The ESP32-S3 PowerFeather V2 board is an ESP32-S3 WiFi and BLE IoT board with an Adafruit Feather form factor that supports LiFePO4/LFP batteries, as well as Li-Ion or LiPo batteries, and up to 18V DC input for solar panel connection.
As one could have guessed, it’s an update to the ESP32-S3 PowerFeather board introduced in 2024 with support for solar panel input, Li-Ion, and LiPo batteries. The V2 design is virtually identical, except it features an Analog Devices MAX17260 fuel gauge and a TPS631013 buck-boost regulator that keeps 3.3 V stable to add support for LiFePO4 batteries. Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are said to be safer and longer-lasting than Li-ion or LiPo batteries, albeit at the cost of lower energy density.
ESP32-S3 PowerFeather V2 specifications:
- ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N8R2
- SoC – ESP32-S3
- CPU – Dual-core Tensilica LX7 up to 240 MHz
- Memory – 512KB SRAM, 16 KB RTC SRAM
- Wireless – 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5 LE + Mesh; PCB antenna
- Memory – 2MB QSPI PSRAM
- Storage – 8MB QSPI flash
- SoC – ESP32-S3
- USB – USB Type-C OTG port for power and programming
- Expansion
- 2x 16-pin 2.54 mm pitch headers with 23x multi-function GPIO:
- UART, I2C, SPI, I2S, SDIO, PWM, CAN, RMT, Camera, LCD capable
- Analog – 6x analog input capable
- 5x touch input capable
- 12x RTC capable (deep sleep pin hold, wake-up source)
- Semitec 103AT input on thermistor pinhole
- 4-pin JST SH STEMMA QT connector with I2C
- 2x 16-pin 2.54 mm pitch headers with 23x multi-function GPIO:
- Misc
- User and Reset buttons
- Charging status LED (red), user LED (green)
- Power Management
- Power Supply
- 5V/2A via USB-C port (VUSB)
- 5V to 18V DC up to 2A via VDC pin
- Up to 4.2V/2A via 2-pin JST PH battery connector; BQ25628E battery charger
- Maintained supply voltage (can be used to set MPP voltage)
- Output
- 3.3V up to 1A shared between board, 3V3 header pin and VSQT STEMMA QT connector
- 3.3V to 4.2V up to 3A shared between board and VBAT header pin
- 5V to 18 V up to 2A shared between board and VS header pin
- TPS631013 3.3V buck-boost regulator
- Monitoring
- Supply – Current and voltage measurements, good supply detection
- Battery – Voltage, current (charge/discharge), and temperature measurements; charge estimation; health & cycle count estimation; time-to-empty and time-to-full estimation; low charge, high/low voltage alarm; MAX17260 fuel gauge with support for Li-Ion, LiPo, and LiFePO4 chemistries
- Battery protection
- Undervoltage Detect @ 2.2 V, Release @ 2.4 V
- Overvoltage Detect @ 4.37 V, Release @ 4.28 V
- Overcurrent protection @ 3A
- Trickle charging safety timer @ 1 hr
- Temperature-based charging current reduction based on JEITA, cutoff at 0°C and 50°C.
- Misc – 3V3 enable/disable; VSQT enable/disable, FeatherWing enable/disable
- Power States – Ship mode, Shutdown mode, and Power cycle
- Power Supply
- Power consumption using BATP (at about 3.7V) vs V1
- Deep-Sleep, Fuel Gauge Enabled – 24 μA vs 26 μA (initial) and 18.5 μA (settled)
- Deep-Sleep, Fuel Gauge Disabled – 19 μA vs 18 μA
- Ship Mode, Fuel Gauge Disabled – 1 μA vs 1.5 μA
- Shutdown Mode, Fuel Gauge Disabled – 1 μA vs 1.4 μA
- Dimensions – 65 x 23 x 7 mm (Adafruit Feather form factor, supports FeatherWings); 2x 2.5 mounting holes
Power consumption has changed due to the new regulator and fuel gauge, but it remains in the same range.
Alongside the hardware, the PowerFeather-SDK V2 has also been released for programming the board with the Arduino IDE or the ESP-IDF framework. The main change is adding support for LiFePO4, precisely for charger and fuel gauge configuration. Sample code reports battery and supply information, but doesn’t need to care about the battery type since it’s automatically detected by the SDK. The documentation for the V1 and V2 boards looks fairly detailed, and includes guides to reduce power usage, use a solar panel, and create an ESPHome device.
While looking for alternative ESP32 boards with LiFePO4 battery support, I didn’t find any, but noticed several people trying to hook up this type of battery to their ESP32 boards, so it could be useful to some. Having said that, we did cover several Raspberry Pi solutions compatible with LiFePo4 battery, including the LiFePO4wered/Pi+ UPS HAT and, more recently, the AQEX qUPS-P-BC-2.0 UPS HAT, which works with a range of battery chemistries, including LFP.
The price of the ESP32-S3 PowerFeather V2 is the same as the V1, and the board goes for $30 on Elecrow. I was curious about the price of LiFePO4 batteries, and prices start at about $4 for a 3.2V/7000 mAh battery. It can go much higher depending on capacity and voltage. I also saw a 48V/300Ah (15kWh) LiFePO4 battery to power a full-house energy storage for close to $1800, and clearly not suitable for this little ESP32-S3 board….
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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