LILYGO T-Display C5 is an ESP32-C5 board with a 1.9-inch IPS color LCD, a USB-C port for power and programming, Lithium battery support, and GPIO expansion via headers and two Qwiic expansion connectors.
The main benefit of using an ESP32-C5 chip is support for dual-band WiFi 6 connectivity (2.4/5.0 GHz), and it also keeps Bluetooth LE 5.x and the 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee/Thread/Matter found in the ESP32-C6.
LILYGO T-Display C5 specifications:
- Wireless module – Espressif Systems ESP32-WROOM-C5-1U-N16R8
- SoC – ESP32-C5HR8
- CPU
- Single-core 32-bit RISC-V processor @ up to 240 MHz
- Low-power RISC-V core @ 40 MHz acting as the main processor for power-sensitive applications
- Memory – 384 KB SRAM on-chip, 8MB PSRAM
- Storage – 320 KB ROM
- Wireless Connectivity
- Dual-band (2.4GHz/5 GHz) 802.11ax WiFi 6, with 802.11b/g/n WiFi 4 standard fallback
- Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy (LE)
- 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee 3.0 and Thread 1.3
- CPU
- Storage – 16MB flash
- Antenna – IPEX antenna connector
- SoC – ESP32-C5HR8
- Display
- 1.9-inch RGB565 color IPS LCD with 172×320 resolution; ST7735 4-wire SPI display controller
- Optional CST816S capacitive touch (I2C); note: apparently not for sale yet
- USB – USB Type-C port for power, programming, and data
- Expansion
- 2x 12-pin headers
- 14x GPIO, UART0; GPIO pins are configurable as I2C, SPI, PWM, I2S, CAN Bus, and UART
- 6x ADC inputs
- 5V, 3.3V OUT, GND
- 2x Qwiic connectors: 1x I2C, 1x UART
- 2x 12-pin headers
- Misc
- Reset, BOOT (IO28), and User (IO0) buttons
- Power Supply
- 5V/500mA via USB Type-C port
- 2-pin JST-1.25 connector for Lithium battery
- AXP6202 low-power BMU (battery management unit)
- Dimensions – 62 x 26 x 10 mm
LILYGO has released firmware and code samples for PlatformIO and the Arduino IDE, including a factory sketch, and LCD, LVGL, SPI, Touch (CST816S), battery monitoring, and WiFi access point (AP) samples. You’ll find all that on GitHub along with basic instructions to get started.
The T-Display C5 is not the first ESP32-C5 dual-band WiFi IoT board with a built-in display, and alternatives include the Waveshare ESP32-C5-LCD-1.47 (1.47-inch TFT, non-touch, microSD card slot) and the Waveshare ESP32-C5-Touch-LCD-2.8 (2.8-inch IPS, capacitive touch, microSD card, battery support, 2x Qwicc). The LILYGO board offers a middle-ground option in terms of display size and features, and is slightly cheaper.
The T-Display C5 is sold for $14.99 on Amazon, $11.76 on Tindie, and the board is also listed on the LILYGO store for $11.83, but it’s out of stock there. It ships with two 12-pin headers, a power cable for the battery, and a dual-band WiFi/Bluetooth antenna. That’s for the model without touchscreen support, since the variant with a CST816S touch controller doesn’t appear to be for sale at this time.
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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