WT32-SC01 Plus
3.5" 480x320 IPS touch panel on an ESP32-S3 (16 MB flash, 2 MB PSRAM) with an 8-bit parallel LCD bus, FT6336U touch, microSD, RS485 and native USB.
Pinout
21 pins| Pin | GPIO | Labels | Status | Capabilities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | +5V | power | - | Extension connector; 5V (datasheet: power supply or output) |
| 2 | - | GND | ground | - | Extension connector ground |
| 3 | 10 | EXT_IO1GPIO10 | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 4 | 11 | EXT_IO2GPIO11 | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 5 | 12 | EXT_IO3GPIO12 | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 6 | 13 | EXT_IO4GPIO13 | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 7 | 14 | EXT_IO5GPIO14 | strapping | adc · touch | |
| 8 | 21 | EXT_IO6GPIO21 | safe | - | |
| 9 | - | +5V | power | - | 5V |
| 10 | - | +3.3V | power | - | 3.3V reference output - not a power input |
| 11 | 43 | ESP_TXDGPIO43 | strapping | uart | UART0 TX (TXD0) |
| 12 | 44 | ESP_RXDGPIO44 | strapping | uart | UART0 RX (RXD0) |
| 13 | - | EN | control | - | Chip enable / reset (active LOW) |
| 14 | 0 | BOOTGPIO0 | control | - | Boot mode select - also drives the LCD command/data line (LCD_RS), so it is not a free GPIO |
| 15 | - | GND | ground | - | Debug header ground |
| 16 | - | RS485-A | control | - | RS485 bus A line - transceiver MCU side is GPIO1 (RXD), GPIO2 (RTS), GPIO42 (TXD) |
| 17 | - | RS485-B | control | - | RS485 bus B line |
| 18 | - | GND | ground | - | RS485 connector ground |
| 19 | - | +5V | power | - | RS485 connector 5V - power supply or output voltage |
| 20 | - | SPK+ | control | - | Speaker positive - amplifier output, fed over I2S on GPIO35 (LRCK), GPIO36 (BCLK), GPIO37 (DOUT) |
| 21 | - | SPK- | control | - | Speaker negative |
Start with these
1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| EXT_IO1 | 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 |
| EXT_IO2 | 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 |
| EXT_IO3 | 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 |
| EXT_IO4 | 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 |
| EXT_IO5 | 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 |
| ESP_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 |
| ESP_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 |
| BOOT | GPIO0 | Must be pulled high (default) or low (to enter UART download mode) at reset. Using it for other functions can interfere with boot mode configuration. | Strapping |
Pinout notes Across 21 pins, the WT32-SC01 Plus exposes 8 GPIO plus +5V, GND and +3.3V for power. Beyond plain digital I/O you get 5 ADC-capable pins for sensors and…
Across 21 pins, the WT32-SC01 Plus exposes 8 GPIO plus +5V, GND and +3.3V for power.
Beyond plain digital I/O you get 5 ADC-capable pins for sensors and battery monitoring and 5 capacitive-touch inputs.
8 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32-S3 (EXT_IO1, EXT_IO2, EXT_IO3 and 5 more) - check the guidance above before wiring anything to them. EXT_IO6 is free of any such role - the safest first picks.
Getting started
flash your first firmware in ~2 minutesBoard: WT32-SC01 PLUS USB CDC On Boot: Enabled Flash Size: 16MB (128Mb) Flash Mode: DIO PSRAM: QSPI PSRAM Partition Scheme: Default (3MB APP/1.5MB SPIFFS) Upload Speed: 921600
// toggle GPIO21 - wire an LED and resistor to it
void setup() {
pinMode(21, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(21, HIGH); delay(500);
digitalWrite(21, LOW); delay(500);
}[env:wt32-sc01-plus]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32-s3-devkitc-1
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600
board_build.arduino.memory_type = qio_qspi
build_flags = -DBOARD_HAS_PSRAMesp32-s3-devkitc-1 - or type it after board =.esp32:
board: esp32-s3-devkitc-1
variant: esp32s3
framework:
type: esp-idf
psram:
mode: quad
speed: 80MHz
# blink - GPIO21
output:
- platform: gpio
pin: 21
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).Good to know
board-specific quirks worth 60 secondsThe display eats most of the ESP32-S3's pins. The parallel bus takes eight data lines (GPIO 9, 46, 3, 8, 18, 17, 16, 15) plus WR (47), RS (0), TE (48), reset (4) and backlight (45); touch takes the I2C pair (SDA 6, SCL 5) and an interrupt (7); the microSD takes four SPI lines (39, 38, 40, 41); the I2S amplifier takes 35, 36 and 37; and the RS485 transceiver takes 1, 2 and 42. That leaves six free GPIOs on the…
The display eats most of the ESP32-S3's pins. The parallel bus takes eight data lines (GPIO 9, 46, 3, 8, 18, 17, 16, 15) plus WR (47), RS (0), TE (48), reset (4) and backlight (45); touch takes the I2C pair (SDA 6, SCL 5) and an interrupt (7); the microSD takes four SPI lines (39, 38, 40, 41); the I2S amplifier takes 35, 36 and 37; and the RS485 transceiver takes 1, 2 and 42. That leaves six free GPIOs on the extension connector - 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 21 - plus UART0 (43/44), EN and BOOT on the debug connector.
GPIO10 sits on ADC1, while GPIO 11-14 are ADC2 channels, which are shared with Wi-Fi - reads on them can fail while the radio is active - so plan on one dependable analog input rather than five. For anything that needs more pins, hang an I2C expander or a second microcontroller off the extension connector instead of fighting the display for lines.
Same 3.5-inch format, different board. The original WT32-SC01 is an ESP32-WROVER-B (4 MB flash, 8 MB PSRAM) whose 320x480 panel hangs off the ESP32's HSPI bus, and it breaks its GPIOs out on two 2.0 mm 2x20-pin expansion-board headers. The Plus moves to an ESP32-S3 with the display on an 8-bit parallel bus, 16 MB of flash but only 2 MB of PSRAM, and adds a microSD slot and RS485 - with four small connectors in place…
Same 3.5-inch format, different board. The original WT32-SC01 is an ESP32-WROVER-B (4 MB flash, 8 MB PSRAM) whose 320x480 panel hangs off the ESP32's HSPI bus, and it breaks its GPIOs out on two 2.0 mm 2x20-pin expansion-board headers. The Plus moves to an ESP32-S3 with the display on an 8-bit parallel bus, 16 MB of flash but only 2 MB of PSRAM, and adds a microSD slot and RS485 - with four small connectors in place of the big headers. Driver configs, pin maps and partition tables for one do not work on the other.
Both boards have a USB-C port, so the connector is not the tell. Look at the back: the Plus carries a WT32-S3-WROVER module, a microSD slot and four small connectors marked I/O, DEBUG, SPK and 485; the original has an ESP32-WROVER-B and the two 2x20-pin expansion headers. The Seeed listing (p-5542) is the Plus.
Specifications
ESP32-S3 · 92 × 60 mm · vs other ESP32 chips →About this board
Inside sits the ESP32-S3 - a dual-core Xtensa with vector extensions suited to AI workloads.
The $29.00 price tag is typical for an ESP32-S3 board.
Only 8 GPIO are left for your own hardware - the display and onboard peripherals claim the rest.
Around the module: 2MB (QSPI) PSRAM, an IPS LCD 3.5" 480x320 display with touch, a microSD slot, a speaker connector, an amplifier (NS4168), an RS485 interface and Reset buttons.
It flashes over native USB - no serial-converter driver needed, which isn't a given among ESP32-S3 boards.
The WT32-SC01 Plus is Wireless-Tag's ready-made 3.5-inch touch panel built around an ESP32-S3 module (WT32-S3-WROVER-N16R2: 16 MB flash, 2 MB PSRAM). The 480 x 320 panel is driven by an ST7796UI over an 8-bit parallel (MCU8080) bus - a byte per write strobe instead of a bit per SPI clock - and an FT6336U capacitive touch controller sits on I2C.
There are no pin headers. Everything comes out on small connectors: an 8-pin extension connector carrying six free GPIOs, a 7-pin 1.25 mm debug port with UART0, EN and BOOT, a 2-pin speaker output fed by an onboard NS4168 class-D amplifier, and a 4-pin RS485 port. A microSD slot on SPI and a USB-C port round it out - and because there is no USB-serial bridge on the board, flashing and the console run over the ESP32-S3's native USB Serial/JTAG.
The 2 MB PSRAM is the practical limit: a full-screen frame buffer at 16-bit color is 300 KB, so a double-buffered LVGL UI fits, but image-heavy screens need care.
It is not the same board as the original WT32-SC01, which is an ESP32-WROVER-B with an SPI-driven display and a completely different set of connectors. Seeed Studio stocks the Plus (affiliate link).
- 3.5" 480x320 panel, ST7796UI driver on an 8-bit MCU8080 parallel bus, backlight on GPIO45
- FT6336U capacitive touch on I2C (SDA GPIO6, SCL GPIO5, INT GPIO7), single touch
- microSD on SPI (CLK 39, MISO 38, MOSI 40, CS 41)
- NS4168 I2S class-D amplifier, 2.5W into 4 ohm, on a 2-pin speaker connector (LRCK 35, BCLK 36, DOUT 37)
- RS485 transceiver on a 4-pin connector (RXD GPIO1, RTS GPIO2, TXD GPIO42)
- No USB-serial bridge - flashing and the console run over the ESP32-S3 native USB Serial/JTAG
- ESP32-S3 module WT32-S3-WROVER-N16R2, 16 MB flash and 2 MB PSRAM
Where to buy
prices are typical street pricesResources
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