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.
WT32-SC01 Plus 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 | uart | uart | UART0 TX (TXD0) |
| 12 | 44 | ESP_RXDGPIO44 | uart | 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
8 pins · 4 things to knowEXT_IO1GPIO10EXT_IO2GPIO11EXT_IO3GPIO12EXT_IO4GPIO13EXT_IO5GPIO14 General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pins Other
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.
- EXT_IO1General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - chip select (FSPICS0)
- EXT_IO2General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - data in (FSPID)
- EXT_IO3General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - clock (FSPICLK)
- EXT_IO4General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - data out (FSPIQ)
- EXT_IO5General-purpose SPI2 (FSPI) IO MUX pin - write-protect/data line (FSPIWP)
ESP_TXDGPIO43 UART0 transmit pin (U0TXD), default serial console TX UART
Used for bootloader output and UART console logs. If repurposed, you will lose the default serial output (and programming via UART0).
ESP_RXDGPIO44 UART0 receive pin (U0RXD), default serial console RX UART
Used for bootloader input (download mode via serial). If repurposed, you cannot use the default UART0 download mode for programming the chip.
BOOTGPIO0 Bootstrapping pin (Chip boot mode selection) Strapping
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.
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 →Dimensions
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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