nano SIM card slot
  • 3 RGB status LEDs
  • Reverse-polarity-protected 12–42V vehicle input

Where to buy

prices are typical street prices
VALTRACK V4 VTS ESP32 C3
VALTRACK V4 VTS ESP32 C3
$66.88per unit, typical

Resources

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