ESP32 board with 150Mbps 4G LTE modem also supports RS485, CAN Bus, and relay expansion

LILYGO has designed another ESP32 board with a 4G LTE modem with the LILYGO T-A7608E-H & T-A7608SA-H variants equipped with respectively SIMCom A7608SA-H for South America, New Zealand, and Australia, and SIMCom A7608E-H for the EMEA, South Korean, and Thai markets, both delivering up to 150 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload speeds.

The board also supports GPS, includes a 18650 battery holder, and features I/O expansion headers that support an add-on board with RS485 and CAN bus interfaces, in a way similar to the company’s earlier TTGO T-CAN485 board with ESP32, but no cellular connectivity.

ESP32 board with 150 Mbps 4G LTE modem

LILYGO T-A7068E-H/T-A7608SA-H board specifications:

  • Wireless Connectivity
    • WiFi & Bluetooth – ESP32-WROVER-E module based on ESP32 dual-core processor @ 240 MHz with 4MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2/5.x connectivity, PCB antenna
    • Cellular connectivity
      • Data transfer speeds
        • 4G LTE – Up to 150 Mbps downlink, up to 50Mbps uplink
        • 3G HSPA+  – Up to 42 Mbps downlink, up to 5.76 Mbps uplink
        • 3G UMTS – Up to 384 Kbps DL/UL
        • 2G Edge – Up to 236.8 Kbps DL/UL
        • 2G GPRS – Up to 85.6 Kbps DL/UL
      • Frequency bands
        • SIMCom A7608SA-H module (South America, New Zealand, and Australia)
          • 4G LTE FDD – B38, B40, B41
          • 4G LTD TDD – B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B7, B8, B20, B28, B66
          • 3G – B1, B2, B5, B8
          • 2G – 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
        • SIMCom A7608E-H variant (EMEA, South Korea, and Thailand)
          • 4G LTE FDD – B38, B40, B41
          • 4G LTD TDD – B1, B3, B5, B7, B8, B20
          • 3G – B1, B8
          • 2G – 900/1800 MHz
      • Nano-SIM card socket, 1x external 4G LTE antenna (but 2x u.FL antenna connectors)
      • Supply Voltage – 3.4 to 4.2V
      • Dimensions – 30 x 30 x 2.5 mm (LGA module)
    • GNNS with external GPS antenna
  • Storage – MicroSD card socket
  • USB
    • 1x USB Type-C port for power and programming
    • 1x Micro USB port to use the board as a 4G LTE USB dongle
  • Expansion – 2x 16-pin headers with GPIOs, ADC, DAC, touch interface, UART, I2C, SPI, VN/VP, Reset, VBUS, VBAT, 3.3V, GND
  • Misc – Reset and Boot buttons, battery switch,
  • Power Supply
    • 5V via USB Type-C port
    • 16850 battery holder + charging circuit
    • 4.4V to 6V via 2-pin header for solar panel input or external battery
  • Power consumption with a 3.7V battery
    • Active – 170 mA
    • Sleep – 0.125 mA
  • Dimensions – 11 x 3.2 x 2 cm

LILYGO T-A7608SA-H pinout diagram

ESP32 18650 battery 4G LTE
The board ships with one LTE antenna, one GPS antenna, a 2-wire cable with a JST connector for an external battery, and two pin headers. LILYGO provides documentation and code samples for Arduino and PlatformIO using the TinyGSM library on Github.

As noted in the introduction, they also made the T-SimHat RS485, CAN Bus, and 5V relay add-on board for both the ESP32 4G LTE board mentioned in this article, and the earlier TTGO-T-PCIe board that takes SIMCom SIM7000 mini PCIe cards instead.

T-SimHAT: RS485, CAN Bus, Relay
LILYGO T-SimHAT add-on board

LILYGO T-A7608E-H / T-A7608SA-H board can be purchased for about $45 on Aliexpress or Banggood, while the T-SimHAT expansion board is currently sold for $13.58.

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13 Comments
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Mike
Mike
2 years ago

Only one relay?

So it’s a bomb detonator😅

David Jashi
2 years ago

For cheap setup – yes. For fault-tolerant or safe configuration, you need at least 2 relays.

itchy n scratchy
itchy n scratchy
2 years ago

Its a trial version for more relays you need to know soldering 😉

David Jashi
2 years ago

Is ESP32 capable of saturating 150Mbps channel?

Trent
1 year ago

The modem is connected to the esp32 via a serial UART, with no flow control. The physical interface isn’t going to work past 5Mbps, if that. No need to worry about saturating that 150 Mbps link.

itchy n scratchy
itchy n scratchy
2 years ago

Does anyone have a clue why one would choose the emea modem over the other one with all the same plus even more bands? Funnyly the emea has not even B28, which the other one has…

Fabrizio Pucci
Fabrizio Pucci
2 years ago

I bought one but I cannot let it work, I normally program esp32 boards and I never had any problems

Nishat
Nishat
1 year ago

Can we interface a camera with LILYGO T-A768E?

Nishat
Nishat
1 year ago

Thanks. Can we do calls with this board?

Nishat
Nishat
1 year ago

Thanks a lot for your response

Joni Aguilar
1 year ago

Eu tenho essa placa, fiz vários avanços, estou com o projeto rodando muito bem quando conectado ao cabo USB. Porém, quando tento utilizar somente na bateria, o código roda nas não liga o modem. Chego a ter impreque não tem corrente suficiente…alguem tem ideia se tem algo pra habilitar o uso da alimentação do modem pela bateria?

Khadas VIM4 SBC