ESP32-C3 may be one of the most expected RISC-V processors in the IoT world, as it’s eventually expected to sell for the same price as ESP8266 and offers both WiFi and Bluetooth LE connectivity.
Some engineering samples of the chip. modules and boards were distributed to developers shortly after the announcement at the end of the last year, but now it appears ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1 board will become available for $8 next month from distributors such as Mouser or DigiKey.
Since I’ve never written about ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1 board let’s check out the specifications:
- Wireless module – ESP32-C3-MINI-1 with ESP32-C3FH4 (105°C) or ESP32-C3FN4 (85°C) 32-bit RISC-V single-core processor, up to 160 MHz, 4 MB embedded flash, 384 KB ROM, 400 KB SRAM (16 KB for cache), 8 KB SRAM in RTC
- Connectivity – 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi 4 & Bluetooth LE 5.0
- USB – 1x Micro USB port for power and programming via USB-UART bridge
- Expansion – 2x headers with GPIO, ADC, UART, SPI, etc…
- Misc – RGB LED, Reset and Boot buttons
- Power Supply
- 5V via Micro USB port, default power supply
- 5V or 3.3V via header pins
- Dimensions – 38.9 x 25.4 mm excluding PCB antenna
The board can currently be programmed with the ESP-IDF framework, and you’ll find documentation to get started on Espressif’s website.
There’s no stock information on DigiKey, but on Mouser the following quantities are on order:
- 291 – Expected 4/19/2021
- 281 – Expected 5/10/2021
The board can also be found on Aliexpress for $13 with a couple left. It should also be noted that at $8, ESP32-C3-DevKitM-1 is exactly the same price as ESP32-S2-DevKitM-1. The ESP32-C3-MINI-1 modules are already competitively priced with Mouser offering samples for $1.8-$1.9, and stock expected on May 21st.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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It’s time to get schwifty!
“Sorry, this item is no longer available!” 🙁
Any word on whether their on-chip USB flash/debug is implemented?
“USB Serial/JTAG functionality” is not supported on these engineering samples.
Please note that these are all engineering samples. I had some on order with Mouser that arrived yesterday. Deep-sleep & power optimizations are not complete. USB Serial/JTAG is not implemented. Very happy to have these units, to get to start hacking, and am even more excited for the launch release, with better power management.
Knowing they’re samples, I’m still keen on getting my grubby mitts on one.
opensource ?
got some of the engineer sample -c3’s. now I’m super eager for the -c6, which appear to be the same but with 802.11ax. would love iot devices that can participate in effective use of spectrum!