ESP32-S3 Plug-In

Introduction

This project came about as some kit purchasers indicated their unwillingness to solder any SMD part and their desire to receive the microcontroller already programmed. This made using the ESP32-S3 module difficult unless it was pre-mounted on a plug-in PCB. There are many ESP32-S3 modules already available but Sgitheach / Stock's clocks decided, as usual, to roll our own. This gave us the advantage that our own, already existing, ESP32 programmer/console box could be used.

To programme the module before shipping a kit a simple board was made that the module could be plugged into. This board can also act as a test or experimental breakout board as all the ESP32 GPIO pins are brought out to header pins.

This page and its documentation describes my version of a ESP32-Plug-In module. It is fully open design all released under a Creative Commons ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

Bare PCBs are available for both the plug-in and tester.

Important! This project does NOT contain any AI features whatsoever. No AI help has been used in designing the electronics, designing the PCB or when writing this web page. Handcrafted!

ESP32-S3 Plug-In

Schematic

The schematic is below. The schematic image, Eagle files and Gerbers are available on the project Dropbox accessed through the Sgitheach website.

There is not much to say about the schematic:

ESP32-S3 Z1
Reset components R1 and C1
A 3.3V regulator IC1, C2 and C3
Two 2x10 way male headers carrying the GPIO, power and reset (EN) signal X1 and X2
2x3 IDC header X3 for the Sgitheach / Stock's Clocks ESP32 programmer/console box