ESP32-C6-Devkit-Lipo – A small, open-source hardware ESP32-C6 board with battery support, UEXT connector

Olimex ESP32-C6-DevKit-Lipo board is a small open-source hardware board based on the ESP32-C6 WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, and Zigbee/Thread SoC with support for LiPo batteries and UEXT expansion modules.

It’s the second announcement from the company this week, and comes after they introduced the MOD-ESP32-C5 to add wireless connectivity to boards equipped with a UEXT connector. The ESP32-C6-DevKit-Lipo adds to the list of small ESP32-C6 USB-C boards, such as the 01Space ESP32-C6 board and Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C6, among many others. It’s actually larger than most similar boards, but differentiates itself with its open-hardware design, dual USB-C design, breadboard compatibility, LiPo battery circuitry, and a UEXT connector.

ESP32-C6-Devkit-Lipo specifications:

• Wireless module – ESP32-C6-WROOM-1-N4 module
  • Espressif Systems ESP32-C6 SoC
    • CPU – Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ 160 MHz
    • Memory – 512KB SRAM, 16KB low-power SRAM
    • Wireless
      • 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 1T1R with Target Wake Time (TWT) support
      • Bluetooth LE 5.0
      • 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, Matter, 2.4GHz proprietary
  • Storage – 4MB SPI flash
  • PCB antenna
• USB
  • USB Type-C port for JTAG
  • USB Type-C port for power and debugging/serial
• I/Os and expansion
  • 10-pin UEXT connector with up to 8x GPIO, I2C, SPI, UART, 3.3V, and GND for compatible modules
  • 2x 11-pin headers with up to 18x GPIO, 5V, 3.3V, and GND; 22.86mm (0.9-inch) spacing for breadboard compatibility
  • Important note: UEXT and the headers share some of the pins (See pinout diagram below)
• Misc
  • Boot button
  • Charging and user (GP15) LEDs
• Power Supply
  • 5V via USB-C port
  • 2-pin connector for LiPo battery;
  • LiPo UPS charger & step-up converter
• Dimensions – 45 x 25mm

Since the ESP32-C6-Devkit-Lipo is an open-source hardware board, you’ll find the KiCad (and PDF) schematics, PCB layout, Gerber files, STEP files, and a user manual on GitHub. We’re also told that the board can be programmed with the ESP-IDF 5.5 or greater framework or the Arduino IDE, but the “ESP32-C6-DevKit-Lipo demo software” is not ready just yet.

The UEXT (Universal EXTension) connector is mostly found on Olimex boards, and the company provides a range of compatible expansion modules to add sensors for temperature, humidity,
pressure, magnetic field, or light, as well as LCDs, LED matrices, relays, Bluetooth, Zigbee, WiFi, GSM, GPS, RFID, RTC, EKG, and more.

 

If you are mostly interested in a compact ESP32-C6 board with LiPo battery support, other options include the SparkFun’s Thing Plus – ESP32-C6, ThingPulse’s ePulse Feather C6, and DFRobot’s FireBeetle 2 ESP32-C6.

The ESP32-C6-DevKit-Lipo can be purchased for 8.95 Euros on the Olimex store.

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