The Waveshare ESP32-S3-Zero is an ultra-compact castellated board built on the ESP32-S3FH4R2 (4 MB flash + 2 MB PSRAM stacked in the chip package). This page renders the MCUID data record: identity, the on-board resources, and the pads verified against fixed sources, in their real grouping (18 edge + 3 front-inner + 8 back-inner).
Identify your board
- Board model — two SKUs share one PCB: ESP32-S3-Zero (castellated holes, no header) and ESP32-S3-Zero-M (pin header soldered). Check which one you hold before breadboarding.
- Vendor, not Espressif — this is a third-party board from Waveshare. The chip is Espressif's; the board documentation (wiki, product page, schematic) is Waveshare's own.
- Chip package — ESP32-S3FH4R2: dual-core LX7 up to 240 MHz, 4 MB flash + 2 MB Quad SPI PSRAM in package (per Espressif datasheet v2.2 Table 1-1 — PDF p.13 —, ordering code R2; Waveshare's page describes the same PSRAM as Octal — this site records the datasheet wording). GPIO33~GPIO37 are not led out on this PCB — do not expect them on the board edge.
- SKU scope — this record covers 25081 / 25517 (the FH4R2 board). The vendor page also lists 33879 / 33549 as N8R8 versions (8 MB flash + 8 MB PSRAM): the 4 MB + 2 MB Quad findings on this page do not apply to them (materials pending, registered as a gap). 33356 is a kit bundling the board.
Third-party compact board vs official DevKit
Waveshare documents this board through its own wiki and product pages, which remain vendor-official one-hand sources, but the documentation depth differs from Espressif's own DevKit guides: no per-revision user guide, no Espressif board-level support policy. If you need the full official-guide treatment (numbered headers, boot-mode tables, power-path details), the ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1 or the EOL ESP32-S3-DevKitM-1 records cover those boards. This record sticks to what Waveshare actually publishes.
One Type-C port, no USB-to-UART chip
The board does not employ a USB-to-UART chip: the Type-C port is wired straight to the ESP32-S3's native USB. Flashing uses the chip's ROM/USB download flow — hold BOOT (GPIO0) while plugging the cable, then flash. The silkscreen TX/RX pads are GPIO43/GPIO44 (default UART0) for serial consoles.
On-board RGB LED — GPIO21
A WS2812 addressable RGB LED driven by GPIO21 — wired on-board, not an edge pad. Driving GPIO21 high/low does not produce colors — an addressable-LED protocol is required.
Power
USB powers the board through an ME6217C33M5G LDO (max 800 mA). For standalone use, feed 3.7 V~6 V into the castellated hole marked 5V — outside that range the LDO is out of spec.
Pin data status — 18 edge + 3 front-inner + 8 back-inner
The pad tables below follow the official pinout image's real physical grouping. 18 edge castellated pads in two columns (front, USB up: left 5V/GND/3V3/GP1–GP6, right TX/RX/GP13–GP7), 3 front inner pads (GP16/GP15/GP14, top-to-down to the right of the front face), and 8 back inner pads (GP45/GP42/GP41/GP40/GP39/GP38/GP18/GP17, back face USB up). The schematic numbers the 18-pad chain 1–18 (P15: 1 TX … 16 3V3, 17 GND, 18 VBUS) — the silk 5V pad is net VBUS on the schematic. USB D−/D+ (GPIO19/20), the RGB DIN (GPIO21) and BOOT (GPIO0) are wired on-board and are not pads — see the claims above.
Start developing
- Toolchains — Waveshare's wiki maintains Arduino IDE, ESP-IDF, and MicroPython getting-started chapters for this board; each links vendor-tested board definitions.
- Chip capabilities and limits — the ESP32-S3 chip page separates what the chip provides from what this board wires up.
Common questions this site answers
Also known as: esp32-s3-zero, esp32-s3-zero-m, s3 zero