Waveshare ESP32-S3 ePaper 1.54G
Cased ESP32-S3 AIoT board with a 1.54" 4-color e-paper display, mic and speaker, SHTC3 sensor, RTC, microSD slot, and Li-ion battery management.
Pinout
12 pins · 2.54 mm pitch
| Pin | GPIO | Labels | Status | Capabilities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | RXD | strapping | uart | UART0 RX |
| 2 | 47 | SDA | strapping | i2c | Shared I2C bus with RTC, SHTC3 and ES8311 |
| 3 | 48 | SCL | strapping | i2c | Shared I2C bus with RTC, SHTC3 and ES8311 |
| 4 | - | GND | ground | - | |
| 5 | - | 3V3 | power | - | 3.3V output from onboard MP1605 buck |
| 6 | - | VSYS | power | - | System supply rail (USB 5V or battery) |
| 7 | 43 | TXD | strapping | uart | UART0 TX |
| 8 | 20 | GP20USB_D+ | uart | adc | Native USB D+ |
| 9 | 19 | GP19USB_D- | uart | adc | Native USB D- |
| 10 | 3 | GP3 | strapping | adc · touch | Also drives the green user LED (active low) |
| 11 | 2 | GP2 | safe | adc · touch | |
| 12 | 1 | GP1 | safe | adc · touch |
Start with these
2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| RXD | 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 |
| TXD | U0TXD (GPIO43) | Used for bootloader output and UART console logs. If repurposed, you will lose the default serial output (and programming via UART0). | Other |
| GP3 | 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 |
Only if you know the tricks
wired to flash or USB - expect a fight| Pin | Label | What to know | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDA | SPICLK_P | Used only on variants with Octal SPI interface (e.g. ESP32-S3R16V) as part of the differential clock pair. On such chips it operates at 1.8 V and is reserved for the high-speed octal SPI clock, not for general GPIO use. | Flash |
| SCL | SPICLK_N | Used only on variants with Octal SPI interface, as the negative leg of the differential clock&. On such chips it operates at 1.8 V; it should be avoided for GPIO to prevent conflicts with the octal flash/PSRAM clock. | Flash |
| GP20 | 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 |
| GP19 | 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 |
Pinout notes Across 12 pins (2.54 mm pitch), the Waveshare ESP32-S3 ePaper 1.54G exposes 9 GPIO plus GND , 3V3 and VSYS for power. For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on…
Across 12 pins (2.54 mm pitch), the Waveshare ESP32-S3 ePaper 1.54G exposes 9 GPIO plus GND, 3V3 and VSYS for power.
For peripherals, I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO47 and SCL on GPIO48.
On the analog side there are 5 ADC-capable pins for sensors and battery monitoring and 3 capacitive-touch inputs.
If you want zero surprises, GP2 and GP1 are free of any such role - the safest first picks. 3 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32-S3 (RXD, TXD and GP3).
Guides & tutorials
Getting started
flash your first firmware in ~2 minutesBoard: Esp32s3 Dev
USB CDC On Boot: Enabled
Flash Size: 8MB · QIO
Upload Speed: 921600
// blink
pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(2, LOW); // on (often inverted)[env:waveshare-esp32-s3-epaper-1-54g]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32-s3-devkitc-1
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600esp32:
board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1
variant: esp32s3
framework:
type: esp-idf
# blink - GPIO2
output:
- platform: gpio
pin: 2
id: led_out
light:
- platform: binary
name: "LED"
output: led_outesptool.py --chip esp32s3 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
write_flash 0x0 firmware.binGood to know
board-specific quirks worth 60 seconds
On battery there is no hardware power switch: the PWR button is sensed on GPIO18 and power is held by GPIO17 . Your firmware must drive GPIO17 HIGH early at boot, otherwise the board switches off the moment the button is released. A long press is whatever your firmware decides it is. In ESPHome, set a GPIO17 output to ON in on_boot at priority 600, and use gpio_hold_en() before deep sleep so the latch survives…
On battery there is no hardware power switch: the PWR button is sensed on GPIO18 and power is held by GPIO17. Your firmware must drive GPIO17 HIGH early at boot, otherwise the board switches off the moment the button is released. A long press is whatever your firmware decides it is.
In ESPHome, set a GPIO17 output to ON in on_boot at priority 600, and use gpio_hold_en() before deep sleep so the latch survives it. Our climate display tutorial has the full pattern.
GPIO6 LOW powers the e-paper panel, HIGH cuts it. Cut panel power during deep sleep: the image persists with the panel unpowered, which is exactly what e-paper is for. Miss the inversion and you get a blank display and no error anywhere.
The busy pin (GPIO8) is also inverted on this panel: idle is HIGH, busy is LOW.
The 4-color BWRY panel needs roughly 20 s for a full refresh (fast refresh about 15 s), flashing through its color cycle the whole time. Design for it: update rarely, never animate, and do not enter deep sleep mid-refresh or the panel is left in a half-drawn state. In ESPHome/LVGL set update_interval: never on the display, update_when_display_idle: false , animated: false on bars, and wait ~30 s after…
The 4-color BWRY panel needs roughly 20 s for a full refresh (fast refresh about 15 s), flashing through its color cycle the whole time. Design for it: update rarely, never animate, and do not enter deep sleep mid-refresh or the panel is left in a half-drawn state.
In ESPHome/LVGL set update_interval: never on the display, update_when_display_idle: false, animated: false on bars, and wait ~30 s after triggering a refresh before sleeping.
Gallery
6 photos
Specifications
ESP32-S3 · 53 × 39.8 mmAbout this board
At its core is the ESP32-S3 - a dual-core Xtensa with vector extensions suited to AI workloads.
Expect to pay about $17.99 - less than the ~$30 most ESP32-S3 boards go for.
Only 9 GPIO are broken out, where most ESP32-S3 boards manage about 21 - worth checking the pinout covers what you need.
Onboard you'll find 8MB (OPI) PSRAM, an ePaper 1.54" 200x200 display, a microSD slot, a microphone, a speaker, a speaker connector (MX1.25 2PIN), an audio codec (ES8311), an amplifier (NS4150B), a PCF85063 RTC, an environmental sensor (SHTC3), battery charging (ETA6098) via GH1.25 2PIN, status LEDs (Charge, User (GPIO3)) and Boot/Power buttons.
It flashes over native USB - no serial-converter driver needed, which isn't a given among ESP32-S3 boards.
- 4-color e-paper panel: red / yellow / black / white
- Full refresh ~20 s, fast refresh ~15 s
- ESP32-S3-PICO-1-N8R8 SiP - 8MB flash + 8MB PSRAM in-package
- Battery voltage sensing on GPIO4 (ADC, 1/2 divider)
- PWR button is a firmware-controlled power latch (GPIO18 sense, GPIO17 hold/cut)
- Touch-panel FPC connector reserved on this variant (GPIO7 reset, GPIO21 interrupt)
- Ships assembled in a snap-fit case; battery SKU includes a 3.7V Li-ion cell
FAQ
5 common questionsWhy does the display take up to 20 seconds to refresh?›
How do I switch the board on when it runs from the battery?›
Does the Waveshare ESP32-S3-ePaper-1.54G work with ESPHome?›
How long does it run on battery?›
Can I use the GPIO pins for my own sensors?›
Where to buy
prices are typical street prices
Resources
Similar boards
